ABSTRACT
Originating in the north-North America and Europe-a tidal wave of thinking about the downfall of the welfare state swept over Latin America in the 1980s, and consequently, some education policies were “dramatically altered to reflect changed economic policies” (Arnove 1997, 79). In this context, the denominated neoliberal trend toward “increasing decentralized markets” and away from “centralized decisionmaking” (Roxborough 1997, 64) has had a significance influence on Latin American economies. As a general term, Neoliberalism is related to a series of measures toward opening and deregulating the economy, deregulating the labor market, restricting union activities, and allowing a more inflexible use of the labor force within a competitive arena. Such a term has been widely and generally applied when describing the last two decades of education reforms in Latin America (Arnove 1997, Gorostiaga 2001, Casassus undated, Puiggrós 1996). Although the term is widely accepted, it is difficult to find a unique, formal definition of neoliberalism in academia. Most especially, it is impossible to find authors who identify themselves as “neoliberals.” Neoliberalism is most frequently identified with a minimalist state and the market as center stage, based on the belief that it is the “most effective transformative force,” and that “the less constraints that are put on free operation of the market the better for the national economy, society and polity” (Gwynne and Kay 2000). However, whilst neoliberalism is characterized as having a series of features, basically summarized by the market approach, there is no standing accepted definition upon which arguments in favor and against are built.1
