Recent by Thomas Muhr (PhD)
The Elgar Companion to Antonio Gramsci, 2024
This chapter establishes dialogue between Gramsci and decolonial thought, identifying Gramsci as ... more This chapter establishes dialogue between Gramsci and decolonial thought, identifying Gramsci as an anti-colonial and decolonial Global Southerner. By reference to Gramsci’s (1971, p. 240) adage that ‘the line of development is towards internationalism, but the point of departure is “national”’, the chapter discusses the ALBA-TCP/ALBA Movements ‘pluri-scalar war of position’, which operates across subnational, national, international, transnational and supranational geographical scales in global counter-hegemonic struggle. Following the pluri-scalar war of position’s empirical grounding, the chapter explores Gramscian thought in Our American political praxis, particularly 'el pueblo' (the people) as the collective historical revolutionary subject. The conclusion argues for imagining a counter-hegemonic historical bloc as a Global South bloc, while eliciting structural constraints to its construction. The chapter is of relevance to both political and social forces seeking decolonial, anti-capitalist transformation, including governments, political parties, and local/national as well as global movements such as the Progressive International.
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Elgar Encyclopedia of Development, 2023
This entry reviews South-South cooperation (SSC) as a contested concept and social practice. A pe... more This entry reviews South-South cooperation (SSC) as a contested concept and social practice. A periodisation of SSC post-1945, derived from historical turning points, provides an analytical framework specifically for identifying conceptual shifts in the global context: Concertation (1945–1981); Containment (1981–1995); and Cooptation vs Confrontation (1995–present). On this basis, major controversies are explored.
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Globalizations, 2023
Framed by the North–South conflict, this article conducts a historico-conceptual analysis of the ... more Framed by the North–South conflict, this article conducts a historico-conceptual analysis of the politics of South-South cooperation (SSC) from a decolonial Global South perspective. Based on documentary analysis and a review of academic SSC literature, three distinct periods of SSC post-1945 are identified: Concertation (1945–1981); Containment (1981–1995); and Cooptation vs Confrontation (1995–present). This periodization complements previous endeavours of its kind, whereby the rationale here is that a historical understanding of SSC politics and neo-colonial/imperialist counter-politics is indispensable for emancipatory social praxis. With co-optation of SSC backed by coercion as the Global North’s contemporary tactic within the strategy of re-Westernisation, I argue for the Global South to reclaim SSC as a strategy to move from delinking as de-Westernisation towards delinking as decoloniality in the context of crisis of the capitalist world order. Free download:
https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/UAQFWD2T55IZMU45XVW7/full?target=10.1080/14747731.2022.2082132
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Books by Thomas Muhr (PhD)
Framed by critical globalisation theory and David Harvey’s ‘co-revolutionary moments’ as a theory... more Framed by critical globalisation theory and David Harvey’s ‘co-revolutionary moments’ as a theory of social change, this book brings together a multi-disciplinary team of researchers to empirically analyse how socialism is being constructed in contemporary Latin America and the Caribbean, and beyond.
This book uses the case of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America - Peoples’ Trade Agreement (ALBA-TCP) to invite to a re-thinking of resistance to global capitalism and the construction of socialism in the 21st century. Including detailed theory-based ethnographic case studies from Bolivia, Cuba, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Venezuela and the USA, the contributors identify social and structural forces at different levels and scales to illuminate politics and practices at work. Centred around the themes of democracy and justice, and the more general reconfiguration of the state-society relations and power geometries at the local, national, regional and global scales, ALBA and Counter-Globalization is at the forefront in the trend of interdisciplinary approaches to the study of social phenomena of global relevance.
Read WILLIAM K. CARROLL's review in the Canadian Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies/Revue canadienne des études latino-américaines et caraïbes, at: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08263663.2014.985128
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/274780631_Counter-globalization_and_socialism_in_the_21st_century_a_review
Read LAURENCE GOODCHILD's review in the International Journal of Cuban Studies, at: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.13169/intejcubastud.6.2.0228
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This book theorises Venezuela's Bolivarian Revolution as a counter- hegemonic globalisation proje... more This book theorises Venezuela's Bolivarian Revolution as a counter- hegemonic globalisation project in which the construction of "21st century socialism" occurs simultaneously at the local, national, regional and global levels and scales through the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America - Peoples' Trade Agreement (ALBA- TCP). In these processes, the Venezuelan government's higher education for all strategy assumes a central role in the direct democratic and participatory democratic processes upon which the pluri-scalar construction of counter-hegemony depends. Within a critical theory approach, this fully revised and updated PhD thesis is grounded in a total of 16 months of ethnographic research conducted between 2005 and 2010 in Venezuela, Nicaragua and El Salvador, eight months of which in a municipalised Bolivarian University in Venezuela. The significance and originality of this interdisciplinary study of the construction of "21st century socialism" is revealed through the elaboration of structural features, political alignments and empirical findings, to explain the dynamics and geographies of the multi-dimensional development project.
