21st Century Socialism Research Articles

Populist orality in 21st Century latin american socialism: an analysis of political discourse

This article offers a review and reflection on the new forms of orality and transmission of speeches in the context of 21st Century Socialism. It is highlighted that politicians use language daily through speeches in order to convince the recipient of their point of view, which has generated new forms of political organization in South American countries. The analysis focuses on the importance of political language in creating meanings and in the main political maneuvers, as well as the competition of political actors for the favors of the people in the civic scene. The relevance of discourse theory in understanding social relations and their transformation is highlighted, as well as the influence of populism on society's perception of media systems and their relationship with the "powers that be”. Additionally, the use of political marketing, its impact on the persuasion and manipulation of public opinion, and the influence of ancient rhetoric on contemporary politics are addressed. The technological-cultural struggle between alternative ways of perceiving and arguing reality is mentioned, highlighting the importance of understanding discourse in its textual, situational, and social practice dimensions. The article offers a comprehensive vision of populist orality in the context of 21st Century Socialism, highlighting its influence on politics, society, and the perception of reality in Latin America.

Considerations on the Origins of Progressive Populisms in Latin America and the Persistence of 21st Century Socialism in Venezuela.

El régimen establecido por Hugo Chávez y continuado por Nicolás Maduro en Venezuela ha generado repercusiones sociales, migratorias, económicas y políticas que han trascendido las fronteras del país, convirtiéndose en un factor desestabilizador para la democracia y la seguridad de América Latina. Para explicar dicho fenómeno, se propone analizar los antecedentes, contextos y elementos que propiciaron su surgimiento y consolidación. Para ello, después de discutir el concepto y las características del populismo, se hace una revisión de su plasmación histórica en los populismos clásicos latinoamericanos de mediados del siglo XX. La sección final se centra en analizar las peculiaridades del neopopulismo latinoamericano y del Socialismo del Siglo XXI en Venezuela. A través de esta exploración, se busca comprender sus bases ideológicas, características y consecuencias, así como proponer hipótesis sobre las causas de su permanencia en el poder.

The addendum and corrigenda of the Puebla Group to the São Paulo Forum: maintaining the political promise after the collapse of 21st century socialism.

La conquista del poder por la izquierda ha tenido un carácter internacional desde su génesis en el siglo XIX. Esta aproximación colaborativa permite contextualizar lo que significó el Foro de São Paulo a finales del siglo XX para la izquierda latinoamericana tras la desintegración de la URSS. Por lo que se analiza al Socialismo del siglo XXI como su principal producto, explicando las circunstancias que permitieron su surgimiento en Venezuela, así como su proceso de expansión y crisis, que se vería acentuada por la muerte de los líderes históricos de la izquierda latinoamericana. Finalmente, se presenta al Grupo de Puebla como una respuesta a la iniciativa articuladora de la derecha en América Latina, el Grupo de Lima, indicando por medio de ello los elementos de continuidad y disrupción con el Foro de São Paulo, sirviendo como instancia articuladora de la izquierda en la región.

Латинская Америка: колебания политического маятника Ивановский З.В., ред. Латинская Америка: политический ландшафт на фоне турбулентности. М.: ИЛА РАН, 2022

The left and right, democratic, hybrid, and authoritarian systems, consolidated and unconsolidated democracies, rising giant-states and underdeveloped economies coexist in the region of Latin America and the Caribbean, which covers more than three dozen states that share common historical destiny, language, and religion. This makes the region a fertile ground for studying various types of regimes, political processes and alternative development paths in the modern world, as vividly demonstrated by the collective monograph “Latin America: Political Landscape in the Midst of Turbulence”, published at the end of 2022. Based on a thorough analysis of the situation in the region, the authors of the monograph show that political life in Latin America is characterized by instability and constant reshaping of the political landscape. The strengthening of the positions of right-wing forces replaced the left turn of the 2000s, and since the beginning of the 2020s, the continent has again drifted to the left. The authors pay special attention to the following factors of turbulence in the development of the region: a natural-resource-based economy in most Latin American countries, poor quality of governance, a decline in trust in political institutions caused by regular corruption scandals, the criminalization of society, the increase in drug trafficking and violence, and the inability of law enforcement agencies to ensure citizens’ safety. Several chapters of the monograph are devoted to the varieties of regimes of the “21st century socialism” that exist in Venezuela, Nicaragua and Bolivia, as well as to the oldest socialist regime on the continent in Cuba. According to the reviewer’s conclusion, with the publication of this monograph the readers received valuable work that allows them to better comprehend the essence of the complex political processes that take place in Latin America today.

