This book provides a comprehensive analysis of the implementation, functioning, and impact of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA), cornerstone of Venezuelan foreign policy and standard-bearer of “postneoliberal” regionalism during the “Left Turn” in Latin America and the Caribbean (1998-2016). It reveals that cooperation via ALBA’s regionalised social missions, state multinationals, development bank, People’s Trade Agreement, SUCRE virtual currency, and Petrocaribe soft-loan scheme has often been hampered by complexity and conflict between the national political economies of Ecuador, Dominica, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Antigua and Barbuda, and especially Venezuela. Shared commitments to endogenous development, autonomy within mutlipolarity, and novel sources of legitimacy are undermined by serious deficiencies in control and accountability, which stem largely from the defining influence of Venezuela’s dysfunctional economy and governance. This dual dependency on Venezuela leaves the future of ALBA hanging in the balance.
Asa K. Cusack (Latin America and Caribbean Centre, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK) received his PhD in Latin American and Caribbean political economy from the University of Sheffield, UK, and has held research positions at University College London and the Institute of Latin American Studies.
Enriches understanding of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA) in South America, discussing its function and impact
Includes case studies that illustrate the difficulties which ALBA projects have faced
Highlights the uncertain future of ALBA
Enriches understanding of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA) in South America, discussing its function and impact Includes case studies that illustrate the difficulties which ALBA projects have faced Highlights the uncertain future of ALBA
Asa K. Cusack
ALBA Venezuela Ecuador Caribbean Regionalism Postneoliberalism Trade Development Implementation Alternative regionalism Latin America Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America latin american politics development theory
“Taking issue with a literature naively stressing the promise of ‘post-neoliberal regionalism,’ the author offers in this book a thorough examination of ALBA’s shortcomings, based on remarkable field research that focuses on implementation rather than intentions. Without a doubt the best scholarly work on ALBA.” (Olivier Dabène, Sciences Po, Paris, France, author of The Politics of Regional Integration in Latin America)
“A compelling and engaging contribution on the ambitions and limitations of the ALBA postneoliberal project in Latin America and the Caribbean in the 2000s. With cogent analysis of sovereign priorities and a forensic embrace of technical detail, Cusack has crafted a measured, insightful, and valuable addition to scholarship on this dramatic, dynamic, and contentious period in LAC and wider hemispheric relations.” (Julia Buxton, Professor of Comparative Politics, Central European University, Budapest, author of The Failure of Political Reform in Venezuela)