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Journal Articles by Thomas Muhr (PhD)
Socialism and Democracy, 2021
This article contributes to the resurgent interest in the historical question of strategy in/for ... more This article contributes to the resurgent interest in the historical question of strategy in/for progressive transformation, by elaborating “pluri-scalar war of position” as a methodological approach to counter-hegemonic socio-spatial restructuring. The concept evolved from my research in Latin America-Caribbean in the 2000s and early 2010s and integrates neo-Gramscian with human geography theory and method, arguing for the strategic imperative of capturing state power on the one hand, and for a politics of place-space-scale on the other. The article reasserts the importance of socio-spatial theory for transformative politics, within a vision of overcoming counter-productive divisions among the global lefts.
Free download: https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/EWRZW8NAS7JSJHFWA8DM/full?target=10.1080/08854300.2021.1994295
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REVEDUC - Revista Eletrônica de Educação, 2019
Este artigo revisita a cooperação oficial Brasil-Venezuela no período 2003-2016, durante o qua... more Este artigo revisita a cooperação oficial Brasil-Venezuela no período 2003-2016, durante o qual as políticas intervencionistas estaduais aprimoraram a justiça social e educacional. Partindo de uma abordagem de governança educacional, é realizada uma análise pluriescalar da equidade de acesso ao ensino universitário, que integra um relato de justiça distributiva no acesso ao ensino universitário no Brasil e na Venezuela com uma abordagem estrutural relacionada à cooperação Sul-Sul (CSS) entre as duas nações e também dentro do Mercado Comum do Sul (MERCOSUL). Dois argumentos inter-relacionados são
desenvolvidos: primeiro, apesar das persistentes desigualdades no acesso à educação universitária em ambos os territórios, as políticas estatais intervencionistas aumentaram a igualdade de acesso diretamente em relação à disponibilidade e acessibilidade. Em segundo lugar, o caso do Régimen Especial Fronterizo Brasil / Venezuela ilustra que a CSS pode transformar as condições de fundo para a justiça educacional, produzindo uma estrutura alternativa à governança global neoliberal da educação. Empiricamente, a discussão recorre à análise de conteúdo e discurso de 81 documentos de cooperação assinados entre atores estatais e não-estatais brasileiros e venezuelanos, complementados por planos de desenvolvimento e relatórios de comissões municipais, nacionais e regionais, e 1 mês de pesquisa de campo no Régimen Especial Fronterizo em 2012. A observação participante e 13 entrevistas semi-estruturadas e abertas foram conduzidas com funcionários em diferentes níveis dos processos de formulação de políticas, acadêmicos, bem como atores de escala local em diferentes iniciativas de cooperação e integração em ambos os lados da fronteira Brasil/Venezuela.
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Revista Ibero- Americana de Estudos em Educação, 2019
RESUMO: Este artigo adota uma abordagem histórica e global a respeito da cooperação Sul-Sul em ed... more RESUMO: Este artigo adota uma abordagem histórica e global a respeito da cooperação Sul-Sul em educação e desenvolvimento, um tema ainda pouco investigado pela academia. A primeira seção discute os conceitos de "Sul", "Sul Global" e "Cooperação Sul-Sul", contraposta às práticas de "colaboração triangular" e "transferência de melhores práticas". Com base nisso, uma revisão da literatura sobre cooperação em educação Sul-Sul distingue uma abordagem dominante incorporada nas teorias liberais e (neo)realistas de relações internacionais de uma abordagem de teoria crítica associada ao pensamento de contra-dependência. Enquadrado por essas discussões, este artigo apresenta dois estudos de caso das relações contemporâneas globais de educação Sul-Sul: o ¡Yo, Sí Puedo!-uma campanha de alfabetização global promovida pelos governos de Cuba e Venezuela-e a agenda comum de cooperação da educação do BRICS. Embora não se possa concluir inequivocamente que a cooperação educacional Sul-Sul produza uma contra-estrutura para a governança global neoliberal da educação, o artigo mostra igualmente que os princípios Sul-Sul de solidariedade, benefícios mútuos e autoconfiança são muito praticados entre os países parceiros do Sul. Por fim, são apresentadas propostas de pesquisas futuras nesse campo. ///
RESUMEN: El artículo adopta un abordaje histórico y global respecto a la cooperación Sur-Sur en educación y desarrollo, un tema todavía poco investigado por la academia. La primera sección discute los conceptos del “Sur”, “Sur Global” y “Cooperación Sur-Sur”, contrapuesta a las prácticas de “colaboración triangular” y “trasferencia de mejores prácticas”. Con base en eso, una revisión de literatura sobre la cooperación en educación Sur-Sur distingue un abordaje dominante incorporado en las teorías liberales y (neo)liberales de relaciones internacionales de un abordaje de teoría crítica asociado al pensamiento en contra-dependencia. Encuadrado por estas discusiones globales de educación Sur-Sur: el ¡Yo, Sí Puedo! – campaña de alfabetización global promocionada por los gobiernos de Cuba y Venezuela – y la agenda común de cooperación de la educación de BRICS. Aunque no se pueda concluir que inequívocamente que la cooperación educacional Sur-Sur produzca una contra-estructura para la gobernanza global y neoliberal de la educación, el artículo muestra igualmente que los principios Sur-Sur de solidaridad, beneficios mutuos y autoconfianza son muy practicados entre los países asociados del Sur. Finalmente, se presentan propuestas de investigación futuras para en este campo.