Notes on neo-Liberalism and XXIth century Socialism in Latin America (1980-2015)

Neoliberalism is an economic model that seeks to reshape society with the market at its core. It first emerged in 1973 in Chile and later spread to other Latin American countries, where it replaced the development model and prevented the socialist alternative. Neoliberalism was imposed rather than chosen democratically, as exemplified by the coup d'état in Chile. Throughout its implementation, it utilized liberal democracy as a means to achieve its goals. Despite more than two decades in practice, neoliberalism proved unsuccessful but did not disappear entirely. As a response to neoliberalism, social protests arose, and new democratic governments emerged in countries like Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Bolivia, and Ecuador. These governments sought to create a more humane and socially-oriented state. This political experiment was referred to as "21st-century socialism" by Hugo Chávez. Among these leaders, Rafael Correa stood out as the only one who provided a theoretical framework for this form of socialism through his lectures, arguments, and interviews. This essay analyzes, systematizes, and explains these ideas. The conclusion drawn is that "21st-century socialism" shares similarities with traditional socialism, but it also exhibits significant differences. This analysis is rooted in the ideas of various authors and, subsequently, incorporates Correa's contributions as conveyed in various media sources.

The Impact of 21-Century Socialism on Venezuela under Chavez’s Governance

Venezuela has gone from a country known for its oil production to a country known for its people's misery and outrageously high inflation rate, and Chavez's 21st-century socialism was the beginning of Venezuela's descent into crisis. Therefore, the research topic of this paper is the impact of 21st-century socialism on Venezuela during Chavez's administration. The methodology of this paper is as follows: first, we collect data on various aspects of Venezuela from 2005 to 2012, such as PCGPD, HDI, GINI Index, poverty rate, etc., and then we inquire about the basic measures of Chavez's 21st-century socialism. The two were combined with correlation analysis. The impact of Chavez’s administration is: at the beginning of the 21st-century socialism, GDP increased, people's happiness increased, and politics stabilized; however, at the end of the Chavez era, the economy collapsed, social chaos, and inflation became serious. 21st-century socialism had some positive effects on Venezuela for a short period during Chavez's reign, however, at the end of the Chavez era, its economic, political, and social disadvantages became apparent. Additionally, in the latter part of the Chávez era, its economic, political, and social shortcomings became apparent and led Venezuela into an unprecedented crisis.

Government Communication as a Device for the Nationalization of the Public: Ecuador 2010: The Speech That Converted a Police Revolt in President Assassination Attempt

During the decade 2007-2017, Ecuador was led by a regime that identified itself as part of 21st Century Socialism. Rafael Correa came to the Presidency with a speech that questioned the traditional party system and the promise of a new Constitution that would recognize the diversity of interests of Ecuadorian society. On September 30, 2010 (30-S), a police revolt led to the retention of President Correa for several hours and ended with an armed confrontation between the police and the military that left several victims. Among them, the reorientation of government communication that distanced itself from the initial inclusive proposal to discourse of exclusion that subordinated the public to the State. This essay proposes a communicational interpretation of this transit based on the evolution of the relationship between the government and social movements and its manifestation in the official discourse about the public.

Teachers Perspective on Redesigning Social Studies Curriculum for Student-Centered and Constructivist Learning: Empirical Study of Secondary Schools, Northern Region

