The Southern Cone Countries of South America:
A Comparative Sociological Analysis
Ted Goertzel
Sociology Department
Rutgers University, Camden NJ
The “Southern
Cone”
countries
considered
here are
Argentina,
Bolivia,
Brazil, Chile,
Uruguay and
Paraguay.
The
Andes
divide
the East
and
West
coasts.
The largest
country, Brazil,
has its major
population
centers in the
South although
it is often
better known
for the
Northeast
and Amazon
regions
Andean Region
• There are, of course,
other ways to divide up
a region
• Bolivia, for example,
could be treated as part
of an Andean region
with Peru and Ecuador
• But the five “Southern
Cone” countries
provide an interesting
comparison.
Comparative Perspective
Culture
• Is “Latin America” a
civilization of its own
or part of Western
civilization
(Huntington, “Clash of
Civilizations)?
• Portuguese versus
Spanish cultural
heritage
• Quechua and Guarani
and other native
American cultures
especially in Bolivia
and Paraguay
• Each country has its
own “national culture”
Anglo America
Hispano America
Comparative Perspective
Economics
• All are “developing
nations” or part of the
“South” or “Third
World
• But the differences in
levels of economic
development may be
greater than the
similarities
• Recurrent conflicts
between adherents of
nationalist, social
democratic and
“neoliberal” economic
models
• Corruption, government
inefficiency and inflation
are recurrent problems
Gross National Product in 1995 Dollars
14000
12000
10000
8000
Argentina
Chile
Uruguay
6000
4000
2000
0
1975
Brazil
Paraguay
Bolivia
1980
1985
1990
1995
2000
2005
Comparative Perspective
Politics
• All are democracies
with republican
constitutions
• All have a history of
military dictatorship in
recent decades
• Political party systems
differ greatly
• Political traditions and
social movements are
rooted in each
country’s history
• Political instability
makes the quality of
leadership more
important than in
North America or
Europe
Democratic transition from from Fernando
Henrique Cardoso to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
as President of Brazil, January 1, 2003
Rebellion in Bolivia 2003
The Scapegoat:
Finance Minister
Domingo Cavallo
Unemployed Youth Protest
January 2002 (AFP)
Argentina
2001/2002
Economic Collapse
Salvador
Allende
President of
Chile
Killed in
1973
Military Coup
From La Jiribilla, Havana, Cuba
General Pinochet
leader of the 1973 coup
on trial in 2003
Argentina
• Predominately
European immigrants
• Was as wealthy as
Canada in 1900, one
third as wealthy in
1990
• Statist policies and
political instability
inhibited growth
• Liberalization in the
1990s led to 2001
collapse due to corrupt
leadership
Many best-selling Argentine authors are
highly critical of their national culture.
• President Nestor Kirchner,
a Peronist from Patagonia,
is fighting police
corruption and keeping the
lid on things
• The economy has
recovered with the fiscal
stability
• People do not seem to be
expecting dramatic
solutions to their problems
• Increasing frustration with
leftist demonstrators who
block intersections causing
massive traffic jams
Bolivia
Continued resentment of the loss
of the Arica port to Chile in 2884
• Population 35%
Quechua, 30% mestizo
25% Aymara 15% white
• Market-oriented
reforms successful from
1993-1997
• Economic downturn
and coca eradication led
to major civil
disturbances in 2000
and 2002
• Strong nationalist and
movements opposed to
export of natural gas
The rebellion
in Bolivia
offers
inspiration to
antiglobalization
activists who
see it as a
hopeful sign
of global
rebellion
against the
world
capitalist
system
Burning a foreign owned bank
President Gonzalo
Sanchez de Morales or
Goni is forced to resign
President Carlos Mesa takes over
Evo Morales leader of
Bolivia’s coca growers.
