ENGLISH CLASS - JOURNALISM / Topic: Assignment 5 (2)

Liberal !

Mention the word "liberal" politics in our country and leads us to make an analysis of the entire region, at this time the word “neoliberalisim”, takes power in our continent and begins to take a confusing way of politics-state
Is “neoliberalism”—the foundation for civil liberties, markets, and democracy —sputtering in Latin America? Are populist dictators and closed economies making a comeback? Senior policy analyst Stephen Johnson argues that progress toward democratic rule and free markets needs to go beyond the adoption of elections and openings to international trade in most of the region’s countries. His article, “Is Neoliberalism Dead in Latin America” was featured in the June 2003 edition of Perspectiva, a Latin American magazine on politics, economics, and society published by the Instituto de Ciencia Política-ICP (Colombia), Centro de Divulgación del Conocimiento Económic-CEDICE (Venezuela), Instituto Ecuatoriano de Economía Política-IEEP (Ecuador), Fundación Libertad (Argentina), and the Center for International Private Enterprise-CIPE (United States). The article is reprinted below
Premature obituaries are nothing new. Even the great American writer Mark Twain read an erroneous account of his own death and was inspired to write “reports of my demise have been greatly exaggerated.” And so it is with the popular supposition that neoliberalism has run its course in Latin America. Not only is it alive, but core aspects of it—political and economic freedom—have yet to be fully implemented.
Unfortunately, “neoliberalism” is one of those catch-all terms that means different things to different people. To Marxists looking for a new cause, it means policies that enrich multinational corporations as they trample over the world’s poor and the environment. To anti-globalists it is western expansionism. To economic fundamentalists it is the infallibility of the market.
Since none of these definitions allows for nuance and nobody agrees on what is “neo” about the term, it may be better to examine the status of liberalism in Latin America with its supporting pillars, democracy and economic freedom. After all, neoliberalism derives from the classic liberalism of 18th century moral philosophers who proposed that individuals should be free to do as they see fit and own and dispose of property as they wish with minimal state interference.