Political Geography: Latin America

1001. La lucha por el futuro: El veneno del populismo y la cura de la democracia

Author:: Robert F. Noriega
Publication Date:: 12-2006
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
Abstract:: Mientras que la atención del mundo está centrada en la lucha contra Irak y el ascenso de China, se está librando una batalla por el alma de las Américas más cerca de nuestro país. En términos simplistas, esta confrontación podría describirse como una lucha de poder entre la visión del presidente de Estados Unidos, George W. Bush, y la visión de quien se autoproclamó su némesis, el presidente venezolano Hugo Chávez. Igualmente engañosas son las caracterizaciones que describen esta situación como un enfrentamiento entre la izquierda y la derecha, los ricos y los pobres, el norte y el sur. Pero ésta no es una batalla entre dos líderes poderosos o entre las ideologías de la izquierda y la derecha. La lucha que se está librando en el hemisferio occidental concierne a la democracia en sí: ¿puede satisfacer a un público impaciente? Por un lado, están los líderes de la izquierda y la derecha que consideran que las instituciones democráticas y el Estado de Derecho son indispensables para la prosperidad y la libertad.
Topic:: Foreign Policy, Democracy, Populism, and Hugo Chavez
Political Geography:: Latin America and Venezuela

1002. México ante América Latina: Mirando de reojo a Estados Unidos

Author:: Guadalupe González González
Publication Date:: 11-2005
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:: The purpose of this paper is to identify and analyze the patterns of continuity and change in Mexico's diplomatic strategies towards Latin America between 1945 and 2005 as a case study on the impact of systemic variables –specifically, changes in the distribution of power at world and regional level- on the foreign policy of intermediate states. It distinguishes four different periods in Mexico-Latin America relations using a typology of diplomatic strategies built upon two criteria: a) the intermediate state's level of attention and activity in its immediate regional area, and b) the level of alignment or convergence with U.S. policies, as the hegemonic power in the Hemisphere. The main argument is that changes in Mexico's relative position in the regional structure of power and the shift from bipolarity to unipolarity at global level do not explain the persistence of a historical gap between the symbolic and material dimensions of Mexico's relations with Latin America. Over the last six decades, the evidence points towards the existence of a growing disjuncture between Mexico's increasing power position in the region and its limited regional projection.
Topic:: International Relations and Foreign Policy
Political Geography:: United States, Latin America, Central America, and Mexico

1003. What Role for Learning? The Diffusion of Privatisation in the OECD and Latin American Countries

Author:: Covadonga Meseguer
Publication Date:: 06-2005
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:: In this paper, I enquire whether 37 governments in industrial and in Latin American countries privatised as a result of learning from experience. Using a rational updating model, I examine whether the decision in the 1980s and 1990s to streamline the public sector was the outcome of a revision of beliefs about the effectiveness of privatisation or whether, alternatively, it was triggered by international pressures or mimicry. The results suggest that rational learning and especially emulation were two important factors in the decision to privatise. International pressures, here proxied by the presence or absence of an agreement with the International Monetary Fund and by European Union membership, are irrelevant to explanations of the decision to privatise. Finally, domestic political conditions appear relevant to the decision to launch privatisation but only when the analysis is carried out for each of the regional sub-samples. In the OECD countries, centre-left governments were more likely to privatise whereas in Latin American more repressive regimes were more willing to divest.
Topic:: International Relations, Development, and Government
Political Geography:: Latin America

1004. Latin American Religious Responses to Socio-cultural changes of Globalization

Author:: Alice Hamui Sutton
Publication Date:: 12-2005
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: CONfines de Relaciones Internacionales y Ciencia Política
Abstract:: At the beginning of this third millennium, we are witnessing the end of an era marked by the hegemony of European Christianity and the globalization of a deterritorialized and decentered Christianity. Evangelical Pentecostalism and the Catholic Charismatic Renovation Movement are examples of this type of individual salvation spiritualism in Latin America. This article illustrates how these movements base their success on their ritual pragmatism with regard to personal crisis situations and the image of a near and accessible God. Moreover, the success of these movements is because of the adjustment to new conditions of the global market, the adaptation to the new processes of citizenship typical of modern democracies, and the satisfaction of spiritual and affective needs in a context of intense shifts trying to create new identities to reestablish the social framework of society.
Topic:: Civil Society, Government, and Religion
Political Geography:: Europe, South America, and Latin America

1005. Regional Integration After the Collapse of the FTAA

Author:: Raúl Zibechi
Publication Date:: 11-2005
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Foreign Policy In Focus
Abstract:: Although every Latin American government pays lip service to integration, taking the concrete steps needed to attain it is much more difficult than simply issuing declarations. In the wake of the collapse of the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas (FTAA), Latin America faces the dilemma of remaining divided and at the mercy of the interests of the great powers, or setting out on the road to continental unity. Even if the forces in favor of integration prevail, the type of integration to be constructed remains to be defined.
Topic:: Government, International Trade and Finance, and Regional Cooperation
Political Geography:: South America and Latin America

1006. Timely Demise for Free Trade Area of the Americas

Author:: Laura Carlsen
Publication Date:: 11-2005
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Foreign Policy In Focus
Abstract:: The stage was set for a showdown. When the Bush cabinet announced intentions to revive the moribund Free Trade Area of the Americas at the Fourth Summit of the Americas in Mar del Plata, the countries of the Southern Common Market closed ranks to prevent it. What followed was a diplomatic melee that reflects not so much divisions within Latin America, as a growing resistance to the current free trade model throughout the developing world.
Topic:: Economics and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:: South America, Latin America, and North America

1007. Dark Armies, Secret Bases, and Rummy, Oh My!

Author:: Conn Hallinan
Publication Date:: 11-2005
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Foreign Policy In Focus
Abstract:: It would be easy to make fun of President Bush's recent fiasco at the 4th Summit of the Americas in Mar del Plata, Argentina. His grand plan for a free trade zone reaching from the Artic Circle to Tierra del Fuego was soundly rejected by nations fed up with the economic and social chaos wrought by neoliberalism. At a press conference, South American journalists asked him rude questions about Karl Rove. And the President ended the whole debacle by uttering what may be the most trenchant observation the man has ever made on Latin America: "Wow! Brazil is big!"
Topic:: Economics and Government
Political Geography:: United States, Argentina, South America, and Latin America

1008. The Iglesias Legacy and the IDB's Future

Author:: Nadia Martinez
Publication Date:: 06-2005
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Foreign Policy In Focus
Abstract:: After 17 years at the helm of Latin America's largest source of development financing, the President of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) is stepping down. Enrique Iglesias is slated to pass the reins to his successor in September. Like the recent fight over the leadership position at the Organization of American States, this contest promises to be a long and arduous process of political negotiation. As the United States attempts to maintain its traditionally hegemonic role in Latin America, Brazil is more boldly gaining some of that ground. And with annual lending to Latin American countries surpassing $8 billion annually, the IDB has significant influence over the region's economies.
Topic:: International Relations and Government
Political Geography:: United States, America, Brazil, South America, and Latin America

1009. Washington Doesn't Get Its Way in the OAS: Latin America's Coming of Age

Author:: Laura Carlsen
Publication Date:: 04-2005
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Foreign Policy In Focus
Abstract:: The May 2 victory of Chilean Interior Minister José Miguel Insulza as secretary general of the Organization of American States ends one phase of a drama that is only beginning. The showdown over the leadership of the OAS began when Costa Rica's former president Miguel Angel Rodríguez resigned in October 2004 due to corruption charges in his home country. Rodríguez was elected by consensus and had served only three weeks of his five–year term when forced to leave.
Topic:: Foreign Policy and Government
Political Geography:: America, Washington, South America, Latin America, and North America

1010. ¿Hacia una comunidad regional de seguridad? Las Fuerzas Armadas en la percepción de las elites parlamentarias en Argentina, Chile, Brasil, Uruguay y Paraguay

Author:: Ruth Fuchs
Publication Date:: 07-2005
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: German Institute of Global and Area Studies
Abstract:: El presente trabajo analiza, desde una perspectiva comparada, las percepciones de las elites parlamentarias de los países miembros del MERCOSUR respecto a las Fuerzas Armadas y a cuestiones de seguridad y defensa. Ante la creciente cooperación en materia de seguridad, se indaga en el plano de los valores y convicciones de las elites políticas para buscar indicios relacionados con el desarrollo de una comunidad regional de seguridad en el sur de América Latina. A partir de los resultados de dos proyectos de investigación empírica sobre los sectores parlamentarios, el artículo identifica semejanzas y discrepancias entre las percepciones de los diputados y senadores de Argentina, Brasil, Chile, Paraguay y Uruguay, y discute las posibles consecuencias con miras a una profundización de la cooperación en materia de seguridad.
Topic:: Security, Defense Policy, Civil Society, and Government
Political Geography:: Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Latin America, Chile, and Paraguay

1011. The Poverty Macroeconomic Policy Nexus: Some Short-run Analytics

Author:: George Mavrotas and S. Mansoob Murshed
Publication Date:: 12-2005
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: The present paper utilises a short-run theoretical macroeconomic model of a small open economy to look at the impact of macroeconomic policies and financial deepening upon poverty through sectoral changes. This is because an expansion in certain sectors may cause greater poverty reduction. The model involves a non-traded and a traded sector on the formal side of the economy. The former is more capital intensive and the latter more unskilled labour intensive. Increased employment in the traded sector is more pro-poor compared to a similar rise in the non-traded sector as the former draws workers out of poverty in the informal sector. The model in our paper analyses short-run effects of devaluation, a rise in the money supply induced by financial deepening, and taxation to discourage non-traded goods consumption. Financial deepening can induce greater output and reduce poverty. Other results are mixed and taxonomic. We also attempt to differentiate between the stylised experiences of East Asia and Latin America. East Asian economies have relied more heavily on labour-intensive manufactured exports, whereas Latin America has had a relatively greater share of capital intensive and natural resource based exports. In recent decades countries in these two regions have had differing experiences in poverty reduction, with poverty arguably declining more in East Asia.
Topic:: International Relations, Development, Economics, and Poverty
Political Geography:: East Asia and Latin America

1012. What Iraq and Argentina Might Learn from Each Other

Author:: Anna Gelpern
Publication Date:: 06-2005
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Peterson Institute for International Economics
Abstract:: Financial collapse usually triggers a flurry of market, academic, and policy innovation. The Latin American debt crisis of the 1980s produced the Brady Bonds and led to the rise of today's emerging markets. In the late 1990s, crises in Pakistan, Ecuador, and Ukraine helped teach the markets how to restructure international sovereign bonds. Crises in Mexico, Russia, Brazil, Turkey, and throughout East Asia raised doubts about the international system's ability to manage vast and rapid capital flows, and prompted a big-picture reassessment under the rubric “international financial architecture.” This included most famously the sovereign bankruptcy proposals discussed elsewhere in this volume.
Topic:: Development and Economics
Political Geography:: Pakistan, Russia, Turkey, Ukraine, Middle East, East Asia, Brazil, South America, Latin America, and Mexico