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Vestnik RUDN. International Relations, 2018
Framed by contested interpretations of the Buenos Aires Plan of Action, this article aims to cond... more Framed by contested interpretations of the Buenos Aires Plan of Action, this article aims to conduct a first evaluation of the BRICS development and education cooperation agenda as a case study of South—South cooperation (SSC). Methodologically, as a theory-based case study that integrates exploration with illustration and explanation, an analytical review of Anglophone academic BRICS education literature combines with contents and discourse analysis of BRICS cooperation documents from 2009—2017. While the mainstream international and comparative education literature, embedded in (neo)realist international relations theory, limits itself to individual BRICS member country case studies, a critical approach associated with counter-dependency theory in conjunction with SSC as an analytical category transcends methodological nationalism by exploring common agendas, projects, relations and potential synergies generated within BRICS as an analytical unit. While a more pronounced and assertive BRICS SSC agenda has emerged over time, the findings do not permit to unambiguously conclude that BRICS education cooperation produces a counter-structure to the neoliberal global governance of education. However, we nonetheless perceive BRICS education cooperation as contributing to building a counter-dependency structure. Future empirical research will have to inquire about the de facto implementation of this agenda.
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Descarga la edición especial completa “G-77 y China en el Actual Sistema-Mundo: Nuevos Horizontes... more Descarga la edición especial completa “G-77 y China en el Actual Sistema-Mundo: Nuevos Horizontes desde el Sur Global” a través de: https://www.cancilleria.gob.ec/wp-content/uploads/downloads/2018/03/lineasur_13_edicion.pdf.
Este artículo persigue dos objetivos interelacionados que se basan en una revisión de la literatura académica del pasado y presente de la Cooperación Sur-Sur (CSS): primero, contrarresta el sesgo eurocéntrico en la producción de conocimiento sobre la Cooperación Sur-Sur (en especial, pero no exclusivamente) en la academia anglófona, que se manifiesta en una desproporcionada concentración en los BRICS (Brasil, Rusia, India, China, Sudáfrica) mientras se marginan otros proyectos globales relevantes. Segundo, como una contribución de la teoría crítica, este artículo busca reclamar el histórico potencial emancipatorio asociado con la CSS, la cual implica relaciones y proyectos regidos por los principios de complementariedad, cooperación y solidaridad, como está establecido en la Carta de Argel del G-77 de 1967, para relaciones más horizontales (igualitarias y justas, a veces –pero no necesariamente– altruistas), diplomáticas, de comercio, ayuda e inversión, e intercambios de mutuos beneficios (relaciones de “ganar-ganar”), también asociadas, históricamente, con el Nuevo Orden Económico Internacional de las Naciones Unidas del año 1974. Las diez tesis presentadas a continuación problematizan empírica, teórica, conceptual y metodológicamente, temas esenciales para el debate de la CSS en el siglo XXI. Subsecuentemente, la conclusión presenta algunas ideas orientadas políticamente a exponer la relevancia del G-77 y China para América Latina y el Caribe, y viceversa.
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Structured around the case of South-South cooperation in the construction of “complementary econo... more Structured around the case of South-South cooperation in the construction of “complementary economic zones” among the member states of the ALBA-TCP, Petrocaribe, CARICOM and MERCOSUR, this article argues for a socio-spatial approach to the study of the changing Latin America-Caribbean integration and development geographies. Two interrelated, main arguments are developed: first, in contrast to methodologically nationalist approaches, which typically view the regionalisms that are to form the complementary economic zones as ideologically separate, incompatible or conflicting projects, a socio-spatial approach in conjunction with a South-South cooperation analytical lens explains their commonality and, subsequently, their interrelatedness and convergence. Second, while this South-South cooperation space is not per se non-capitalist, a socio-spatial analysis also facilitates “seeing” the production of a socialist “counter-space” within this South-South cooperation structure.
ABSTRACT FOR ANTIPODEFOUNDATION.ORG
Situated within human geography’s concerns with uneven development and the politics of place, space and scale, this explanatory-diagnostic article analyzes the contemporary efforts of constructing socialism in Latin America-Caribbean. Although the empirical scope of the article has become challenged by the recent government changes in Argentina and Brazil, and the impact these are having on MERCOSUR, historically, as a South-South “politics of possibilities”, the article is far from obsolete. Its political relevance is two-fold: first, methodologically, this relational analysis overcomes the inherent conservativism of methodologically nationalist and territorially nationalist approaches (mainstream international relations, international politics, international political economy), by integrating state-society dialectics with a pluri-scalar approach that “visibilizes” the transformative potential and impact of this strategy. Second, while such a strategy was mobilized during Hugo Chávez’s regional leadership, it appears to be falling into oblivion. However, socialist revolutionary praxis, the article implicitly claims, depends on precisely such a politics.
