Between resistance and irrelevance: the public university and the new rights in Latin America in the 21st century

Abstract

This work analyzes the challenges facing public universities in the face of the rise of the new Latin American rights in this new century. To this end, it discusses the political situation and the new (and old) Latin American rights, highlighting their diversity, both in their origin and in their program, their transnational action and their relations with the new neoliberalism in the region, in which we can highlight the development of a libertarian, authoritarian, mercantilist and entrepreneurial perspective on education. From this, considering such regional diversity, it analyzes the impacts of such a political perspective on the public university and the democratization of higher education, discussing various experiences of the new Latin American right that, although resuming old policies, seek to question and minimize the role of public universities cutting their funding, commodifying higher education, including privatization and, mainly, questioning the meaning of public university education. While recognizing the diversity and differences of national processes and cases, this analysis seeks to understand the common elements that challenge public higher education in the region in this new century