Coloniality of Power and Progressive Politics in Latin America: Development, Indigenous Politics and Buen Vivir

This book makes the powerful argument that Latin America needs to be a more central part of the discourse on emerging globalities and in the pursuit of an inter-civilizational focus to avoid West-centric perspectives. It deploys a cultural political economy approach that sees the global political economy as inescapably cultural and allows us to avoid the hyper-rational analysis of economics. It explores various aspects of contemporary Latin America from the revival of dependency theory, the ’pink tide’ governments since 2000 and, in particular, the potential of the Andean Buen Vivir political philosophy, to offer a distinctive paradigm for sustainable global development.

The book provides a de-colonial frame and shows how many recent and new social science perspectives emerging globally are connected with Latin American scholars and Latin American social experiments: namely, dependency, decolonial and post-colonial epistemologies, post-neoliberalism, and the notion ofPluriverse. The book focuses on the cultural, the ethical, the economic and the political, and environmental dimensions of this transformation, which represents a reaction and alternative to the Western cultural, including ethical, economic, political, environmental crises.

The readership for this book includes all who are fascinated by the globalization lens on the one hand, and the experience and lessons of Latin America on the other hand.

Ronaldo Munck is a well-established author and an authority on contemporary Latin America from a cultural political economy perspective. He is Professor Emeritus, Sociology and Civic Engagement at Dublin City University and a Visiting Professor at the University of Buenos Aires and St. Mary’s University, Nova Scotia. He has authored or edited more than 30 books on various topics related to globalization, international development and social movements as well as over 100 academic journal articles. His books have been translated into multiple languages. He is the founding chair of the Development Studies Association of Ireland and of Campus Engage, the national platform for civic engagement in Ireland. He serves on the editorial boards of a number of international journals including Globalizations, Global Social Policy, Global Discourse, Global Labour, Labour History, Review: Journal of the Fernand Braudel Centre, the Canadian Journal of Development Studies and Latin American Perspectives. He has acted as External Examiner at Cambridge University, the London School of Economics, University of Warwick, Queen’s University Belfast, the Open University, University of Sussex, University of Lancaster, University of Florence, Leiden University, the Institute of Social Studies: The Hague and University of Sydney. He has been funded for research by the Economic and Social Research Council, Irish Aid, the Council of Europe, Horizon 2020 and various international other bodies