Effective, equitable, and student-centered Social Studies instruction occurs in an environment which is prepared and well designed for that purpose. The 21st Century Social Studies curriculum should be planned to allow teachers to adopt constructivist student-centered pedagogies to improve the learning outcomes of students. However, it appears most teachers in Ghana still apply the traditional rote methods of instruction that deprives students of the ability to acquire 21st century learning due to weaknesses in the existing curriculum. This study was, therefore, conducted to explore from teachers how the Social Studies curriculum can be reformed to create a room for active and student centered learning. A cross-sectional research design was adopted for this study. Senior High School (SHS) Social Studies teachers in Northern Region were the target population for the study (N = 175 teachers). Using Yamane's (1967) formula for sample size determination, 151 teachers were randomly sampled for the study with a confidence level of 97% and a margin error of ±3. Closed-ended item questionnaires were used to mine data from the respondents. The reliability of the items in the questionnaires was tested using the Cronbach alpha formula which yielded a = 0.78, which was acceptable for the study. Using SPSS, data were analyzed employing descriptive statistics such as frequencies, percentages, mean, and standard deviations and the results were presented in tables. The study discovered a high endorsement by teachers on the need for a new Social Studies curriculum that provides an opportunity for meaningful learning; a call for Social Studies curriculum reform to create a room for student-centered learning to improve learning outcomes of students in line with SDG 4. The study recommends curriculum reforms, capacity-building programmes for teachers based on training needs; supply of relevant instructional resources; expansion of SHSs infrastructure and rethinking a ban on SHSs students' use of phones and personal laptops on campuses.

Public or private corruption?

This is a summary of some of the main arguments and findings of the book ¿Corrupción pública o privada? La dimensión ideológica de los discursos anti-corrupción en Colombia, Ecuador y Albania (Bogotá: Tirant lo Blanch, 2020). The book compares the official anti-corruption discourses of president Juan Manuel Santos (2010-2018) in Colombia, president Rafael Correa (2007-2017) in Ecuador and prime minister Edi Rama (2013-present) in Albania. It shows that although these three countries face very similar levels and perceptions of corruption their governments articulate this phenomenon differently due to their distinct ideological positions. While the neoliberal governments of Santos and Rama defined corruption primarily as abuse of public office and locate it mainly in the public sector, or in its interaction with the private one, the government of Rafael Correa, which embraced the 21st Century Socialism, defined corruption primarily as a problem of the private sector that captures and distorts the public sector.

21st-Century Skills and Social Studies Education

Karateristik Abad 21 ditandai dengan adanya berbagai perubahan pada aspek ekonomi, transportasi, teknologi, komunikasi, dan informasi sebagai dampak globalisasi. Oleh karena itu, individu atau kelompok memerlukan keterampilan berpikir kritis dan menyelesaikan masalah, komunikasi, kolaborasi, dan kreativitas dan Inovasi. Tujuan penulisan ini mendeskripsikan keterkaitan pendidikan IPS untuk mengembangkan keterampilan abad 21. Penulisan ini menggunakan studi literatur dengan memanfaatkan jurnal ilmiah, ebook, serta Undang-Undang yang dituangkan dalam hasil penulisan. Hasil penelitian memastikan bahwa pendidikan IPS memiliki keterkaitan dalam mengembangkan keterampilan di abad 21 sebagaimana tujuan Pendidikan IPS untuk pengembangan kemampuan berpikir kritis, keterampilan sosial, dan mampu mengatasi suatu permasalahan baik yang terjadi pada dirinya sendiri maupun masyarakat. Pengembangan keterampilan Abad 21 melalui pendidikan IPS dapat dilakukan melalui berbagai model atau metode pembelajaran IPS yang relevan dengan keterampilan Abad 21 sehingga pendidikan IPS mampu menghasilkan sumber daya manusia yang mampu beradaptasi dan menghadapi tantangan abad 21.

DISCOURSE ON THE CATEGORIES «UNIVERSAL CITIZENSHIP”, «HUMAN RIGHTS» AND «GLOBALIZATION»

