Introducing Alternautas 2.0

Abstract

We are delighted to launch the new OJS version of Alternautas, hosted by the University of Warwick. The first iteration of Alternautas began as a rigorous peer-reviewed blog designed to widen the circulation of knowledge produced by the global South about the global South. It was forged in the fires of the pink tide governments – progressive governments in power across Latin America during the first decade or so of the twenty-first century – and the vigorous debates around development and its alternatives that raged simultaneously, as Carballo, Beling and Waldmüller outline in their history of Alternautas (this issue). The political landscape has shifted in the nine years since Alternautas’ inception. The first generation of pink tide governments have run their cause, unseated from power by the political turbulence that followed the 2008 financial crash (see our special issues on the End of Cycle, Alternautas, 2016). However, the right-wing forced that deposed the Left from power – either through coup d’état, lawfare or the ballot box – have proved unable to tighten their grip on power. A new generation of the Latin American Left is now in power in Chile and Colombia – previous bastons of neoliberalism – whilst the successors of the pink tide reside over Argentina, Bolivia and possibly Brazil, if Lula is successful in his bid to become president once again later this year.