ABSTRACT EN CASTELLANO
Estructurado sobre el caso de cooperación Sur-Sur en la construcción de “zonas económicas complementarias” entre los estados miembros del ALBA-TCP, Petrocaribe, CARICOM y MERCOSUR, este artículo argumenta una aproximación socio-espacial al estudio de las geografías cambiantes de integración y desarrollo en Latino América-Caribe. Dos argumentos principales interrelacionados se desarrollan: en primer lugar, en contraste con aproximaciones nacionalismo metodológicas, las cuales consideran los regionalismos que forman las zonas económicas complementarias como ideológicamente separados, proyectos incompatibles o en conflicto, una aproximación socio-espacial en conjunto con una lente analítica de cooperación Sur-Sur explica sus características compartidas y, posteriormente, sus interrelaciones y convergencias. En segundo lugar, mientras este espacio de cooperación Sur-Sur no es per se no-capitalista, un análisis socio-espacial también facilita “ver” la producción de un “contra-espacio” socialista en esta estructura de cooperación Sur-Sur.
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This article draws from an education governance approach to conduct a pluriscalar analysis of equ... more This article draws from an education governance approach to conduct a pluriscalar analysis of equity of access to tertiary education in the context of South–South cooperation. An account of distributional justice in access to tertiary education in the Federative Republic of Brazil and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela is integrated with a structural approach related to South–South cooperation among the two nations as well as within the Southern Common Market (MERCOSUR), upon which two interrelated arguments are developed: first, despite persistent inequities in access to university education in both territories, state-interventionist policies enhance equity of access directly with respect to availability and accessibility. Second, South–South cooperation transforms the background conditions for educational justice by producing an alternative structure to the neoliberal global governance of education and its agenda of privatisation and commercialisation.
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Grounded in a review of past and present academic South-South cooperation literatures, this artic... more Grounded in a review of past and present academic South-South cooperation literatures, this article advances ten theses that problematise empirical, theoretical, conceptual and methodological issues essential to discussions of South-South cooperation in the 21st century. This endeavour is motivated by a perceived undermining especially in the Anglophone academic South-South cooperation literature of the emancipatory potential that South-South cooperation has historically been associated with. By drawing from the interventionist South-South cooperation agendas of ‘left’-leaning Latin America-Caribbean governments, the article seeks to establish a dialogue between social science theories and less ‘visible’ analyses from academic (semi)peripheries. The ten theses culminate in an exploration of the potential of South-South cooperation to promote ‘alternative’ development.
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Book review of 'South-South Educational Migration, Humanitarianism and Development', by Thomas Mu... more Book review of 'South-South Educational Migration, Humanitarianism and Development', by Thomas Muhr, in Journal of Education Policy, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02680939.2015.1100816
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This article addresses two tendencies within the international education and South-South cooperat... more This article addresses two tendencies within the international education and South-South cooperation literatures: the omission of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America - Peoples' Trade Agreement (ALBA-TCP) from discussions of South-South cooperation generally, and of the ALBA-TCP promoted ¡Yo, Sí Puedo! literacy method in particular. Central features of ¡Yo, Sí Puedo! are discussed, while the case of ¡Yo, Sí Puedo! in Nicaragua illustrates the main argument developed: ¡Yo, Sí Puedo! should not be regarded as 'best practice transfer' but as integral to South-South cooperation as Third World emancipation and transformation towards a socially just and democratic world order.
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Globalisation, Societies and Education, 11(2): 276-95., 2013
This article explores Nicaragua's Participative Education Revolution and the Citizen Power nation... more This article explores Nicaragua's Participative Education Revolution and the Citizen Power national development model in the construction of socialism in the 21st century in Latin America and the Caribbean through the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America–Peoples' Trade Agreement. Centred around the notion of ‘revolutionary democracy’, I argue that Citizen Power, promoted by the Sandinista National Liberation Front (Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional, FSLN) since returning to government in January 2007, means the structural transformation from neoliberalism to socialism. Rather than providing a comprehensive analysis of the FSLN education policies, I explore two elements of the Participative Education Revolution of direct relevance to the construction of socialism/revolutionary democracy: the National Literacy Campaign ‘From Martí to Fidel’ and the 2007/2008 Great National Consultation for the Reform of the Basic and Medium Education Curriculum.
