Neoliberal Forms of Capital and the Rise of Social Movement Partysim in Central America

Paul Almeida has a new article in the Journal of World-Systems Research entitled Neoliberal Forms of Capital and the Rise of Social Movement Partysim in Central America. Here's the abstract:

Historical shifts in global economic formations shape the strategies of resistance movements in the global South. Neoliberal forms of economic development over the past thirty years in Central America have weakened traditional actors sponsoring popular mobilization such as labor unions and rural cooperatives. At the same time, the free market reforms produced new threats to economic livelihood and well-being throughout the region.

The neoliberal measures that have generated the greatest levels of mass discontent include rising prices, privatization, labor flexibility laws, mining projects, and free trade. This article analyzes the role of emerging antineoliberal political parties in alliance with popular movements in Central America. Countries with already existing strong anti-systemic parties in the initial phases of the global turn to neoliberalism in the late twentieth century resulted in more efficacious manifestations of social movement partyism in the twenty-first century resisting free market globalization.

Paul takes an interesting look at the participation of Central American social movement parties in several recent contentious issues, including privatizations, negotiations over CAFTA-DR, and model cities programs among others. There are a lot of potential extensions from the project. One could focus on individual social movement parties in opposition and in government (FMLN, FSLN); explain the success/failure of various social movement parties electorally and on specific issues; and transnational linkages among social movement parties.