ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the dilemma of governance – the continuing failure to adequately address social and economic inclusion. It evaluates the theory of Labour-Centred Development (LCD) against Elite Development Theory (EDT) and the latter's privileging of the state- and market-led strategies of development. The chapter outlines how LCD has manifested in South America. EDT understands the process of development from the perspective of capital and, as such, the agency of the labouring classes is intellectually and practically denied. The empresas recuperadas comprise several hundred enterprises occupied and, in some instances, converted into cooperatives in the aftermath of the 2001 crisis in Argentina. Literally translated as 'industrial belts', the cordones industriales emerged with workplace occupations across small, medium, and large factories under the socialist government of Salvador Allende and Popular Unity. Central to the establishment of the cordones industriales were links between worker-led firms and the state.
