Impulse to Revolution in Latin America (review)

238 SAIS REVIEW that the allocation of resources is unimportant in the formation of economic policy, and that government restrictions on international trade and payments are necessary for development. Many of Lai's most important critiques, however, are lost in a flurry of unsubstantiated and exaggerated opinion. For example, he denies the validity of Third World concern with unemployment by arguing that "in the absence of unemployment insurance, only the relatively wealthy can afford the luxury of being unemployed in search of better jobs than are currently available." Turning to the question of poverty, LaI questions the World Bank's estimates of required nutritional levels account because they neglect the fact that individual nutritional requirements vary greatly, and thus the attempt to reduce the needs to a single figure is sure to be inaccurate. This type of insensitivity to the problems of the Third World suggests that LaI is more comfortable with the theories of Marshall or Pigou than with the physical manifestations of underdevelopment. On his home turf, the critique of the dirigistes, LaI is often quite incisive. Although his blind faith in the power of "getting the prices right" is simplistic, particularly in the highly regulated international markets of today, he makes many persuasive comments and original arguments. Like the works of Lai's colleague at the London School of Economics and ideological kindred spirit P.T. Bauer, The Poverty of "Development Economics" will cause many more orthodox economists to question their faith in models of development that stress state, rather than market, power in shaping the structure of the economy. Impulse to Revolution in Latin America. By Jeffrey M. Barrett. New York: Praeger Publishers, 1985. 357 pp. $37.95. Reviewed by Jens J. Braun, M.A. 1986, SAIS. The past three decades have witnessed the failure of a host of development efforts and the success of only a handful. With the inability of many Third World economies to take off into sustained growth, once fashionable ideologies and programs for development have been discarded. Import substitution, once thought to be a spur to the development of young, exposed economies, only introduced new problems. Dependency theory felt good to people in Third World nations but brought no tangible improvements. Today the catchword is "small enterprise"; we have given up on governments and on trying to set entire national economies on course. The current of thought on world development is clearly shifting. It is increasingly felt that development, or what is sometimes referred to as modernization, depends on cultural factors as much as on capital accumulation, industrial capacity, or any other economic variable. Jeffrey Barrett's book Impulse to Revolution in Latin America is part of this current, which reflects a return to theories of the early twentieth century. Though the theories have progressed beyond the use of offensive terms such as "uncivilized peoples," some of the concepts implied by these terms have been revived. Barrett, dealing exclusively with Latin America, promotes the thesis BOOK REVIEWS 239 that no development efforts can be truly successful in cultures where various "modernization-impeding values" are prevalent. The book takes a hard look at why it is important to go beyond economics into the cultural history, habits, and value systems of the underdeveloped nations to discern why they remain underdeveloped, and examines why various impediments overcome by the developing European nations appear insurmountable to the Third World today . The author goes on to analyze the self-perceptions of Latin Americans and how these perceptions, when incorporated into national identities, encourage the strong nationalistic feelings encountered in the Third World. The book continues with a history of twentieth-century totalitarianism and the manifestation of totalitarian tendencies in Latin America, particularly focusing on leaders and events in Cuba, Argentina, Brazil, and Chile. The implication of the study is that the only real chance Latin Americans have of breaking away from their modernization-impeding values is through the establishment of totalitarian regimes. At the same time there are numerous reasons why Latin Americans are likely to prefer the totalitarian option. The book concludes with an epilogue warning of the dangers in underestimating the Latin American predisposition toward totalitarianism and suggests that Western democracies need to be...