Chile
• Population is mostly mestizo, small
indigenous and European groups,
mostly urban
• Salvador Allende, first Marxist
elected by popular vote in Latin
America, in 1970
• Repressive military government
after 1973 coup d’etat stabilizes
economy and builds foundation for
growth
• After a plebiscite and 1989
elections political democracy has
been stable
• Free market-oriented economic
policies have been remarkably
successful
Uruguay
• Population 88% white,
8% mestizo, 4% black
• Military coup in 1973
suppressed the
Tupamaro guerillas
• Democratic
governments since 1985
have struggled with
inflation and debt
• Uruguay’s economy is
closely linked to
Argentina’s and it was
dragged down by the
2001 crisis
TUPAMARO by Roberto Muso
Soy un guacho del 63,
el barrio Palermo fue el que me vio crecer,
y ahí conocí al mago Pantaleón
que vive acá abajo por la calle Yaguarón.
Y una vuelta que andábamos remamados
dijo: "yo te puedo hacer que viajes al pasado"
pensé: "con la celeste dar la vuelta en el 50,
o ser un tupamaro de los 60".
Tupamaro, no me equivoqué
Tupamaro, yo quise ser
Tupamaro, le pedí al mago.
(continues)
The social movement today
Tupamaro: the board game
Paraguay
• Population 95%
mestizo, Spanish and
Guarani are the official
languages
• Market economy with a
large informal sector,
lots of smuggling to
Brazil
• Political uncertainty,
corruption, and debt
have inhibited
economic progress
• Dictator Alfredo
Stroessner ruled from
1954 to 1989
• Democratic elections since 2000 have focused on corruption
Partido Colorado
Partido Nacional o Blanco
Frente Ampla
National Flag
Uruguayan politics has been divided historically between
the Colorado and Nacional or Blanco Parties, but the
Encuento Progresista, a left-of-center united front has
challenged the Colorados in recent elections.
Brazil
with184
million
people is
larger than
Spanish
speaking
South
America.
It is a
federation
of
Portuguese
speaking
states.
Paraguay
Uruguay
Chile
Bolivia
Argentina
Brazil
Argentina
Bolivia
Brazil
Chile
Uruguay
Paraguay
Populations of Southern Cone Countries
The Brazilian flag has 27 white five pointed stars, one for each state
and the federal district, arranged in the same pattern as the night sky
over Brazil, including the Southern Cross.
The slogan”Order and Progress” reflects the influence of Auguste
Comte’s positivist theories in Brazilian social thought.
An excerpt from a description of the flag on a Brazilian
WEB site. Portuguese is closely related to Spanish, but
the pronunciation is different.
A legenda, escrita em verde, "Ordem e Progresso", é um
resumo do lema de Auguste Comte, criador do
Positivismo, do qual Teixeira Mendes era adepto. O
lema completo era "o amor por princípio e a ordem por
base; o progresso por fim." Segundo o próprio Teixeira
Mendes, o objetivo do lema era mostrar que a revolução
"não aboliu simplesmente a monarquia", mas que ela
aspirava "fundar uma pátria de verdadeiros irmãos,
dando à Ordem e ao Progresso todas as garantias que a
história nos demonstra serem necessárias à sua
permanente harmonia.”
January 1, 2003
Democratic transition from from Fernando
Henrique Cardoso to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
Childhood
• Lula da Silva
• Fernando Henrique
• Born 27 Oct 1945 in the
interior of Pernambuco
• Seventh of eight children
• Father left for São Paulo
and his wife’s cousin just
before Lula was born
• Raised in extreme poverty
in the interior of
Pernambuco
• Mother, Dona Lindu, the
dominant influence in his
childhood
• Born 18 June 1931 in Rio
de Janeiro
• First born of three
• Good relationship with
both parents
• Raised in a family with a
distinguished history
• Father a leftist army
officer, lawyer and
politician
• Paternal grandmother
dominant figure at home
Fernando Henrique with
his mother and his paternal
grandmother.
Lula at 3 years old with sister Maria. The clothes and
shoes were loaned to him for the photograph.
FHC:
Scion of the Aristocracy
Parents and siblings
Father beside a bust of
FHC’s grandfather.
Grandfather on his white horse
Cardoso is a Social Democrat but is often
stigmatized as a “neoliberal.” He was elected
President in 1994 by an alliance between his
Brazilian Social Democratic Party and the Party of
the Liberal Front. He was sent to the Senate
in1982 by the Brazilian Democratic Movement
Party. As a youth, he was affiliated with a cultural
group of the Brazilian Communist Party.
