Latin America Still Growing, But Economic Fiesta Is Over

A key United Nations think tank that has been very bullish about Latin America in recent years is sounding a little less optimistic about the region's economies for 2012

Latin America May Split into Pacific and Atlantic Blocs

President Obama's announcement that he will seek to create what may be the world's largest trading bloc along the Pacific rim raises an interesting question in this part of the world: whether we will see a de facto split of Latin America into a Pacific and Atlantic bloc

Brazil and Colombia: An Unexpected Alliance

Colombia, traditionally Washington's best ally in the region, is cozying up to Brazil and building a solid commercial, financial and political network with its neighbor while Washington becomes more and more isolated

Latin America is Beating Poverty -- Sort Of

A new United Nations report has good news for Latin America: it says that poverty levels in the region have dropped to their lowest levels in 20 years. But are the U.N. figures about Latin America as great as they sound?

Brazil's Really Big Problem

Prosperity, security, and a lowered level of poverty generally accompany economic growth; however, Brazil's economy, though growing rapidly, is experiencing record inflation and an appreciating currency. However, the practical consequences of a sudden currency appreciation can prove to be ominous, often contributing to greater economic insecurity

Latin America's Security Dilemma

Across Latin America, governments are hailing security gains against organized criminal groups. Yet in spite of more arrests, criminal networks are stronger and criminality just as pervasive, suggesting that another reality lies behind the numbers.

Brazil Joins Race for Globalized Students

Brazil's announcement that it will send 100,000 science and engineering students to get advanced degrees abroad went almost unnoticed, but it's worth paying attention to -- it's the kind of thing that will determine which countries will get ahead in the knowledge-based 21st century

Stiglitz Upbeat About China and Latin America

Joseph Stiglitz is quite upbeat about Latin America, Asia and other emerging economies when I interviewed him extensively about the possibility of a new world recession

A Call for an Enlightened Foreign Policy toward Latin America

With a little under a year remaining until the next U.S. presidential election, a coherent and sustainable area policy toward Latin America remains absent from the campaign literature and both parties' electoral strategies

Brazil's Truth and Reconciliation Commission

Brazil has been making great strides toward securing a prosperous future, but one of its recent actions has centered on resolving a troubling aspect of the country's past. On October 27, state officials announced a plan to establish a truth and reconciliation commission that will investigate crimes against humanity from 1946 to 1988

Condoleezza Rice Book Shows 'Inattention' to Latin America

Condoleezza Rice, whose boss President George W. Bush vowed during the 2000 campaign to make Latin America a 'fundamental commitment' of his presidency, devotes only two of the 58 chapters of her memoir 'No Higher Honor' to the region. That's about 15 pages of the 766-page book, plus a few sporadic references here and there

Chinese Investment Flows Continue to Aid Brazil's Ascendency

Brazil has been able to avoid a major setback from the global financial crisis, due largely to its burgeoning trade relationship with China

Brazil and IBSA: Blueprint for Future Cooperation?

IBSA, comprised of India, Brazil, and South Africa, has improved trade and cooperation among the countries since 2003 IBSA is notable for its South-South cooperation and anti-hegemonic rhetoric However it is not necessarily an easy model for other Southern nations

Brazil's Deforestation Quagmire

A string of recent events indicates that Amazonian deforestation and violence against environmental activists are on the rise

Making Room for Brazil's Growing Clout

With its growing economy -- now the world's eighth largest -- and vast resources, Brazil has become a major global power. Yet it still is not viewed as a 'global player with a global agenda'

Brazil Doing Better on Human Rights

There is a little-noticed but potentially important development in Latin America's human rights front -- Brazil, the biggest country in the region, is becoming a little less supportive of tyrants around the world

Latin Universities Index Doesn't Tell Full Story

A new ranking of Latin America's best universities shows that Brazil is way ahead of the pack, with the No. 1 school and 65 of the best 200 in the region. It suggests that Brazil may become 'the next university superpower'

Americas to Become Mecca of World's Energy

The turmoil for reform sweeping most Middle Eastern oil producers is grabbing big headlines today, but that region may lose some of its economic clout in the future: there are signs that the Americas will replace the Middle East as the world's biggest oil-producing region

Other Leaders Should Copy Brazil's Anti-graft Measures

I read a press report that Brazil's tourism minister was illegally using a government driver as his wife's private chauffeur. By the time I arrived in Brasilia seven hours later, the minister had already been sacked. What a difference with what is happening in many other Latin American countries

Fears Over Environmental Affects Prompt Court To Halt Mega-Dam Project

In what could give a blow to government's ambitious plan to boost national energy production, a Brazilian federal court ordered immediate halt of $11 billion Belo Monte hydroelectric dam's construction, saying it could affect local fishing

The Future of the Liberal World Order

There is no longer any question: wealth and power are moving from the North and the West to the East and the South, and the old order dominated by the United States and Europe is giving way to one increasingly shared with non-Western rising states. But if the great wheel of power is turning, what kind of global political order will emerge in the aftermath?

Power and Politics in an Autonomous Latin America

Across the region in recent years, the United States has seen its influence decline. Latin American countries are increasingly looking for solutions among themselves, forming their own regional organizations that exclude the United States and seeking friends and opportunities outside of Washington's orbit. Some allies are even reconsidering the primacy of relations with the United States

Obama's Trip May Lead to United States - Brazil Honeymoon

President Barack Obama's announcement that he will visit Brazil, Chile and El Salvador could result in an improvement in Brazil-U.S. ties following a significant downturn over the past two years.

