Description
Book SynopsisInvestigates the decline of the corporatist and inward-oriented postwar model of development during the 1970s and 1980s and the emergence of a new paradigm driven by the desire to participate in the process of globalization. Uses Argentina as a case study.
Trade Review“Veigel’s book addresses an issue that has been at the center of much research in the past. What does explain the steady economic decay of Argentina, particularly from the 1970s onward? Many scholars ascribe the recurring economic crises of that country to the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank’s imposition of misguided policies. Veigel’s thesis challenges this view, as it contends that the seeds of the Argentine decline rest in the socioeconomic disintegration that began to affect that country from the 1940s on as vested interest groups engaged in a zero-sum-game struggle. If things went terribly wrong in Argentina in the twentieth century, it is not because that country was the victim of an international conspiracy. Instead, much of the blame is to be placed squarely on the Argentine political and economic elites. Through the use of new archival data and personal interviews, Veigel traces the historical evolution of Argentine policymaking as resulting primarily from endogenous rather than external factors. Veigel’s work is an excellent contribution to the scholarship on the political economy of Argentina and will make an important point of reference for future works on this controversial subject.”
—Luigi Manzetti,Southern Methodist University
“Dictatorship, Democracy, and Globalization melds several compelling strands: trend-break changes in the world economy, the interaction of domestic and international politics in the United States, and Argentinean relations with the international financial community. The integration of these themes is subtle, convincing, and innovative. Veigel’s critical take on globalization and the political economy of development, along with his thoughtful insights into Argentinean economic history and politics, sets a new benchmark for appraising the rise (and decline) of the so-called Washington consensus.”
—Colin M. Lewis,London School of Economics and Political Science
“This book is a very useful study of Argentina during much of the twentieth century and the early twenty-first century.”
—R. J. Alexander Choice
“This book should appeal strongly to anyone interested in Latin American political economy, the role of international financial institutions in the 1980s debt crisis, or recent Argentine history more generally.”
—Mekoce Walker Latin American Politics and Society
“The publication of Klaus Veigel's book comes at an opportune time, for it provides a valuable guide through the complexities of contemporary Argentinean economic history--in particular the politics of economic policy making from the mid-1970s to the early 2000s. This book should appeal not only to country specialists but also to a wider cohort of readers. . . .
[Veigel's] book goes farther than most previous works in connecting domestic trends with international conditions as the narrative tacks skillfully between politically divided Argentina and global players like the International Monetary Fund and the Federal Reserve Bank.
Dictatorship, Democracy and Globalization ultimately offers a cautionary tale about Argentina's economic trajectory and future prospects, one that reaches conclusions not all readers will share but that is thoroughly researched and worth considering carefully.”
—Eduardo Elena The Americas
Table of ContentsContents
List of Figures and Tables
Author’s Note and Acknowledgments
List of Abbreviations
Introduction
1. The Crisis of the 1970s and the Search for a New Economic Order
2. Global Markets and the Military Coup
3. The Origins of the Foreign Debt
4. The Self-Destruction of the Military Dictatorship
5. The International Debt Crisis and the Return to Democracy
6. Can Democracy Feed a Nation?
7. False Dawns: Failed Stabilization Plans, 1985–1991
8. From Miracle to Basket Case, 1991–2001
Conclusion: The Cost of Paralysis
Bibliography
Index
