NEOLIBERAL RESTRUCTURING AND SCENARIOS OF DEMOCRATIC CONSOLIDATION IN LATIN-AMERICA

Post-authoritarian democratic regimes in Latin America confront serious social and economic challenges that stem from the so-called ''Washington Consensus'' promoting market-oriented reforms designed to achieve a more competitive insertion in the world economy. The consequences of these neoliberal restructuring projects (erosion of the state's capacity for macroeconomic regulation, disarticulation of mechanisms of political representation of collective actors, strengthening of the structural power of segments of the entrepreneurial class etc.) have profoundly transformed prevailing social and economic structures. Examining various alternative future scenarios, the author concludes that, despite considerable diversity among countries of the region, the emergent political order, although liberal and democratic, will likely govern strongly elitist and socially regressive societies.