Ariel Gonzalez Levaggi

During the last several years, Latin America has been presented as a complex and enduring interaction between social forces and anti-hegemonic attempts from particular nation-states to resist the expansion of the market-based global political economy. The emergence of the New-Left, the increasing role of social movements, and the development of a new strategic regionalism as exemplified by the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA), have all played a key role in supporting a counter-hegemonic vision of Latin America. These factors has pushed for a post-neoliberal path grounded on a new role of the state not only as market regulator, but also as a social and economic actor, thus limiting the scope of the transnational companies –including those who are close to the U.S. interests-, opening new spaces for national businessmen and, empowering actors from popular and minority strata.