Latin American Political Thought

*Three-week course, first session*

This course explores the political thought in Latin America since the revolutionary processes from the 19th-Century to the present. It considers the European political thought’s influence on the region thinkers and the processes of assimilation and recreation of those original concepts. The course will address the influence of contractualism on Mariano Moreno and of republicanism in Simón Bolívar. During the nation-state organization, the course will discuss the figure of Domingo Sarmiento, a thinker profoundly influenced by his experience in the United States. Decades later, the United States will be cause of reflection for Jose Martí. During the 20th-Century, Juan Carlos Mariátegui emphasized the issue of Indians and land. The course will also discuss the link between developed and underdeveloped nations through Fernando Cardoso and Enzo Faletto; and the Latin American popular nationalism, through Victor Haya de la Torre. Finally, the course will address the Liberation Theology, through the works of Leonardo Boff and Gustavo Gutierrez; and the local version of neoliberalism with Alvaro Vargas Llosa’s writings. (.5 unit)