Latin America

February 2009
Hemispheric Security: A New Approach
by John A. Cope and Frank O. Mora
“The Obama administration will encounter in Latin America and the Caribbean Basin a new strategic environment, in which security issues will require innovative attention"

February 2009
Mexico’s Drug Wars Get Brutal
by Francisco E. González
“Given the rising tide of violence and the mounting evidence of drug-related corruption at all levels of government, it is probably fair to say that, so far, the cartels have managed to take the lead in a psychological war against the Mexican state.”

February 2009
For Chávez, Still More Discontent
by Javier Corrales
“‘Socialism for the twenty-first century’ is looking more and more like political suicide in the making.”

February 2009
Indigenous Movements Lose Momentum
by Donna Lee Van Cott
“Although isolated victories do occur . . . contemporary indigenous politics is marked more by retrenchment than by progress.”

February 2009
Perspective: A Way Forward for Hemispheric Trade
by Eric Farnsworth
"The existing model for expanding trade in the hemisphere--in essence, piecemeal liberalization--has reached a point of diminishing returns."

February 2009
Book Reviews: Has the Cuban Moment Arrived?
by William W. Finan Jr.
"An ailing Fidel Castro has quit. Cuban-Americans' views have softened. The author of a new book suggests the time has come to end America's isolation of the island."

February 2009
The Month in Review
by the editors of Current History
December 2008

February 2009
Map of Latin America
by the editors of Current History
Map of Latin America

May 2008
New Priorities for Latin America
by Jorge Castañeda and Patricio Navia
"Populism must be seen as the symptom of a disease that plagues Latin American democracies, rather than as the disease itself."

February 2008
Lula’s Brazil: A Rising Power, but Going Where?
by Andrew Hurrell
"One of the most interesting features of the Lula years has been a pessimistic view of the international system combined with a belief that there is scope for an activist and assertive foreign policy."

February 2008
Requiem for the Monroe Doctrine
by Daniel P. Erikson
"The era when the United States could treat Latin America and the Caribbean as its backyard . . . is receding ever faster into history."

February 2008
Back from the Brink in Mexico
by Andrew Selee
"Calderón and the Congress have won plaudits for getting something done, even if the goals have been modest and the achievements have fallen short of meeting the country's real needs."

February 2008
Argentina’s Troubled Transition
by Hector E. Schamis
"The country has a democratic system whose health and stability depend largely on the economic cycle."

February 2008
Colombia’s Precarious Progress
by Michael Bustamante and Sebastian Chaskel
"The success or failure of us-Colombian collaboration . . . will determine whether the heightened public security of the moment represents truly long-term progress or merely a hiatus from decades of civil conflict."

February 2008
Priests, Preachers, and Politics: The Region’s New Religious Landscape
by Virginia Garrard-Burnett
"Latin America may . . . be 'turning Protestant,' but it is not poised for a European-style Reformation, at least not politically speaking."

February 2008
A New Path for Latin America?
by Michael Shifter
A New Path for Latin America?

February 2007
The Year of the Ballot
by JORGE CASTAÑEDA and PATRICIO NAVIA
If governments and the intern"ational community learn from and act on the lessons of 2006, the hope of a stable, developed, and thriving region will be much closer to becoming a reality. . . ."

February 2007
Latin America’s Drug Problem
by MICHAEL SHIFTER
"With violence mounting in Mexico and Brazil, and a real risk of deterioration spreading across much of the region, dealing with the drug crisis clearly requires a sharper focus and more imaginative approaches."

February 2007
Youth, Violence, and Democracy
by PAULO SÉRGIO PINHEIRO
"Repressive measures that have targeted youth gangs and criminalized the younger generation threaten the progress of both human rights and democracy."

February 2007
How New Is Bachelet’s Chile?
by PETER M. SIAVELIS
"If the Bachelet government is to usher in a new, more truly representative democracy, Chile will need to leave behind not just the trappings of Pinochet's institutional legacy, but also the model of elitist politics that it spawned."