Politics of South America

The Politics of South America

South America is one of the regions of the globe that has a rich political history . This is attributed to the fact that it had undergone numerous events and changes in its past that eventually affects its present situation . Various concepts and theories have been used in to study how states in South America developed through time . Two of the most noteworthy countries that exemplified such ideas are Brazil and Argentina

Democracy , Neoliberalism and Market Reform

The idea of Democracy , Neoliberalism , as well as Market Reform

plays a big role in the political economy of South America . These three concepts shaped the path most states in this region took towards independence and self-governance . In to fully comprehend its effects a concrete meaning of each term is needed

Democracy based on the liberal perspective is a process by which a political apparatus collaborates the various interests of independent citizens . In this definition the political apparatus that is being referred to is commonly known as the government . The government has to work together all the interests of private individuals that is said to interact in a market-like structure (Benhabib , 1996

Neoliberalism as a theory of political economy states that individual development could be best achieved if the state would not restrained its citizens to practice entrepreneurial activities such as free trade , free market and the right to private property . In connection with that the purpose of the government is to create an environment wherein these market activities would be best facilitated (Harvey , 2005

Market Reform emphasizes the idea of changing the entrepreneurial practices of the market to comply with factors that affects the decisions of the actors involved . Factors like international financial institutions such as : the International Monetary Fund (IMF ) and the World Bank affects the decisions of most states that are indebted to them (Weyland , 2002

Argentina and Brazil had undergone almost similar historic experiences in terms of these aforementioned concepts . After these countries acquired independence from their foreign colonizers , they experienced both political unrest as well as economic crisis . Both states were governed through military intervention before fully adhering to the democratic process . Argentina was ruled by a civilian government in 1983 while Brazil experienced democracy in 1985 (Central Intelligence Agency , 2008 . Even before they could fully practice democratic governance the consequences of the debt crisis is already being felt . In the early 1980s , there had been a record of high interest rate together with the slow down of the world market that signals stagnation in export , which makes it even harder to comply with the debt-service (Hanc , 1998

The newly democratized Argentina and Brazil are characterized by governments that could not consolidate the interests of its people . The debt crisis that they are in worsens the situation which resulted in hyperinflation . This new economic dilemma threatened the livelihood of its citizens that is why the government decided on an immediate solution in the form of neoliberalization (Weyland , 2002

Intense trade liberalization was...