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Globalizations, 9(6): 767-82., 2012
This article shows that counter to the common representation of the Bolivarian Alliance for the P... more This article shows that counter to the common representation of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America–Peoples' Trade Agreement (ALBA–TCP) as simply a bloc of nation-states, the initiative in fact constitutes a counter-hegemonic globalization project that operates through inter- and transnational processes across a range of (spatial) scales, from the local to the global. I draw on John Agnew's notion of the ‘territorial trap’ and theories of regionalism and globalization to analyse the transnational and pluri-scalar construction of the ALBA–TCP in Nicaragua (2004–2007) and El Salvador (2004–2010), to argue that the mobilization and empowerment gains associated with these processes are an important element in the construction of what is referred to as the ‘organized society’. As a politics of place, space and scale, the ALBA–TCP governance regime is sketched out, in which an emergent transnationally organized society integrates via the ALBA–TCP Council of Social Movements in the quest for progressive regional and global transformation.
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Acta Scientiarum. Education, 34(2): 269-280., 2012
Este artigo investiga aspectos do processo Revolução Participativa da Educação na Nicarágua, cent... more Este artigo investiga aspectos do processo Revolução Participativa da Educação na Nicarágua, centrando-se na sua relação com o modelo de desenvolvimento nacional de Poder Cidadão e com a construção do socialismo do século XXI na América Latina e Caribe através da Aliança Bolivariana para os Povos da Nossa América – Acordo de Comércio dos Povos (ALBA-TCP). Com base na noção de “democracia revolucionária”, a qual define os fundamentos da visão de socialismo do século XXI, desenvolve-se o argumento de que o Poder Cidadão, tal como promovido pela Frente Sandinista de Libertação Nacional (FSLN) desde o seu regresso ao governo em Janeiro de 2007, significa uma transformação estrutural do neoliberalismo para o socialismo do século XXI. Em lugar de uma análise exaustiva das políticas educativas da FSLN, dá-se particular atenção à desprivatização da educação e à sua restauração como um direito humano e uma responsabilidade do Estado. Examinam-se dois elementos da Revolução Participativa da Educação que têm uma relevância direta para a construção da democracia socialista/revolucionária: a Campanha Nacional de Alfabetização De Martí a Fidel e a Grande Consulta Nacional sobre a Reforma Curricular do Ensino Básico e Médio de 2007/2008.
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Third World Quarterly, 33(2): 225-241., 2012
With Nicaragua's Sandinista People's Revolution (1979–90) as an ideological reference point, this... more With Nicaragua's Sandinista People's Revolution (1979–90) as an ideological reference point, this paper adopts an historical approach to a theorisation of the contemporary (re)construction of popular power in Latin America and the Caribbean through the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America–Peoples' Trade Agreement (ALBA-TCP). At the core of the analysis is the Venezuelan government's concept of ‘protagonistic revolutionary democracy’ which, by drawing on Marxist direct democracy and CB Macpherson's participatory democracy, can be understood as the definitional foundation of the envisioned ‘21st century socialism’. Mechanisms for the exercise of direct democracy and of participatory democracy promotion are identified at the national and regional scales, through which the ALBA-TCP emerges as a counter-hegemonic governance regime composed of two dialectically interrelated forces: the ‘state-in-revolution’ and the ‘organised society’. They drive the regionalisation of ‘revolutionary democracy’, thus (re)constructing popular power in the production of the ALBA-TCP space.
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Globalizations, 2012
Within a critical globalization theory framework, this article analyses the military dimension of... more Within a critical globalization theory framework, this article analyses the military dimension of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America–Peoples’ Trade Agreement (ALBA-TCP) and its agenda of ‘peacekeeping’ and ‘humanitarian intervention’ in Haiti. Since its launch in 2004, the ALBA-TCP has established itself as an increasingly institutionalized, multidimensional, and pluriscalar counter-hegemonic Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) regionalism and globalization project. Integral to the pursued transformation of world order is the launching of a counter-hegemonic military agenda. Grounded in the Bolivarian philosophy of regional union, the article explores the ALBA-TCP collective defence policies, institutionalized in the Permanent Committee of Sovereignty and Defence, and the ALBA-TCP-Haiti cooperation before and after the earthquake of January 2010. By interrogating the nature of the military alliance and its humanitarian agenda, I propose that the ALBA-TCP’s revolutionary approach to internationalism, peacekeeping, and intervention may be understood as employing an ‘enlarged conception’ of humanitarianism that means neither militarized humanitarianism nor humanitarian assistance as isolated, short-term technical disaster relief, but as long-term emancipatory structural transformation. Military alliance, however, is necessary to defend the project against imperialist aggression.
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Recent by Thomas Muhr (PhD)
https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/UAQFWD2T55IZMU45XVW7/full?target=10.1080/14747731.2022.2082132
Books by Thomas Muhr (PhD)
This book uses the case of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America - Peoples’ Trade Agreement (ALBA-TCP) to invite to a re-thinking of resistance to global capitalism and the construction of socialism in the 21st century. Including detailed theory-based ethnographic case studies from Bolivia, Cuba, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Venezuela and the USA, the contributors identify social and structural forces at different levels and scales to illuminate politics and practices at work. Centred around the themes of democracy and justice, and the more general reconfiguration of the state-society relations and power geometries at the local, national, regional and global scales, ALBA and Counter-Globalization is at the forefront in the trend of interdisciplinary approaches to the study of social phenomena of global relevance.
