What if Latin America Ruled the World?: How the South Will Take the North into the 22nd Century

by Oscar Guardiola-Rivera

For most Westerners, Latin America is the junior partner of the New World, an underdeveloped sibling to the US and Canada. The vibrancy of its culture is unquestionable, but the Spanish and Portuguese-speaking countries of Central and South America are easily typecast and overlooked as exotic, dangerous, and decidedly not part of the First World. In his provocative and powerful book, Oscar Guardiola-Rivera shows how Latin America and its people are making their presence felt across the world by upsetting long-standing political and economic assumptions and orthodoxies. The US will still occupy center stage in the West for the time being, but few observers have taken notice of the rapid growth of Spanish language and culture within the USA--which is quietly and quickly becoming part of Latin America in its own way. Guardiola-Rivera's stimulating work is equally a hidden history of the modern world (the silver peso was the first global currency) and a piercing look at the future. Latin America has been in the vanguard of opposition to globalization, and its politics are imaginative, innovative and unlike those anywhere else in the world. For anyone interested in the future of the Western hemisphere or the world economy, What if Latin America Ruled the World? is a must-read.

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction, History, Latin American, Research

465 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 21, 2010

About the author

Oscar Guardiola-Rivera teaches International Law and International Affairs at Birkbeck College, University of London. He also served as an aide to the Colombian Congress, as a consultant for a unit of the United Nations in the region, taught and lectured in law, philosophy, and politics in three continents. He helped to found a think-tank still active in Colombia, dealing with Human Rights, policy, culture, and conflict resolution, and is recognised as one of the foremost younger voices in Latin American philosophy.

Reviews

[Andres Sanchez · Rating 2 out of 5]

Parte de una pregunta interesante y aporta datos atractivos, pero durante el libro repta la idea de que el mundo sería mejor si algunos de los productos más nefastos del pensamiento latinoamericano como el socialismo del siglo XXI, el modelo corrupto y asistencialista de Lula y Dilma en Brasil (financiado por Odebrecht y Petrobras), la Teoría de la Dependencia y la búsqueda de leyes de cuotas globales en ese sentido (por algo Fernando Henrique Cardoso vio esto como un error de juventud y se desmarcó de ella), el renacimiento de un indigenismo descafeinado y poco indígena salvo en sus disfraces, los fracasados modelos de sustitución de importaciones o la glorificación de un gobierno desastroso como el Chile del antisemita Salvador Allende. Y ese es el error principal del libro que hoy, años después de su optimista publicación, revela todas sus fallas.

[Sergio · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lo que más me gustó del libro fue lo bien investigado que está, se nota que el autor sabe de lo que habla y no presenta el tema central a a ligera y eso se agradece.

La pregunta que plantea el autor en el título del libro no deja de ser interesante teniendo en consideración el momento en que el libro fue escrito, aunque el desarrollo de los eventos desde el 2010 hasta ahora creo que le han quitado algo de impulso y hemos tenido que ver algunos de esos sueños l menos retrasarse, si no desaparecer por otros.

La nota de precaución que pondría para quien tenga pensado enfrentar esta lectura es principalmente la densidad de la materia. El autor recorre, con mucha información y detalle, distintas épocas y situaciones en America Latina justificando su caso a favor de un modelo de "orden mundial" más en sincronía con sensibilidades latinoamericanas, lo que podría dificultar o al menos hacer la lectura un poco más lenta.

Teniendo todo lo anterior en consideración, creo que 4 estrellas es una calificación justa porque trata un tema interesante, un enfoque que no es frecuente y está muy bien investigado, aunque su lectura a veces puede hacerse algo pesada pese a estar entremezclada con alguna historias personales que la hacen un poco más llevadera.

[Fredrick Danysh · Rating 3 out of 5]

An examination of Latin America from pre-Columbus to the present day. It examines history and economics and how the Latin culture has spread northward to and thru the US border. The author endorses globalization of the world's economy favoring the Latin ethnic groups.

