Download or read book Forgotten Continent The Battle for Latin America s Soul written by Michael Reid and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2010-08-18 with total page 363 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The bestselling primer on the social, political, and economic challenges facing Central and South America by The Economist editor and author of Brazil. Latin America has often been condemned to failure. Neither poor enough to evoke Africa’s moral crusade, nor as explosively booming as India and China, it has largely been overlooked by the West. Yet this vast continent, home to half a billion people, the world’s largest reserves of arable land, and 8.5 percent of global oil, is busily transforming its political and economic landscape. This book argues that rather than failing the test, Latin America’s efforts to build fairer and more prosperous societies make it one of the world’s most vigorous laboratories for capitalist democracy. In many countries—including Brazil, Chile and Mexico—democratic leaders are laying the foundations for faster economic growth and more inclusive politics, as well as tackling deep-rooted problems of poverty, inequality, and social injustice. They face a new challenge from Hugo Chávez’s oil-fueled populism, and much is at stake. Failure will increase the flow of drugs and illegal immigrants to the United States and Europe, jeopardize stability in a region rich in oil and other strategic commodities, and threaten some of the world’s most majestic natural environments. Drawing on Michael Reid’s many years of reporting from inside Latin America’s cities, presidential palaces, and shantytowns, the book provides a vivid, immediate, and informed account of a dynamic continent and its struggle to compete in a globalized world. “No one who seriously aspires to discuss Latin American politics, economics, and culture should go without reading Forgotten Continent.”—National Interest

Download or read book Forgotten Continent written by Michael Reid and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2017-01-01 with total page 440 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A newly updated edition of the best-selling primer on the social, political, and economic challenges facing Central and South America Ten years after its first publication, Michael Reid's best-selling survey of the state of contemporary Latin America has been wholly updated to reflect the new realities of the "Forgotten Continent." The former Americas editor for the Economist, Reid suggests that much of Central and South America, though less poor, less unequal, and better educated than before, faces harder economic times now that the commodities boom of the 2000s is over. His revised, in-depth account of the region reveals dynamic societies more concerned about corruption and climate change, the uncertainties of a Donald Trump-led United States, and a political cycle that, in many cases, is turning from left-wing populism to center-right governments. This essential new edition provides important insights into the sweeping changes that have occurred in Latin America in recent years and indicates priorities for the future.

Download or read book Democracy in Latin America written by Ignacio Walker and published by University of Notre Dame Pess. This book was released on 2013-04-30 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 2009, Ignacio Walker—scholar, politician, and one of Latin America’s leading public intellectuals—published La Democracia en América Latina. Now available in English, with a new prologue, and significantly revised and updated for an English-speaking audience, Democracy in Latin America: Between Hope and Despair contributes to the necessary and urgent task of exploring both the possibilities and difficulties of establishing a stable democracy in Latin America. Walker argues that, throughout the past century, Latin American history has been marked by the search for responses or alternatives to the crisis of oligarchic rule and the struggle to replace the oligarchic order with a democratic one. After reviewing some of the principal theories of democracy based on an analysis of the interactions of political, economic, and social factors, Walker maintains that it is primarily the actors, institutions, and public policies—not structural determinants—that create progress or regression in Latin American democracy.

