PART III. The Lost Decade: Mexico (1982–1989)

This concluding chapter draws together lessons learned from the encounters between social economy activists and academics from Latin America and Europe which were brought together in this collection. It discusses the role of antagonism in social economies, especially in the light of austerity in Europe – and Latin America’s experiences of a lost decade. It discusses tensions between the benefits of top down, centralised, state delivered welfare, and grassroots creativity, arguing for the development of 45 degree politics that maintains the best of both conceptions, with the state maintaining universal access and sufficient resources, while grassroots actors ensure that initiatives are tailored to local needs. Finally it brings together arguments for the need for the SSE sector to develop conceptions of prosperous livelihoods providing dignity and inclusion for those currently denied a livelihood with dignity in the concept of the Anthropocene. It concludes by arguing that these conceptions can best be developed though continued dialogue between actors in the global North and South.

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New Forms of Social Assistance and the Evolution of Social Protection in Latin America

Journal of Latin American Studies ◽

10.1017/s0022216x08005099 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 41 (1) ◽

pp. 1-26 ◽

Cited By ~ 30

Author(s):

ARMANDO BARRIENTOS ◽

CLAUDIO SANTIBÁÑEZ

Keyword(s):

Latin America ◽

Structural Adjustment ◽

Social Protection ◽

Social Assistance ◽

Conceptual Frameworks ◽

Common Features ◽

Income Transfers ◽

Lost Decade

AbstractThis article discusses the evolution of social protection in Latin America and proposes a conceptualisation and contextualisation of new forms of social assistance. It begins by outlining the main features of social protection prior to the ‘lost decade’ of the 1980s and the changes enforced by crises and structural adjustment. It then focuses on the new forms of social assistance emerging in the region, especially conditional and unconditional income transfers and integrated anti-poverty programmes. The article draws out their common features, identifies possible underlying conceptual frameworks, and places their introduction and evolution within the broader context of the new dynamics of poverty and vulnerability in the region.

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L'Afrique et la fin de la guerre froide : de la nécessité d'un « nouveau réalisme »

Études internationales ◽

10.7202/702840ar ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 22 (2) ◽

pp. 287-306

Author(s):

Winrich Kühne

Keyword(s):

Cold War ◽

Significant Rise ◽

Marshall Plan ◽

Market Forces ◽

Economic Interests ◽

Post Cold War ◽

New Realism ◽

Peace Dividend ◽

Nouveau Realisme ◽

Lost Decade

Superpower disinterest turns out to be the main feature of Africa's post cold war era. Although marxism-leninism and models of socialist orientation based thereupon have utterly failed, there is not much reason for capitalism to triumph either: the debate on the limits and risks of the market forces will continue as the example of South Africa shows. The eighties have turned out to be a lost decade for development in Africa and there will be no significant rise in outside development assistance in the coming years : expectations for a Marshall Plan for Africa and hopes concerning a "peace-dividend" because of disarmament in Europe should be discounted in the context of the exploding cost of European reconstruction. Africans can either react with despair or with a "New Realism", geared at solving their problems essentially by mobilising their own resources and creativity. Europe, for its part, would be ill-advised to judge its relations with Africa merely in terms of diminishing strategic and economic interests.

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