Current paths of development in the Southern Cone

This chapter seeks to understand the current development paths that have been pursued in the two most industrialized countries of the Southern Cone, namely Brazil and Argentina. It has been argued that both countries have been pursuing new developmentalism ¹ and yet that which has dominated in reality are the processes of deindustrialization and reprimarization. In order to understand these tendencies, the specifics of each country are examined. In addition, the impact of neoliberal globalization is assessed, including the role of the IMF and WTO, as well as transnational corporations. The chapter begins with a summary of the historical experiences of industrialization in both Argentina and Brazil, which began in the 1930s. This is followed by an evaluation of the processes of deindustrialization for both countries. In the case of Argentina, this process began with the arrival of the dictatorship in 1976. In contrast, Brazil actually experienced a third stage of import substitution industrialization while the military was still in power during the 1970s, and only began a process of deindustrialization under democratic conditions in 1985.