South America Enters Middle East Quagmire

Following the recent decisions by Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Bolivia and Ecuador to officially recognize a state of Palestine, supporters of the Palestinian cause are preparing for their next big step: a South America-wide declaration recognizing a Palestinian state in a territory that would include East Jerusalem and other territories currently held by Israel

A New Global Player: Brazil's Far-Flung Agenda

In the last decade, Brazil has recast itself as a global brand and a global power. Brazil is home to the world's fifth-largest land mass and eighth-largest economy and is one of the top global producers of stuff everyone else needs. The new conventional wisdom suggests that Brazil is now poised to make its name on the global stage

Latin American Leaders Could Have Learned From South Korea

When the presidents of Brazil, Mexico and Argentina attended the G-20 meeting of the world's biggest economies in South Korea, they should have taken some time off from the conference to take a look at the host country. They could have learned why South Korea has done so much better than their own nations

The Difficulty of Integrating Rising Powers

A major strategic challenge for the United States in the coming decades will be integrating emerging powers into international institutions. The dramatic growth of Brazil, China, and India -- and the emergence of middle-tier economies such as Indonesia and Turkey -- is transforming the geopolitical landscape and testing the institutional foundations of the post-World War II world order

Education Too Important to Be Left in Government Hands

Brazilian business leaders have concluded that the answer to the region's education problems is not likely to come from governments -- or from politicians -- but from civil society. Digging deeper into the Brazilian pro-education movement, I found that Brazil's civil society has been more pro-active than that of other countries in the region

Brazil Needs Dose of Constructive Paranoia

There is a consensus among foreign policy pundits that Brazil is the upcoming world emerging power. Maybe so, but only if it can overcome a potentially fatal domestic obstacle -- hubris.

Commodity Exporters Need to Diversify

A new World Bank study is likely to raise high hopes in Brazil, Argentina, Peru and other South American commodity exporters. It says that, contrary to the recent conventional wisdom, raw materials can be the engine of long-term economic growth. But is it true? Or is it World Bank wishful thinking?

Brazil Diplomacy Needed Closer to Home

Brazil's self-proclaimed diplomatic victory in Iran led pundits to speculate that the South American country has become a major new player in world affairs. But they were most likely wrong, or at the very least spoke to soon.

Farideh Farhi on Shifts in Iran on Nuclear Policy

The agreement reached in which Iran would send about half of its low-enriched uranium to Turkey to be enriched signaled a new unity in the leadership in Tehran, says analyst Farideh Farhi. She says that while the regime continues to worry about its perceived legitimacy domestically, the agreement with Brazil and Turkey has strong public support

Brazilian President for U.N. Chief? Hopefully Not

A short news item in Brazil's news magazine Veja suggests that President Luiz In‡cio Lula da Silva is considering running for United Nations Secretary General after he leaves office at the end of this year. If true, that would explain a lot of things.

Hubris Behind Brazil's Ties With Iran

Brazil's key diplomatic support of Iran's increasingly isolated regime is baffling the international community. There are several theories about Brazil's behavior, some of them quite troubling.

Brazil Election to Offer Definite Contrast

With Brazil's government-backed presidential hopeful Dilma Roussef rising in the polls, some of her most prominent critics are raising the specter that South America's biggest country will move closer to the radical left if she wins the October elections

Latin America's Honeymoon With Obama May Be Over

Only a few months ago, Latin American leaders hailed the Obama administration as a new beginning in hemispheric relations. But now, the honeymoon is over as Brazil is leading criticism of U.S. foreign policy

Brazil, United States, OAS Flunked Honduras Test

Brazil, the United States and the Organization of American States deserve a gold medal each for their awful handling of recent presidential elections in Honduras. Let's examine how the main international players behaved ...

Latin America Foreign Investment Outlook Grim

A new United Nations report predicts a 40 percent drop in foreign investments in Latin America this year. I hope I'm wrong about this, but the fall in foreign funds may be even steeper.

Latin American Economy Will Do Well, but Not Great

The news that Brazil and Mexico have come out of the recession and are poised for solid growth in 2010 should be celebrated, and both countries' leaders should be given credit for their sound economic management. But in the global economic context, the two Latin American giants' recovery will be modest.

Brazil a Nuclear Power? Probably Not

Brazil's Vice President Jose Alencar made big headlines recently when he stated that Brazil should have the right to have nuclear weapons, which he said would give his country a greater 'dissuasive' power and more 'respectability' in world affairs.

Working Together, Brazil, Russia, China and India Increase Leverage

In 2003, a report authored by Goldman Sachs economists popularized the term BRICs -- Brazil, Russia, India and China -- to describe a whole new category of emerging-market powerhouse. The report argued that with sound political leadership and relative international stability, the BRIC economies would together outpace the original G6 industrialized nations in dollar terms by 2040 -- a fundamental shift in the global balance of power. Since then, these four countries have assumed ever-greater importance in the international investment community's collective imagination.

Growth With Equity: Brazil's Path to Economic Recovery

The financial crisis has left few corners of the global economy unscathed, but many of the loudest cries reflecting the deepest pain are largely ignored. These are the cries of the world's poorest citizens whose suffering is not measured in battered portfolios and retirement plans but in their daily survival

Brazil Deserves Criticism for Awful Foreign Policy

Brazil, Latin America's biggest country, has received well-deserved praise in recent years for its responsible economic policies. There is hardly a dictator -- or repressive government -- that Brazil doesn't like, human rights groups say.

Brazil Stretching Clout to Central America

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's largely unnoticed trip to Central America last week underscored an interesting phenomenon: Brazil is making big inroads into a region that was traditionally seen as Mexico's backyard

Brazil, China & India Can Mitigate Global Crisis

Brazil, India and even China will not be able, by themselves, to correct the dysfunctions that produced the global crisis. But it is true that the economic power of these three countries can mitigate its negative consequences. ...