[Jessenia Peña · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was good. I mean it’s depressing to read a book where the author predicts that the US could become the next United States of Latin America and then fast forward to the present and the president is an bigot disguised as an orange 🙄🙄🙄

It is a very well written book. I loved it. Although I do wonder what he would think about Dilma Rousseff and the whole Petrobras scheme, Venezuela’s crisis under Maduro and let’s not forget the whole Odebrecht mess.....

[Luke M Herrington · Rating 3 out of 5]

The second worst literary bait and switch I have encountered, behind Jeff Long's terrible Year Zero novel. What if Latin America Ruled the World is an excellent history of Latin America from a critical, global perspective, but one which has nothing to do with the ostensible subject matter of the book, at least based on the title.

[Josie Rushin · Rating 2 out of 5]

non-fiction text about Latin America. I listened to this as an audiobook and it has taken me over six months to finish it. I’m unsure if it is me or the audio format that didn’t mix well with this text. I struggled to get into the text, made worse by the person speaking the audio, as their pronunciation of Spanish names, places etc. was terrible and distracting. I think I need to retry the text reading it instead of the audiobook so I am unsure yet if I would recommend the text.

[James Taylor · Rating 2 out of 5]

Quite a slog to get through at times. This is inherently a book about economics which I do think the title and description is slightly misleading. There is often little substance and meat to points, which are also quite repetitive

[Garan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Superb book for understanding globalization in relation to the Latin American countries. At times, very distressing to read, especially in the slice of water melon incident. Highly recommend.

[Cameron Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting and agree with most of it but struggled with his writing style

[Andrew Rangel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great information, but a very slow read and doesn't really end in a powerful call to action or satisfying wrap up

[Rishabh Sinha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting, good read but it does like to make assumptions about other countries that aren’t quite fair, and turns blindly to how those issues used to describe those nations also exist in Latin America, is generally extremely keen to discuss why things are a problem in other nations, but ignore the importance/existence of them within LA nations

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s a big question, and it’s asked on the final page, after three hundred odd pages of context framed within economics, history, and a bit more economics. I’m not sure the question is answered however, maybe it’s not even meant to be, but then again it could have been right in front of me and I would have trudged past without noticing. I struggled through this book with a determined resignation that I would make it to the end.
When I was about three-quarters of the way through, a friend pointed out that this was a study book. Ah, of course, it made sense. You should read this slowly, make notes, look at the events, put everything in it’s context and then think about what the book was saying, perhaps you should even do that with every book? I didn’t do it. I barrelled through from beginning to end, well, I tried to. I gave up trying to understand every line, the economic theories, the conclusions drawn from historical context, and instead took limited knowledge from a paragraph, or where I was particularly dense, a page.

The scope and breadth of this book is incredible, as Guardiola-Revera places the impact of the discovery, conquering and colonisation of Latin America on the indigenous populations nature-sustaining methods of trading and working, in the broader of context of world economics. Along with an encyclopaedic history for the region the book explains how the southern hemisphere is trying to tear the shackles of economic guidance that the modernised West has foisted upon it, read “ours is the best way to do it, so you will do it”.

There is also a lot of comment, and this is perhaps the most pertinent thrust of the book, about the Latinsation of the US and the impact this will have on not just the US itself, but the world in general. The growing power of indigenous peoples across Latin America, for example, following the ‘water wars’ in Bolivia that preceded Evo Morales rise to power, to the 2006 political demonstrations in the US for illegal immigrant rights, and how this will influence the US as it becomes more Latino.

Mixed thoroughly in with the dense economic theory is the history of the region, and Guardiola-Rivera extrapolates the impact of specific events on world economics, from the power of the initial trading of pure gold for trinkets, to the Spanish silver peso, the worlds first universal currency. These were the more interesting parts for me, over and above the economics, even though the closely are ever intertwined.