Problem setting. Although modern humanity has proclaimed the universality of human dignity and desperately upholds this value, which is fully in harmony with freedom, equality and fraternity, the truth is that in reality it has not yet been able to go beyond the status of a citizen of the nation state in its legal and political conventions. . In this sense, a very important issue is the representation of the real situation around the categories of "universal citizenship", "human rights" and "globalization" in the midst of the geopolitical conflict in Latin America caused by the persecution of 21st century socialism.
 Paper objective. This critical essay aims to discuss the real significance of such political and legal categories as "universal citizenship", "human rights" and "globalization" in the midst of the geopolitical conflict that led to the persecution of 21st century socialism in Latin America.
 Methodology. The methodological field of the research uses documentary observation and dialectical hermeneutics, which help to compare and reconcile categories with different semantic contexts to reconstruct their true meaning. The technique of writing this research was the methodological procedure of the hermeneutic circle, which is a sequential analysis of numerous written documentary sources, combined in a kind of dialogic context with hidden messages that can be read between the lines, as well as interpretive theories and critical thinking.
 Paper main body. There is much in common between the contemporary political and philosophical programs of the Western cultural space, of which Latin Americans are a part, and the ideas of universal citizenship, globalization, and human rights in a spirit of deep militant universalism that function fully today not only as abstract theories at the disposal of peoples and nations who continue to work to improve their living conditions and strengthen their freedom to exist and act in a better world.
 As for the tradition of human rights as a modern expression of natural law, it dates back to ancient times and even dates back to the great religions, which in their own way developed and substantiated the idea of human dignity. The history of the Institute of Human Rights has a pronounced anthropocentric character and deserves to be expanded in accordance with the geopolitical realities of the modern world, in order to protect the indisputable value of all life forms affected by such phenomena as global warming and the associated greenhouse effect. economic growth that requires technological and industrial modernization. For its part, "globalization with a human face" means the ability to interconnect and enrich not only material and financial resources, due to the insatiability of international markets, but also the cycle of knowledge and people required by modern world democracies to strengthen their social and human capital. .
 In this context, the idea of global or universal citizenship, while seeming utopian, is of paramount importance as it broadens the political phenomenon of citizenship, which is vital to modern democracies or polyarchies, forgetting the tradition of history ruled by supreme forces and structures. Although, according to K. Popper, already the historicist concept assigned a fundamental role in building a reality conducive to the exercise of freedom, the citizen, conscious and active.
 Thus, if globalization is reduced purely to the internationalization of capital and selective human and technological resources solely in the interests of corporate elites and does not turn into a globalization of social welfare and dignity - a process in which universal citizenship would be a logical consequence, then partial globalization, which can do little to promote an open society in the 21st century.
 Conclusions of the research. The study concludes that if globalization is reduced to the internationalization of capital and individual human and technological resources for the benefit of the corporate elite and does not extend to the globalization of social welfare and dignity, where universal citizenship would be a logical consequence, such globalization is unlikely to contribute building an open society of the XXI century.

Left Turn Ahead: Surveying Attitudes of Young People Towards Capitalism and Socialism

Millennials have long been portrayed as a politically disengaged and apathetic generation. In recent years, however, that portrayal has changed drastically. The rise of mass movements such as Black Lives Matter, Extinction Rebellion, the ‘Greta Thunberg movement’ and Momentum, together with the ‘campus culture wars’, have turned perceptions upside down. Today, Millennials are much more commonly described as a hyper-politicised generation, which embraces ‘woke’, progressive and anti-capitalist ideas. This is increasingly extended to the first cohorts of the subsequent generation, ‘Generation Z’. Surveys show that there is a lot of truth in the cliche of the ‘woke socialist Millennial’. Younger people really do quite consistently express hostility to capitalism, and positive views of socialist alternatives of some sort. For example, around 40 per cent of Millennials claim to have a favourable opinion of socialism and a similar proportion agree with the statement that ‘communism could have worked if it had been better executed’. For supporters of the market economy, this should be a cause for concern, but so far they have mostly chosen to ignore this phenomenon, or dismiss it with phrases such as ‘Young people have always gone through a juvenile socialist phase’ or ‘They will grow out of it’. But this is simply not borne out by the data. There are no detectable differences between the economic attitudes of people in their late teens and people in their early 40s. It is no longer true that people ‘grow out’ of socialist ideas as they get older. To fill in some of the remaining gaps in the literature, the IEA has commissioned an extensive survey into the economic attitudes of Millennials and ‘Zoomers’ (i.e. Generation Z), which broadly confirms and deepens the impression we get from previous surveys. For example, 67 per cent of younger people say they would like to live in a socialist economic system. Young people associate ‘socialism’ predominantly with positive terms, such as ‘workers’, ‘public’, ‘equal’ and ‘fair’. Very few associate it with ‘failure’ and virtually nobody associates it with Venezuela, the erstwhile showcase of ‘21st Century Socialism’. Capitalism, meanwhile, is predominantly associated with terms such as ‘exploitative’, ‘unfair’, ‘the rich’ and ‘corporations’. 75 per cent of young people agree with the assertion that climate change is a specifically capitalist problem (as opposed to a side-effect of industrial production that would occur in any economic system). 71 per cent agree with the assertion that capitalism fuels racism. 73 per cent agree that it fuels selfishness, greed, and materialism, while a socialist system would promote solidarity, compassion and cooperation. 78 per cent of young people blame capitalism (not NIMBYism and supply-side restrictions) for Britain’s housing crisis. Consequently, 78 per cent also believe that solving it requires large-scale government intervention, through measures such as rent controls and public housing. 72 per cent of young people support the (re-)nationalisation of various industries such as energy, water and the railways. 72 per cent also believe that private sector involvement would put the NHS at risk. 75 per cent of young people agree with the statement that ‘socialism is a good idea, but it has failed in the past because it has been badly done (for example in Venezuela)’. The cliche that ‘real socialism has never been tried’ is not just a cliche: it is also the mainstream opinion among Millennials and Zoomers. None of this means that Britain is full of young Marxist-Leninists. Socialist ideas are widespread, but they are also thinly spread. When presented with an anti-capitalist statement, the vast majority of young people agree with it (in our survey, this was true of every single anticapitalist statement, without exception). However, when presented with a diametrically opposed pro-capitalist statement, we often find net approval for that statement too. This suggests that when young people embrace a socialist argument, this is often not a deeply-held conviction. It may simply be the argument they are most familiar with. None of our results mean that supporters of capitalism should throw in the towel, concede defeat in the battle of ideas and just accept that the future belongs to socialism. But it does suggest that they should take ‘Millennial Socialism’ far more seriously than they currently do. They should treat it as a challenge and engage with it, rather than dismiss it or deny it exists.