1013. The Bargain of the Unstable: Trade Negotiations and Financial Crises in Mercosur 1995-2001

Author:: Pablo Heidrich
Publication Date:: 02-2005
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Center for International Studies, University of Southern California
Abstract:: Argentina and Brazil suffered grave financial crises during the 1990s. During that time, they were involved in trade negotiations with each other inside Mercosur. As the financial crises struck one or the other country, their negotiating positions varied from accommodating to aggressive, leading to peaks of confrontation from which Mercosur has not quite recovered yet. Furthermore, those crises provoked a large number of trade disputes as protectionism from both countries grew when the crises increasingly hurt their economies.
Topic:: Economics, International Trade and Finance, and Political Economy
Political Geography:: Brazil, Argentina, and Latin America

1014. Openness, R&D, and Growth: Difference in Latin American and East Asian Policy and Political Economy

Author:: Glauco A. S. Oliveira
Publication Date:: 05-2005
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Journal of Public and International Affairs (JPIA)
Institution:: School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA), Princeton University
Abstract:: This paper reviews recent theoretical and empirical literature relating openness, research and development (R&D) policies, and growth in developing countries. Although there are indications that openness is associated with improvements in productivity due to technological spillovers, active R&D policies and complementary institutions (intellectual property rights) play an important role in bringing about such gains. The article compares East Asia and Latin America, with special attention to the latter. The puzzle is that both regions opened their economies and carried out a set of similar industrial and technological strategies, yet their experiences in growth and R&D performance are divergent. After considering differences in each region’s pace of integration into the world economy, the analysis moves to a closer look at the political economy of policy formation in Latin America and East Asia. The paper is divided into four sections. The first section introduces the debate; the second encompasses a comprehensive theoretical and empirical literature review; the third discusses the policy and political economy experiences of the regions. Finally, the conclusion offers policy recommendations for Latin America, based on the success of the East Asian experience.
Topic:: Political Economy, Economic Growth, and Research and Development
Political Geography:: East Asia and Latin America

1015. What Makes a Difference in Achieving Higher Labor Productivity? The Case of Low-Income Countries in Latin America

Author:: Osvaldo Nina
Publication Date:: 12-2005
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Institute for Advanced Development Studies (INESAD)
Abstract:: This paper uses firm level surveys from Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua to estimate the determinants of labor productivity. This study started out with the hypothesis that the adverse external business conditions that firms in poor Latin American countries face, may be an important explication of the generally low levels of productivity. However, the empirical results, based on the survey of more than 1300 businesses, do not confirm this hypothesis. Compared to all the variables that are under the firms control, such as capital intensity, energy use, and worker skills, the external business environment (macroeconomic instability and labor regulations) has very little impact on productivity.
Topic:: Development, Economics, Labor Issues, Productivity, and Income
Political Geography:: Latin America, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, and Ecuador

1016. Overview of Civil Society Participation in Regional and Sub-Regional Processes: The Case of Latin America and the Caribbean

Author:: Anita Ratynska
Publication Date:: 02-2004
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Global Facilitation Network for Security Sector Reform
Abstract:: The following paper presents the current landscape of civil society participation in regional security policy-making bodies in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). It highlights the achievements made in civil society (CS)-government/regional mechanisms partnerships as well as the areas of concern that still remain to be addressed.
Topic:: Government, International Cooperation, and International Organization
Political Geography:: Latin America and Caribbean

1017. Latin America and Caribbean Security Network Symposium

Author:: Chris Ferguson
Publication Date:: 04-2004
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Global Facilitation Network for Security Sector Reform
Abstract:: The Global Facilitation Network for Security Sector Reform (GFN-SSR) has a single strategy for Latin America and the Caribbean with the goal of strengthening civil society networks in and between the two regions. We hope to help civil society and its representative organisations foster a more informed and holistic approach to human security. This goal includes building improved channels of communication between civil society networks and regional policy makers, such as the Organisation of American States (OAS) and Caribbean Community (CARICOM), to help incorporate greater input from civil society into their agendas.
Topic:: International Relations and Security
Political Geography:: America, Latin America, Central America, and Caribbean

1018. Latin America and Caribbean Security Network Symposium

Author:: Chris Ferguson
Publication Date:: 04-2004
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Global Facilitation Network for Security Sector Reform
Abstract:: The Global Facilitation Network for Security Sector Reform (GFN-SSR) has a single strategy for Latin America and the Caribbean with the goal of strengthening civil society networks in and between the two regions. We hope to help civil society and its representative organisations foster a more informed and holistic approach to human security. This goal includes building improved channels of communication between civil society networks and regional policy makers, such as the Organisation of American States (OAS) and Caribbean Community (CARICOM), to help incorporate greater input from civil society into their agendas.
Topic:: Security and Civil Society
Political Geography:: South America, Latin America, and Caribbean

1019. Networking the Networks: Supporting Regional Peace and Security Agendas in Africa

Author:: Ann M. Fitz-Gerald and Anicia Lala
Publication Date:: 07-2004
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Global Facilitation Network for Security Sector Reform
Abstract:: The Mozambique Security Network Symposium was held in Maputo on 30 June-1 July 2003. The meeting gathered approximately sixty participants from government, regional and sub-regional organisations and civil society. The event was made possible through the support of the UK Government's African Conflict Prevention Pool and was facilitated by the Global Facilitation Network for Security Sector Reform (GFN-SSR), a project funded by the United Kingdom that seeks to unite all actors and agencies in this field of study. Through the generous support of the United Nations Foundation, a number of representatives from Latin American countries also attended the meeting to draw on lessons learned and shared experiences from another southern region.
Topic:: Conflict Resolution, Security, and Regional Cooperation
Political Geography:: Africa, United Kingdom, United Nations, and Latin America

1020. Civil Society and Democratic Oversight of the Security Sector: A Preliminary Investigation

Author:: Marina Caparini
Publication Date:: 01-2004
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: Civil society has become a popular term in academic, policy and foreign assistance circles. A significant body of literature and research has developed around the concept, and its key role in consolidating and sustaining democracy is now widely recognised by academics and policy-makers alike. Successive waves of democratisation in Latin America and Central and Eastern Europe have led experts to view civil society as a crucial agent for limiting authoritarian government, strengthening the empowerment of the people, and enforcing political accountability. It is considered a crucial factor in improving the quality and inclusiveness of governance.
Topic:: International Relations, Security, Civil Society, and Democratization
Political Geography:: Europe and Latin America

1021. U.S. Military Bases in Latin America and the Caribbean

Author:: John Lindsay-Poland
Publication Date:: 08-2004
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Foreign Policy In Focus
Abstract:: The United States maintains a complex web of military facilities and functions in Latin America and the Caribbean, what the U.S. Southern Command (known as SouthCom) calls its "theater architecture." U.S. military facilities represent tangible commitments to an ineffective supply-side drug war and to underlying policy priorities, including ensuring access to strategic resources, especially oil.
Topic:: International Relations, Foreign Policy, and Government
Political Geography:: United States, Latin America, and Caribbean

1022. A Sequential Theory of Decentralization and its Effects on the Intergovernmental Balance of Power: Latin American Cases in Comparative Perspective

Author:: Tulia G. Falleti
Publication Date:: 07-2004
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Kellogg Institute for International Studies
Abstract:: Both advocates and critics of decentralization assume that decentralization invariably increases the power of subnational governments. However, a closer examination of the consequences of decentralization across countries reveals that the magnitude of such change can range from substantial to insignificant. To explain this variation, I propose a sequential theory of decentralization that has three main characteristics: a) it defines decentralization as a process; b) it takes into account the territorial interests of bargaining actors; and c) it incorporates policy feedback effects in the analysis of bargaining situations. I argue that the sequencing of different types of decentralization (fiscal, administrative, and political) is a key determinant of the evolution of intergovernmental balance of power. I measure this evolution in the four largest Latin American countries and apply the theory to the two extreme cases: Colombia and Argentina. I show that, contrary to commonly held opinion, decentralization in Argentina did not increase the power of governors and mayors relative to the president. In contrast, in Colombia, a different sequence of decentralization reforms led to higher degrees of autonomy of the governors and mayors relative to the president.
Topic:: Government and Politics
Political Geography:: Argentina, Colombia, and Latin America

1023. Myths of the Enemy: Castro, Cuba and Herbert L. Matthews of The New York Times

Author:: Anthony DePalma
Publication Date:: 07-2004
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Kellogg Institute for International Studies
Abstract:: Fidel Castro was given up for dead, and his would-be revolution written off, in the months after his disastrous invasion of the Cuban coast in late 1956. Then a New York Times editorial writer named Herbert L. Matthews published one of the great scoops of the 20th century, reporting that not only was Castro alive, but that he was backed by a large and powerful army that was waging a successful guerrilla war against dictator Fulgencio Batista. Matthews, clearly taken by the young rebel's charms, and sympathetic to his cause, presented a skewed picture. He called Castro a defender of the Cuban constitution, a lover of democracy, and a friend of the American people: the truth as he saw it.
Topic:: International Relations
Political Geography:: New York, Cuba, Latin America, and Caribbean

1024. Global Best Practices: Judicial Councils: Lessons Learned from Europe and Latin America

Author:: Sandra Elena and Violaine Autheman
Publication Date:: 04-2004
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Academy of Political Science
Abstract:: International and regional human rights treaties recognize the right to a fair trial by an independent tribunal in the determination of rights and obligations in civil, commercial and administrative matters and in the determination of criminal charges. The right to a fair trial and its core components, including the “reasonable time” requirement and the principle of judicial independence, is now universally accepted. Building upon the declarations of principle of legally binding conventions, international and regional expert guidelines and principles have aimed at fleshing out the specific elements of judicial independence. In addition, international and regional human rights courts and commissions have interpreted the provisions of human rights treaties and shed some light on the minimum standards and components of the right to a fair trial and judicial independence.
Topic:: International Relations, Human Rights, and International Law
Political Geography:: Europe and Latin America

1025. Global Best Practices: Income and Asset Disclosure Requirement for Judges: Lessons Learned from Eastern Europe and Latin America