Download or read book Drugs and Democracy in Latin America written by Coletta Youngers and published by Lynne Rienner Publishers. This book was released on 2005 with total page 434 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: While the U.S. has failed to reduce the supply of cocaine and heroin entering its borders, it has, however, succeeded in generating widespread, often profoundly damaging, consequences on democracy and human rights in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Download or read book Forgotten Continent A History of the New Latin America written by Michael Reid and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2017-11-14 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The bestselling primer on the social, political, and economic challenges facing Central and South America—now fully revised and updated. Ten years after its first publication, Michael Reid’s bestselling survey of the state of contemporary Latin America has been wholly updated to reflect the new realities of the “Forgotten Continent.” The former Americas editor for the Economist, Reid suggests that much of Central and South America, though less poor, less unequal, and better educated than before, faces harder economic times now that the commodities boom of the 2000s is over. His revised, in-depth account of the region reveals dynamic societies more concerned about corruption and climate change, the uncertainties of a Donald Trump-led United States, and a political cycle that, in many cases, is turning from left-wing populism to center-right governments. This essential new edition provides important insights into the sweeping changes that have occurred in Latin America in recent years and indicates priorities for the future. “[A] comprehensive and erudite assessment of the region . . . While the social and economic face of Latin America is becoming more attractive, political life remains ugly and, in some countries, is getting even uglier.”—The Washington Post “Excellent . . . a comprehensive primer on the history, politics, and culture of the hemisphere.”—Francis Fukuyama, New York Times bestselling author “Reid’s book offers something valuable to both specialists and the general reading public . . . He writes of Latin America with great empathy, intelligence, and insight.”—Hispanic American Historical Review

Download or read book Latin America s Cold War written by Hal Brands and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2012-03-05 with total page 408 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For Latin America, the Cold War was anything but cold. Nor was it the so-called Òlong peaceÓ afforded the worldÕs superpowers by their nuclear standoff. In this book, the first to take an international perspective on the postwar decades in the region, Hal Brands sets out to explain what exactly happened in Latin America during the Cold War, and why it was so traumatic. Tracing the tumultuous course of regional affairs from the late 1940s through the early 1990s, Latin AmericaÕs Cold War delves into the myriad crises and turning points of the periodÑthe Cuban revolution and its aftermath; the recurring cycles of insurgency and counter-insurgency; the emergence of currents like the National Security Doctrine, liberation theology, and dependency theory; the rise and demise of a hemispheric diplomatic challenge to U.S. hegemony in the 1970s; the conflagration that engulfed Central America from the Nicaraguan revolution onward; and the democratic and economic reforms of the 1980s. Most important, the book chronicles these events in a way that is both multinational and multilayered, weaving the experiences of a diverse cast of characters into an understanding of how global, regional, and local influences interacted to shape Cold War crises in Latin America. Ultimately, Brands exposes Latin AmericaÕs Cold War as not a single conflict, but rather a series of overlapping political, social, geostrategic, and ideological struggles whose repercussions can be felt to this day.

Download or read book Latin American Democracy written by Richard L. Millett and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2010-04-26 with total page 385 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Nearly thirty years have passed since Latin America began the arduous task of transitioning from military-led rule to democracy. In this time, more countries have moved toward the institutional bases of democracy than at any time in the region’s history. Nearly all countries have held free, competitive elections and most have had peaceful alternations in power between opposing political forces. Despite these advances, however, Latin American countries continue to face serious domestic and international challenges to the consolidation of stable democratic governance. The challenges range from weak political institutions, corruption, legacies of militarism, transnational crime and globalization among others. In Latin American Democracy contributors – both academics and practitioners, North Americans and Latin Americans – explore and assess the state of democratic consolidation in Latin America by focusing on the specific issues and challenges confronting democratic governance in the region.

Download or read book Latin America and the Shifting Sands of Globalization written by Sean W. Burges and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-01-22 with total page 146 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Latin America occupies an increasingly prominent position within the global political, economic and cultural consciousness, with intra-regional governance structures and multilateral processes now a key topic of interest to foreign policy and international business circles. It has become abundantly clear that outside of Latin America there is a poor understanding of how the shifting sands of regional power are impacting, not only on how regional countries fit into the global system, but also on how intra-regional relations are viewed and managed. The contributions to this collection investigate these issues, examining how changing global power dynamics are in turn impacting on national foreign policies and regional governance structures. The book focuses first and foremost on the Latin American view outwards, not the US or European view to the south. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Iberian and Latin American Research.

