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Forgotten Continent: The Battle for Latin America's Soul

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Michael Reid's task in "Forgotten Continent" is onerous: in one book - a large one, to be sure - he wants to summarize two hundred years of a continent's history, and to argue that Latin America is now ready for a major change: the embrace of Free Market Democracy in earnest for the first time.

The thesis of the book is simple: Latin America is torn between reformers - democrats who support free markets and democracy, and populists - who support neither. Reid argues that although the populists have considerable appeal in the region, the tide has turned against them. Unlike previous eras, the current embrace of democracy and capitalism - augmented with a great deal of redistribution policies - is here to last.

Surprisingly for a journalist, Reid's history of Latin American, in three large chapters which take us from the 1820s to the 1990s, is cumbersome and hard to read. It is only when he gets to economic history that Reid, a correspondent for The Economist, hits his stride; A chapter on the development of the Washington Consensus is fascinating; I've read general economic accounts of 1997-1998 crisis (e.g. Paul Krugman's The Return of Depression Economics) and a specific study of Argentina's woes (Paul Bluestein's And the Money Kept Rolling In (and Out) Wall Street, the IMF, and the Bankrupting of Argentina), but Reid offers a continent wide survey of the economic liberalization program which started in the 1980s, and offers a balanced evaluation; Unsurprisingly, Reid, like the journal for which he writes, thinks that the reforms were largely successful and positive, and that the responsibility for economic failures in the countries of Latin America lies more in insufficient reform of their economies and institutions and hardly if at all in the malign influence of Wall Street, the US, and the International Monetary Fund.

I was pleased with Reid's decision to dedicate a chapter to Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan President. I originally bought "Forgotten Continent" to a large extent in order to learn more about the man and the phenomenon. Unfortunately Reid's account, although informative about Chavez's biography (coolest tid-bit: did you know that Chavez has his own TV show in which he dazzles Venezuelan audiences for five to seven hours every week?) but did not really enlighten me about the overall significance of "The Chavez Revolution", for Venezuela, Latin America, or the world. Overall, Reid's conclusion corresponds to the views I held before reading his book: Chavez's Venezuela is less democratic and more corrupt than the very imperfect regimes that came before it. Chavez's entire regime rests on the high price of oil; once that is gone, Chavez, and unfortunately, his country are in for a rude awakening (for a dissenting view, see Bart Jones's biography Hugo!: The Hugo Chavez Story from Mud Hut to Perpetual Revolution).

Reid's focus is squarely on economics and politics. The chapter on the changing societies of Latin America is short and feels rudimentary. Reid touches briefly upon the region's press (becoming more liberal and open), religion (becoming more diverse, with a decline of traditional Catholicism and the rise of Protestantism) and race relations (becoming more complicated, as the previously hushed reality of racism is brought to the surface, unleashing various forces and counter forces), but doesn't do them justice.

The heart of the book is the description of the struggle to reform: not only the state and the economy, but the law enforcement and education systems. That improving schools is a difficult job comes as no surprise; Investing in education is relatively easy, but making sure that the investment is productive is much more difficult (see William Easterly's The Elusive Quest for Growth: Economists' Adventures and Misadventures in the Tropics and The White Man's Burden: Why the West's Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good). The difficulties of reforming the law enforcement services owe much to the so-called "War on drugs": US pressure on Latin American countries to destroy coca production causes unnecessary resentment, and is unlikely to effect the availability of crack-cocaine on US streets - the high price of cocaine isn't due to scarcity but to the risks involved in moving it within the market countries, where it is much more heavily regulated (p.256). But beyond the inherent problems in reform, the main obstacle to the spread of effective, free market democracies is the weak economic performances of Latin America. Unlike China and India, which clearly enjoy the benefits of Globalization, the economic performance of most Latin American countries have been abysmal.

Why has Latin America's economies (with few exceptions such as Chile) performed so badly? It's hard to say. The great differences in size, population, geography, system of government, availability of natural resources, etc, guarantees that challenges would always be launched against any single "one size fits all" explanation. Regardless of the cause, Reid argues that Latin America's improved economic policies in the 1990s and 2000s would lead to improved economic outcome, and thus the reformers (and not the populists) would win the "Battle for the Soul of Latin America". Let's hope he's right - a poor Latin America dominated by quasi-socialistic dictators, as in the 20th century, would be a grim reality for the 21st.

