In this Book
- Liberalism at Its Limits: Crime and Terror in the Latin American Cultural Text
- Book
- 2009
- Published by: University of Pittsburgh Press
- Series: Illuminations: Cultural Formations of the Americas
summary
In Liberalism at Its Limits, Ileana Rodríguez considers several Latin American nations that govern under the name of liberalism yet display a shocking range of nondemocratic features. In her political, cultural, and philosophical analysis, she examines these environments in which liberalism seems to have reached its limits, as the universalizing project gives way to rampant nonstate violence, gross inequality, and neocolonialism.
Focusing on Guatemala, Colombia, and Mexico, Rodríguez shows how standard liberal models fail to account for new forms of violence and exploitation, which in fact follow from specific clashes between liberal ideology and local practice. Looking at these tensions within the ostensibly well-ordered state, Rodríguez exposes how the misunderstanding and misuse of liberal principles are behind realities of political turmoil, and questions whether liberalism is in fact an ideology sufficient to empower populations and transition nation-states into democratic roles in the global order.
In this way, Liberalism at Its Limits offers a critical examination of the forced fitting of liberal models to Latin American nations and reasserts cross-cultural communication as crucial to grasping the true link between varying systems of value and politics.
Focusing on Guatemala, Colombia, and Mexico, Rodríguez shows how standard liberal models fail to account for new forms of violence and exploitation, which in fact follow from specific clashes between liberal ideology and local practice. Looking at these tensions within the ostensibly well-ordered state, Rodríguez exposes how the misunderstanding and misuse of liberal principles are behind realities of political turmoil, and questions whether liberalism is in fact an ideology sufficient to empower populations and transition nation-states into democratic roles in the global order.
In this way, Liberalism at Its Limits offers a critical examination of the forced fitting of liberal models to Latin American nations and reasserts cross-cultural communication as crucial to grasping the true link between varying systems of value and politics.
Table of Contents
Download Full Book
- Contents, Acknowledgment
- pp. vii-ix
- Chapter 7: The Perverse Heterosexual
- pp. 175-196
- Index of Names
- pp. 233-235
Additional Information
ISBN
9780822973539
Related ISBN(s)
9780822943686, 9780822960195
MARC Record
OCLC
747305550
Pages
247
Launched on MUSE
2012-01-11
Language
English
Open Access
No