Read WILLIAM K. CARROLL's review in the Canadian Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies/Revue canadienne des études latino-américaines et caraïbes, at: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08263663.2014.985128
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/274780631_Counter-globalization_and_socialism_in_the_21st_century_a_review
Read LAURENCE GOODCHILD's review in the International Journal of Cuban Studies, at: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.13169/intejcubastud.6.2.0228
Journal Articles by Thomas Muhr (PhD)
Free download: https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/EWRZW8NAS7JSJHFWA8DM/full?target=10.1080/08854300.2021.1994295
desenvolvidos: primeiro, apesar das persistentes desigualdades no acesso à educação universitária em ambos os territórios, as políticas estatais intervencionistas aumentaram a igualdade de acesso diretamente em relação à disponibilidade e acessibilidade. Em segundo lugar, o caso do Régimen Especial Fronterizo Brasil / Venezuela ilustra que a CSS pode transformar as condições de fundo para a justiça educacional, produzindo uma estrutura alternativa à governança global neoliberal da educação. Empiricamente, a discussão recorre à análise de conteúdo e discurso de 81 documentos de cooperação assinados entre atores estatais e não-estatais brasileiros e venezuelanos, complementados por planos de desenvolvimento e relatórios de comissões municipais, nacionais e regionais, e 1 mês de pesquisa de campo no Régimen Especial Fronterizo em 2012. A observação participante e 13 entrevistas semi-estruturadas e abertas foram conduzidas com funcionários em diferentes níveis dos processos de formulação de políticas, acadêmicos, bem como atores de escala local em diferentes iniciativas de cooperação e integração em ambos os lados da fronteira Brasil/Venezuela.
RESUMEN: El artículo adopta un abordaje histórico y global respecto a la cooperación Sur-Sur en educación y desarrollo, un tema todavía poco investigado por la academia. La primera sección discute los conceptos del “Sur”, “Sur Global” y “Cooperación Sur-Sur”, contrapuesta a las prácticas de “colaboración triangular” y “trasferencia de mejores prácticas”. Con base en eso, una revisión de literatura sobre la cooperación en educación Sur-Sur distingue un abordaje dominante incorporado en las teorías liberales y (neo)liberales de relaciones internacionales de un abordaje de teoría crítica asociado al pensamiento en contra-dependencia. Encuadrado por estas discusiones globales de educación Sur-Sur: el ¡Yo, Sí Puedo! – campaña de alfabetización global promocionada por los gobiernos de Cuba y Venezuela – y la agenda común de cooperación de la educación de BRICS. Aunque no se pueda concluir que inequívocamente que la cooperación educacional Sur-Sur produzca una contra-estructura para la gobernanza global y neoliberal de la educación, el artículo muestra igualmente que los principios Sur-Sur de solidaridad, beneficios mutuos y autoconfianza son muy practicados entre los países asociados del Sur. Finalmente, se presentan propuestas de investigación futuras para en este campo.
Este artículo persigue dos objetivos interelacionados que se basan en una revisión de la literatura académica del pasado y presente de la Cooperación Sur-Sur (CSS): primero, contrarresta el sesgo eurocéntrico en la producción de conocimiento sobre la Cooperación Sur-Sur (en especial, pero no exclusivamente) en la academia anglófona, que se manifiesta en una desproporcionada concentración en los BRICS (Brasil, Rusia, India, China, Sudáfrica) mientras se marginan otros proyectos globales relevantes. Segundo, como una contribución de la teoría crítica, este artículo busca reclamar el histórico potencial emancipatorio asociado con la CSS, la cual implica relaciones y proyectos regidos por los principios de complementariedad, cooperación y solidaridad, como está establecido en la Carta de Argel del G-77 de 1967, para relaciones más horizontales (igualitarias y justas, a veces –pero no necesariamente– altruistas), diplomáticas, de comercio, ayuda e inversión, e intercambios de mutuos beneficios (relaciones de “ganar-ganar”), también asociadas, históricamente, con el Nuevo Orden Económico Internacional de las Naciones Unidas del año 1974. Las diez tesis presentadas a continuación problematizan empírica, teórica, conceptual y metodológicamente, temas esenciales para el debate de la CSS en el siglo XXI. Subsecuentemente, la conclusión presenta algunas ideas orientadas políticamente a exponer la relevancia del G-77 y China para América Latina y el Caribe, y viceversa.
