The CEPAL Review under the leadership of Prebisch and Gurrieri (1976–1986): an editorial project to revitalize structuralism

This article argues that the CEPAL Review, more than providing an intellectual haven for Raúl Prebisch, was a response to the institutional crisis facing the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) in the 1970s. Drawing on archival sources, the article reconstructs the process leading up to the founding of the Review, which began two years before the publication of its first issue, and examines the editorial process during the tenure of Prebisch and Gurrieri (1976–1986). The article contends that the Review served as a refuge for the old guard during a time of institutional change at ECLAC, in the early stages of its shift towards an agenda more receptive to the principles of liberalization and austerity policies. In this forum, thinkers affiliated with ECLAC found the editorial freedom to critique the exclusionary development models promoted by authoritarian regimes, conceiving of and advancing key ideas to revitalize Latin American structuralism on the basis of a holistic view of development.