ABSTRACT
Since the 1982 World Debt Crisis1 a quarter of a century has passed, and it can be stated that this crisis is still one of the most important political markers in twentieth-century Latin America. The dramatic events of the subsequent years have provoked transformations in all spheres and dimensions. The composition of the dominant classes that led the managerial-military dictatorships in much of Latin America-represented by the national industrial bourgeoisie, state companies, and multinational corporations-has been profoundly modifi ed, comprising a new power bloc consisting of multinational corporations, fi nancial capital, and various sectors related to agribusiness, mineral exploration, and commodities exports. In retrospect, it can be stated that the dominant coalition of Latin American countries has made the Washington Consensus agenda its own (Williamson, 1990; Dezalay and Garth, 1998), so that it is almost impossible to distinguish between the policies of the Bretton Woods institutions2 from those led by local dominant factions, and vice versa.
