As David Eisenthal points out, the election of Michelle Bachelet to the presidency of Chile is a significant for a hemisphere where only four women have been elected to the highest office. But the story has also given us casual followers of world events pause to reflect on the transformation of Latin American politics, toward democratic governance and, more often than not, toward election of leftish governments. The NewsHour had a good discussion of the distinction between populist Leftism (e.g. Chavez and Bolivia’s Evo Morales) and the continent’s social democratic Left (Bachelet and Brazil’s Lula). For a more thorough rundown of what’s going on in Latin American countries, I’d highly recommend Adam Isacson’s 12 Elections in 12 months primer. His conclusion is that the leftist wave is a) overstated in that much of the leftward move represents center-left social democrats and misrepresents some of the populists, and b) a good thing for the region. I’d agree. Let’s just hope the new governments can steer the difficult course away from economic underdevelopment and social inequality.
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