ABSTRACT FOR ANTIPODEFOUNDATION.ORG
Situated within human geography’s concerns with uneven development and the politics of place, space and scale, this explanatory-diagnostic article analyzes the contemporary efforts of constructing socialism in Latin America-Caribbean. Although the empirical scope of the article has become challenged by the recent government changes in Argentina and Brazil, and the impact these are having on MERCOSUR, historically, as a South-South “politics of possibilities”, the article is far from obsolete. Its political relevance is two-fold: first, methodologically, this relational analysis overcomes the inherent conservativism of methodologically nationalist and territorially nationalist approaches (mainstream international relations, international politics, international political economy), by integrating state-society dialectics with a pluri-scalar approach that “visibilizes” the transformative potential and impact of this strategy. Second, while such a strategy was mobilized during Hugo Chávez’s regional leadership, it appears to be falling into oblivion. However, socialist revolutionary praxis, the article implicitly claims, depends on precisely such a politics.
ABSTRACT EN CASTELLANO
Estructurado sobre el caso de cooperación Sur-Sur en la construcción de “zonas económicas complementarias” entre los estados miembros del ALBA-TCP, Petrocaribe, CARICOM y MERCOSUR, este artículo argumenta una aproximación socio-espacial al estudio de las geografías cambiantes de integración y desarrollo en Latino América-Caribe. Dos argumentos principales interrelacionados se desarrollan: en primer lugar, en contraste con aproximaciones nacionalismo metodológicas, las cuales consideran los regionalismos que forman las zonas económicas complementarias como ideológicamente separados, proyectos incompatibles o en conflicto, una aproximación socio-espacial en conjunto con una lente analítica de cooperación Sur-Sur explica sus características compartidas y, posteriormente, sus interrelaciones y convergencias. En segundo lugar, mientras este espacio de cooperación Sur-Sur no es per se no-capitalista, un análisis socio-espacial también facilita “ver” la producción de un “contra-espacio” socialista en esta estructura de cooperación Sur-Sur.
https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/UAQFWD2T55IZMU45XVW7/full?target=10.1080/14747731.2022.2082132
This book uses the case of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America - Peoples’ Trade Agreement (ALBA-TCP) to invite to a re-thinking of resistance to global capitalism and the construction of socialism in the 21st century. Including detailed theory-based ethnographic case studies from Bolivia, Cuba, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Venezuela and the USA, the contributors identify social and structural forces at different levels and scales to illuminate politics and practices at work. Centred around the themes of democracy and justice, and the more general reconfiguration of the state-society relations and power geometries at the local, national, regional and global scales, ALBA and Counter-Globalization is at the forefront in the trend of interdisciplinary approaches to the study of social phenomena of global relevance.
Read WILLIAM K. CARROLL's review in the Canadian Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies/Revue canadienne des études latino-américaines et caraïbes, at: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08263663.2014.985128
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/274780631_Counter-globalization_and_socialism_in_the_21st_century_a_review
Read LAURENCE GOODCHILD's review in the International Journal of Cuban Studies, at: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.13169/intejcubastud.6.2.0228
Free download: https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/EWRZW8NAS7JSJHFWA8DM/full?target=10.1080/08854300.2021.1994295
desenvolvidos: primeiro, apesar das persistentes desigualdades no acesso à educação universitária em ambos os territórios, as políticas estatais intervencionistas aumentaram a igualdade de acesso diretamente em relação à disponibilidade e acessibilidade. Em segundo lugar, o caso do Régimen Especial Fronterizo Brasil / Venezuela ilustra que a CSS pode transformar as condições de fundo para a justiça educacional, produzindo uma estrutura alternativa à governança global neoliberal da educação. Empiricamente, a discussão recorre à análise de conteúdo e discurso de 81 documentos de cooperação assinados entre atores estatais e não-estatais brasileiros e venezuelanos, complementados por planos de desenvolvimento e relatórios de comissões municipais, nacionais e regionais, e 1 mês de pesquisa de campo no Régimen Especial Fronterizo em 2012. A observação participante e 13 entrevistas semi-estruturadas e abertas foram conduzidas com funcionários em diferentes níveis dos processos de formulação de políticas, acadêmicos, bem como atores de escala local em diferentes iniciativas de cooperação e integração em ambos os lados da fronteira Brasil/Venezuela.
RESUMEN: El artículo adopta un abordaje histórico y global respecto a la cooperación Sur-Sur en educación y desarrollo, un tema todavía poco investigado por la academia. La primera sección discute los conceptos del “Sur”, “Sur Global” y “Cooperación Sur-Sur”, contrapuesta a las prácticas de “colaboración triangular” y “trasferencia de mejores prácticas”. Con base en eso, una revisión de literatura sobre la cooperación en educación Sur-Sur distingue un abordaje dominante incorporado en las teorías liberales y (neo)liberales de relaciones internacionales de un abordaje de teoría crítica asociado al pensamiento en contra-dependencia. Encuadrado por estas discusiones globales de educación Sur-Sur: el ¡Yo, Sí Puedo! – campaña de alfabetización global promocionada por los gobiernos de Cuba y Venezuela – y la agenda común de cooperación de la educación de BRICS. Aunque no se pueda concluir que inequívocamente que la cooperación educacional Sur-Sur produzca una contra-estructura para la gobernanza global y neoliberal de la educación, el artículo muestra igualmente que los principios Sur-Sur de solidaridad, beneficios mutuos y autoconfianza son muy practicados entre los países asociados del Sur. Finalmente, se presentan propuestas de investigación futuras para en este campo.
