A América Latina em tempos de globalização

Abstract

This review presentes an overview of Latina America at the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century, as the sociologists Fernando Calderón and Manuel Castells elaborate in the work A nova América Latina. The authors reflect on the impacts of globalization on Latin America societies, analyzing the apogee and decline of development models that were adopted there – neoliberalism and neo-developmentalism. They address the political crisis experienced by the countries that comprise it, since most of them have not yet managed to resolve crucial issues of democracy. Furthermore, they deal with the recent multicultural dynamics of the region – characterized by narcotraffic; by social protests and struggles for the recognition of the rights of indigenous peoples (Bolivians, Mexicans, Chileans and Argentines) and Afro-descendants in Brazil; by migrant phenomenal; by the changes observed in the familiar organization; by the emergence of other Christian churches due to the crisis of the Catholic Church. At the end of the book, they consider that the challenge of the new sociocultural movements, reborn in the last twenty years, consists of re-signifying human rights and ethics both in society and in politics.