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Socialism of the 21st century (Spanish: Socialismo del siglo XXI; Portuguese: Socialismo do século XXI; German: Sozialismus des 21. Jahrhunderts) is an interpretation of socialist principles first advocated by German sociologist and political analyst Heinz Dieterich and taken up by a number of Latin American leaders. Dieterich argued in 1996 that both free-market industrial capitalism and 20th-century socialism have failed to solve urgent problems of humanity such as poverty, hunger, exploitation of labour, economic oppression, sexism, racism, the destruction of natural resources and the absence of true democracy.[1] Socialism of the 21st century has democratic socialist elements, but it also resembles Marxist revisionism.[2]
Leaders who have advocated for this form of socialism include Hugo Chávez of Venezuela, Rafael Correa of Ecuador, Evo Morales of Bolivia, Néstor Kirchner and Cristina Fernández de Kirchner of Argentina,[3] Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil and Michelle Bachelet of Chile.[4] Because of the local unique historical conditions, socialism of the 21st century is often contrasted with previous applications of socialism in other countries, with a major difference being the effort towards a more effective economic planning process.[2] Outside Latin America, socialism of the 21st century has been promoted by left-wing leaders such as Mark Drakeford and Jeremy Corbyn in the United Kingdom[5][6][7] and Lothar Bisky, Egon Krenz and Oskar Lafontaine in Germany,[8][9] and also by parties such as the Communist Party of Spain[10] and United Left in Spain[11] and the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and Just Russia.[12]
This socialism of the XXI century, overflowed the Venezuelan experience and became a trend that took greater force throughout Latin America, especially in Ecuador with its President Rafael Correa, in Bolivia implemented by its president Evo Morales and in Argentina initially with Néstor Kirchner and later with his wife Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, as well as in Nicaragua, El Salvador, Uruguay. This ideological conception sought primarily to give responses to the serious problem of underdevelopment in which the region lives due to the social imbalances, injustice and inequality (Hamburger, 2014).