Reassessing the Pink Tide: Lessons from Brazil and Venezuela

Rahul A. Sirohi · Samyukta Bhupatiraju

Oct 2020 · Springer Nature

About this eBook

This book evaluates the record of the Left in Brazil and Venezuela, two key cases of the “pink tide” wave. The wave of Left governments that emerged across Latin America in the early 2000s – a process dubbed the “pink tide” – has been on the wane in recent years. The Left regimes that, at one point, seemed unbeatable have either been defeated at the ballot, ousted through coups or have had to contend with increasing economic and political conflicts which have nullified many of their achievements. This book argues – like many voices on the Left today – that the waning of the “pink tide” in the region must be viewed in the context of the Left’s inability to initiate radical structural changes in its constituencies. At the same time, however, the book makes the case for a more nuanced and balanced evaluation of the development record of the Left than is often done. In doing so, it seeks to go beyond the reform–revolution binary that has blinkered recent assessments and intends to highlight alternative paths that the Left could have taken.

About the author

Rahul A Sirohi is an Assistant Professor, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology, Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh, India. Dr. Sirohi is a development economist and is the author of From Developmentalism to Neoliberalism: A Comparative Analysis of Brazil and India (2019).

Samyukta Bhupatiraju is ICSSR Postdoctoral Fellow, School of Economics, University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad, Telangana, India. Dr. Bhupatiraju’s recent research focuses on the development experiences of countries in the Global South. She holds a Ph.D. in Economics from United Nations University-MERIT, The Netherlands.