Transnational Conflicts Central America, Social Change, and Globalization

by Robinson, William I.

• ISBN13: 9781859844397
• ISBN10: 1859844391
• Edition: 00
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-10-16
• Publisher: VERSO

Summary

In this timely and provocative study, William I. Robinson challenges received wisdom on Central America. He starts with an exposition on the new global capitalism. Then, drawing on a wide range of historical documentation, interviews, and social science research, he proceeds to show how capitalist globalization has thoroughly transformed the region, disrupting the conventional pattern of revolutionary upheaval, civil wars, and pacification, and ushering in instead a new transnational model of economy and society. Beyond his focus on Central America, Robinson provides a critical framework for understanding development and social change in other regions of the world in the age of globalization. Demonstrating how the very forces of capitalism have brought into being new social agents and political actors unlikely to acquiesce in the face of the emerging order, Transnational Conflicts shows why the Isthmus, along with other regions, is likely to return to the headlines in the near future.

Author Biography

William I. Robinson is Associate Professor of Sociology, Global Studies, and Latin American Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara

Table of Contents

Foreword and Acknowledgements	ix
Acronyms and Abbreviations	xiii
Introduction: Development and Social Change	1	(8)
Towards A Globalization Perspective	1	(2)
Origin of this Study and Methodological and Epistemological Concerns	3	(3)
Organization of the Book	6	(3)
1 The Dialectics of Globalization and Development	9	(54)
The Problematic of Globalization and Development	10	(25)
Globalization as Epochal Shift and Systemic Change	10	(3)
From a World Economy to a Global Economy	13	(7)
Beyond Nation-State Paradigms: Towards a New Transnational Studies	20	(8)
Towards a New Conceptualization of Development	28	(7)
Contours of Global Capitalist Society	35	(21)
Global Class Formation: From National to Transnational Classes	35	(7)
Transnationalization of the State	42	(6)
Transnational Hegemony and a Global Social Structure of Accumulation	48	(7)
Conceptualizing Global-Regional-Local Change	55	(1)
Transnational Processes and Transitions to Global Capitalism	56	(7)
A Globalization Model of Third World Transitions	56	(5)
A Model of Transnational Processes	61	(2)
2 The Politics of Globalization and the Transitions in Central America	63	(84)
Central America as a Site of Transnational Processes	64	(7)
Central America's Integration into the Global Economy and Society	64	(2)
Social Structures and Social Forces in Central America: An Overview of the Transitions	66	(5)
Divergence and Convergence in Paths to Globalization: Country Case Studies	71	(76)
Nicaragua: From Revolution to Counterrevolution	71	(16)
El Salvador: Transition Under Direct US Tutelage	87	(15)
Guatemala: The Paradoxes of the "Counterinsurgency State"	102	(16)
Honduras: A Divergent Route to Globalization	118	(14)
Costa Rica: From "Exceptionalism" to Globalization	132	(15)
3 The New Transnational Model in Central America: I: Incorporation into the Global Economy	147	(67)
Central America in the World Economy Prior to Globalization	149	(7)
The Crisis of Central America's Post-WWII Social Structure of Accumulation	149	(7)
Central America's Emerging Profile in the Global Economy	156	(53)
The Fourth Period of Central American Rearticulation and Expansion	156	(3)
From ISI to the Maquiladoras	159	(15)
Non-Traditional Agricultural Exports	174	(15)
Tourism and Hospitality	189	(14)
The Export of Labor and Remittances	203	(6)
Conclusions	209	(5)
4 The New Transnational Model in Central America: II: Incorporation into Global Society	214	(81)
Restructuring the State and Civil Society	214	(21)
The Rise of Transnational Fractions and "Technopols" in Central America	214	(3)
From the "Developmental State" to the "Neo-Liberal State" and the New Hegemony of Capital	217	(5)
Transnationalization of Civil Society in Central America	222	(4)
The NGO Phenomenon in Central America	226	(9)
Structural Adjustment in Central America: Commodification, Financial Liberalization, and Proletarianization	235	(24)
Financial Liberalization and the New Financial Elite	236	(8)
Neo-Liberal Social Policies: The Privatization of Social Reproduction	244	(8)
Rural Transformation, Depeasantization, and Urbanization	252	(7)
Transnational Social Structure	259	(36)
Restructuring the Central American Labor Force: Informalization and the New Capital-Labor Relation	259	(11)
Transnational Migration	270	(13)
Women and Transnational Processes: Global and Central American Dimensions	283	(12)
5 The Contradictions of Global Capitalism and the Future of Central America	295	(38)
A New Cycle of Capitalist Development in Central America?	295	(17)
Can Capitalist Expansion be Sustained?	297	(3)
The Viability of the Transnational Model	300	(3)
Global Capitalism and Social Exclusion in Central America	303	(5)
Maldevelopment for Whom in Central America?	308	(4)
The Future of Popular Struggle in Central America and in Global Society	312	(13)
Global Polarization and the Crisis of Social Reproduction	312	(3)
The Illusion of "Peace and Democracy" in Central America	315	(4)
A Long March Through Civil Society? The Prospects for Counter-Hegemony	319	(6)
Final Considerations	325	(8)
Whither the Sociology of Development? From a Territorial to a Social Conception of Development	325	(5)
An Afterword on Researching Globalization and Social Change	330	(3)
Notes	333	(54)
Index	387