Obstacles to change in Latin America

the long version

A collection of essays by leading Latin Americans who, apart from being academically distinguished, are placed near the sources of political power in their respective countries and have on occasion advised either their governments or international organizations on specialized problems. Although the authors work in different disciplines and start from different sets of premises, these essays reflect a remarkable coincidence of views which may be described as a civilized impatience with the attempt to use foreign models to interpret Latin American situations. Latin America has a pre-industrial urban civilization that has remained largely untouched by the changes traditionally associated with industrialization.