By the end I had learnt a bit, forgotten a lot and not understood even more than that. There are areas where Latin America is trying to change the one size capitalism fits all philosophy of the West and hopefully it will succeed. I am the man who knew too little about economics to be able to properly comment about the theory and the context, but barring a radical shift, the time will come when the US becomes the next Latin American country, then maybe they really will rule the world.

One thing I did learn about myself is that I can’t give up on a book, I wanted to put this down and move on. I couldn’t do it. So a little of self revealed to me at the very least .

(blog review here)

[Peter]

I look forward to reading this book: the sub-title is how the south will take the north into the 22nd century - but the north was the south ooh about 340 million years ago, and the related topics need to be addressed at,in an appropriate time, setting.

In general, to what extent does 'What if Latin America ruled the world?' beg the chicken and egg question and in particular trigger a related trap?-ty.

Recognising the intensive over-here-vis-a-vis-over-there advocacy in inverted commas presenting in 'The Laws of Disequilibrium' at pp240-51, to what extent is it clear which message(s) are being delivered on behalf of which principal(s); what any-the intended lesson(s) would be; and which other laws would be significant in this context?-ty.

Considering A Small Matter of Time at pp297-301, would it be possible for arrangements to be made for the citizens of advanced societies to engage a discovery process to find out upon which corporate balance sheets the person is deemed to be either an asset or a liability? Not so much as Am-I-my-brother's-keeper as such, but which ones take the view that it seems to be appropriate to take a position of ownership over the person. Elsewhere on the interrogation, the beginning of the answer to the question as to why the value of the life of a citizen of an advanced society is higher to the representative of the central government than that of the life of a citizen of Qumran, might start with because the obligations rendered to the respective public and private houses of the citizens in the respective jurisdictions are likely to be scaled rather differently. What else may be significant in this context?-ty.

Turning to the paragraph beginning 'In 1996, the unquestioned hegemony of neoliberal thinking' at pp318-9, to what extent should we be concerned about the-thing-over-there in inverted commas contained in brackets? What else may be significant in this context?-ty.

Considering 'In the end, world capitalism will always boil down to a specifically modern distinction between creditors and debtors that historically came to be in place of the classical distinction between the civilised and barbarians.' at p347, what else seems to be significant in this context?

[Jasmine · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must-read for all students of alternative histories, international studies, international politics, economics, philosophy...basically, ALL students and everyone invested in the future of our world.

"As members of a global society, we recognise in Latin America's historical efforts an exercise of the right, or the duty, to look critically at our world. But that is not enough. In its example, we also learn that the truest form of rule comes not from producing the most cars, selling and consuming the most goods, or harbouring the deadliest military weapons. And that it cannot be measured in terms of debt-to-GDP ratios. Rather, it concerns the human capacity to make new history."

[John · Rating 2 out of 5]

Based on a very interesting idea, that Latin America has unique lessons to offer the world, this book is rather frustrating in being so discursive, pursuing every available tangental theme. I struggled to read it properly, in the end dipping into passages I thought particualrly interesting. What a shame - a writer with great analytical ability, capable of drawing out a multitude of interconnections, but not able to structure the result into a readable, well... a readable book!

[Ian McHugh · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is massive in scope and is difficult to read. The diversity of content make for occasional "wow" moments as Guardiola-Rivera links seemingly unconnected themes together with skill. The broadness of content does leave a few unanswered questions by the end of the book and, as mentioned, the difficulty in reading some sections means that, although a point is 'hammered' home in the mind of the reader, it is done so to excess.

[Hans Hoffmann · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is a lot of good information in this book - however I found it not very well focused as it seemed the author took me all over the globe and I never did find it tied back to the title of the novel. There is no question Mr. Guardiola-Rivera is well read and versed in the history of Latin America and Latino's (lot of discussion tied to the demographic trends of Latino's in the US). I found myself educated but also very frustrated in reading this book.

[Elizabeth Barnes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting subject and view on Latin Americas role in world history. But overall the book is quite difficult to read and follow at times.