New Left Regimes in the Andes? Ecuador in Comparative Perspective

Resumen

Liisa L. North’s “New Left Regimes in the Andes? Ecuador in Comparative Perspective” is an important contribution to the debate surrounding the progressive regimes that have taken office in several Latin and South American countries [see SPE 90]. Examining the changes Correa’s government is making to public services, education, and employment, North suggests that it is engaged in a project of “capitalist modernization, and state building” rather than an attempt to create a socialist economy and society. North, however, sees the ongoing transformation as a process full of contradictions, and recognizes that, given the long-term history of the country, such a goal is almost revolutionary.