Author:: Keith Henderson, Sandra Elena, and Procop Buruiana
Publication Date:: 04-2004
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Academy of Political Science
Abstract:: In recent years, countries around the world have signed on to various governmental and non- governmental international and regional instruments designed to fight corruption at all levels of the State. Income and asset disclosure laws and policies have emerged as important mechanisms to promote probity and accountability in the fight against corruption. While these requirements were first imposed on the executive branch, they now are accepted as applying to members of the legislative and judicial branches as well. Income and asset disclosure, if properly designed and effectively applied, can also be an invaluable tool to strengthen judicial accountability, judicial independence and public trust in the judiciary and the Rule of Law. This paper provides a comparative overview of financial transparency for judges by testing the legal framework and practice in six Eastern European and Latin American countries against a set of core international best practices that have recently emerged.
Topic:: International Relations and Regional Cooperation
Political Geography:: Eastern Europe, South America, and Latin America

1026. Regional Best Practices: Enforcement of Court Judgements: Lessons Learned from Latin America

Author:: Keith Henderson, Sandra Elena, Violaine Autheman, and Angana Shah
Publication Date:: 04-2004
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Academy of Political Science
Abstract:: Only recently has a general global consensus emerged among development specialists that the successful, fair and effective enforcement of court judgments, both those against private parties in commercial transactions as well as those against State agencies or officials, is of critical importance to developing a Rule of Law culture and judicial independence. There is also a growing body of international jurisprudence that requires countries, under their international and regional human rights treaty obligations, as well as their own constitution, to enforce court judgments fairly and effectively and to support the independence of the judiciary. Likewise, court decisions in various countries are also beginning to articulate and enforce these closely related legal rights.
Topic:: International Relations, International Law, and Regional Cooperation
Political Geography:: South America and Latin America

1027. Political Finance Regulation in Guatemala: A Comparative Survey

Author:: Kevin Casas-Zamora
Publication Date:: 01-2004
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Academy of Political Science
Abstract:: As in most Latin American countries, the funding of political activities has only recently become a matter of serious concern in Guatemala. Long known for its chronic political instability, the country has limited experience in the observance of basic democratic practices such as regular and reasonably free and fair elections. Even today, the regulation of political finance remains under the shadow of other pressing and as yet unresolved political issues such as the extraordinary weakness of parties, the consistently high abstention rates and the practical disenfranchisement of the indigenous majority.
Topic:: International Relations, International Trade and Finance, and Political Economy
Political Geography:: South America, Latin America, and Guatemala

1028. Perspectives on Urban Poverty in Latin America

Author:: Craig Fagan
Publication Date:: 02-2004
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: The Wilson Center
Abstract:: Urban issues and poverty in Latin America are an integral part of any policy debate on the region. With nearly 90% of its diverse population and 50% of its poor residing in cities, effective and efficient solutions to the problems of poverty are imperative to respond to the increasing demographic and economic pressures placed on Latin America's limited social resources.
Topic:: Civil Society, Development, and Poverty
Political Geography:: South America and Latin America

1029. The Role of Perceived Opportunity in Fertility Choice: Evidence from Latin America

Author:: Louise C. Keely and Margaret MacLeod
Publication Date:: 06-2004
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: We hypothesize that the perceived returns to human capital and to income uncertainty are important determinants of recent cross-sectional variation in Latin American fertility. An empirical study of cross-country individual level data supports the hypothesis. In particular, we find that a higher perceived return to human capital and higher income uncertainty both lead to higher fertility, all else equal. We interpret the evidence to suggest that increasing economic opportunity in Latin America should be accompanied by institutions that provide social protection in order to promote further decreases in fertility toward the replacement rate.
Topic:: Economics, Gender Issues, and Human Welfare
Political Geography:: South America, Latin America, Central America, and Caribbean

1030. Development and Foreign Investments: Lessons Learned from Mexican Banking

Author:: Jacob Steinfeld
Publication Date:: 07-2004
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Abstract:: FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT (FDI) HAS TRANSFORMED MEXICO'S BANKING SYSTEM during the past decade, making it the second largest in Latin America with $165 billion in commercial assets in 2003. In the past four years, Mexico received $25.3 billion of FDI into its financial sector. This composes nearly 40 percent of total FDI inflows into the country. As a result of FDI flowing into the country's financial sector, the Mexican banking system has the highest ratio of foreign ownership in Latin America.
Topic:: Economics, International Trade and Finance, and Political Economy
Political Geography:: Latin America and Mexico

1031. Small Enterprises and Economic Policy

Author:: Simon Johnson and Anders Åslund
Publication Date:: 03-2004
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Abstract:: Institutions such as strong property rights and the rule of law are important for both long-run economic performance and short-run volatility. Developing good institutions is generally viewed as a desirable goal, but there is no agreed road map for such changes.
Topic:: Economics
Political Geography:: Israel, Eastern Europe, East Asia, and Latin America

1032. The Political-Economic Conundrum: The Affinity of Economic and Political Reform in the Middle East and North Africa

Author:: Eva Bellin
Publication Date:: 11-2004
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Abstract:: FOR NEARLY TWO DECADES THE MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA (MENA) has languished in economic stagnation and lassitude. At a time when the logic of market-driven reform and exportoriented growth has become nearly canonical worldwide, the MENA region has proven steadfastly unenthusiastic about reform, shutting itself out of the benefits of economic globalization and falling behind most other regions in economic development. At the same time, the MENA region has distinguished itself by spurning another worldwide trend: democratization. As democracy has spread in Latin America, Central and Eastern Europe, Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East has remained largely authoritarian, experiencing at most only mild liberalizing political reforms. This dual resistance to world trends is intriguing and resurrects the question of the relationship between political and economic reform. Is this dual resistance to reform coincidental? And what does this resistance say about whether and how Western policy makers and aid practitioners should try to link or sequence their efforts to promote political and economic reform in the region?
Topic:: Globalization and Political Economy
Political Geography:: Europe, Middle East, Asia, Latin America, and North Africa

1033. WMD in Iraq: Evidence and Implications

Author:: George Perkovich, Joseph Cirincione, Jessica T. Mathews, and Alexis Orton
Publication Date:: 01-2004
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Abstract:: If history is any guide, the war and subsequent occupation and reconstruction of Iraq will shape U.S. relations with the Arab world—and perhaps with the whole Muslim world—for decades, just as prior military occupations altered U.S. relations with Latin America, the Caribbean, Europe, and Asia. What happens in Iraq is also likely to profoundly affect whether and with what degree of effort and success states choose to work together to constrain the spread of weapons of mass destruction (WMD). The war and its aftermath will affect U.S. foreign relations, influence U.S. policies regarding future armed interventions, and alter the international struggle against terrorism. It is a massive understatement, then, to say that a great deal is at stake, on the ground in Iraq, around the world, and in the lessons for the future that will be drawn here at home.
Topic:: Security, Terrorism, and Weapons of Mass Destruction
Political Geography:: United States, Iraq, Europe, Middle East, Asia, Arabia, Latin America, and Caribbean

1034. The Dominican Republic: Resolving the Banking Crisis and Restoring Growth

Author:: Steve H. Hanke
Publication Date:: 07-2004
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: The Cato Institute
Abstract:: After a decade of rapid economic growth, the Dominican Republic entered a downward spiral in 2003. The economy shrank for the first time since 1990, the inflation rate quadrupled, the Dominican peso collapsed, government debt more than doubled, interest rates soared, and the central bank incurred large losses.
Topic:: Economics, International Trade and Finance, and Political Economy
Political Geography:: Latin America and Caribbean

1035. Do Structural Reforms always Succeed? Lessons from Brazil

Author:: Jorge Saba Arbache
Publication Date:: 09-2004
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: In the last twenty years, Brazil has undergone several attempts of improving sustainable growth through stabilization programmes, and more recently, structural reforms in line with the Washington Consensus Agenda. The results, however, have been disappointing, as the per capita output growth has remained below its historic trend, and poverty and inequality remain at high levels. This paper investigates why marketoriented reforms such as trade and capital account liberalization, privatization, deregulation and stabilization failed to boost growth in Brazil. We conclude that structural reforms may contribute to growth if accompanied by microeconomic policies tailor-made to address the country's needs, and by appropriate macroeconomic, institutional and political environments.
Topic:: Development, Human Welfare, and Political Economy
Political Geography:: Washington, Brazil, and Latin America

1036. Well-being and the Complexity of Poverty: A Subjective Well-being Approach

Author:: Mariano Rojas
Publication Date:: 04-2004
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: This investigation studies human well-being from a subjective well-being approach. On the basis of a Mexican database the investigation shows that there is a weak relationship between subjective well-being and indicators of well-being such as income and consumption. Therefore, subjective well-being provides additional useful information to study human well-being and, in consequence, poverty.
Topic:: Economics, Human Welfare, and Poverty
Political Geography:: Latin America, Central America, North America, and Mexico

1037. Andes 2020: A New Strategy for the Challenges of Colombia and the Region

Author:: Daniel W. Christman, John G. Heimann, and Julia E. Sweig
Publication Date:: 01-2004
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Council on Foreign Relations
Abstract:: The democracies of the Andean region—Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia—are at risk. The problems that characterize other developing regions—including political instability, economic stagnancy, widening inequality, and social divisions along class, color, ethnic, ideological, and urban-rural fault lines—are all present in the Andes. Most important is the region's physical insecurity, due in some countries to ongoing or resurgent violent conflict, and in every country to the lack of state control over significant territory and to porous borders that enable the easy movement of drugs, arms, and conflict. Equally sobering, expectations for strong democracy and economic prosperity in the Andes remain unrealized. Recognizing its interests in the Andes, the United States over the past two decades has spent billions of dollars and significant manpower to stem the flow of illegal drugs from the region northward; to assist local security forces in the fight against drugs, terror, and insurgency; and to promote free markets, human rights, and democratic consolidation. Yet the region remains on the brink of collapse, an outcome that would pose a serious threat to the U.S. goal of achieving democracy, prosperity, and security in the hemisphere.
Topic:: Democratization, Development, and Regional Cooperation
Political Geography:: United States, Colombia, South America, Latin America, Venezuela, Peru, Ecuador, and Bolivia

1038. Hostages for Prisoners: A Way to Peace in Colombia?

Publication Date:: 03-2004
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: International Crisis Group
Abstract:: In February 2004, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the major insurgent group, announced creation of a three-member negotiation commission and a "diplomatic offensive" aimed at obtaining the release of hundreds of its imprisoned members in exchange for about 60 military and political hostages it holds. This has raised hope among the relatives of hostages and kidnap victims that a "humanitarian exchange" could happen in the not too distant future.
Topic:: Security, Human Rights, and Politics
Political Geography:: Colombia, South America, and Latin America