El populismo como mecanismo de legitimación empresarial: el caso venezolano de PDVSA

Este artículo ilustra el papel del populismo en la defensa de empresas estatales transgresoras, a partir del estudio del caso de la empresa Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) y su relación con el Estado venezolano durante la era del autodenominado “socialismo del siglo XXI”. Para ello se hace una investigación descriptiva y de sistematización de datos sobre algunos eventos de transgresión socioambiental en los que incurrió la compañía entre 2010 y 2020. Los resultados apuntan al uso continuo de una retórica incendiaria, constituida por el antielitismo, la defensa de la soberanía popular y la consideración de una ciudadanía homogénea y virtuosa. Esto sugiere que el populismo también puede ser utilizado como un estilo discursivo particular para defender la legitimidad de empresas transgresoras subordinadas al poder.

COVID-19 Vaccines, Accelerated Innovations, and 21st Century Social Contracts Challenges

COVID-19 Vaccines, Accelerated Innovations, and 21^st Century Social Contracts Challenges

Public or private corruption? The ideological dimension of anti-corruption discourses in Colombia, Ecuador and Albania

This is a summary of some of the main arguments and findings of the book ¿Corrupción pública o privada? La dimensión ideológica de los discursos anti-corrupción en Colombia, Ecuador y Albania (Bogotá: Tirant lo Blanch, 2020). The book compares the official anti-corruption discourses of president, Juan Manuel Santos (2010-2018) in Colombia, president, Rafael Correa (2007-2017) in Ecuador, and prime minister Edi Rama (2013-present) in Albania. It shows that although these three countries face very similar levels and perceptions of corruption their governments articulate this phenomenon differently due to their distinct ideological positions. While the neoliberal governments of Santos and Rama define corruption primarily as abuse of public office and locate it mainly in the public sector, or in its interaction with the private one, the government of Rafael Correa, which embraced the 21st Century Socialism, defines corruption primarily as a problem of the private sector that captures and distorts the public sector.

Case study: what did Rafael Correa say? Comparing political attention across 10 years of the Ecuadorian president’s discourses

Abstract The “citizen revolution” was a political project executed mainly between 2007 and 2016 by the former president of the Republic of Ecuador, Rafael Correa Delgado, under the paradigm of 21st century socialism. The main characteristic of this project was to introduce a new political agenda to the country that was differentiated from past agendas, by focusing on issues such as the recognition of new rights, improvements to education, instituting a new economic model, and strengthening government and sovereignty, among others. Under this context, this work aims to analyze the political attention of the ex-president, explaining why some issues are more important than others, and why they varied over time. Based on a conceptual framework that takes ideas from the agenda-setting theory, the areas on which the political agenda concentrates are measured by the Shannon entropy index, and its various changes are explained as the results of preferences, institutional factors, and external events. The analysis is based on extensive database analyses of 10 years (covering Rafael Correa’s presidency) of government speeches, which are coded according to the methodology of the Comparative Agendas Project (CAP). To the best of our knowledge, this paper is the first work to apply the CAP methodology in Ecuador.

