Marcos Mendoza - The Patagonian Sublime: The Green Economy and Post-Neoliberal Politics

This book examines post-neoliberal politics and the green economy in Argentina at a time of weakening faith in global neoliberalism. Since the election of Hugo Chvez as president of Venezuela in 1998, Latin America has witnessed the proliferation of New Left governments that have adopted a wide range of responses to the crises, conflicts, and contradictions associated with neoliberal policies and principles. Over the course of two decades, the New Left has sought to promote growth with equity and challenge the ideology of the self-regulating market (Grugel and Riggirozzi 2009, 19). Though facing a number of recent setbacks, the New Leftwhether its adherents hold office or are in the oppositionremains a key front of resistance within the Americas. The Nstor Kirchner (20032007) and Cristina Fernndez de Kirchner (20072015) presidential administrations are associated with post-neoliberal politics in Argentina. The Kirchners have worked to promote stronger state control over the economy, expand welfare programs, protect real wages, and accelerate the exploitation of natural resources, whether through extraction or conservation. With respect to the green economy, the Kirchner-Fernndez governments have implemented a green productivist agenda. I explore how strategies of capitalist development, political rule, and national representation operating within green productivism affect the Patagonian region. A binational zone that includes parts of Chile, Patagonia encompasses the Argentine provinces of Neuqun, Ro Negro, Chubut, Santa Cruz, and Tierra del Fuego (see Map P.1). In particular, I focus on the mountain village of El Chaltn and the adjacent Parque Nacional Los Glaciares (Glaciers National Park). I document the sociocultural responses of actors to a green productivist project based on ecotourism and community-based conservation within alpine landscapes. I attend to subjectivity formation and risk consciousness within the green economy, charting the enactment of concrete visions for sustainable development.