Elections & Energy Policy Brief

ELECTIONS & ENERGY | La Jolla Conference 30 th Anniversary Policy Brief THE RISE OF STATE CAPITALISM AND THE CYCLE OF RESOURCE NATIONALISM IN LATIN AMERICA

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In the 1980’s, Latin America sought to create the conditions for private enterprises to prosper by offering legal and fiscal stability, de-risking investments and negotiating free trade agreements; a financial recipe known as the Washington Consensus. Distinct from Latin America, by the early twenty-first century a rising China presented a different path to development. The surge of China’s economy was built on earlier successes of the export- oriented industrial model adopted by previous “Asian tigers” such as Singapore, South Korea, or Taiwan. However, despite their political and economic differences, these countries had in common a less orthodox

approach to economic policy: the state in fact played a key role in their industrialization efforts. The success of fast-growing East and South-East Asian economies encouraged several low and medium-income countries to reshape their development strategies.

The early twenty-first century brought a renewed sense of optimism in Latin America, fueled by rising commodity prices and the arrival of new political leaders who prioritized income redistribution policies as a reaction to rising inequalities experienced in the previous

ANNIVERSARY POLICY BRIEF | INSITUTE OF THE AMERICAS