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Argentina is emerging from a chaotic and self-destructive experiment in populism that deeply divided South America's second-largest economy and left a legacy of chronic budget deficits and sky-high inflation. The country's new, pro-market government is attempting a radical economic and political metamorphosis, as it reengages with the international community and seeks foreign investment. In the past two years, Argentina has returned to economic growth, slowed inflation and begun to reduce the poverty rate. But the experiment's prospects remain uncertain. Just as Argentina sheds its protectionist policies, the international community, including the United States, is moving in the opposite direction. Meanwhile, Argentina's top trading partner, Brazil, is mired in a political crisis and economic malaise. At home, the Peronist opposition warns that the government in Buenos Aires is recklessly borrowing, in a repeat of failed neoliberal strategies that historically exacerbated income inequality and provoked debt crises. Through lectures and high-profile visiting speakers, this course evaluates Argentina's dramatic political and economic history, with a special emphasis on the 2001 economic meltdown that produced 12 years of populist government and the backlash that led to the country's ongoing transformation. <a href="http://bit.ly/1bebp5s" target="_blank">Click here to see evaluations, syllabi, and faculty bios</a>