PATHS OF DEVELOPMENT IN THE SOUTHERN CONE: DEINDUSTRIALIZATION AND REPRIMARIZATION IN ARGENTINA AND BRAZIL AND THEIR SOCIO-ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS

Resumo

This paper analyzes the current development paths that have been pursued in the two most industrialized countries of the Southern Cone, namely Brazil and Argentina, in recent decades. It has been argued that both countries have been pursuing new developmentalism and yet that which has dominated in reality are the processes of deindustrialization and reprimarization. In order to understand these tendencies and their implications, the specifics of each country are examined. The paper begins with a brief summary of the historical experiences of industrialization in both Argentina and Brazil, followed by a summary of neoliberal globalization and how the roles of the IMF, the WTO, and TNCs, contributed to the tendencies of deindustrialization and reprimarization, in section 2. This is followed by an evaluation of the process of deindustrialization in Argentina in section 3 and the process of deindustrialization in Brazil in section 4. This is then followed by section 5 on the current tendency toward reprimarization in Argentina and Brazil.  Moreover, detailed analysis of these tendencies for both countries is presented for extensive periods. Section six of this paper advances the discussion of the theoretical concept of accumulation by dispossession by David Harvey and evaluates its relevance in understanding the processes of reprimarization in both Argentina and Brazil. This is carried out through an analysis of the expansion of primary activities, namely, the sectors of transgenic soy production, cattle, and mega-mining, and analyzing the role of the State and transnationals, through legal and illegal means, for example, the expropriations of local populations in the Brazilian Amazon. Lastly, the conclusions are presented, reflecting on the different paths of development experienced by both Argentina and Brazil.