In "Forgotten Continent" Michael Reid offers a balanced, and in many ways refreshing, interpretation of modern Latin America. He eschews two common, competing views of the region, disagreeing with the leftist argument that Latin America has been a victim of "neoliberalism" and globalization, as well as the opposing thesis that Latin countries are doomed to dictatorship and poverty due to deeply rooted cultural impediments. Instead, Reid argues that Latin America has made tremendous strides--economically, politically, and socially--during the past quarter century. Despite his largely positive assessment, the author is under no illusion regarding the continued challenges facing the region. Its largest challenge comes from populism, best embodied by Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, and the continuing temptation of economic policies that have proved disastrous in the past.

While the text is at times dry (especially in sections heavy on economics), overall it offers a fresh take on a part of the world that does not receive much attention among the popular press. After reading the book, I could not help but to share some of Reid's cautious optimism about the "forgotten continent." This book can be enjoyed both by Latinamericanists and curious newcomers alike.

A strong neoliberal perspective; he sees the "battle" as between rational approaches to development and self-destructive, authoritarian-tending populism. Presents both sides but isn't very sympathetic to his opponents' POV. But it's a very clear, complexly schematic modern historical account of how the continent got to where it is and where it should go from here.

Michael Reid piece is a very interesting point of a region facing unique challenges. 21st Century Latin America will have to face important issues regarding competitiveness and education and Reid is able to provide a unique historic background on the issue. At times is extensive and could be seen as an academic piece, quite different from those briefings done by The Economist, where Reid is the Editor-in-Chief for Latin America. His main focus is Brazil and Mexico, due to the size of those economies, so the reader should not expect much from the other areas.

I suggest if you read this piece, also read Andres Oppenheimer book called "Cuentos Chinos" or its equivalent in English "Saving the Americas" - awkward translation here is the link Saving the Americas: The Dangerous Decline of Latin America and What The U.S. Must Do

It is very sad that we in Latin America have to learn more about the history and current affairs of our continent from foreign writers. Our own literature is full on panegirists of the left that even confronted with the sham that is Cuba and its totalitarian regime that has failed in providing a better life for its masses still try to sell us the idea that revolution and marxism is the way to go for our development. Living in Ecuador, currently under the XXI Century Socialist regime of Correa and having everyday to hear his endless tirades and propaganda and knowing that most of what he sells is untrue and that populism is probably the main cause of our backwardness this book was very refreshing to me.

You have to look at the good examples such as Chile and even Colombia or Peru are currently developing their nations based on a democratic and open market model of development. We are capable people in this continent, we are passionate and hard workers and with a capable state apparatus we can achieve a good life and development but we are also gullible and still expect a miracle from an iluminated leader that magically transforms our societies and can achieve development with social equity but without sacrifices. This explains how Chavez, Correa, Morales, Ortega, the Kirchner couple have achieved power through their badly executed and corrupt social investment and redistribution schemes and that is why potentially rich countries such as Venezuela and Argentina are declining instead of moving forward.

I hope every educated person in Latin America have the opportunity of reading this book so at least they can glimpse the truth from other perspective. For me it was an eye oppener and I live this reality every day.

I just finished reading this book and while it is a bit pessamistic, the outlook for the continent is the same. I would love to respond to an earlier review saying that the author was "not academic". I have a Ph.D. and teach Latin American Studies and found his footnotes to be very thorough and would not expect him to carry out interviews as they would be biased to his cause. However, he draws from previously published sources. I ask the previous reviewer what his experience of academia is?

Excellent! Read this book to know what is happening now in Latin America, especially for a concise overview of the Argentina debacle where I spend half the year.

An intense and concsie study of latin America's political, economic and caste systems defined and discusssed. A very well thought out book.

This book contains a lot of information, but lacks a unifying framework. Not very useful as a guide to the region's politics or economics; it functions like a unhinged collection of facts. I was a bit disappointed.

After an exhaustive search for a contemporary, comprehensive and relevant text for an MBA class I was teaching on Latin American businesss, I chose this book. Although the book is well-written, engaging and insightful, it did not suit the purposes of a basic text on the region. I likely would have done better with a less up-to-date choice, yet one which provided greater political/historical context for each country. It is clearly best-suited for the reader with some background in Latin America -- or, at the very least, a consistent reader of The Economist. The stronger students in my class were highly engaged and were able to use it as a strong supplement to the assigned case studies and articles. The less experienced students found it confusing and hard to follow and were generally unable to keep up with the author's chapter/country jumps as he tracks the common regional threads and concepts. My take-away is -- great book for someone seeking to understand the region and themes today but less helpful as an introduction for regional newcomers.

Great overview of the politics, society, and economics of the region. I'd definitely recommend this book to anyone interested in contemporary Latin America.