SOMETHING IS HAPPENING in South America and we would do well to pay attention. Recent events in Bolivia, Ecuador and Venezuela reflect much larger political changes taking place in South America, which have important implications for U.S. political and economic interests in the region.

Over the past decade, South American countries have undergone dramatic democratic transformations. Recently elected administrations — from Brazil to Chile to Ecuador — have run on platforms criticizing the stringent economic development policies enacted throughout Latin America during the 1980s and 1990s. Those austerity measures, dubbed “the Washington Consensus,” were intended to rein in inflation and liberalize South American economies. Instead, they have been criticized for exacerbating inequality and for slashing the budgets of important social services, including health and education. Today, those economic policies are hugely unpopular, and new South American administrations have vowed to dismantle them.

Although mostly it is the presidents of each country that garner media attention — particularly Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez and Bolivia’s Evo Morales — there is much more to the picture than presidents. In the 10 years of the Chávez government in Venezuela, literacy has increased from 85 percent of the population to 99 percent. Health clinics now appear in even the poorest neighborhoods, granting access to free treatment. While these programs are not perfect, they represent a return to focus on social development, rather than exclusively economic development, a trend that is becoming increasingly popular in the region.

Explaining these trends as authoritarian populism, as some critics do, is insufficient, and it suggests that Venezuelan and Bolivian voters are unsophisticated dupes. American editorialists and political leaders too often fail to take seriously Bolivians’ and Venezuelans’ criticisms and deep frustration with the failed economic and social policies that have put their countries under stress and deepened inequality. The current governments are offering an alternative, whether we agree or not with the form it takes.

Latin America matters. Taken together, Bolivia, Ecuador and Venezuela hold the vast majority of proven energy reserves in the hemisphere. And the current governments of all three countries are working to reassert their control over their natural resources. Not only this, they are working to make energy and ecological exploitation part of the conversation about economic development.

Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa, an economist, has been particularly critical of the exploitative and environmentally damaging pattern of natural-resource extraction in Ecuador and throughout South America. These social, environmental and national concerns are becoming part of the debate on natural resources, which could have implications for the way South American energy resources are extracted, processed and distributed around the world.

The citizens of Ecuador, Bolivia and Venezuela are far from unanimous in their views on the new policy initiatives, which are both celebrated and contested. Supporters of Chávez’s pro-poor social policies also criticize his proposed constitutional reforms, defeated last December. Social movements in Bolivia herald Morales’s efforts to confront centuries of deep-seated discrimination toward the country’s indigenous majority and to regain control over the country’s natural resources, but they also voice concern over increasing polarization.

The recent political changes in the Andes represent significant opportunities and serious challenges for Andean countries and our own. They are a response to particular historical, political, social, and economic realities in each country, but they also reflect larger trends in the region. Sadly, the complexity of these political changes and their accompanying challenges and opportunities rarely make it into the American press or American public policy debates. Regardless of our position on the changes taking place in Latin America, open, intelligent discussion is imperative.

As the U.S. economy declines and economies of other nations continue to boom, the U.S. is losing influence in the region. China has wasted no time taking advantage of new business opportunities. There is even talk of opening more direct trade and transportation routes between South America and Asia. The geopolitical configuration of the world is changing.

Brown University’s Center for Latin American Studies, in conjunction with the Watson Institute for International Studies, is bringing together leading policy makers and scholars from Ecuador, Bolivia, Venezuela and the United States for a conference on recent changes in the Andean region of South America. Participants will talk about the often messy political, economic and social realities that have led to such stunning electoral victories, and the widespread demands for political and economic change that they represent. The conference, to be held tomorrow and Wednesday, provides an opportunity for the thoughtful debate and dialogue too often missing when Americans address South America’s changes and their consequences for inter-American relations. Whether we agree or disagree about the content and tactics of the new democratic administrations, the voices clamoring for change — and offering solutions — need to be heard and taken seriously.

Lincoln Chafee is a former U.S. senator from Rhode Island and a visiting fellow at Brown University’s Watson Institute for International Studies. James N. Green is director of the university’s Center for Latin American Studies. Details about the aforementioned public event can be found at www.watsoninstitute.org/clas.