In the 1990s, ''protection'', ''import substitution'' and ''intervention'' have become dirty words, part of the ''leyenda negra'' of Latin America development in the postwar period. This book attempts a fresh look at the controversial years between the end of the Second World War and the point when, at varying dates in different countries, a discontinuity occurs in which the postwar ''style of development'' ceased to play a central role in the economic evolution of the region. The analysis is based on seven case studies covering eleven countries.