Refeudalization and the Crisis of Civilization: Political essays by Olaf Kaltmeier and Edgardo Lander

This volume discusses the civilizatory crisis and processes of refeudalization in Latin America, highlighting social inequality and the failure of Pink Tide governments to provide alternatives to extractivism. It offers a political diagnosis from the Global South and provides new vocabulary for social change.

Format: Hardback
Length: 238 pages
Publication date: 02 June 2023
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd

This volume brings into dialogue two of the most creative approaches to rethinking capitalism in the 21st century. In Part 1, Olaf Kaltmeier takes issue with the state of social inequality in the region, highlighting the concentration of wealth within the upper 1% of society in Latin America. Comparing the current economic situation with the ancient regime, the discussion centers around the new phenomena like billionaires as presidents, increased luxury consumption, an emerging culture of distinction, and the intensification of land and spatial segregation. In Part 2, Lander urgently assesses the current state and political legacy of the Pink Tide governments in his essay Crisis of Civilization. Reviewing the past two decades of the new millennium, Lander critiques the failure of these governments to provide alternatives to extractivism and economic dependencies. Finally, Hans-Jürgen Burchardt connects the arguments through interviews where both authors sum their efforts to open the issues to future dialogue.

Refeudalization in Latin America provides an accessible and thought-provoking political diagnosis from the Global South that departs from the oft idiosyncratic and cyclical debates of the Global North to offer new vocabulary for social change. It will interest scholars and students of global studies, sociology, and political science.

Weight: 620g
Dimension: 229 x 152 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781032312552