Introduction: Social Changes in Latin America

This symposium (a thematic issue) focuses on social change in Latin America, mainly in recent decades, and in some cases over a longer period. The interest in these transformations of societies, economies, and policies with a focus on social justice is motivated by two recent left tides in Latin America that have given new momentum to previous social changes. The analyses presented here pursue primarily points of view of social, political, and economic philosophy with their interdisciplinary overlaps, particularly in legal, political, Latin American, and global studies. We editors gave a space to various perspectives from several countries in order to present a plurality of alternatives.

The symposium comprises two parts. The first part focuses on the two pink tides in Latin America that have taken place over the past nearly quarter century. The first left tide began in the late 1990s and ended symbolically in 2016; and the second tide began in 2018 and continues to this day. While Venezuela, Brazil and Bolivia were probably the most relevant countries in the first tide; Brazil, Colombia and Cuba are beginning to emerge as relevant in the second tide. Because of all the countries analysed, Cuba is currently undergoing the biggest transformation, the second part of the symposium deals primarily with the development and updating of Cuba’s model in the global context. Following the revolutionary traditions in Latin America, the analyses focus on the Cuban system from its origins to its transformation and current updating. The final analysis pays attention to Latin America in the important context of South-South Cooperation, i.e. cooperation among countries and regions in Latin America, Africa, and Asia.

Particularly, the first part on the two pink tides starts with the article on “Venezuela in the context of chavismo and the first pink tide” written by the author duo Ján Puchovský Sr. and Ján Puchovský Jn. The text analyses the path-breaking social, political, legal and economic transformation in Venezuela under the chavismo movement between 1999 and 2013. It also explains how it influenced significantly other countries and the first left tide in Latin America.

The second article is Emil Sobottka’s text on “New wine in old wineskins? Incomplete democratization in Brazil during the first pink tide”. It stresses both positive aspects and limits of the progressive government in Brazil between 2003 and 2016, within a framework of the pink tide. It analyses democratic governing and re-politisation of public policies, including participatory budgeting, public policy councils, social policies focused on social justice, and relations between government and social movements.

The third article, which is authored by Martin Lampter, is focused on “The Two Pink Tides in Latin America: Contemporary prospects for the world”. It analyses the key characteristics and limits of the first pink tide, which was led mainly by Venezuela, Brazil, and Bolivia. Its main focus is the second left tide, dealing primarily with contemporary developments in Colombia and Brazil, and shortly in Cuba. Within the Latin American and global frameworks, it also explains potential future scenarios of the second tide.

The second part of the symposium explains the development and updating of Cuba’s model and the global context. First, Dominika Dinušová presents her paper on “The trajectory of ideals in the revolutionary processes of Latin America”, which explicates a broader framework for Cuban changes. The text traces the historical development of revolutionary values and interests, looking at the ideals of independence, unity, and social and racial equality. It points to the fact that this has been a regionally authentic and original project in Latin America.

Marek Hrubec is the author of the next article, and examines “Strategic Socialism: The Updating of Cuba’s System”. It analyses mainly the contemporary actualization of Cuba’s model. It points out a combination of planning and market, and a combination of public and private ownership there, within an international cooperation during the two pink tides and global interactions, particularly with China.

The last paper deals with the South-South Cooperation. Fabricio Pereira da Silva focuses “On a genealogy of the concept of “South-South Cooperation””. It offers several illuminating interpretations of a concept of the South-South cooperation and also a concept of the South, including its historical paths. It is interconnected to the ideas of the Global South and (in)dependency.

To conclude, from philosophical and interdisciplinary perspectives, we want to point out that all these various social changes in Latin America, which we address in this symposium, constitute a rich spectrum of transformative processes that for greater social justice strive in the plural ways. It is not just one path of development. Rather, it is a series of social experiments that interact, complement, learn from and coordinate with each other. Together, these transformations create significant social change that also brings about civilizational transformation. Latin America is experiencing a historical period that is important not only for itself but also for other parts of the world.

Originally, we wanted to include more quality papers in this symposium but they were not approved for publication in the journal. In order to allow readers to read them and get an idea of our overall concept of the symposium, we will prepare a book in which we will also include these unpublished articles (focused on Bolivia during the first pink tide, on the gradual development in Cuba, on Latin America’s foreign relations, etc.).

We thank our colleagues from Latin American institutions and from the Centre of Global Studies in Prague, within the framework of which we started preparing this symposium since the spring 2022. We hope that the symposium will be of interest to many readers.