Perspectives for LAP

Abstract

For the past 25 years, LAP has been the site of numerous important debates, critiques, and proposals. Early on, we engaged in a multifaceted critique of modernization theory, a debate on the utility and limitations of dependency theory, and a reexamination of theories of imperialism. Out of this discussion emerged a complex analysis linking internal class struggle to imperial corporate and structures. Subsequently, major essays focusing on Cuba, Chile, and Nicaragua discussed the nature and process of the to socialism. The possibilities and limitations of electoral politics and mixed economies were analyzed, and extraparliamentary and democratic forms of collectivism emerged as sustainable options. Many of the debates and thematic issues reflected the changing realities in Latin America and the United States. From the mid-1970s onward, the intellectual focus shifted toward the U.S.-backed military coups, dictatorships, and human rights violations. In this context, LAP provided a critique of the prevailing orthodoxy, offering a deep structural analysis of the class nature and impact of the dictatorships. In the same vein, LAP identified the class composition of the human rights victims by locating violations in the broader context of the restoration of imperial hegemony and the ascendancy of a neoliberal capitalist class. In the 1980s, essays and special issues of LAP engaged in the debate on the transition to democracy. By focusing on the distinction between state and regime and pointing to the authoritarian continuities in the former as well as in the socioeconomic class system, LAP provided an alternative framework for understanding the continuity of the class and democratic struggle in the postmilitary period. In the most recent period, we have seen special issues on gender, ethnicity, and social identities where partisans of classless identity politics have been taken to task in a limited but effective fashion. In the latest issues, LAP has engaged in a critique of neoliberal and globalization doctrines. The critical focus is on the doctrines' impact and the