Pink tide

Not to be confused with Red tide or Crimson Tide. For the right wing equivalent, see Conservative wave.

A map of Latin America shows countries with members of the São Paulo Forum ruling parties (red) and non-São Paulo Forum ruling parties (blue) in 2011 (left), 2018 (center), and 2024 (right)

The pink tide (Spanish: marea rosa; Portuguese: onda rosa; French: marée rose), or the turn to the left (Spanish: giro a la izquierda; Portuguese: virada à esquerda; French: tournant à gauche), is a political wave and turn towards left-wing governments in Latin America throughout the 21st century. As a term, both phrases are used in political analysis in the news media and elsewhere to refer to a move toward more economic progressive or social progressive policies in the region.[1][2][3] Such governments have been referred to as "left-of-centre", "left-leaning", and "radical social-democratic".[4] They are also members of the São Paulo Forum, a conference of left-wing political parties and other organizations from the Americas.[5]

The Latin American countries viewed as part of this ideological trend have been referred to as pink tide nations,[6] with the term post-neoliberalism or socialism of the 21st century also being used to describe the movement.[7] Elements of the movement have included a rejection of the Washington Consensus,[8] while some pink tide governments, such as those of Argentina, Brazil, and Venezuela,[9] have been varyingly characterized as being "anti-American",[10][11][12] prone to populism,[13][14][15] as well as authoritarian,[14] particularly in the case of Nicaragua and Venezuela by the 2010s, although many others remained democratic.[16]

The pink tide was followed by the conservative wave, a political phenomenon that emerged in the early 2010s as a direct reaction to the pink tide. Some authors have proposed that there are multiple distinct pink tides rather than a single one, with the first pink tide happening during the late 1990s and early 2000s,[17][18] and a second pink tide encompassing the elections of the late 2010s to early 2020s.[19][20] A resurgence of the pink tide was kicked off by Mexico in 2018 and Argentina in 2019,[21] and further established by Bolivia in 2020,[22] along with Peru,[23] Honduras,[24] and Chile in 2021,[25] and then Colombia and Brazil in 2022,[26][27][28] with Colombia electing the first left-wing president in their history.[29][30][31] In 2023, centre-left Bernardo Arévalo secured a surprise victory in Guatemala,[32][33] and in June 2024, Claudia Sheinbaum won the Mexican presidency in a landslide, a continuation of Andrés Manuel López Obrador's left-wing government.[34][35]

