Canning Papers

Changing politics: the impact on Latin American business: Canning Papers

Politics is changing in Latin America. The so-called ‘pink tide’ of left-wing governments, associated with a decade of booming commodity prices, has peaked and ebbed. In the aftermath voters are angry over the slowdown in economic growth, corruption, and crime. In some countries the political pendulum has swung to the Right, or even to the extreme Right. Populist and nationalist politicians of both the Right and Left have made gains. The picture is not uniform. In this paper we will try to get a feel for the direction of travel and how it is affecting business

We focus on changes in countries that have recently experienced elections (Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Paraguay, and Mexico) and those potentially on the brink of other big changes (Peru, Venezuela). The aim is to use this sample to identify underlying trends. From the perspective of companies operating in the region it may be useful to think of this as a partial PEST analysis (the acronym for a business planning method focusing on the impact on companies of combined political, economic, socio-cultural, and technological changes, originally developed by Harvard business professor Francis Aguilar).

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