{"title":"The Technical Fix","authors":"Eric Vázquez","doi":"10.4135/9781446215159.n833","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"This essay examines Bitcoin enthusiasts’ abstract and material arguments about the viability of bitcoin in El Salvador through historical and political-economic frameworks. In June 2021, with legislators in tow, President Nayib Bukele declared that the adoption of Bitcoin would encourage flows of capital into El Salvador’s crisis-addled economy—flows that would lift all boats. In a sense, riding on Bitcoin’s success or failure in El Salvador is a test-case for Bitcoin’s claim to be the future of money and for other such “technical fixes” of capitalism’s shortfalls in the developing world. By comparing Bukele’s move with El Salvador’s push to dollarize in 2001, this essay traces a comparable strategy of El Salvador’s economic and political elites where the swap of currencies becomes a vehicle for massive accumulation at the top, while popular classes suffer. Consequently, this essay argues that Bukele’s “technical fix” on his nation’s economy is a mere pretext. By leveraging the assets of the broader populace, he pursues the class interests of El Salvador’s new oligarchy.","PeriodicalId":21946,"journal":{"name":"South Atlantic Quarterly","volume":"60 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.1000,"publicationDate":"2022-05-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"South Atlantic Quarterly","FirstCategoryId":"90","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.4135/9781446215159.n833","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"CULTURAL STUDIES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
This essay examines Bitcoin enthusiasts’ abstract and material arguments about the viability of bitcoin in El Salvador through historical and political-economic frameworks. In June 2021, with legislators in tow, President Nayib Bukele declared that the adoption of Bitcoin would encourage flows of capital into El Salvador’s crisis-addled economy—flows that would lift all boats. In a sense, riding on Bitcoin’s success or failure in El Salvador is a test-case for Bitcoin’s claim to be the future of money and for other such “technical fixes” of capitalism’s shortfalls in the developing world. By comparing Bukele’s move with El Salvador’s push to dollarize in 2001, this essay traces a comparable strategy of El Salvador’s economic and political elites where the swap of currencies becomes a vehicle for massive accumulation at the top, while popular classes suffer. Consequently, this essay argues that Bukele’s “technical fix” on his nation’s economy is a mere pretext. By leveraging the assets of the broader populace, he pursues the class interests of El Salvador’s new oligarchy.
期刊介绍：
Individual subscribers and institutions with electronic access can view issues of the South Atlantic Quarterly online. If you have not signed up, review the first-time access instructions. Founded amid controversy in 1901, the South Atlantic Quarterly continues to cover the beat, center and fringe, with bold analyses of the current scene—national, cultural, intellectual—worldwide. Now published exclusively in special issues, this vanguard centenarian journal is tackling embattled states, evaluating postmodernity"s influential writers and intellectuals, and examining a wide range of cultural phenomena.
京公网安备 11010802042870号
京ICP备2023020795号-1
分享
求助内容：
应助结果提醒方式：
扫码关注我们