  1. ^ Lopes, Dawisson Belém; de Faria, Carlos Aurélio Pimenta (January–April 2016). "When Foreign Policy Meets Social Demands in Latin America". Contexto Internacional (Literature review). 38 (1). Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro: 11–53. doi:10.1590/S0102-8529.2016380100001. No matter the shades of pink in the Latin American 'pink tide', and recalling that political change was not the norm for the whole region during that period, there seems to be greater agreement when it comes to explaining its emergence. In terms of this canonical interpretation, the left turn should be understood as a feature of general redemocratisation in the region, which is widely regarded as an inevitable result of the high levels of inequality in the region.
  2. ^ Abbott, Jared. "Will the Pink Tide Lift All Boats? Latin American Socialisms and Their Discontents". Democratic Socialists of America. Archived from the original on 6 April 2017. Retrieved 5 April 2017.
  3. ^ Oikonomakis, Leonidas (16 March 2015). "Europe's pink tide? Heeding the Latin American experience". The Press Project. Retrieved 5 April 2017.
  4. ^ McLean, Ian; McMillan, Allistair (2009). The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Politics (3rd ed.). Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199207800. Retrieved 14 June 2022 – via Oxford Reference.
  5. ^ Gómez, Paz (23 June 2020). "The São Paulo Forum's Modus Operandi". impunityobserver.com. Retrieved 5 October 2022.
  6. ^ "COHA Statement on the Ongoing Stress in Venezuela". Archived from the original on 20 November 2008.
  7. ^ Fernandes Pimenta, Gabriel; Casas V M Arantes, Pedro (2014). "Rethinking Integration in Latin America: The "Pink Tide" and the Post-Neoliberal Regionalism" (PDF). FLACSO. Retrieved 28 December 2017. In general, one must say that these governments have as defining common feature ample and generous social inclusion policies that link effectively for social investments that certainly had an impact on regional social indicators (LIMA apud SILVA, 2010a). In this sense, so far, all of these countries had positive improvements. As a result, it was observed the reduction in social inequality, as well as the reduction of poverty and other social problems (SILVA, 2010a)
  8. ^ "South America's leftward sweep". BBC News. 2 March 2005. Retrieved 30 October 2018.
  9. ^ Lopes, Arthur (Spring 2016). "¿Viva la Contrarrevolución? South America's Left Begins to Wave Goodbye". Harvard International Review. 37 (3): 12–14. South America, a historical bastion of populism, has always had a penchant for the left, but the continent's predilection for unsustainable welfarism might be approaching a dramatic end. ... This 'pink tide' also included the rise of populist ideologies in some of these countries, such as Kirchnerismo in Argentina, Chavismo in Venezuela, and Lulopetismo in Brazil.
  10. ^ Gross, Neil (14 January 2007). "The many stripes of anti-Americanism". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 30 October 2018.
  11. ^ da Cruz, Jose de Arimateia (2015). "Strategic Insights: From Ideology to Geopolitics: Russian Interests in Latin America". Current Politics and Economics of Russia, Eastern and Central Europe. 30 (1/2). Nova Science Publishers: 175–185.
  12. ^ Lopes, Dawisson Belém; de Faria, Carlos Aurélio Pimenta (January–April 2016). "When Foreign Policy Meets Social Demands in Latin America". Contexto Internacional (Literature review). 38 (1). Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro: 11–53. doi:10.1590/S0102-8529.2016380100001. ... one finds as many local left-leaning governments as there are countries making up the so-called left turn, because they emerged from distinct institutional settings ... espoused distinct degrees of anti-Americanism ...
  13. ^ Lopes, Dawisson Belém; de Faria, Carlos Aurélio Pimenta (January–April 2016). "When Foreign Policy Meets Social Demands in Latin America". Contexto Internacional (Literature review). 38 (1). Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro: 11–53. doi:10.1590/S0102-8529.2016380100001. The wrong left, by contrast, was said to be populist, old-fashioned, and irresponsible ...
  14. ^ a b Isbester, Katherine (2011). The Paradox of Democracy in Latin America: Ten Country Studies of Division and Resilience. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. p. xiii. ISBN 978-1442601802. ... the populous of Latin America are voting in the Pink Tide governments that struggle with reform while being prone to populism and authoritarianism.
  15. ^ "Latin America's 'pragmatic' pink tide". Pittsburgh Tribune-Herald. 16 May 2016. Archived from the original on 16 May 2016.
  16. ^ Lopes, Dawisson Belém; de Faria, Carlos Aurélio Pimenta (January–April 2016). "When Foreign Policy Meets Social Demands in Latin America". Contexto Internacional (Literature review). 38 (1). Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro: 11–53. doi:10.1590/S0102-8529.2016380100001. However, these analytical and taxonomic efforts often led to new dichotomies ... democrats and authoritarians ...
  17. ^ Moraes, Juan A.; Luján, Diego (2020). "The Electoral Success of the Left in Latin America: Is There Any Room for Spatial Models of Voting?". Latin American Research Review. 55 (4): 691. doi:10.25222/larr.466. S2CID 233392799.
  18. ^ Schmidt, Samantha; Sheridan, Mary Beth (6 December 2021). "Do recent elections indicate a shift in Latin American politics? Post correspondents answered your questions". The Washington Post. Retrieved 29 December 2021.
  19. ^ Aquino, Marco (21 June 2021). "Another pink tide? Latin America's left galvanized by rising star in Peru". Reuters. Retrieved 21 December 2021.
  20. ^ Arsenault, Chris (14 December 2021). "How left-wing forces are regaining ground in Latin America". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 21 December 2021.
  21. ^ Araujo, Gabriel; Vargas, Carlos; Woodford, Isabel (22 June 2022). "Latin America's new 'pink tide' gains pace as Colombia shifts left; Brazil up next". Reuters. Retrieved 23 June 2022.
  22. ^ Taher, Rahib (9 January 2021). "A Miraculous MAS Victory in Bolivia and the Resurgence of the Pink Tide". The Science Survey. Retrieved 28 November 2021.
  23. ^ Aquino, Marco (21 June 2021). "Another pink tide? Latin America's left galvanized by rising star in Peru". Reuters. Retrieved 28 November 2021.
  24. ^ Garcia, David Alire; Palencia, Gustavo (1 December 2021). "Honduras' ruling party concedes presidential election to leftist". Reuters. Retrieved 1 December 2021.
  25. ^ Bonnefoy, Pascale; Londoño, Ernesto (19 December 2021). "Gabriel Boric, a Former Student Activist, Is Elected Chile's Youngest President". The New York Times. Retrieved 23 December 2021.
  26. ^ Dyer, Gwynne (15 June 2022). "Latin America: The Pink Tide Is Rising". The Portugal News. Retrieved 23 June 2022.
  27. ^ "Lula's leftist triumph: Is this Latin America's second 'pink tide'?". France 24. Agence France-Presse. 31 October 2022. Retrieved 31 October 2022.
  28. ^ Grattan, Steven (31 October 2022). "Latin America's 'pink tide' leaders congratulate Brazil's Lula on election win". Reuters. Retrieved 1 November 2022.
  29. ^ "Leftist Gustavo Petro wins Colombian presidency". Financial Times. 19 June 2022. Archived from the original on 20 June 2022. Retrieved 19 June 2022.
  30. ^ Bocanegra, Nelson; Griffin, Oliver; Vargas, Carlos (19 June 2022). "Colombia elects former guerrilla Petro as first leftist president". Reuters. Archived from the original on 20 June 2022. Retrieved 19 June 2022.
  31. ^ Garavito, Tatiana; Thanki, Nathan (23 June 2022). "Colombia's shift to the left: A new 'pink tide' in Latin America?". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 24 June 2022.
  32. ^ McKenzie, Roger (21 August 2023). "Guatemala elects leftwinger Arevalo as new president". Morning Star. Retrieved 21 August 2023.
  33. ^ Blue, Victor J. (10 September 2023). "Guatemalans Guarded the Memory of Democracy Through Years of War and Corruption. Now They See an Opening". The Intercept. Retrieved 12 September 2023.
  34. ^ John, Tara (3 June 2024). "Preliminary results project Claudia Sheinbaum to become Mexico's first female president". CNN. Retrieved 3 June 2024.
  35. ^ "Mexico elects Claudia Sheinbaum as first female president in landslide win". Le Monde.fr. 3 June 2024. Retrieved 3 June 2024.