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Latin America - WP
Energy and Geopolitics in Latin America (WP) WP 12/2008 (Translated from Spanish) - 10/3/2008 Paul Isbell Since the beginning of this century, Latin America has become an increasingly important region on the world’s geopolitical map. Several economic and political features define Latin America’s current geopolitical situation and set it apart from other episodes of the region’s history.
Relations Between Europe and Latin America: In Search of New Agendas and Formats (WP) WP 43/2007 - 5/10/2007 Günther Maihold The countries of Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, seen traditionally as ‘natural partners’ and linked by a ‘strategic partnership’, have developed a new network of contacts and exchanges in tandem with the EU’s new role as a global player. But these relations between Latin America/Caribbean and the EU seem to have entered into a phase of stagnation.
The Attitude of the European Union and Spain Towards Cuba: An Assessment A Year After Castro’s Illness (WP) WP 38/2007 - 4/9/2007 Joaquín Roy One year after the 31 July announcement regarding Castro’s health, not much has changed in essence, details and spirit in the peculiar relationship between Europe and Cuba. In spite of specific moves implemented by Madrid, the same assessment can be applied to the current chapter of the ‘special relationship’ between Spain and Cuba.
Oil and Gas in Latin America. An analysis of politics and international relations from the perspective of Venezuelan policy (WP) WP 20/2006 (Translated from Spanish) - 26/10/2006 Genaro Arriagada Herrera Oil and gas play an important role in relations between the United States and Venezuela, but also in relations between and among Mexico, Cuba, Venezuela, Colombia, Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, Argentina, Bolivia and Chile, to name only some of the key countries. The discovery of new gas and oil reserves, and the exhaustion of others, is causing changes in the relative importance of countries and in the relationships among them. In some cases, this factor seems to have a greater impact than do changes in a country’s military power or diplomatic strategy, or even the stability of its government.
CBMs in Latin America and the effect of arms acquisitions by Venezuela WP41-2005 - 22.9.2005 Mark Bromley and Catalina Perdomo The acquisition of military technology need not be a threat to regional stability and security. Nevertheless, the diffusion of military technology brings risks, and certain weapon systems acquired in certain contexts can have an adverse effect on regional stability. In addition, in certain regions of the world, particularly Africa and Latin America, illegal flows of small arms and light weapons from one country can pose a threat to the national security of another
The Impact of US Foreign Direct Investment in Spain WP19-2005 - 10.5.2005 (Translation from Spanish) Gayle Allard, Rafael Pampillón On the basis of theory and empirical evidence, we can predict that US direct investment in Spain will prove to have contributed to the country’s economic growth, raised its technological level and possibly its productivity, increased its exports and provided its workforce with better-paid, higher-skilled jobs than those offered by local companies. This study sets out precisely to determine whether the macroeconomic statistics bear out our prediction that these effects have occurred in Spain
Poverty, Sustainable Development and the Environment WP38-2004 - 5.7.2004 José Antonio Alonso For Latin America, the year 2002 marked the end of a half-decade of negative economic results, characterised by a slowdown in growth, pressures from international financial and currency markets and domestic challenges stemming from political crises of governance in a number of the countries in the region. Accompanying these developments has been the popular disappointment with the scant progress achieved in social well-being during this period. The decade of the 1990s –which had been heralded from the start as the coming decade of recovery- turned out to be, by the turn of the century, in the words of the ECLAC, just another lost decade.
Latin America’s Seven Mortal Sins: Myth, Reality and Consequences WP33-2004 - 4.6.2004 José Juan Ruiz The heavy investments of important Spanish companies in Latin America in recent years have significantly increased Spain’s concern with the region’s macroeconomic developments. Unfortunately, most analyses of the region’s complex social and economic realities have unrealistically attempted to offer a brief yet conclusive evaluation of Latin America in its entirety, feeding one or another preconceived generalization, depending on the political agenda of the author in question. Indeed, either “Latin America is the region of the future” or it is a place that will continue to be so for a long time to come
The impact of the Argentine crisis on the Spanish economy WP32-2004 - 1.4.2004 Jorge Blázquez and Miguel Sebastián This report undertakes the first quantitative assessment of the impact of the Argentine crisis on the Spanish economy in terms of gross domestic product. The conclusion reached is that in the period 1999-–2002 Spain’s GDP would have risen an additional 0.8% were it not for the crisis
An Assessment of Latin America's Elections in 2002 WP31-2004 - 4.6.2004 Daniel Zovatto and Julio Burdman Although the last two decades have seen the end of authoritarian regimes and the spread of democracy was an extraordinary event that brought about extremely important benefits for the population, at the start of the new millennium joy for the inexorable spread of democracy has given way to a more sober prospect, focused on the major challenges facing Latin America on the economic, social, and political fronts.
