Evolutions of the competition state in Latin America: power, contestation and neo-liberal populism

Abstract

This contribution argues that competition state theory unduly marginalises the political dimensions of state reform. Institutional reform is not simply political in the sense that policies are contested, but because reform reshapes the very nature, process and possibilities of politics itself. I argue that the competition state project has sought to enforce new technologies of power and discipline across socio-economic life by enforcing new ways of (and limits to) doing politics within the paradigm of an abstract ‘global competitiveness’. The discourse of competitiveness, therefore, is not merely a response to a changing external environment in an era of globalisation but a representative of a determined political project in the context of distinct social struggles. The article traces this argument through a discussion of neo-liberal reform in Latin America generally and Chile specifically.

Keywords:

• competition state
• neo-liberalism
• institutions
• competitiveness
• Latin America
• Chile

Notes

1. Ironically, the element that the latest Global competitiveness report deems China's most problematic feature is the soundness of its banking sector and inadequacies across its wider financial system, whereas these elements were seen as strengths of the Anglo-American states. Presently, the financial systems deemed central to Anglo-American competitiveness are being kept alive through the life-support machines of government largesse whereas the ‘financial repression’ of the Chinese state in limiting exposure to global finance seems potentially quite prudent in current circumstances.