1039. A Short History of the Washington Consensus

Author:: John Williamson
Publication Date:: 09-2004
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Peterson Institute for International Economics
Abstract:: The term “Washington Consensus” was coined in 1989. The first written usage was in my background paper for a conference that the Institute for International Economics convened in order to examine the extent to which the old ideas of development economics that had governed Latin American economic policy since the 1950s were being swept aside by the set of ideas that had long been accepted as appropriate within the OECD. In order to try and ensure that the background papers for that conference dealt with a common set of issues, I made a list of ten policies that I thought more or less everyone in Washington would agree were needed more or less everywhere in Latin America, and labeled this the “Washington Consensus.” Little did it occur to me that fifteen years later I would be asked to write about the history of a term that had become the center of fierce ideological controversy.
Topic:: International Relations, Debt, Economics, and Politics
Political Geography:: Washington and Latin America

1040. The Mexican Internet after the Boom: Challenges and Opportunities

Author:: Martin Kenney, James Curry, and Oscar Contreras
Publication Date:: 06-2004
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Berkeley Roundtable on the International Economy
Abstract:: The Internet will be the defining technology of the first decade of the 21st Century. It is redefining boundaries of all sorts in new and unforeseen ways. As with many previous disruptive technologies, the Internet can be a double-edged sword for developing countries such as Mexico. For example, the Internet has the potential to dramatically lower barriers to cross-border trade. This will enable international retailers to penetrate the Mexican market potentially undermining domestic retail businesses. On the other side, the Internet could provide opportunities for Mexican firms to enter the global market, particularly Spanish-speaking Latin America and the huge U.S. Hispanic market. But this is only the tip of the iceberg of change. For example, in a country such as Mexico in which information has not been readily available and public libraries are relatively few in number and poorly stocked, the free and low-cost information available on the Internet provides a powerful new distribution medium – it provides inexpensive access to global information sources.
Topic:: Industrial Policy, International Trade and Finance, and Science and Technology
Political Geography:: United States, Latin America, Central America, North America, and Mexico

1041. The carter center financing democracy in guatemala. Final Report: Financing Democracy in Guatemala

Publication Date:: 05-2004
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Carter Center
Abstract:: In recent years discussions about the quality of democracy in the Western Hemisphere have focused increasing concern on the financing of political parties and their campaigns. Unlimited spending on campaigns is believed (correctly or not) to have raised the cost of elections to the point where poor candidates stand little chance of competing and the prospect of creating a level playing field for parties and their candidates has become decidedly remote. Undisclosed contributions of licit or illicit origin by wealthy donors have meanwhile intensified the dependence of elected officials on their campaign funders, increasing the likelihood that politicians respond to donor interests and hindering effective representation for the ordinary citizen in the making of public policy. In tandem, these trends are contributing to public cynicism about parties and candidates, and about the possibilities for meaningful citizen participation in politics.
Topic:: Democratization, Economics, and Politics
Political Geography:: Latin America and Central America

1042. Financing Democracy in the Americas

Publication Date:: 05-2004
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Carter Center
Abstract:: Citizens throughout the hemisphere increasingly question the integrity of political processes with opaque methods of financing and access. After a quarter-century of democratic governance, money-conscious voters in Latin America's troubled economies have begun to ask whether elections really allow them to hold governments accountable for enacting promised reform s or whether instead politicians respond primarily to the special interest groups who fund their campaigns. Democracy remains a valued good, but questions are being asked about how much it costs, who pays, and whether the need to raise funds distorts policy agendas.
Topic:: Democratization, Economics, and Politics
Political Geography:: Latin America and Central America

1043. Survey of SSR Regional and Sub-Regional Networks

Publication Date:: 10-2003
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Global Facilitation Network for Security Sector Reform
Abstract:: The enclosed survey was conducted in order to map all regional and sub regional networks working in the field of Security Sector Reform (SSR) in Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America and the Caribbean. The objective of mapping SSR networks in these regions is multi-fold. Firstly it is imperative that at a time when security has taken a truly global dimension and span, academics and practitioners alike are aware of the state of SSR in different regions. Certain similarities and patterns emerge during the analysis that offer lessons and directions for actors wishing to become involved in SSR in a particular region, or searching for guidance in applying best practices and lessons learned to particular situations. Secondly, exchange of experience and ideas is especially important in supporting South-South dialogue, but the value of cooperation cannot be overemphasized given the often-unclear context in which SSR activities take place. The mapping exercise serves as an entry-point for practitioners to identify existing networks and their areas of expertise. Opportunities for collaboration are made possible by identifying other organisations that are pursuing similar goals. Additionally, the map of SSR networks serves to identify possible gaps in scope of activity and highlights entry points for other organisations and networks to further the objectives of security sector management and reform. Lastly, this exercise will serve as a vehicle for the GFN-SSR to develop ways to strengthen its activities. One way in which the GFN-SSR is already adding value is through the development of its website, which, inter alia, offers a newsletter in four languages, i.e., English, French, Spanish and Portuguese. An activity to reinforce the access to information for those in areas of poor connectivity is already being developed through the conception of a CD-ROM containing all the existing website information for distribution on a timely basis to interested organisations.
Topic:: Security, Development, and International Organization
Political Geography:: Africa, America, Europe, Asia, South America, Latin America, Central America, and Caribbean

1044. Security Sector Reform in Latin America and the Caribbean

Author:: Owen Greene
Publication Date:: 03-2003
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Global Facilitation Network for Security Sector Reform
Abstract:: The paper aims to outline some key issues and processes relating to security sector reform in Latin America and the Caribbean. The paper defines SSR in this regional context and then identifies and discusses some of the key issues and priorities for SSR in Latin America and the Caribbean. The paper then sketches the history of international assistance to promote SSR, in the three subregions: South America, Central America and the Caribbean. The paper ends with some short conclusions.
Topic:: Security and Government
Political Geography:: South America, Latin America, Central America, and Caribbean

1045. Clientelism in Flux: Democratization and Interest Intermediation in Contemporary Mexico

Author:: Blanca Heredia Rubio
Publication Date:: 02-2003
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:: The buoyant optimism spurred by the rush to democracy throughout Latin America along with the high, even if less widespread, hopes about market reform of the last decade have given way to a different mood. The excitement associated with large scale social change has subsided and a certain disillusionment, a hangover of sorts, has begun to set in.
Topic:: Civil Society, Democratization, and Economics
Political Geography:: Latin America, Central America, and Mexico

1046. Traditional and Non-Traditional Security Issues in Latin America: Evolution and Recent Developments

Author:: Richard Narich
Publication Date:: 01-2003
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Geneva Centre for Security Policy
Abstract:: In the second part of the 20th century, the world's attention focused twice on Latin America, first during the Cuban crisis in 1962 and then during the conflicts in Central America in the Eighties and Nineties. The situation there had a direct impact on the general balance of the planet. It was a hot spot. Today this region is not on the agenda anymore: it no longer represents a global threat in terms of security.
Topic:: Security, Defense Policy, and Terrorism
Political Geography:: Latin America and Central America

1047. Contagion: An Empirical Test

Author:: Jon Wongswan
Publication Date:: 09-2003
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
Abstract:: Using the conditional Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM), this paper tests for the existence and pattern of contagion and capital market integration in global equity markets. Contagion is defined as significant excess conditional correlation among different countries' asset returns above what could be explained by economic fundamentals (systematic risks). Capital market integration is defined as the situation in which only systematic risks are priced. The paper uses a panel of sixteen countries, divided into three blocs: Asia, Latin America, and Germany-U.K.-U.S., for the period from 1990 through 1999. The results show evidence of contagion and capital market integration. In addition, contagion is found to be a regional phenomenon.
Topic:: International Relations, Economics, Globalization, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:: United States, United Kingdom, Asia, Germany, and Latin America

1048. The Caribbean Security Scenario at the Dawn of the 21st Century: Continuity, Change, Challenge

Author:: Ivelaw L. Griffith
Publication Date:: 09-2003
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The North-South Center, University of Miami
Abstract:: The two epigraphs — one by a noted scholar and erstwhile policyactor and the other by a respected policymaker with intellectual acumen — capture core elements of the twin realities of continuity and change that define the security scenario of the contemporary Caribbean. Proximity, vulnerability, and instability are not new features of the Caribbean or of Caribbean-United States dynamics; they represent some of the continuity from times past. However, they assume special character because of the terrorism tragedy that has “cast a pall across the whole hemisphere,” to quote Barbados Prime Minister Arthur.
Topic:: Security and Terrorism
Political Geography:: United States, Latin America, Caribbean, and North America

1049. A Resurgent MERCOSUR: Confronting Economic Crises and Negotiating Trade Agreements

Author:: Thomas Andrew O'Keefe
Publication Date:: 02-2003
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The North-South Center, University of Miami
Abstract:: Almost from the day it was launched on March 26, 1991, skeptics have predicted the imminent collapse of the Common Market of the South (Mercado Común del Sur — MERCOSUR), while some economists have fretted about the project's supposed protectionist designs to create a trade fortress. The most memorable example of the latter was a 1996 report written by a World Bank economist that relied on out-of-date trade statistics and attributed to MERCOSUR policies that were actually pre-existing national automotive regimes. More recent tirades have tried to blame Argentina's economic meltdown on its MERCOSUR membership. A well-known economist from a New York City investment bank has even gone as far as to proclaim MERCOSUR dead. Given all the invective directed against efforts to integrate South America's Southern Cone economically over the past decade, it is not surprising that MERCOSUR is misunderstood by many in North America.
Topic:: Economics, International Trade and Finance, and Treaties and Agreements
Political Geography:: South America, Latin America, and North America

1050. The Changing Landscape of Financial Services in Latin America's Large Emerging Markets

Author:: Jerry Haar
Publication Date:: 07-2003
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The North-South Center, University of Miami
Abstract:: The Latin American financial services sector has been profoundly affected by the sweeping economic, legal, and regulatory reforms of the 1990s. Conversely, the sector has extensively impacted the economic liberalization process that has been the hallmark of Latin American development from the late 1980s through the present. This paper highlights trends in the financial services sector; discusses the key drivers of change, both globally and regionally; illustrates how three of those drivers — mergers and acquisitions (M), technology, and customer demand — are revolutionizing this sector; and reviews the organizational and strategic responses by financial firms to an increasingly competitive environment.
Topic:: Economics, Emerging Markets, and Globalization
Political Geography:: Latin America

