Democracy, Revolution and Geopolitics in Latin America

Luis Fernando Angosto-Ferrández has a multidisciplinary background in anthropology and political science and currently lectures in anthropology and Latin American studies at the University of Sydney. He has extensive fieldwork experience in Latin America and Spain, and has lived, worked, and researched in Venezuela for nearly a decade. Among his recent publications is Everlasting Countdowns: Race, Ethnicity and National Censuses in Latin American States (coedited with Sabine Kradolfer).

• 1. Democracy, Revolution and Geopolitics in Latin America: Venezuelan Politics and the International of Discontent; Luis Fernando Angosto-Ferrández 2. Chávez and American Integration; Tim Anderson 3. "Ploughing the Sea" in a World of Regions: Venezuela’s Role in Reviving Latin American Regionalism for the 21st Century; Anthea McCarthy-Jones 4. Petrocaribe: A project for Development in the Caribbean and Central America?; Rodrigo Acuña 5. The Right to Information: Indigenous Media and the Bolivarian Revolution; Kathryn Lehman 6. Indigenous Peoples, Populist Logics and Polarization: Understanding the Pivotal Role of Indigeneity in Venezuelan Elections; Luis Fernando Angosto-Ferrández 7. Hope and Fear in Venezuelan Democracy: Violence, Citizen Insecurity and Competing Neoliberal and Socialist Urban Imaginaries; Michael Humphrey and Estela Valverde 8. Ordering Discontent: Domestic and International Dynamics of the Bolivarian Revolution; Luis Fernando Angosto-Ferrández

"Among the many books on Venezuela, this one is unique and to be praised for offering a clear-eyed, balanced assessment of the impact of Hugo Chávez Frías on hemispheric and global relations. It wrestles with thorny issues about the limits and possibilities of revolution in the current geopolitical context, benefitting from fine research on Latin America being undertaken in Australasia."—Daniel Hellinger, Webster University"This volume represents a unique effort to explore the tie-in between struggles within Venezuela in favor of justice and democratic consolidation, on the one hand, and international relations, on the other. Editor Luis Angosto-Ferrández uses a post-structuralist approach to relate symbols and discourse to the initiatives promoting Latin American unity undertaken by President Hugo Chávez. In addition to examining government actions to create a Latin American bloc and the unity of third world countries, several chapters in the book focus on the Venezuelan Indigenous movement and its transnational networks. All eight of the book’s chapters provide a wealth of useful information that illuminates Venezuelan developments as well as continental and North-South relations. The reader may or may not be in agreement with all the authors’ arguments and viewpoints, but will undoubtedly find his/her grasp of the complex transformations currently underway in Venezuela and Latin America significantly enhanced."—Steve Ellner, editor of Latin America’s Radical Left: Challenges and Complexities of Political Power in the Twenty-First Century"This is an excellent and long-overdue examination of the international impact of the Bolivarian revolution. It takes seriously what many academics and the great majority of media commentators have tended to dismiss as irrelevant or insignificant"— D.L. Raby, University of Liverpool