Download or read book The Right and Radical Right in the Americas written by Tamir Bar-On and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2021-11-22 with total page 255 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Studies of the right and radical right have proliferated since the rise of European nationalist and populist parties in the 1980s. Yet, the literature on the right and the radical right has a largely Euro-American bias and has been limited by partisan academics that focus on the left. The Right and Radical Right in the Americas hopes to be a pioneering work that examines the history and contemporary manifestations of the right and radical right throughout the Americas. From interwar Canada to contemporary Chile, the right and radical right have come in diverse ideological currents. Those ideological currents have undergone historical changes and the strategies of the right and radical right need to be contextualized in respect of country and region. The right and radical right also have distinctive meanings throughout the Americas and in different epochs.

Download or read book The Paradox of Democracy in Latin America written by Katherine Isbester and published by University of Toronto Press. This book was released on 2011-01-01 with total page 417 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What becomes clear throughout is that there is a paradox at the heart of Latin America's democracies. Despite decades of struggle to replace authoritarian dictatorships with electoral democracies, solid economic growth (leading up to the global credit crisis), and increased efforts by the state to extend the benefits of peace and prosperity to the poor, democracy - as a political system - is experiencing declining support, and support for authoritarianism is on the rise.

Download or read book America s Dirty Wars written by Russell Crandall and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2014-04-28 with total page 599 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines the long, complex experience of American involvement in irregular warfare. It begins with the American Revolution in 1776 and chronicles big and small irregular wars for the next two and a half centuries. What is readily apparent in dirty wars is that failure is painfully tangible while success is often amorphous. Successfully fighting these wars often entails striking a critical balance between military victory and politics. America's status as a democracy only serves to make fighting - and, to a greater degree, winning - these irregular wars even harder. Rather than futilely insisting that Americans should not or cannot fight this kind of irregular war, Russell Crandall argues that we would be better served by considering how we can do so as cleanly and effectively as possible.

Download or read book Australia and Latin America written by Barry Carr and published by ANU Press. This book was released on 2014-08-01 with total page 310 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a good time to reflect on opportunities and challenges for Australia in Latin America. Impressive economic growth and opportunities for trade and investment have made Latin America a dynamic area for Australia and the Asia Pacific region. A growing Latin American population, Australia’s attractiveness to Latin American students, a fascination with the cultural vibrancy of the Americas and an awareness of Latin America’s increasingly independent stance in politics and economic diplomacy, have all contributed to raising the region’s profile. This collection of essays provides the first substantial introduction to Australia’s evolving engagement with Latin America, identifying current trends and opportunities, and making suggestions about how relationships in trade, investment, foreign aid, education, culture and the media could be strengthened.

Download or read book Latin America in Global International Relations written by Amitav Acharya and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2021-07-29 with total page 293 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Using decades of their own insight into teaching undergraduate International Relations (IR) courses, leading experts offer an introduction to IR thinking throughout history in Latin America, unfolding ideas, voices, concepts and approaches from the region that can contribute to the broader Global IR discussion. The book highlights and discuss the growing possibility of a Latin American agency, defined broadly to include both material and ideational elements, in regional and international relations, covering areas where Latin America’s contributions are especially visible and relevant, such as regionalism, international law, security management, and Latin America’s relations with the outside world. This is not about exclusively "Latin American solutions to Latin American problems", but rather about contributions in which Latin Americans define the terms for understanding the issues and set the terms for the nature and scope of outside involvement. Written with verve and clarity, Latin America in Global International Relations exposes readers to the relevance of redefining and broadening IR theory. It will serve as a guide for instructors in structuring their courses and in identifying the place of Latin America in the discipline.

Download or read book US Power in Latin America written by Rubrick Biegon and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2017-04-21 with total page 194 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An original account of contemporary US-Latin American relations, this book utilises neo-Gramscian and historical materialist approaches to build a novel conceptual framework for analysing US hegemony, extending critical theory in new and exciting directions. It disaggregates US power into distinct forms (structural, coercive, institutional and ideological) to convincingly argue that the United States is remaking its hegemony in the Western hemisphere. The first decade of the new century saw the ascendancy of leftist and centre-left forces in Latin America. The emergence and consolidation of the ‘New Latin Left’ signalled a profound challenge to the long-standing hegemony of the United States in the region. This book details the ways in which US foreign policy responded: defining hegemony as a dialectical relationship patterned by multiple and overlapping forms of power, it situates US policy in the context of the Post-Washington Consensus. Making considerable use of confidential diplomatic cables published by Wikileaks, it examines the interplay of different facets of US hegemony, which are inextricably bound up in the neoliberalisation of the region’s political economy. This book brings clarity to what remains an open and contested process of hegemonic reconstitution, and promises to be of interest to scholars working in a number of overlapping subject areas, including International Relations (IR), US foreign policy and Latin American studies.

