Politicised Provision: Development and Welfare under Latin America's New Left

近几十年来，拉丁美洲经历了一次戏剧性的政治左倾。许多左翼政党主要通过选举获得并保持了权力，学者们将其描述为席卷非洲大陆的“粉红浪潮”。许多这些政府的政治纲领的核心是一系列针对社会中最弱势成员的新颖社会计划和福利倡议。在一个不平等程度仍然高得惊人的大陆上，这些形式的减贫计划一直是“新左派”政府获得民心的核心基础。尽管这些社会计划在“新左派”政府的政治计划中处于中心地位，但我们对这些计划的目标人群是如何理解和体验这些计划的知之甚少。关于“新左派”的政策和政治已经写了很多，但这些评论往往是两极分化和矛盾的。对一些人来说，在新自由主义时期之后出现的再分配社会项目受到了欢迎和庆祝，贫困受益者的福祉得到了显著改善。对其他人来说，这些项目似乎与不断上升的民粹主义浪潮联系在一起，后者有可能破坏整个非洲大陆的民主，削弱自由制度；被认为与大多数穷人的利益相违背的趋势。这项研究以尼加拉瓜为重点，旨在透过探索受这些社会计划最直接影响的人们的观点，来超越这些两极分化的辩论。因为有一件事是明确的：对这一系列高度政治化的社会项目表达强烈感受的不仅仅是学者。参与者自己（以及潜在的参与者）对项目的价值和目的持有强有力的意见。事实上，在“粉红潮”的许多国家，这些项目已成为农村和城市穷人进行激烈政治活动的焦点。基于对项目受益者经验的密切人种学研究，该奖学金将寻求促进对新左派社会项目中投资的这些强烈的政治希望和愿望如何影响其成败的理解。这里要追求的关键思想是，通过了解福利提供与密切的民族志调查揭示的政治主体性形式重叠的方式，可以获得很多东西。如果“新左派”社会项目的参与者对政治包容和公民身份的认可有着强烈的愿望，那么要理解项目为什么会有这样的结果，就需要理解和考虑到这种复杂的动态。透过朝这个方向迈进，该奖学金旨在促进尼加拉瓜及其他地区“新左派”社会福利计划的设计、执行与评估的改善。

Latin America has in recent decades witnessed a dramatic political shift to the left. Numerous leftist political parties have achieved and retained power, primarily through the ballot box, in what scholars have described as a "Pink Tide" sweeping the continent. Central to the political platforms of many of these governments have been a range of novel social programs and welfare initiatives oriented towards the most disadvantaged members of society. In a continent where inequality remains staggeringly high, these forms of poverty-reduction program have been a central basis of the popularity achieved by the governments of the 'new left'.Despite the centrality of these social programs to the political projects of 'new left' governments, we know little about how they are understood and experienced by the people at whom they are targeted. Much has been written about the policies and politics of the 'new left', but this commentary has often been polarised and contradictory. For some, the emergence of redistributive social programs after a period of neoliberalism has been welcomed and celebrated, and measurable improvements in well-being among impoverished beneficiaries have been emphasised. For others, the programs appear to be bound up with a rising tide of populism that threatens to undermine democracy and weaken liberal institutions across the continent; trends which are understood to be contrary to the interests of the poor majority.Focusing on the Nicaraguan case, this fellowship aims to move beyond these polarised debates by exploring the perspective of the people whose lives these social projects affect most directly. Because one thing is clear: it is not just scholars who express strong feelings about this range of highly-politicised social programs. Participants themselves (along with potential participants) hold powerful opinions regarding the value and purpose of the projects. Indeed, in many of the countries which comprise the 'Pink Tide', the projects have become a focal point for intense political activity among the rural and urban poor. Based upon close ethnographic study of the experiences of project beneficiaries, the fellowship will seek to promote understanding of how these intense political hopes and aspirations invested in the social projects of the new left impact upon their successes and failures.The key idea to be pursued here is that there is much to be gained from understanding the ways in which welfare provision overlaps with the forms of political subjectivity revealed by close ethnographic investigation. If participants in 'new left' social projects invest those programs with powerful desires for political inclusion and recognition as citizens, understanding why projects have the results they do requires that this complex dynamic be understood and taken into account. By making steps in this direction, the fellowship aims to promote the improvement of the design, delivery and evaluation of 'new left' social welfare programs in Nicaragua and beyond.