1051. Promoting the Rule of Law Abroad: The Problem of Knowledge

Author:: Thomas Carothers
Publication Date:: 01-2003
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Abstract:: Although the current rule-of-law promotion field is still expanding as it approaches the end of its second decade, it still faces a lack of knowledge at many levels of conception, operation, and evaluation. There is a surprising amount of uncertainty, for example, about the twin rationales of rule-of-law promotion—that promoting the rule of law will contribute to economic development and democratization. There is also uncertainty about what the essence of the rule of law actually is—whether it primarily resides in certain institutional configurations or in more diffuse normative structures. Rule-of-law promoters are also short of knowledge about how the rule of law develops in societies and how such development can be stimulated beyond simplistic efforts to copy institutional forms. And the question of what kinds of larger societal effects will result from specific changes in rule-of-law institutions is also still open. Although aid institutions engaged in rule-of-law assistance do attempt some—lessons learned—exercises, many of the lessons produced are superficial and even those are often not really learned. Several substantial obstacles to greater knowledge accumulation in this field persist, including the complexity of the task of promoting the rule of law, the particularity of legal systems, the unwillingness of aid organizations to invest sufficient resources in evaluations, and the tendency of both academics and lawyers not to pursue systematic empirical research on rule-of-law aid programs. Whether rule-of-law aid is on the path to becoming a well-grounded field of international assistance remains uncertain.
Topic:: International Relations, Democratization, Development, and Economics
Political Geography:: Latin America

1052. Whither Europe?

Author:: Barry Eichengreen
Publication Date:: 05-2003
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Institute of European Studies (IES), UC Berkeley
Abstract:: Where I live, on the West Coast of the United States, and teach, at the University of California, Europe seems far away. Geographically we are closer to Latin America and Asia. Ethnically, Californians of Hispanic and Asian-American descent are increasingly numerous. Within 20 years, residents of European origin will be a minority; already they are a minority of the undergraduates enrolling at Berkeley. Economically as well, we look to Asia. It is in California where the largest number of container ships arriving from Asia are unloaded, and it is across the Pacific, and in China in particular, that most of those containers originate.
Topic:: Economics and Political Economy
Political Geography:: United States, China, Europe, Asia, California, and Latin America

1053. Unemployment Protection in Chile

Author:: Wayne Vroman
Publication Date:: 08-2003
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Urban Institute
Abstract:: Interruptions of earnings caused by unemployment and reductions in the real value of earnings caused by inflation are two important risks that face persons active in the labor market. The following paragraphs discuss these phenomena and the possible mechanisms for addressing the risks that they pose.
Topic:: Economics, Government, and Human Welfare
Political Geography:: South America, Latin America, and Chile

1054. The Gender Impact of Pension Reform in Latin America—and Broader Policy Implications

Author:: Estelle James, Alejandra Cox Edwards, and Rebeca Wong
Publication Date:: 06-2003
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Urban Institute
Abstract:: Over the past two decades multipillar pension systems that include both a public defined benefit (DB) and private defined contribution (DC) pillar have been adopted in many countries. Critics of these pension reforms argue that the tight link between payroll contributions and benefits in the DC pillar will produce lower pensions for women. In contrast, supporters of these reforms argue that multipillar systems remove distortions that favored men and permit a more targeted public pillar that will help women. To test these conflicting claims about multipillar reforms, and to analyze more generally the gender impact of alternative pension systems, this paper examines the differential impact on the two genders of the new and old systems in three Latin American countries—Chile, Argentina, and Mexico. On the basis of household survey data, we simulate the employment histories of representative men and women and the pensions that these are likely to generate under the new and old rules.
Topic:: Economics, Gender Issues, and Human Welfare
Political Geography:: Argentina, South America, Latin America, Central America, North America, Mexico, and Chile

1055. Illegal Immigration, Human Trafficking, and Organized Crime

Author:: Raimo Väyrynen
Publication Date:: 10-2003
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: It is important to make a careful distinction between illegal immigration, human smuggling, and human trafficking which are nested, but yet different concepts. This distinction is relevant because these different categories of the illegal movement of people across borders have quite different legal and political consequences. Human smuggling and trafficking have become a world-wide industry that 'employs' every year millions of people and leads to the annual turnover of billions of dollars. Many of the routes and enclaves used by the smugglers have become institutionalized; for instance, from Mexico and Central America to the United States, from West Asia through Greece and Turkey to Western Europe, and within East and Southeast Asia. More often than not flourishing smuggling routes are made possible by weak legislation, lax border controls, corrupted police officers, and the power of the organized crime. Naturally, poverty and warfare contribute to the rising tide of migration, both legal and illegal.
Topic:: Environment and Human Welfare
Political Geography:: United States, Europe, Turkey, East Asia, Greece, Asia, Latin America, Central America, North America, Mexico, Southeast Asia, Western Europe, and West Asia

1056. Income Distribution Changes and their Impact in the Post-World War II Period

Author:: Tony Addison, Giovanni Andrea Cornia, and Sampsa Kiiski
Publication Date:: 03-2003
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: This paper analyses the trends in within-country inequality during the post- World War II period, with particular attention to the last 20 years, on the basis of a review of the relevant literature and of an econometric analysis of inequality trends in 73 countries accounting for 80 per cent of the world's population and 91 per cent of world GDP-PPP. The paper suggests that the last two decades have been characterized by a surge in within-country inequality in about two-thirds of the developing, developed and transitional nations analysed. It also suggests that in those countries where the upsurge in inequality was sizeable or where inequality rose from already high levels, growth and poverty alleviation slowed down perceptibly. While this trend towards higher inequality differs substantially across countries in its extent, timing and specific causes, it marks a clear departure from that observed during the first 30 years of the post-World War II period during which, with the exception of Latin America and parts of Sub-Saharan Africa, a widespread move towards greater egalitarianism was noted in the majority of the socialist, developing and industrialized economies.
Topic:: Development, Economics, Emerging Markets, International Political Economy, and Poverty
Political Geography:: Latin America

1057. Mexico Alert: Mexico's Southern Flank: A Crime-ridden "Third U.S. Border"

Author:: George W. Grayson
Publication Date:: 12-2003
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Center for Strategic and International Studies
Abstract:: Mexico's southern flank constitutes a porous, crime-ridden third border of the United States. The problem is that both President Vicente Fox and Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge concentrate on the U.S.-Mexican frontier, while neglecting the Mexican-Guatemalan interface that provides an open sesame for narcotraffickers, illegal aliens, prostitutes, smugglers, and terrorists.
Topic:: Security, Economics, and Politics
Political Geography:: United States, Latin America, and North America

1058. Canada Alert: The Smart Border Process at Two: Losing Momentum?

Author:: Andre Belelieu
Publication Date:: 11-2003
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Center for Strategic and International Studies
Abstract:: On December 12, 2001, Canada and the United States signed the Smart Border Declaration, which gave birth to the 30-point Smart Border Action Plan. This bilateral agreement instantly became the de facto framework for ensuring the world's longest undefended border remained secure, while facilitating the flow of people, goods, and services, and was a key component in the larger homeland security goal of creating a zone of confidence against terrorist activity, while causing minimal damage to the world's largest trading relationship. Two years later, the Canadian and U.S. governments can point to progress on all 30 points contained in the Action Plan. Through cooperation and an understanding that a smart border works in the interest of both countries, Canada and the United States can claim to be closer than ever to ensuring that the Canada-U.S. border remains “open to trade and closed to terrorists.”
Topic:: Security, Economics, and Politics
Political Geography:: United States, Latin America, and North America

1059. Mexico: Pessimism is Rational

Author:: Sidney Weintraub
Publication Date:: 11-2003
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Center for Strategic and International Studies
Abstract:: Some significant outcomes in Mexico during the past quarter century are worth reviewing. There has been practically no growth in real per capita income since 1980. Until the presidential transition from Ernesto Zedillo to Vicente Fox, there were financial collapses either ending, starting, or during every other sexenio (six-year term) over this period. Perhaps these monotonic curses are a thing of the past, but no Mexican would “bet the farm” on this. These financial collapses were generally accompanied by economic downturns, spectacularly so in 1982 and 1994. Mexicans who came of age over the past 25 years—those now about 40 to 50—have known nothing other than repetitive currency depreciations and lack of sustained growth, and these expectations surely have been programmed indelibly into their psyches. A Mexican would have to be unthinking not to be pessimistic about the future based on recent economic management of the country, its currency, and its financial solidity.
Topic:: Security, Economics, and Politics
Political Geography:: Latin America and North America

1060. Argentina Alert: Welcome to Washington President Kirchner

Author:: Miguel Diaz
Publication Date:: 07-2003
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Center for Strategic and International Studies
Abstract:: At the invitation of the White House, Argentina's newly elected president, Nestor Kirchner, will be paying a visit to President George W. Bush this Wednesday, July 23. This is the latest and most notable signal from Washington of an interest in engaging and working with the new government in Buenos Aires. The hope in Foggy Bottom is that this outreach can translate into the kind of constructive and comprehensive relationship that President Bush has established with Brazil's new president, Luis Inácio Lula da Silva, Kirchner's regional partner. Whether Kirchner has the savvy to exploit the gesture to set a tone for the bilateral relationship and establish the general parameters of a mutually rewarding policy agenda will be evident soon enough.
Topic:: Security, Economics, and Politics
Political Geography:: South America and Latin America

1061. Mexico Alert: July 6, 2003, Midterm Elections Preelection Analysis

Author:: Armand Peschard-Sverdrup
Publication Date:: 07-2003
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Center for Strategic and International Studies
Abstract:: On July 6, 2003, as many as 64.7 million registered voters will be heading to the polls to cast their votes for all 500 seats in the lower house of the Mexican Congress—the Chamber of Deputies. Of all 500 seats in the Chamber of Deputies, 300 are elected via direct representation (mayoria relativa) and 200 via proportional representation (representacion proporcional).
Topic:: Security, Economics, and Politics
Political Geography:: Latin America and North America

1062. Canada Alert: Canada and Missile Defense

Author:: Dwight N. Mason
Publication Date:: 06-2003
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Center for Strategic and International Studies
Abstract:: That the government was about to decide to seek negotiations on participation in the U.S. missile defense system was signaled by Bill Graham, Canadian foreign minister, in his May 15, 2003, statement in Parliament on missile defense policy.
Topic:: Security, Economics, and Politics
Political Geography:: Canada, Latin America, and North America

1063. Cuba, Itamaraty, and Brazil: Same Old Song?

Author:: William Barr
Publication Date:: 05-2003
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Center for Strategic and International Studies
Abstract:: The New York Times was by no means the lone voice in criticizing Brazil's abstentions on the Cuba-related motions before the UN Human Rights Commission. Much tougher criticism has come from a wide range of Brazilians, including a substantial segment of academics, journalists, and even politicians who have long praised Cuba's independence from the U.S. orbit and criticized the United States' economic blockade.
Topic:: Security, Economics, and Politics
Political Geography:: United States, New York, Brazil, Cuba, United Nations, and Latin America

