Toward a Socioenvironmental Agenda for South America

Abstract

Many analysts believe Latin America is now going through a second progressive wave. As the examples of Argentina and Colombia show, however, in South America the situation is varied, with continuities and ruptures with respect to the previous wave. On the one hand, there are weak progressive governments, built on the leaders of the previous cycle, that continue the previous cycle’s extractivism, as in Argentina under Fernández and Bolivia under Luis Arce. Borrowing a term coined by Argentine writer and environmental activist Gabriela Cabezón Cámara, I refer to these governments as “fossil progressivisms.” On the other hand, a new generation of progressivisms is emerging, characterized by Chile’s Gabriel Boric and Colombia’s Petro, who both took office in 2022. At the same time, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has returned for a third term in Brazil in a context marked by the strengthening of the extreme Right.In South America, fossil progressivisms have shown that they are not interested in advancing a socioenvironmental agenda or discussing scenarios for a just transition away from the fossil fuel economy. Consequently, betting on more extractivism, they significantly reduce the prospects of democracy and a dignified and sustainable life. In contrast, the new governments in Colombia and to a lesser extent in Chile represent hope for a “second generation progressivism” in which democracy and socioenvironmental problems—namely the climate crisis and extractivism—could be treated within a comprehensive government program as cross-cutting priorities, rather than isolated issues.At the end of the first progressive cycle, polarization opened opportunities for the authoritarian Right, configuring a new political scenario, without clear hegemonies. Now, with progressive governments back in office, to what extent do fossil progressivisms foreclose the possibility of mapping an ecosocial transition? Can the new generation of leaders express socioenvironmental progressivism?.