Neoliberalism, the global elite, and the Guatemalan transition: A criticalmacrosocial analysis

Recent change in Guatemala is part of a complex transition that has continu ed in Central America since the 1960s. It involves the region's ongoing, gr adual, highly conflictive, and contradictory entrance into the global econo my and society. The transnational model of society in the Isthmus is inhere ntly unstable, with contradictions internal to global capitalism. The const raints of the exclusionary socioeconomic system undermine efforts to open u p the political system as contemplated in the peace accords. Authentic demo cratization requires a radical redistribution of wealth and power coward th e poor majority; but the accords ratify existing property relations and rul e out such a redistribution.