Download or read book Latin America in the 21st Century written by Gian Luca Gardini and published by Zed Books Ltd.. This book was released on 2012-04-12 with total page 134 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Twenty-first century Latin America is rich in history, culture, and political and social experimentation. In this fascinating and insightful analysis, Gardini looks at contemporary developments at three interconnected levels: state, region and globe. At the state level, leaders such as Evo Morales of Bolivia and Chavez of Venezuela embody a renewed intellectual autonomy in the continent, while revealing significant discrepancies between their rhetoric and their actions. At the regional level, while a consensus has emerged over Latin American unity as the only way towards development, the existence of several competing schemes of regional economic and political integration more accurately reflect the diversity of the area. At the global level, elements of change, such as the rise of Brazil and the involvement of China as a new trade partner, sit alongside traits of continuity, such as the crucial political, economic and ideational role played by Washington. Overall, Gardini argues that despite the numerous challenges to be faced, Latin America is now more wealthy, autonomous and better-placed in global geopolitics than at any time in its recent history.

Download or read book Democratic Governance in Latin America written by Scott Mainwaring and published by Stanford University Press. This book was released on 2009-11-24 with total page 440 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Producing more effective governance is the greatest challenge that faces most Latin American democracies today—a challenge that involves not only strengthening democratic institutions but also increasing governmental effectiveness. Focusing on the post-1990 period, this volume addresses why some policies and some countries have been more successful than others in meeting this dual challenge. Two features of the volume stand out. First, whereas some analysts tend to generalize for Latin America as a whole, this group of authors underscores the striking differences of achievement among countries in the region and illustrates the importance of understanding these differences. The second feature is the range of expertise within the volume. In addition to the volume editors, the contributors are Alan Angell, Daniel Brinks, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, José de Gregorio, Alejandro Foxley, Evelyne Huber, José Miguel Insulza, Juliana Martínez Franzoni, Patricio Navia, Francisco Rodriguez, Mitchell Seligson, John Stephens, Jorge Vargas Cullell, and Ignacio Walker.

Download or read book The Quality of Life in Latin American Cities written by Eduardo Lora and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2010-05-04 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A growing number of cities around the world have established systems for monitoring the quality of urban life. Many of those systems combine objective information with subjective opinions and cover a wide variety of topics. This book assesses a method that takes advantage of both types of information and offers criteria to identify and rank the issues of potential importance for urban dwellers. This method which combines the so-called 'hedonic price' and 'life satisfaction' approaches to value public goods was tested in pilot studies in six Latin American cities: Bogot , Buenos Aires, Lima, Medell n, Montevideo, and San Jos of Costa Rica. It provides valuable insights to address key questions such as, Which urban problems have the greatest impact on people s opinions of city management and the most widespread effects on their lives? Do gaps between perception and reality vary from one area of the city to another, especially between high- and low-income neighborhoods? Where can homebuilders most feasibly seek solutions to problems such as inadequate road infrastructure, a lack of recreational areas, or poor safety conditions? Which problems should government authorities address first, in light of their impact on the well-being of various groups of individuals and given private actors abilities to respond? Which homeowners benefit the most from public infrastructure or services? When can or should property taxes be used to finance the provision of certain services or the solution of certain problems? 'The Quality of Life in Latin American Cities: Markets and Perception' proposes a monitoring system that is easy to operate and that entails reasonable costs but also has a solid conceptual basis. Long the ideal of many scholars and practitioners, such a system may soon become a reality and have the potential to make a significant contribution to the decision-making processes in any city concerned with the well-being of its residents.