1064. Argentina Alert (Double Issue)

Author:: Miguel Diaz and Carlos M. Regúnaga
Publication Date:: 05-2003
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Center for Strategic and International Studies
Abstract:: Argentina's national mania to experiment with new rules, procedures, and institutions never ceases to produce surprising, and sometimes stunning results. This time, the electoral process has been managed in such a bizarre way that as a result, the primary election of the Peronist Party will take place after the general election rather than before, as one would expect in a normal, more boring country.
Topic:: Security, Economics, and Politics
Political Geography:: Argentina, South America, and Latin America

1065. Argentina Alert: Summary of the Elections

Author:: Carlos M. Regúnaga
Publication Date:: 05-2003
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Center for Strategic and International Studies
Abstract:: Voter turnout for the April 27 elections was among the highest in record: about 80 percent of the total population eighteen years old and older. The number of empty ballot envelopes was less than 1 percent, and votes annulled were within the normal margins in any election. All of this indicates that the protest vote (“voto bronca”), which was so high in the 2001 congressional elections, was not a factor in this election. The large number of candidates—and the exceptionally high number of candidates with the possibility of reaching the second round presidency on May 18 in particular—may have convinced electors to cast positive votes.
Topic:: Security, Economics, and Politics
Political Geography:: Argentina, South America, and Latin America

1066. Cuba Alert: Cuban Dissidents Under Siege

Author:: Brian Latell
Publication Date:: 04-2003
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Center for Strategic and International Studies
Abstract:: The campaign against internal opposition launched last month by Fidel Castro's regime is among the most inhumane of the numerous crackdowns conducted during the more than 44 years he has ruled Cuba. Beginning in mid March, Cuban security personnel, often acting violently, rounded up more than 100 men and women associated with groups committed to peaceful democratic change on the island.
Topic:: Security, Economics, and Politics
Political Geography:: Cuba, Latin America, and Caribbean

1067. Chile Uses Institutional Strength-To Counter Corruption Scandals

Author:: Luis Pinto
Publication Date:: 04-2003
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Center for Strategic and International Studies
Abstract:: Since Augusto Pinochet stepped down as president in 1989, Chile has been one of the most politically, socially, and economically successful countries in the region. The country has been able to move forward because of its aggressive promotion of exports, strength of its institutions, and the trust it has built with the international community. Recently however, Chile has found itself opposing the United States, a long time champion and supporter; it was also embroiled in several domestic corruption scandals. Chile has turned to the strength of its institutions and its international credibility to get back on track.
Topic:: Security, Economics, and Politics
Political Geography:: United States, South America, Latin America, and Chile

1068. Canada Alert: The 2003 Quebec Provincial Election: A Vote for Change in La Belle Province

Author:: Andre Belelieu
Publication Date:: 04-2003
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Center for Strategic and International Studies
Abstract:: On April 14, Quebeckers voted for change while keeping with half a century of tradition. With 70 percent of Quebec's 5.5 million registered voters casting their ballots, the Liberal Party (PLQ) under Jean Charest ended nine years of Parti Quebecois (PQ) rule, winning 45.9 percent of the popular vote and 76 out of 125 seats in Quebec's National Assembly. The governing PQ, which won 33.2 percent of the vote and picked up 45 seats in the National Assembly, was therefore swept from power despite a fairly positive record in government, proving that no matter how competently a government rules in Quebec, it is not immune to the political reality that no party has been able to win a third consecutive term in office since the Union Nationale in 1952.
Topic:: Security, Economics, and Politics
Political Geography:: Canada, Latin America, and North America

1069. Argentina Alert-Argentine Election: Fateful Choice

Author:: Carlos M. Regúnaga
Publication Date:: 04-2003
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Center for Strategic and International Studies
Abstract:: Observers unfamiliar with Argentine history may see in the present campaign a lack of real confrontation and choice of ideas. And they may be misled in that direction by the fact that candidates have devoted great time and effort to expose flaws in their opponents' character and background and very little to explain platforms and proposals. One should not be deceived, however, by appearances. The ideological spectrum represented by the five candidates is much wider than has been seen in any U.S. election in recent history. That statement needs, however, some historical perspective.
Topic:: Security, Economics, and Politics
Political Geography:: Argentina, South America, and Latin America

1070. Brazil Alert: President Lula

Author:: William Perry
Publication Date:: 04-2003
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Center for Strategic and International Studies
Abstract:: 100 days have now passed since Luiz Inácio “Lula” da Silva donned Brazil's presidential sash on January 1, 2003. Perhaps use of this traditional U.S. benchmark, even for preliminary judgments, is a bit unfair, as the Brazilian political calendar with Carnival holidays off, precludes Congress from really beginning to function until early March. Nevertheless, the past three months have been instructive in terms of gauging the problems and prospects of the new Workers' Party (PT) government.
Topic:: Security, Economics, and Politics
Political Geography:: Brazil, South America, and Latin America

1071. Mexico Alert: Economic Competitiveness in Mexico: Recent Evolution, Prospects, and Repercussions for the United States

Author:: Mariano Ruiz-Funes
Publication Date:: 04-2003
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Center for Strategic and International Studies
Abstract:: A country's economic competitiveness can be analyzed on two closely interrelated levels: microeconomic com-petitiveness and competitiveness in attracting investment. The first level (microeconomic competitiveness) relates to goods and services offered in the country and refers to competition arising from goods and services that are produced in another country. That competition takes place in international markets (export competitiveness) as well as in the domestic market (with imports).
Topic:: Security, Economics, and Politics
Political Geography:: United States, Latin America, North America, and Mexico

1072. Mexico Alert: The Impact of the War in Iraq on Canada, the Caribbean, and Latin America

Author:: Phillip McLean
Publication Date:: 04-2003
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Center for Strategic and International Studies
Abstract:: Once again events elsewhere have driven news of Canada, the Caribbean and Latin America off the front pages— even from newspapers in the region. Lack of attention may be the least of those countries' concerns about the war. The more serious consequence is likely to be that the war will accentuate the hemisphere's already evident problems. To the degree that the war slows the growth of world trade, the region's near-term economic prospects will suffer, and global uncertainties will dim the promise of more open and dynamic markets.
Topic:: Security, Economics, and Politics
Political Geography:: Iraq, Canada, South America, Latin America, Central America, Caribbean, and North America

1073. Mexico Alert: The Impact of the War in Iraq on Mexico

Author:: Armand Peschard-Sverdrup
Publication Date:: 04-2003
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Center for Strategic and International Studies
Abstract:: When looking at the ramifications of the war in Iraq on the Western Hemisphere, it is clear that the conflict will have the greatest impact on the two nations with which the United States shares borders—Mexico and Canada. From a national security standpoint, these nations' immediate proximity to the United States automatically heightens the threat to their own national security, particularly because we seem to have entered an era in which the use of weapons of mass destruction—be they nuclear, chemical, or biological—poses a viable threat. From a U.S. homeland security standpoint, the shared border transforms both of our friendly neighbors into possible platforms from which rogue elements could stage attacks or enter the United States to threaten our homeland.
Topic:: Security, Economics, and Politics
Political Geography:: United States, Iraq, Canada, Latin America, North America, and Mexico

1074. Argentina Alert: Polls Apart

Author:: Carlos M. Regúnaga
Publication Date:: 04-2003
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Center for Strategic and International Studies
Abstract:: The race for the Argentine presidency is now in the next to last lap. The first ballot will be cast April 27, but for the first time in history it looks as if a second ballot will be required. If it is, it will take place on May 18. At this juncture, public opinion and pundits' predictions are poles apart. But before analyzing them, it might be useful to remember the electoral system now in effect.
Topic:: Security, Economics, and Politics
Political Geography:: Argentina, South America, and Latin America

1075. Mexico Alert: The Vote That Wasn't

Author:: Luis Rubio
Publication Date:: 03-2003
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Center for Strategic and International Studies
Abstract:: Mexico's President Vicente Fox chose a rather awkward time to take a stand supporting a multilateralist approach in foreign policy. Even though a multilateral approach matches neatly—almost naturally—with the country's history, taking such a visible stand after the events of September 11 entailed huge risks that nobody in Fox's cabinet could ignore, even if, in retrospect, few truly understood what the actual risks were. Yet, oblivious to that fact, the government pushed ahead. Even after President George W. Bush had decided not to pursue a vote in the UN Security Council on a follow-up resolution that would have de facto authorized the use of force in Iraq, the Mexican government found it necessary to state that it would have voted “no.” The critical question is less whether this constitutes an approach to foreign policy that is new for Mexico than whether the administration truly understands the implications of its newfound ways.
Topic:: Security, Economics, and Politics
Political Geography:: Latin America, North America, and Mexico

1076. Mexico Alert: NAFTA And Mexico's Agriculture

Author:: Sergio Sarmiento
Publication Date:: 03-2003
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Center for Strategic and International Studies
Abstract:: For a long time, it seemed impossible for any issue to forge an alliance between the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI)—the party that ruled Mexico from 1929 to 2000—and the leftist Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD). This issue, however, has clearly emerged now with the attempt to force President Vicente Fox, a member of the conservative National Action Party (PAN), to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in order to offer special protection to Mexico's agriculture.
Topic:: Security, Economics, and Politics
Political Geography:: Latin America and North America

1077. Mexico Alert: Mexico State Election

Author:: Armand Peschard-Sverdrup and George W. Grayson
Publication Date:: 03-2003
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Center for Strategic and International Studies
Abstract:: On March 9, 2003, the citizens of Mexico state (Edomex) will elect 124 municipal government officials and 75 members of the state legislature. Although local contests, these elections have attracted national attention for several reasons. First, with 13 million inhabitants Edomex is the most populous of Mexico 31 states–with approximately 4.5 million more citizens than Mexico City. Second, Mexico state also boasts more than 8 million voters, the most of any state and 12.55 percent of the nationwide total. Third, Mexico state is a microcosm of the country–with (1) a vibrant manufacturing sector, (2) one-third of its income arising from agriculture, (3) a small indigenous population, (4) a plethora of middle-class residents who work for the government, own small businesses, or practice professions such as medicine, dentistry, accounting, and teaching, and (5) poor people who eke out a living in Chalco, Texcoco, and other sprawling slums contiguous to Mexico City. Fourth, Edomex is an arena of intense political activism, involving the country's three major parties: the once-hegemonic Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), the center-right National Action Party (PAN), and the nationalist-left Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD). In addition, the Mexican Green Ecological Party (PVEM) boasts its largest support base in the state, while several new or small parties will also compete in the upcoming election. These include the centrist Convergencia, the leftist Workers' Party (PT), the right-wing Social Alliance (PAS), the conservative Party of the Nationalist Society (PSN), the reform-oriented México Posible (MP), the Mexican Liberal Party (PLM), Citizens' Force (FC), and the Citizens' Parliament (PC). Fifth, the importance of the state means that any major Edomex politician who distinguishes himself will wind up on the short list of contenders for the presidency in 2006. Finally, the outcome of the Mexico state balloting will provide an insight into the relative strength of contending parties as they prepare for the July 6 election of 500 members of the Chamber of Deputies and six governors (Campeche, Colima, Nuevo León, Querétaro, San Luis Potosí, and Sonora).
Topic:: Security, Economics, and Politics
Political Geography:: Latin America, North America, and Mexico

