The author finds little by way of critical response strategies on the part of academics during this period. A follow up piece by Ronald Chilcote provides supplemental information on the role of left academics and others whose efforts challenged accommodationist tendencies within the discipline. Related themes in the issue examine the human consequences of structural adjustment policies and new directions for future left movements. Author James Petras investigates alternatives to neoliberalism as inevitable products of the neoliberal model itself. He argues that the weaknesses of that model are already giving analysts and average citizens alike opportunities to envision and work of more just societies.
Subsequent articles focus on new ideological directions for the left.
A contrasting piece comes directly from Central America and argues that the left must be more inclusive and less focused on what author Carlos Ibarra argues are the outmoded concepts such as class. Together, these two concluding articles raise questions about revolution and transition and appropriate left strategies as Central America faces the challenge of the 21st century.