Sidore Lecture Series

Last Thursday evening, in the Saul O Sidore Lecture Series, Professor Henry Dietz gave a lecture on Latin American society to 50 students and local residents congregated in the Silver Cultural Arts Center Recital Hall. After approximately forty-five minutes of lecturing, Mr. Dietz opened up the floor to questions. Many people left the hall deep in discussion about the different aspects of Latin American culture Mr. Dietz brought up, from the disparity in wealth between the rich and poor to the vast improvements Latin American countries have made to their own economies and political processes. One woman said that Mr. Dietz seemed “cautiously optimistic” about the region, despite his “anxieties about some hostility.” Latin America stretches across half the Americas, from Mexico all the way down to the tip of South America. Brazil, the largest country in Latin America, has the largest economic gap between the rich and poor in the world. When comparing the top and bottom 20% of the country, the U.S. averages the rich being 11 times as wealthy as the poor. Latin America averages 19/1, and Brazil averages a whopping 32/1, when using this same comparison. Latin America, despite this disparity, has improved drastically in the last few decades. Neo-liberalism, since it took power in recent years politically, has brought a decentralization of power. Instead of having a president appointing his own officials, mayors are now being elected by the people. While this brings its own difficulties, such as a sometimes less-efficient system when compared to the former government, 54% of Latin Americans support democracy over their past political systems. This is a result of increasingly improving economies, improving jobs, and better education. In some countries, though, things are not so positive. Peru’s current President has a mere 10% approval rating, despite three consecutive years of an improving economy. Cuba remains the only Latin American dictatorship, and rebels in many countries fight against their heads of state. A major concern is that Adam Przeworski’s sustainability of democracy theory may take effect – namely, the prolonged democratic governments must convince their constituents that democracy, at its worst, is better than any alternative at its best. Unfortunately, if that changes, a very different Latin America could emerge in the coming years. One attendee said that Dietz was “provocative” and “made me think.” It is this kind of thinking that has led to an appeal to the U.N. to enforce a so-called “poor tax,” as well as the World Bank to put the poor at the fore of its humanitarian efforts. According to Dietz, these efforts are the “best” the World Bank can do. It will be interesting to see how international efforts and national efforts can combine in the next few decades to further improve the Latin American region, and its contributions to world affairs.