Abstract

DE LA TORRE, Verónica. De las alternativas para las Américas, de la Alianza Social Continental, a la Alternativa Bolivariana. Argumentos (Méx.) [online]. 2009, vol.22, n.59, pp.187-214. ISSN 0187-5795.

This paper traces the path of a transnational civic network originated in the context of the negotiations of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Around 1999 the Hemispheric Social Alliance (HSA) was a "network of networks" of the Western Hemisphere that had as a main goal to influence in the negotiations of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) and to turn this agreement into an equitable and sustainable accord for all the participant countries. With this aim the HSA proposed the "Alternatives for the Americas", an anti neoliberal scheme oriented to the achievement of the social justice. This essay posits that the progressive and leftist governments of the last decade in Latin America took over the agenda of the social movements, though not without their consent. Finally this work criticizes the predominance of the statism and personalism in Latin America which has been historically a major obstacle to the building of an autonomous citizenry.

Keywords : HSA; advocacy networks; citizens/social/transnational movements; neoliberalism; FTA; FTAA; ALBA; leftist/progressive governments.