Dominant Elites in Latin America

This volume examines the ways in which the socio-economic elites of the region have transformed and expanded the material bases of their power from the inception of neo-liberal policies in the 1970s through to the so-called progressive pink tide governments of the past two decades. The six case study chapterson Chile, Brazil, Ecuador, Colombia, El Salvador, and Guatemalavariously explore how state policies and even United Nations peace-keeping missions have enhanced elite control of land and agricultural exports, banks and insurance companies, wholesale and import commerce, industrial activities, and alliances with foreign capital. Chapters also pay attention to the ways in which violence has been deployed to maintain elite power, and how international forces feed into sustaining historic and contemporary configurations of power.

Liisa L. North is Professor Emeritus of Political Science at York University, Canada.
Timothy D. Clark is Principal at Willow Springs Strategic Solutions.

1. Introduction: Reconfiguring Domination: Case Studies from Latin America .- 2. The Paradox of the Neoliberal Developmentalist State: Reconstructing the Capitalist Elite in Pinochets Chile .- 3. Quasi-post-neoliberal Brazil: Social Change Amidst Elite Adaptation and Metamorphosis .- 4. Concentration of Assets and Poverty Reduction in Post Neoliberal Ecuador .- 5. Rural Colombia: The Architecture of State-sponsored Violence and New Power Configurations .- 6. The Reconsolidation of Oligarchic Rule in El Salvador:  The Contours of Neoliberal Transformation .- 7. Land and the Reconfiguration of Power in Post-Conflict Guatemala .- 8. The Limits of Democratization and Social Progress: Domination and Dependence in Latin America.