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Special Report: How to be small and successful in Latin America (ISSN 17414474)

The performance debate about Uruguay

Various analysts have come up with different reasons for Uruguay’s relative success. Writing in the New York Times in 2016 journalist Uki Goñi claimed the country had a refreshing absence of the type of passionate nationalism that can be whipped up by populist leaders elsewhere in Latin America. He cited Uruguayan historian Gerardo Caetano, who said, “Nation is not a word we often use. We prefer republic.” Goñi also cited the trail-blazing reforms introduced by Colorado President José Batlle y Ordoñez in the early part of the 20th century, pointing out that among many modernising steps, the country adopted a liberal divorce law in 1913, while it took Chile almost another 100 years, until 2004, to make divorce legal. In the same tradition he cited Uruguay’s legalisation of marijuana consumption in 2013. Caetano argues that Uruguay is set apart by a strong “social contract”, in effect a tacit agreement to resolve differences at the ballot box, not by mass street demonstrations and confrontations of opposing factions. In his Caetano’s words, “We don’t have that sense of epic politics, we just have a boring democracy. In Uruguay the political parties are more important than the social movements.” In Goñi’s opinion, “Uruguayans have a healthy mistrust of charismatic, messianic leaders, which preserves them from the bane of presidents dubiously extending their term limits, as we have seen in Venezuela, Ecuador and Bolivia in recent years.”

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