Este artículo persigue dos objetivos interelacionados que se basan en una revisión de la literatura académica del pasado y presente de la Cooperación Sur-Sur (CSS): primero, contrarresta el sesgo eurocéntrico en la producción de conocimiento sobre la Cooperación Sur-Sur (en especial, pero no exclusivamente) en la academia anglófona, que se manifiesta en una desproporcionada concentración en los BRICS (Brasil, Rusia, India, China, Sudáfrica) mientras se marginan otros proyectos globales relevantes. Segundo, como una contribución de la teoría crítica, este artículo busca reclamar el histórico potencial emancipatorio asociado con la CSS, la cual implica relaciones y proyectos regidos por los principios de complementariedad, cooperación y solidaridad, como está establecido en la Carta de Argel del G-77 de 1967, para relaciones más horizontales (igualitarias y justas, a veces –pero no necesariamente– altruistas), diplomáticas, de comercio, ayuda e inversión, e intercambios de mutuos beneficios (relaciones de “ganar-ganar”), también asociadas, históricamente, con el Nuevo Orden Económico Internacional de las Naciones Unidas del año 1974. Las diez tesis presentadas a continuación problematizan empírica, teórica, conceptual y metodológicamente, temas esenciales para el debate de la CSS en el siglo XXI. Subsecuentemente, la conclusión presenta algunas ideas orientadas políticamente a exponer la relevancia del G-77 y China para América Latina y el Caribe, y viceversa.
ABSTRACT FOR ANTIPODEFOUNDATION.ORG
Situated within human geography’s concerns with uneven development and the politics of place, space and scale, this explanatory-diagnostic article analyzes the contemporary efforts of constructing socialism in Latin America-Caribbean. Although the empirical scope of the article has become challenged by the recent government changes in Argentina and Brazil, and the impact these are having on MERCOSUR, historically, as a South-South “politics of possibilities”, the article is far from obsolete. Its political relevance is two-fold: first, methodologically, this relational analysis overcomes the inherent conservativism of methodologically nationalist and territorially nationalist approaches (mainstream international relations, international politics, international political economy), by integrating state-society dialectics with a pluri-scalar approach that “visibilizes” the transformative potential and impact of this strategy. Second, while such a strategy was mobilized during Hugo Chávez’s regional leadership, it appears to be falling into oblivion. However, socialist revolutionary praxis, the article implicitly claims, depends on precisely such a politics.
ABSTRACT EN CASTELLANO
Estructurado sobre el caso de cooperación Sur-Sur en la construcción de “zonas económicas complementarias” entre los estados miembros del ALBA-TCP, Petrocaribe, CARICOM y MERCOSUR, este artículo argumenta una aproximación socio-espacial al estudio de las geografías cambiantes de integración y desarrollo en Latino América-Caribe. Dos argumentos principales interrelacionados se desarrollan: en primer lugar, en contraste con aproximaciones nacionalismo metodológicas, las cuales consideran los regionalismos que forman las zonas económicas complementarias como ideológicamente separados, proyectos incompatibles o en conflicto, una aproximación socio-espacial en conjunto con una lente analítica de cooperación Sur-Sur explica sus características compartidas y, posteriormente, sus interrelaciones y convergencias. En segundo lugar, mientras este espacio de cooperación Sur-Sur no es per se no-capitalista, un análisis socio-espacial también facilita “ver” la producción de un “contra-espacio” socialista en esta estructura de cooperación Sur-Sur.
Follow the link to read online at E-International Relations http://www.e-ir.info/2015/03/18/review-democracy-revolution-and-geopolitics-in-latin-america/
The downloadable paper is the final published version of the conference paper.
Grounded in a review of past and present academic South-South cooperation literatures, this article advances ten theses that problematise empirical, theoretical, conceptual and methodological issues essential to discussions of South-South cooperation in the 21st century. This endeavour is motivated by a perceived undermining especially in the Anglophone academic South-South cooperation literature of the emancipatory potential that South-South cooperation has historically been associated with. By drawing from the interventionist South-South cooperation agendas of ‘left’-leaning Latin America-Caribbean governments, the article seeks to establish a dialogue between social science theories and less ‘visible’ analyses from academic (semi)peripheries. The ten theses culminate in an exploration of the potential of South-South cooperation to promote ‘alternative’ development.
Download of the original thesis (University of Bristol Library scan) at:
http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?did=1&uin=uk.bl.ethos.499925