Parties in Lula’s
2003 Electoral
Alliance
Lula’s parents: Aristides and Euridice (Dona Lindu)
Lula growing up...
Lula on His Father
• “I feel bad about my father (tenho mágoa)
because I think he was very ignorant. He
was a fount of ignorance (um poço de
ignorância). He died in1978 as an
indigent.”
• Lula’s father was illiterate and did not want
any of his children to surpass him by going
to school. He carried a newspaper to work,
sometimes upside down.
• He earned enough as a longshoreman in
Santos to support two families.
Lula on His Mother
• “I thank God for my mother’s courage… At
a time of great misery, my mother raised
five sons who became poor but honest men
and three daughters who did not have to
prostitute themselves. I believe this is a
very noble thing.”
• “My mother sold her watch, her donkey, her
religious statues, her family photographs,
she sold everything, everything she had to
leave the Northeast.”
A Mother’s Boy
• He felt humiliated and
neglected by his father
• He told his brothers
the best thing their
father ever did for
them was to leave with
another woman
• He rebelled against his
father by getting an
education and having a
more successful career
• He cried the first time
he spent a night away
from his mother - on
his honeymoon
• His mother strongly
supported his drive to
get an education
• He won the struggle
for his mother’s love
when she broke with
his two-timing father
Youth
• Lula da Silva
• Fernando Henrique
• Mother and siblings
moved to Santos in the
back of a truck when he
was seven
• Worked as vendor, shoe
shiner and delivery boy
• Public elementary school
• Mother separated from
abusive husband, moved
to São Paulo with children
• Won admission to threeyear training program as a
lathe mechanic
• Father encouraged him to
pursue his literary and
intellectual interests
• Did well in school, but
failed Latin exam for law
school
• Majored in social sciences
because of interest in
Brazilian nationalism
• Involved with an
intellectual journal linked
to the Communist Party
Lula with youthful
friends.
Fernando Henrique with
wife Ruth and son
Young Adulthood
• Lula da Silva
• Fernando Henrique
• Marries a fellow worker
• Wife and newborn die in
childbirth with poor
medical care
• Works as a lathe operator
• Marries a widow, Marisa,
who has a son
• Becomes active in the
metal workers union
• Jailed briefly by military
regime as a strike leader
• Marries a fellow student
and starts a family
• Joins Marxist study group
with friends who become
leading intellectuals
• Begins academic career
• Forced into comfortable
exile by the 1964 military
coup
• Becomes intellectual star
in exile in Chile and
France
Arrested by the
military police in
1980 during a 41 day
general strike in the
industrial suburbs of
Sao Paulo.
Lula’s wife Marisa in front of the church where they were
married, and showing the first PT flag which she sewed.
Discussing
politics
in 1975
Entering Politics
• Lula da Silva
• Fernando Henrique
• Decided to join the group
forming the Workers Party
in 1979 when the military
allows multiple parties
• Joins in forming an
independent labor
federation, the Central
Única dos Trabalhadores
in 1983
• Joins the campaign for
Direct Elections Now! in
1984
• Decides not to join the
Workers Party and joins
the Party of the Brazilian
Democratic Movement
• Elected as Alternate to the
Senate on MDB ticket,
succeeds to Senate when
Franco Montoro becomes
governor of São Paulo
• Joins the campaign for
Direct Elections Now! in
1984
Direct Elections Now!
Lula’s Political Campaigns
• 1982, loses campaign for governor of São Paulo
• 1986, elected to Constituent Assembly to draft
new constitution, FHC one of the leaders
• 1989, loses run-off for Presidency to Fernando
Collor, later impeached for corruption
• 1994, loses Presidency to Fernando Henrique
Cardoso, the Finance Minister who ended inflation
• 1998, loses Presidency to Fernando Henrique
Cardoso as country weathers economic storm
• 2002, elected President of Brazil on the first round
after moderating his platform
Lula’s 1989 Campaign
Campaigning in Porto Alegre in 1988
Time goes by and so many at work.
Suddenly, this clarity to notice
Who has always been sincere and to trust,
Without fear of being happy.
I want to see it come...
Lula-lá! A star is shining!
Lula-lá! Hope grows!
Lula-lá! In this child-Brazil and in the joy of embracing...
