what are the principal trends that affected how Latin American governments deal with political economy?

Question

from the colonial period to the current neoliberal period, how did those trends shape Latin America's economic policy? and politics?

Answer 1

kudos for asking a legitamate political question, i usually have to scan through lots of moronic questions before i can answer one intelligently. however, i don't have a truly educated answer for this one.

i would have to say, first of all, many latin american countries do not have strategic and economic importance. i can't say as much for the lower half of south america, i don't know enough about their exports to do so. as for mexico, and countries surrounding the equator, their chief export should be tourism. however, the lack of usable and legitamate resources in the region prohibit the capabilities of governments from reaching full potential. there is much more profit amoungst the ideal conditions in which illegal drugs can be produced. governments are nearly forced to corroborate with local cartels just in order to sustain power. this makes corruption all to easy. because of this, it is potentially dangerous to visit, and the tourism market never really gets to take off.

also governments, like mexico, stand their allegiance with the wealthy, and allowances for corruption (thus misappropriation), almost alienate any possibility of sustaining a middle class, which in a capitalistic society the middle class is the backbone of the economic structure.