Two Decades of Imperial Failure: Theorizing U.S. Regime Change Efforts in Venezuela from Bush II to Trump

Former Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez ushered in the Pink Tide and the rise of the left in Latin America at the turn of the 21st century. Chávez initially won presidential elections in 1998 based on the promise of participatory democracy and tackling economic inequality, and thereafter by championing 21st Century Socialism. From the beginning, Chávez challenged U.S. global leadership by condemning its vision for the world and by cultivating an anti-imperial nexus of allies. This pattern has continued under current President Nicolás Maduro. In response, the U.S. has opposed the Venezuelan socialists throughout three successive presidential administrations: Bush II, Obama, and Trump. Taking influence from Michael Mann’s IEMP model of social power, we detail the ideological, economic, military, and political strategies these administrations have used to undermine the Venezuelan government and assist right-wing opposition parties and civil society groups in Venezuela. While Bush II and Obama primarily sought to depose Chávez by bolstering right-wing political parties and groups that aimed to unseat Chávez at the ballot box, Trump has recognized a parallel government open to an extra-legal change of government and openly called for coercive regime change through a military coup d’état.

La universidad autónoma venezolana y su lucha por sobrevivir al socialismo del Siglo XXI. Cinco propuestas para su rescate

Desde los tiempos coloniales la universidad venezolana ha mantenido relaciones tensas con el poder. Sin embargo, a pesar de que a lo largo de su historia ha sufrido los embates de las élites gobernantes, nunca la arremetida ha sido tan feroz y continuada como la de los gobiernos que llevan adelante desde 1998 el llamado proyecto del socialismo del siglo XXI. En este artículo se hace una panorámica de los fallidos intentos de tomar las universidades autónomas por el llamado gobierno revolucionario del socialismo del siglo XXI. De igual manera se elaboran un conjunto de propuestas para paliar la crisis de este subsistema educativo una vez superado el fallido experimento social liderado por Hugo Chávez Frías y heredado por Nicolás Maduro.

Bolivarianismo en la encrucijada. Análisis de la ascensión y crisis del chavismo desde sus conceptos

Resumen: El artículo analiza la ascensión y crisis del chavismo a partir de sus ideas y principales conceptos políticos. Asume centralidad la historia reciente del desarrollo y apropiación oficial del concepto de “bolivarianismo”. Adicionalmente, se presenta cómo el concepto secundario de “socialismo del siglo XXI” emergió en el contexto venezolano, en tensa relación con la anterior noción de bolivarianismo; y cómo la noción de democracia fue articulada de manera muy particular con esos conceptos. Se propone como hipótesis que esa apropiación forma parte de una tradición ya larga de las izquierdas en las periferias, que buscan nacionalizarse y presentarse como parte de una historia nacional que para ellas tendría en su origen pretensos elementos igualitaristas, progresistas, revolucionarios. Esas allegadas tradiciones enmarcadas en el pasado local, en lo “propio”, podrían según ellas servir de base para la proyección de una sociedad distinta en el futuro.

Populism, 21st-century socialism and corruption in Venezuela

This article seeks to explore the relationship between populism, 21st-century socialism, and the emergence of what has been referred to as an ‘ estado delincuente’ (criminal state), in the case of Venezuela. That is, a state structure permeated with transnational organized crime mafias in the executive and the judiciary, in the financial system, the prosecutor’s office, the police, the armed forces, the prison system, state-owned companies, governorships, and city councils, among other state institutions. First, I review conceptual aspects of populism to understand how this served as the basis for creating the postulates of 21st-century socialism, which promoted the institutional destruction of Venezuelan democracy and created the conditions for the unbridled dissemination of state corruption. Second, emblematic cases of white-collar and blood crimes, nepotism and other corrupt activities are discussed to provide an idea of the magnitude of the issues that permeate the state apparatus. To conclude, I provide a critical summary of the consequences of this way of doing politics in contemporary Venezuela.