1078. Colombia: President Uribe's Democratic Security Policy

Publication Date:: 11-2003
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: International Crisis Group
Abstract:: More than any of his predecessors, President Alvaro Uribe has made combating the insurgents the overriding priority and defining objective of the Colombian government. Through modest achievements on the ground a sense of public security has begun to be re-established. However, Uribe's "Democratic Security Policy" (DSP), the long-term strategy promised to lend coherence to the security effort, has been stalled for nearly a year by political infighting and fundamental arguments over how best to bring the 40-year conflict to a close. Without some serious modifications, it is doubtful that it will achieve its goal.
Topic:: Security and Politics
Political Geography:: Colombia, South America, and Latin America

1079. Colombia: Negotiating with the Paramilitaries

Publication Date:: 09-2003
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: International Crisis Group
Abstract:: Eighteen months after the rupture of peace talks between its predecessor and the main insurgent group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the Uribe administration has entered upon a high risk-high gain negotiating process with the main paramilitary group, the United Self-Defence Forces of Colombia (AUC), that will test its skill and its good faith.
Topic:: Conflict Resolution, Security, and Politics
Political Geography:: Colombia, South America, and Latin America

1080. Colombia's Humanitarian Crisis

Publication Date:: 07-2003
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: International Crisis Group
Abstract:: This ICG report argues that it is paramount that much more decisive action be taken immediately to confront Colombia's humanitarian crisis. Massive human hardship and suffering has become a constant feature of life as the armed conflict has expanded and intensified. The government's humanitarian policy has encountered many difficulties, largely because of the magnitude of the crisis, the lack of state capacity, the reluctance to divert fiscal resources from military to social programs, and the wide gap between policy planning and reality.The launching of the Inter-agency Humanitarian Action Plan (HAP) by the UN in 2002 reflects a growing international awareness that more coordinated and effective action is urgently needed. But even more needs to be done, including achieving better coordination between the government and humanitarian organisations and increasing current levels of international humanitarian aid.
Topic:: Security, Human Welfare, Humanitarian Aid, and Migration
Political Geography:: Colombia, South America, and Latin America

1081. Colombia and its Neighbours: The Tentacles of Instability

Publication Date:: 04-2003
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: International Crisis Group
Abstract:: While the Colombian armed conflict has deep roots in history, increasingly it is fuelled by the inflow of weapons, explosives and chemical precursors and financed by an outflow of drugs. The tentacles of instability criss-cross the 9000 kilometres of land and water that separate Colombia from and link it to its five neighbours, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil, Venezuela and Panama. Those borders are largely uncontrolled, and the Colombian government has stepped up its demands for fuller regional cooperation. The neighbours are greatly reluctant, partly because of internal crises and partly because of their view of the conflict. Yet, Colombia needs more help from them to make progress in ending that conflict, while peace in Colombia would give them a better chance to solve their own serious domestic problems.
Topic:: Security and Arms Control and Proliferation
Political Geography:: Brazil, Colombia, South America, Latin America, and Venezuela

1082. US-Brazil Trade Relations in a New Era

Author:: Jeffrey J. Schott
Publication Date:: 08-2003
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Peterson Institute for International Economics
Abstract:: The United States and Brazil are the largest economies in North and South America, respectively. A generation ago, both were relatively closed economies in terms of the proportion of their trade to gross domestic product (GDP), but for sharply different reasons. The US market was highly competitive except for some light manufactures (e.g., textiles, clothing, and footwear) and a few agricultural sectors with high border barriers. By contrast, Brazilian industry was largely uncompetitive and highly subsidized; important commodities like coffee provided the bulk of exports while a large share of the value of most industrial exports was attributable to export subsidies.
Topic:: International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:: United States, Brazil, South America, Latin America, and Caribbean

1083. NAFTA Dispute Settlement Systems

Author:: Gary Hufbauer and Jeffrey J. Schott
Publication Date:: 06-2003
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Peterson Institute for International Economics
Abstract:: Drawing on the 1989 Canada-US Free Trade Agreement (CUSFTA), the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) extended dispute settlement provisions to cover more ground. In fact, within NAFTA there are six dispute settlement systems. NAFTA Chapter 11 is designed to resolve investor-state disputes over property rights; Chapter 14 creates special provisions for handling disputes in the financial sector via the Chapter 20 dispute settlement process (DSP); Chapter 19 establishes a review mechanism to determine whether final antidumping (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) decisions made in domestic tribunals are consistent with national laws; and Chapter 20 provides government-to-government consultation, at the ministerial level, to resolve high-level disputes. In addition, the NAFTA partners created interstate dispute mechanisms regarding domestic environmental and labor laws under the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation (NAAEC) and the North American Agreement on Labor Cooperation (NAAL C), respectively. This chapter examines the first four dispute settlement systems; the NAAEC and NAALC systems are evaluated elsewhere in this book.
Topic:: Economics and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:: United States, Latin America, and North America

1084. Democratic Politics in Latin America: New Debates and Research Frontiers

Author:: Gerardo Munck
Publication Date:: 10-2003
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Center for International Studies, University of Southern California
Abstract:: This assessment of research on contemporary democratic politics in Latin America is organized around the distinction between institutional and alternative approaches. Initially it considers institutionalism on its own terms and, through an assessment of the debate about the institutional causes of gridlock, draws attention to key strengths of this literature. Thereafter, some of the limitations of an institutional approach are addressed and the possibility of combining insights developed from institutional and alternative theoretical perspectives is emphasized. The suggested terms of integration, however, are not symmetric. With regard to causal theorizing, the need for institutionalists to borrow ideas, especially from the broader literature on political regimes, is underlined. With regard to theorizing outcomes, in contrast, the need for students of the quality of democracy to incorporate contributions made by institutionalists is highlighted. Throughout, various pointed suggestions to advance research are offered.
Topic:: Democratization and Government
Political Geography:: South America, Latin America, and North America

1085. Picking Up the Pieces: Comparing the Social Impact of Finacial Crisis in Mexico and Argentina

Author:: Manuel Pastor and Carol Wise
Publication Date:: 10-2003
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Center for International Studies, University of Southern California
Abstract:: After a committed process of macroeconomic stabilization that began during the mid-1980s in most of Latin America, many observers began to speak of the need for a “second generation” of reforms that could more firmly establish the bases for economic growth and correct for longstanding distributional inequities. By the mid-1990s serious reformers like Argentina and Mexico seemed to be on the cusp of tackling this distributional backlog by launching so-called second phase market reforms meant to correct for earlier shortcomings in the social realm (Naím 1995; Pastor and Wise 1999). However, in both cases, financial crises erupted: Mexico's crash of December 1994, which saw a forty percent devaluation of the peso and a massive outflow of portfolio capital; and, more recently, Argentina's 2002 meltdown, which while simmering since the Brazilian devaluation of 1999, finally caused the country's commitment to a fixed exchange rate to be abandoned.
Topic:: Economics and Government
Political Geography:: Brazil, Argentina, South America, Latin America, North America, and Mexico

1086. The Bombardier-Embraer Dispute and its Implications for Western Hemisphere Integration

Author:: Jonathan P. Doh
Publication Date:: 12-2003
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Center for Strategic and International Studies
Abstract:: Government subsidies are a pervasive problem for international trade and economic development. Subsidies distort investment decisions, generally squander scarce public resources, skew public expenditures toward unproductive uses, unfairly discriminate against efficient industries and firms, and prompt wasteful overconsumption of some products over others. Despite efforts to limit subsidies through trade and investment policy disciplines, subsidization remains a constant on the global trade policy and international business landscape.
Topic:: Economics, International Trade and Finance, and Treaties and Agreements
Political Geography:: South America, Latin America, Central America, Caribbean, and North America

1087. Radical Groups in Mexico Today

Author:: Gustavo Hirales Morán
Publication Date:: 09-2003
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Center for Strategic and International Studies
Abstract:: Since January 1, 1994, the day when the armed uprising of the Zapatista Army for National Liberation (EZLN) was announced, it has been evident that Mexico is facing a second generation of radical organizations. The first generation, dating back to the 1970s, consisted of armed groups made up mainly of students, rural classroom teachers, and campesinos (i.e., subsistence farmers and agricultural workers along with their families). This generation's choice to pursue armed struggle revealed a trio of influences: Cuba's experience, socialist ideology, and the outrage and indignation produced by the repression and crackdown on nonviolent avenues of political opposition unleashed under the governments of Gustavo Díaz Ordaz (1964–1970) and Luis Echeverría Álvarez (1970–1976).
Topic:: Security
Political Geography:: United States, Latin America, North America, and Mexico

1088. North American Economic Integration Policy Options

Author:: Earl H. Fry
Publication Date:: 07-2003
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Center for Strategic and International Studies
Abstract:: At the end of 2003, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) will have been in effect for a decade, and although the accord will not be fully implemented for another five years, almost all of its important provisions are already in place. The model for NAFTA was the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (CUSFTA), which was put in motion in 1989 and was to be fully implemented within 10 years but was superseded by NAFTA after only five years in operation. NAFTA itself has created the world's largest free-trade area, encompassing the United States, Mexico, and Canada; 21.3 million square miles of territory; 422 million people; almost $12 trillion in yearly production; and $615 billion in annual three-way merchandise trade. North American trade, investment, government-to-government, and people-to-people exchanges have increased dramatically over the past decade and decisionmakers in Washington, D.C., Mexico City, and Ottawa will soon have to consider whether continental economic integration should move to the next level in the form of a customs and monetary union or even a common market possessing many of the attributes of the European Union (EU).
Topic:: Economics and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:: United States, Europe, Canada, Latin America, Central America, North America, Mexico, and Ottawa

1089. The Spring 2002 Term of the Mexican Congress

Author:: Jeffrey A. Weldon
Publication Date:: 05-2003
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Center for Strategic and International Studies
Abstract:: The spring session of the second year of the 58th Legislature in Mexico, in comparison with most recent years, was more productive than average. Although there were a few major negative incidents, the strained relationship between the executive and legislative branches did not lead to complete paralysis on executive legislation.
Topic:: Government
Political Geography:: United States, Latin America, Central America, and Mexico