Lula-lá! With sincerity,
Lula-lá! Certainly!
Lula-lá! For you, my first vote,
Lula-lá! To make our star shine!
Lula-lá! That's we together!
Lula-lá! It was worth the wait!
Lula-lá! My first vote
To make our star shine!
("Lula lá!", by Hilton Acioly, theme-tune of the 1989 campaign).
1994 Campaign photos
Upper left with Manoelzao
Lower left with Cinta Larga
and Surui Indians
Victory!
2003
Inauguration
Personal History
• FHC: His privileged family background and
intellectual brilliance make it difficult for him to
relate to common people, through the mass media.
He is strong in one-on-one relationships.
• Lula - His success story is inspiring and gives
him the ability to empathize with common people.
People of all classes really want him to succeed.
• Lula - His mixture of radical rhetoric and
pragmatic policies is rooted in his experience as a
union leader and speaks to the emotional and
practical needs of the Brazilian people
Biographer Brito Alves on Lula’s Personality
• Restless , pugnacious, well spoken, authentic,
charismatic, strong willed, persistent and
determined, full of initiative, creativity and
leadership spirit
• Ethical and engaged, struggles tooth and nail for
the interests of the workers
• Has much in common with George Bush:
informality, frankness and human warmth
• Likes soap operas, magazines, cooking on a wood
stove, smoking, informal socializing.
• Emotional, cries easily, likes to touch people,
doesn’t like being alone, doesn’t hold grudges
Leadership Traits
• Strength - FHC and Lula are both strong
leaders working in a democratic framework
• Competence - FHC is exceptionally
competent, Lula relies on advisors
• Empathy - Lula is warm and expressive,
FHC is dry and academic, perceived as
“distant from the people”
Communicating feelings at a press
conference with Finance
Minister Antonio Palocci
Political Parties
• The Workers Party is more organized and
disciplined than Brazil’s other major parties, with
the ideological left a marginalized minority
• It has a reputation for honesty and idealism, sadly
compromised by some recent scandals
• Its historic base is the labor aristocracy and state
employees - a sort of UAW/AFSCME merger
• Cardoso’s Social Democratic Party has more
business and middle class private sector support.
• The other parties are more regional and careerist,
often focused around leading personalities
• Party affiliations are often fluid Brazil
Ideology
• Lula was always a “bread and butter” unionist and
democrat, not a leftist ideologue
• The term “Neoliberalism” is used as a way of
expressing anti-market feelings without
advocating a non-market economy.
• “Liberalism” is a positive term as is “Socialism”
but neither is used to refer to explicit policies
• Both FHC and Lula are social democrats with
similar policy goals, but it is not not expedient for
Lula to admit this.
• Lula is more sympathetic to nationalist and stateled development ideas
Lula is a social drinker whose job requires him to attend a
great many social events. He also is inclined to gain weight
from attending too many banquets.
He relates well to foreign leaders
Of all political persuasions..
Similarities
• All the countries have had problems with
inflation, and inefficient and corrupt
government spending. Rooted in class
inequality and a history of colonial
exploitation
• All have debt and fiscal problems
• All had a history of radical movements and
military regimes and have democratized
Similarities
• All have adopted a version of free market
economic policies despite popular
reluctance
• All have some nostalgia for a “national
project” and reluctance to join the global
system
• All have more leftist political cultures than
the United States
Differences
• Bolivia has a major social division between
the white and indigenous populations which
has made the political problems more
difficult
• Argentina seems to have a more severe
political divisions and worse problems with
corruption and poor leadership
• Chile has maintained exceptional political
stability and consensus after
democratization
Differences
• Brazil had the advantage of exceptionally
good leadership under Fernando Henrique
Cardoso
• Brazil has a national culture of working
things out, “dar um jeito” while Argentina
has a culture of messing things up
• Under Lula da Silva, Brazil has a leader
who is highly popular, yet who is
continuing market-oriented policies
Future Speculation
• Revolutionary politics will be limited to
failed states, such as Bolivia. Even after a
total collapse of Argentine capitalism, few
wanted to turn to socialism
• Globalization will continue, with the
countries becoming more similar in
economic and political policies
• Major future problems will be crime, drugs
and improving social services