Reinventing the Left in the Global South: The Politics of the Possible

314 Pages·2014·2.282 MB·English

by  Richard Sandbrook

Reinventing the Left in the Global South
Thisbookoffers afresh appraisal ofthe natureand significance ofthe
democraticLeftintheGlobalSouth.Themoralandintellectualleader-
shipoftheLeftisshiftingsouthfromitsEuropeanbirthplace.Itisinthe
GlobalSouth,mostnotablyinLatinAmerica,thatonefindsnewlyself-
confidentprogressivemovements.This“new”democraticLeftincludes
parties and social movements that not only are avoiding the familiar
pitfalls that ensnared socialists and social democrats in the twentieth
century,butalsoarecopingwiththerealitiesofthetwenty-firstcentury,
especially neoliberal globalization. In analyzing and illustrating three
innovative strategies – moderate social democracy, radical social-
democratic transition to socialism, and Left populism – this study
nudges the debate about the Left out of the well-worn grooves into
whichithasfalleninrecentdecades.
Richard Sandbrook is Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the
University of Toronto and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.
Since1968hehasfocusedhisresearchontheLeft’sexperienceinthe
GlobalSouth,therelevanceofsocial-democraticthinkingtothereshap-
ingofneoliberalglobalization,thepoliticaleconomyofthebasic-needs
andmarket-orienteddevelopmentstrategies,therelationshipofdemoc-
ratizationtodevelopment,andthepoliticalroleofworkersandtheurban
poorinAfrica.Hehaspublishedoverfiftyarticlesandtenbooks,includ-
ingSocialDemocracyintheGlobalPeriphery:Origins,Challenges,Prospects
(withMarcEdelman,PatrickHellerandJudithTeichman,Cambridge
UniversityPress,2007).

Reinventing the Left
in the Global South
The Politics of the Possible
Richard Sandbrook
DepartmentofPoliticalScience
UniversityofToronto
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Sandbrook,Richard.
ReinventingtheleftintheglobalSouth:thepoliticsofthepossible/Richard
Sandbrook,DepartmentofPoliticalScience,UniversityofToronto.
pages cm
ISBN978-1-107-42109-7(paperback)
1. NewLeft–Developingcountries. 2. Developingcountries–Politics
andgovernment–21stcentury. 3. Democracy–Developingcountries.
4. Rightandleft(Politicalscience) I. Title.
JF60.S257 2014
320.530917204–dc23
2014006985
ISBN978-1-107-07278-7Hardback
ISBN978-1-107-42109-7Paperback
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Allhumanbeingsarebornfreeandequalindignityandrights.Theyare
endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one
anotherinaspiritofbrotherhood.
Article1,UniversalDeclarationofHumanRights
Politicsisastrongandslowboringofhardboards...Onlyhehasthe
callingforpoliticswhoissurethatheshallnotcrumblewhentheworld
fromhispointofviewistoostupidortoobaseforwhathewantstooffer.
Onlyhewhointhefaceofallthiscansay“Inspiteofall!”hasthecalling
forpolitics. MaxWeber,“PoliticsasaVocation”

Contents
Listoffigures pageix
Listoftables x
Acknowledgments xi
1 ReinventingtheLeft 1
Anoverviewoftheargument 3
TheLeftandthedoublemovement 8
Therealitiesofsociety 15
Avoidingthepitfalls?StrategiesoftheLeft 16
Conclusion 24
2 Alternativevisions:leftistversusneoliberalparadigms 27
Thedialecticsofdevelopmentparadigms 28
Neoliberalism’sparadigmaticassumptions 31
Challengeandtheadaptationofneoliberaldoctrine 36
Theriseofinclusiveneoliberalism 44
ThedistinctiveLeftvision 50
Conclusion 58
3 Howneoliberalismfails 63
Thesocioeconomicrecord 65
Marketvolatilityandrecession 67
Growinginequality 72
Ecologicaldegradation 81
Deadlyconflict 92
Conclusion 99
4 Makinghistory:agency,constraintsandrealities 102
ThepoliticsoftheLeft 103
Historicalandstructuralconstraints 112
Theindispensablemarket 124
Conclusion 130
5 PitfallsandpromiseofthemoderateLeft 133
Whatismoderatesocialdemocracy? 137
Thepopulisttemptation 142
Powerrelationsandthepullofsocialliberalism 147
Moderatesocialdemocracy:cases 165
vii
viii Contents
Moderatesocialdemocracy:amodel 171
Conclusion 182
6 TheradicalLeft:movingbeyondthesocialistimpasse 187
Thedeadendofstatesocialism 190
Twenty-first-centurysocialism? 197
Radicalsocial-democratictransitiontosocialism 214
Conclusion 224
7 Politicsofthepossible 230
Thenationallevel:adaptiveversusdisruptivestrategies 231
Small-scaleexperimentsinequitablecooperation 237
Reconstructingglobalization 249
TheLeftandclimatechange 256
Concludingobservations 260
Bibliography 264
Index 294