Venezuela, ALBA, and the Limits of Postneoliberal Regionalism in Latin America and the Caribbean

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xiii

   PDF

2. Approaching Venezuela, ALBA, and Postneoliberalism

   • Asa K. Cusack

   Pages 1-25

3. Getting to Grips with ALBA’s Brand Governance

   • Asa K. Cusack

   Pages 27-56

4. The National Roots of ALBA

   • Asa K. Cusack

   Pages 57-92

5. The People’s Trade Agreement (TCP)

   • Asa K. Cusack

   Pages 93-117

6. The Unified Regional Compensation System (SUCRE)

   • Asa K. Cusack

   Pages 119-152

7. Petrocaribe

   • Asa K. Cusack

   Pages 153-189

8. Venezuela, ALBA, and the Limits of Postneoliberal Regionalism

   • Asa K. Cusack

   Pages 191-212

9. Back Matter

   Pages 213-218

   PDF

This book provides a comprehensive analysis of the implementation, functioning, and impact of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA), cornerstone of Venezuelan foreign policy and standard-bearer of “postneoliberal” regionalism during the “Left Turn” in Latin America and the Caribbean (1998-2016). It reveals that cooperation via ALBA’s regionalised social missions, state multinationals, development bank, People’s Trade Agreement, SUCRE virtual currency, and Petrocaribe soft-loan scheme has often been hampered by complexity and conflict between the national political economies of Ecuador, Dominica, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Antigua and Barbuda, and especially Venezuela. Shared commitments to endogenous development, autonomy within mutlipolarity, and novel sources of legitimacy are undermined by serious deficiencies in control and accountability, which stem largely from the defining influence of Venezuela’s dysfunctional economy and governance. This dual dependency on Venezuela leaves the future of ALBA hanging in the balance.

• ALBA
• Venezuela
• Ecuador
• Caribbean
• Regionalism
• Postneoliberalism
• Trade
• Development
• Implementation
• Alternative regionalism
• Latin America
• Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America
• latin american politics
• development theory

“Taking issue with a literature naively stressing the promise of ‘post-neoliberal regionalism,’ the author offers in this book a thorough examination of ALBA’s shortcomings, based on remarkable field research that focuses on implementation rather than intentions. Without a doubt the best scholarly work on ALBA.” (Olivier Dabène, Sciences Po, Paris, France, author of The Politics of Regional Integration in Latin America)

“A compelling and engaging contribution on the ambitions and limitations of the ALBA postneoliberal project in Latin America and the Caribbean in the 2000s. With cogent analysis of sovereign priorities and a forensic embrace of technical detail, Cusack has crafted a measured, insightful, and valuable addition to scholarship on this dramatic, dynamic, and contentious period in LAC and wider hemispheric relations.” (Julia Buxton, Professor of Comparative Politics, Central European University, Budapest, author of The Failure of Political Reform in Venezuela)

• Latin America and Caribbean Centre, London School of Economics and Political Science, London, United Kingdom

  Asa K. Cusack

Asa K. Cusack (Latin America and Caribbean Centre, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK) received his PhD in Latin American and Caribbean political economy from the University of Sheffield, UK, and has held research positions at University College London and the Institute of Latin American Studies.

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