Utopia Unarmed: The Latin American Left After the Cold War [Paperback]

Jorge G. Castaneda (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 2, 1994

Castro's Cuba is isolated; the guerrillas who once spread havoc through Uruguay and Argentina are dead, dispersed, or running for office as moderates. And in 1990, Nicaragua's Sandinistas were rejected at the polls by their own constituents. Are these symptoms of the fall of the Latin American left? Or are they merely temporary lulls in an ongoing revolution that may yet transform our hemisphere?

This perceptive and richly eventful study by one of Mexico's most distinguished political scientists tells the story behind the failed movements of the past thirty years while suggesting that the left has a continuing relevance in a continent that suffers from destitution and social inequality. Combining insider's accounts of intrigue and armed struggle with a clear-sighted analysis of the mechanisms of day-to-day power, Utopia Unarmed is an indispensable work of scholarship, reportage, and political prognosis.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

An examination of the Latin American left's ideals of a socialist utopia in light of Western capitalism.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Political scientist Castaneda (Autonomous Univ. of Mexico) provides a sympathetic but academically balanced analysis of the Latin American Left over the past 30 years as well as an agenda for that Left to follow in the decades ahead. While he holds that the Left has been "the most important factor in the continent's political evolution," he also shows that the peoples of Latin America are not much better off after three decades. For the Left to pose a viable and substantively different alternative to the status quo, Castaneda posits a program that would achieve a combination of economic growth wih social equity. However, this program rests upon "The Grand Bargain" under which the United States remains neutral to nations' choices of economic and social programs and governments and business groups acknowledge "social compensation for the ravages of the market." This outstanding book belongs in all academic libraries and in public libraries with serious readers about world affairs.
- James Rhodes, Luther Coll., Decorah, Ia.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 512 pages
• Publisher: Vintage; Vintage Books ed edition (August 2, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679751416
• ISBN-13: 978-0679751410
• Product Dimensions: 5.6 x 1.1 x 8.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #407,561 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Historiography of left movements and progressive program, July 3, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Utopia Unarmed: The Latin American Left After the Cold War (Paperback)

This book was originaly written in 1992. An introduction added to account for important developments in 1994 that seem to contradict the main thesis. The book itself has 2 parts arifitially glued together. The first chapters present an excellent historiography of the last 60 years of left movements in Latin America. Parallels, connections and similarities are drawn between different groups in different times and places. All this is very informative, given the numerous references for further reading. One of the main arguments is that armed movements did not succeed in changing the politics of the region (except for a very small number of cases), that the transition to social-democracy activism is much more effective and that all of the democratically elected leftist governments failed to implement workable alternatives. The events in southern Mexico during January 94 contradict the general trend, hence the need for the new introduction. The last part of the book is programatic. Castaneda presents _the_ solution to the problems that plague the continent in the form of "recommendations" for the left (since the right will never do that). The program includes democratization, socially oriented government policies, regulated free-market, etc. As a whole the program is well presented and congruent. However, the apparent intent is to show how these policies are the only alternative based on the experience drawn from the first part of the book. On the last point I find the book lacking. The connection between the different historic cases and trens and the program for the future is not clear enough. Also, some internal contradictions are pointed out but not resolved (as to how the left will be elected with a corrupt polling process, etc)

5.0 out of 5 stars Dated, but still very useful, April 18, 2008

By 

J. Green - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Utopia Unarmed: The Latin American Left After the Cold War (Paperback)

The best part of this book for me was the detailed analysis of the relationship between the Cuban Revolution and the rest of Latin America. The author is particularly good at explaining the differences in Cuban support to the various guerilla movements in the region during the 1970s and 1980s. The discussion of intellectuals in Latin America, especially their role in bridging the gap between the state and civil society, is also quite lucid.

The suggestions for where the left should head now seem dated, given that the book was written more than a decade ago, but that does not diminish the overall quality of this author's scholarship. Simply stated, it is still one of the best histories of the Latin American left.

4 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Poor disenchanted Jorge!, September 9, 2001

By 

O. M. Suarez "aerobol" (Mayagüez, Puerto Rico) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Utopia Unarmed: The Latin American Left After the Cold War (Paperback)

Or should I say poor Mr. Secretary! I read this book right after it was published as someone gave it to me as a gift. The book itself represents a turning point in Castañeda's life: from a progressive Mexican academician to a disenchanted US visiting professor. It is as if the ignominious Berlin Wall fell upon his head. The book transpires the "I was so wrong!" message from the beginning. However, I must admit that on the first part there is a lot of useful raw material that can help us understand the failure of armed movements in Latin America. Particularly accurate is the piece on Montoneros, the Argentine urban guerrilleros. However, it is Castañeda's analysis what is wrong. Then his proposal for the "left" (the "left" HE has in his own confused mind) proved wrong just some months after the publication of the book with the coming of the Zapatistas onto Mexican political arena. No wonder Catañeda's posterior attempts to discredit the movement: these irreverent Zapatistas were not following HIS proposal based on well-thought academic premises, conceived in a clean professor's office away from (social) reality. His current appointment as the Secretary of Foreign Relations in a right wing administration demonstrates clearly Castañeda's solid convictions that he had already gave off in this book.