Democracy and Trade: US Foreign Policy Towards Latin America WP30-2004 - 4.6.2004 Arturo Valenzuela Current relations between Latin America and the US are marked by the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) negotiations, which are expected to be completed by 2005. However, it will first be necessary to remove a large number of obstacles, although the final signing of the accord should have highly significant consequences throughout the hemisphere
Spanish Policy on Latin America in 2002 WP23-2004 - 4.5.2004 Celestino del Arenal The relationship between Spain and Latin America is unique, complex and multidimensional. It runs deeper than diplomacy, politics and economics, and involves not only governments, but also a wide range of other, non-official players. In the final analysis, the relationship is not so much based on geo-strategy or security needs, or even economic reasons –although these factors are of increasing importance– but rather on linguistic, cultural and historical ties, as well as an affinity with Latin America at all levels
Hispanics in the United States (1) WP22-2004 - 4.5.2004 María Jesús Criado The sustained growth of the Hispanic population of the United States that is to say, people of Latin American origin- now makes it the country's largest minority, prompting considerable debate as to the capacity of the United States to assimilate, as well as on the way this group itself has developed
The Spanish Economic Experience: Lessons and Warnings for Latin America WP20-2004 - 3.5.2004 Paul Isbell Ever since the collapse of the communist system, Spain has become a frequent point of reference for societies engaged in a transition to market democracy. Countries from the former ‘second’ and ‘third’ worlds have increasingly pointed to Spain as a possible model for their own democratic and market reforms
Challenges for the New Administration WP14-2004 - 1.4.2004 Carlos Pío Brazil’s president, Luís Inácio Lula da Silva, was elected in October 2002 with more than 60% of the vote. After three unsuccessful attempts to win the Presidency (1989, 1994 and 1998), when Mr da Silva and his Worker’s Party (PT) advocated a platform of ‘radical change’ (democratic-socialism), in 2002 they ran on a somewhat more moderate version of the typical left-wing discourse in Latin America
Macroeconomic Instability and Contagion in Latin America (WP) WP 13/2004 - 1/04/2004 Sebastian Edwards This paper deals with a number of issues related to macroeconomic instability in Latin America. First discuss some of the most important policy issues faced by the Latin American nations. These include the effectiveness of controls on capital inflows, contagion from external crises, the effect of exchange rate depreciation on output, the international transmission of the business cycle. Second, argues that the economic research agenda on Latin America should not ignore history. In Latin America, more so than in any other region in the world, there has been a self-destructing tendency for repeating historical
The long road to peace in Colombia (part 2). Colombia’s difficult relations with its neighbours: Venezuela WP5-2004 - 3.3.2004 (Translation from Spanish) Carlos Malamud Of all Colombia’s borders with its neighbours, the one it shares with Venezuela is the most active and troublesome. This 2,219 kilometre-long border has its daily ration of criminal activities, such as terrorist actions by paramilitary and guerrilla fighters, the comings and goings of drug traffickers and all kinds of rustlers and smugglers. The border is also a kind of privileged vantage point from which to witness the on-going deterioration of the relations between Presidents Chavez and Uribe
Madrid and Valencia: Latin America and the Mediterranean in the Spanish Presidency. The Latin American and Mediterranean Agendas Compared (WP) WP 11/2002 - 8/11/2002 Clara Mira Salama This study compares the two major events in External Relations that took place during the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the European Union; the V Euro-Mediterranean Conference (Valencia, 22-23 April) and the II European Union (EU) - Latin-American and Caribbean (LAC) Summit of Heads of State and Government (Madrid, 17-18 May). The influence of the Spanish Presidency in the developments and outcomes of these events will be assessed.
Spain, the European Union and Latin America: Governance and Identity in the Making of 'New' Inter-Regionalism (WP) WP 9/2002 - 8/11/2002 Jean Grugel Contemporary forms of European inter-regionalist relations with developing countries have their origins in the 1970s. The emergence of the so-called 'new regionalism' in the 1990s in response to the transformation of the global order contributed in turn to a transformation of inter-regionalism. Hanggi (2000) argues that, far from being superseded by new regionalism, multi-layered inter-regional arrangements should be understood as its corollary. Nevertheless, the 'new' inter-regionalism has so far gone relatively unexamined.
The Counterinsurgency Strategy of President Álvaro Uribe: Plan for Victory or Recipe for a Crisis? WP7-2003 - 15.2.2003 (Translation from Spanish) Román D. Ortiz The internal conflict Colombia has suffered from for decades appears now to have reached a critical phase. Up until recently Bogotá governments employed a strategy combining repression and negotiation to tackle threats ranging from left-wing guerrilla groups, extreme right-wing paramilitaries and a variety of narcotics organisations. In 2002, the collapse of the Pastrana Administration’s peace talks with the rebels and the election of Álvaro Uribe as incoming President marked a turning point in the situation in Colombia
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