The political economy of import-substituting industrialization in Latin America

This paper seeks to describe the characteristics and diverse cases of import-substituting industrialization (isi) to understand the socio-political consequences that affect the process. It focuses on the Latin American context of late industrialization and addresses the difficulties that this process may have. It is made up of the following sections: Introduction: Disenchantment with industrialization in Latin America; I. Four impulses of import-substituting industrialization; II. Characteristics of the initial phase of isi; III. The alleged exhaustion of isi; IV. Economic, political and technological determinants of backward linkage; V. The inability to export manufactures: "Structural" causes and remedies; Conclusion.