1090. U.S.-Mexico Binational Council Report: U.S-Mexico Transboundary Water Management: The Case of the Rio Grande/Rio Bravo

Author:: Armand Peschard-Sverdrup and Meghan Bishop
Publication Date:: 01-2003
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Center for Strategic and International Studies
Abstract:: Although the highly publicized water dispute between the United States and Mexico has focused attention in both nations on the issue, the need to address comprehensively the problem of water scarcity and water quality is not one that is limited to the U.S.-Mexico border region. In fact, water scarcity is increasing around the world and approaching crisis conditions in many regions. It is a phenomenon that is impacting the lives of a growing number of the world's people. According to the United Nations, 31 countries in the world are currently facing water stress and scarcity. Over 1 billion people have no access to clean drinking water, and almost 3 billion people have no access to sanitation services. It is estimated that today 166 million people in 18 countries suffer from water scarcity, while another 270 million in 11 additional countries are considered "water stressed." By the year 2025, the world's population will have increased by more than 2.6 billion, but as many as two-thirds of those people will be living in conditions of serious water shortage, and one-third will be living with absolute water scarcity. By 2025, the affected populations will increase to about 3 billion people, or about 40 percent of the world's population, most of them in the poorest countries. As a result of this daunting diagnosis, there is now a consensus that the severity of the problem requires a strategic approach that emphasizes equitable and sustainable management of water resources.
Topic:: Environment
Political Geography:: United States, Latin America, and North America

1091. Mexico at an Impasse

Author:: Mark Falcoff
Publication Date:: 03-2003
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
Abstract:: ecent events elsewhere in Latin America–specifically, an acute political crisis in Venezuela and a groundbreaking election in Brazil–have pushed Mexico off the front pages of American newspapers. Nonetheless, it is worth remembering that Mexico, our closest and most important Latin neighbor, is a major customer for our products and the source of many essential imports, most notably oil and gas. It is also a country with which we have intense cultural and human relations, far more indeed than most Americans realize. Its progress toward becoming an open and more modern society therefore deserves far more attention. President Vicente Fox is nearing the midpoint of a six-year presidential term. The next major marker will be elections in July concerning all the seats in the lower national legislative chamber, all the governorships, and the legislative assemblies in eleven of Mexico’s thirty-two states.[i] These elections inevitably will be interpreted in part as a referendum on Fox’s administration–the first drawn from an opposition party in more than seven decades. At the same time, they will tell us to what degree the ousted Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) has managed to reinvent itself and become nationally competitive in a more pluralistic and open environment.
Topic:: Foreign Policy, Defense Policy, Economics, Immigration, and Political Crisis
Political Geography:: South America, Latin America, and Mexico

1092. Paramilitarism, Death Squads, and Government in Latin America

Author:: Adam Jones
Publication Date:: 11-2002
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:: This paper, the first of a planned two-part analysis, examines the institutions of paramilitarism, death squads, and warlords in Latin America, with a focus on the case-studies of Mexico and Peru. It begins with an overview of the small comparative literature on paramilitary movements and death squads around the world, seeking to define and clarify the terminology. The literature on "warlordism" is then reviewed, and the similarities and distinctions between paramilitaries and warlords are considered. Lastly, I examine two case -studies that have not, as yet, received extended attention in the comparative literature: Mexico and Colombia. The paper concludes by summarizing the findings and charting a course for future investigations. (PDF, Spanish, 40 pages, 2.76 MB) Â Â Â
Topic:: Civil Society and Human Rights
Political Geography:: South America, Latin America, North America, Mexico, and Peru

1093. Bicameralismo en América Latina

Author:: Jorge Schiavon
Publication Date:: 10-2002
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:: More than half of the countries in Latin America have bicameral legislatures, and the vast majority of the larger countries in the region have dual legislative bodies. This paper explores whether bicameralism is an important institutional variable in the functioning of Latin American systems. It develops a typology of the different types of bycameralism in the region based on several specific characteristics that differentiate between them, and discusses the relevance of the institutional configuration of the system and the party configuration of the chambers for bicameralism. Then, it constructs a veto gates and players model in order to analyze the causal mechanism through which bicameralism impacts Latin America systems. Finally, it presents two examples (one with variation in time, the other with variation in space) to support the argument that bicameralism matters depending on its type, the institutional configuration, and party composition of the system.
Topic:: Government
Political Geography:: Latin America

1094. Ámbito y Papel de los Especialistas en las Reformas en los Sistemas de Salud: Los Casos de Brasil y México

Author:: Raquel Abrantes Pêgo and Célia Almeida
Publication Date:: 09-2002
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Kellogg Institute for International Studies
Abstract:: The purpose of this study is to consider the role played by the community of public health experts in the contemporary health sector reform process. It discusses the issue based on the case of Brazil and Mexico, because, as specialists, public health researchers in both countries have directed their participation to influencing the conflict over the reorientation of health policy in their respective countries. One of their approaches has consisted in developing a new cognitive framework that underpins technical health sector reform projects understood as policy proposals with technical content. Our purpose is to show that these experts manage to influence the national debate over health sector reform when the technical and scientific discussion leaves the academic sphere and goes to the realm of social and political debate. In our opinion, this occurs because this technical and scientific knowledge has been held out, independently of its intrinsic value, as a political and ideological alternative platform for sustaining a health sector reform proposal which, once transformed into a policy project, has served to aggregate certain political and social forces and not others. The study sets out each case separately, in each showing first the emergence of a new body of thinking in the field of public health (Collective Health in Brazil and New Public Health in Mexico). It then demonstrates how these groups of experts have articulated and interacted with specific political and social forces within their respective societies, and analyses how they have become a political stream within health institutions in the struggle to control the sector's future.
Topic:: Development and Human Welfare
Political Geography:: Brazil, South America, Latin America, Central America, North America, and Mexico

1095. Contradiction Without Paradox: Evangelical Political Culture in the 1998 Venezuelan Elections

Author:: David Smilde
Publication Date:: 09-2002
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Kellogg Institute for International Studies
Abstract:: Venezuelan Evangelicals' responses to candidates in that country's 1998 presidential election seem to confirm the view that their political culture is inconsistent, contradictory, and paradoxical. Not only were Evangelicals just as likely as the larger population to support nationalist former coup leader Hugo Chávez, they rejected Venezuela's one Evangelical party after it made a clientalist pact with the infamous social democratic party candidate. In this article, concepts from recent cultural theory are used to examine qualitative data from these two voting behaviors. Ways to make sense of the contradictory nature of Evangelical political culture are suggested.
Topic:: Government and Politics
Political Geography:: South America, Latin America, and Venezuela

1096. The Labor Movement in Democratic Chile, 1990-2000

Author:: Frank K. Volker
Publication Date:: 06-2002
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Kellogg Institute for International Studies
Abstract:: This article examines the experience of the Chilean labor movement during the first decade of democracy. In so doing, it calls attention to the need for further study of how institutional variables, such as labor legislations, influence labor movement strategies across different political regimes (authoritarian and democratic). Evidence from the Chilean case demonstrates that while important, exogenous variables such as new democratic governments and new labor legislations have only limited explanatory power with regard to labor movement strategies. This warrants a closer look at internal organizational aspects.
Topic:: Globalization, Industrial Policy, and Political Economy
Political Geography:: South America, Latin America, and Chile

1097. Experimentos de Democracia Interna: Las Primarias de Partidos en América Latina

Author:: Manuel Alcántara Sáez
Publication Date:: 04-2002
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Kellogg Institute for International Studies
Abstract:: This paper describes the evolution of candidate selection processes in Latin American political parties up to the year 2000. The topic is part of the field of political party studies in the region. The first section diagnoses the problems affecting the data bases produced by the Latinobarometro and the Parliamentary Elites Survey of the Universidad de Salamanca. The second section describes the process indicated in the title of the present piece.
Topic:: Democratization, Government, and Politics
Political Geography:: South America, Latin America, and Central America

1098. Venezuela: Popular Sovereignty versus Liberal Democracy

Author:: Michael Coppedge
Publication Date:: 04-2002
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Kellogg Institute for International Studies
Abstract:: In order to evaluate accurately the state of democratic governance during the first years of the Chávez presidency, one must sharpen the distinction between democracy narrowly defined as popular sovereignty versus the more conventional notion of liberal democracy. Venezuela was no longer a liberal democracy in every respect. Instead, it became an extreme case of delegative democracy. The president enjoyed widespread popular support for almost everything he and his followers did, and this fact qualified his government as "democratic" in the narrow sense of popular sovereignty. But the systematic elimination of constraints on presidential action after 1998 increased the risk that Venezuela would cease to be a democracy by any definition in the future.
Topic:: Civil Society and Government
Political Geography:: South America, Latin America, and Venezuela

1099. From "Restricted"; to "Besieged": The Changing Nature of the Limits to Democracy in Colombia

Author:: Ana Maria Bejarano and Eduardo Pizarro Leongómez
Publication Date:: 04-2002
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Kellogg Institute for International Studies
Abstract:: During the last decade and a half, Colombia has witnessed both an improvement in the dimensions of democratic participation and contestation and a severe deterioration in those dimensions of democracy related to effective protection of civil liberties and subordination of the military. While the term “semi-democracy” seems most appropriate to classify the Colombian political regime, the restrictions that made the Colombian regime semi-democratic during the second half of the twentieth century have changed in nature. Between 1958 and 1986, restrictions were placed on the competitive dimension of democracy. From the mid-1980s onward, the regime's shortcomings stem from the weakness of the state, the emergence of powerful armed actors, and the absence of the rule of law.
Topic:: Government and Politics
Political Geography:: Colombia, South America, and Latin America

1100. La Atomización Partidista en Colombia: el Fenómeno de las Micro-empresas Electorales

Author:: Eduardo Pizarro Leongómez
Publication Date:: 01-2002
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Kellogg Institute for International Studies
Abstract:: The Colombian Liberal-Conservative bipartyism appeared up until just a decade ago not only as one of the oldest but also as one of the most institutionalized party systems in Latin America. Today, even though a complete party collapse similar to those ocurred in Peru and Venezuela did not take place, the erosion of both parties has followed a path with few historical precedents: an extreme "personalist factionalism" (Giovanni Sartori) or, to use a more coloquial term that has become popular in Colombia, the implosion of parties in tens and tens of electoral micro-businesses.
Topic:: Democratization, Government, and Politics
Political Geography:: Colombia, South America, Latin America, Venezuela, and Peru

Search

Search Constraints

Search Results

Refine your search

Topic

Political Geography

Content Type

Journal

Publishing Institution

Author

Publication Year

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS