ABSTRACT
In the post-World War II period, the capitalist development of the forces of production – what we term 'capitalist development' but what in mainstream development discourse is presented as 'economic development' or 'economic growth' – can be divided into two phases. Three decades of state-led development based on the exploitation of the 'unlimited supply of surplus labour' released from the countryside via various forces of change; and the decades of free-market capitalism and neo-liberal 'structural reforms' mandated under the Washington Consensus. The main destinations for foreign direct investment in Latin America over the past two decades have been services and the natural resources sector, namely, the exploration, extraction, and exploitation of fossil and biofuel sources of energy, precious metals and industrial minerals, and agro-food products. The political victories of these democratically elected 'progressive' regimes opened a new chapter in the class struggle and the anti-imperialist movement.
