The Impasse of the Latin American Left

“In this important new book, Franck Gaudichaud, Massimo Modonesi, and Jeffery R. Webber provide a timely and incisive analysis of the left’s waning fortunes in Latin America over the past two decades. The limits of what they call progressivism in this convulsed region offer great lessons for popular struggles and left politics around the world. The study could not be more timely given the devastating impact that the crisis of global capitalism and the coronavirus pandemic have had on Latin America. A must-read for students of Latin America and for all those concerned with advancing genuinely transformative projects in the twenty-first century.” - William I. Robinson, author of Global Civil War: Capitalism Post-Pandemic

“Latin America’s Pink Tide was a rare example of regional left hegemony. In a moment of triple planetary crises—public health, climate, and economic—sober assessments of this unique political epoch, its achievements as well as its shortcomings and contradictions, are more urgent than ever. As the authors of The Impasse of the Latin American Left compellingly argue, this epoch contains vital lessons for leftist projects around the world. This book is essential reading for anyone committed to emancipatory transformation in the Americas and beyond.” - Thea Riofrancos, author of Resource Radicals: From Petro-Nationalism to Post-Extractivism in Ecuador

“The Impasse of the Latin American Left develops a persuasive, systematic periodization of complex relations between class struggles, progressivisms, the left, and popular movements from the 1990s to the present. The book successfully gives coherence to the chaotic processes of historical change across the region.” - Anderson Bean, Tempest

“In three substantive chapters, the authors clearly and concisely unlock the rise of the first Pink Tide, detailing the complexities behind Leftist governments. . . . Recommended.” - K. R. Shaffer, Choice

“This book argues that antineoliberal ‘plebeian rebellions’ caused the dramatic regional shift to left-leaning governance that took place at the turn of the twenty-first century. As the pendulum swings back towards the right, Franck Gaudichaud, Massimo Modonesi, and Jeffery Webber’s The Impasse of the Latin American Left assesses to what extent ‘progressive’ governments realized the transformative aspirations of those rebellions. Their contributions are deeply anchored in work by and about Latin Americans…. This book offers cogent structural critiques of deeply structural impasses.” - Elisabeth Jay Friedman, Mobilization

"Gaudichaud, Modonesi and Webber have written a book that is extensive in its analysis, constructs a sophisticated explanation of the Pink Tide’s rise, consolidation and ultimate downfall, and that will certainly appeal to those who share their leftist sympathies."

  - Quintijn B.Kat, Bulletin of Latin American Research

"The authors make a convincing case that lasting change won’t be achieved without a different political approach and economic models that go beyond commodity dependence." - Nick Burns, Americas Quarterly