Our Story
Letter from the Editor
Editorial Board
Staff
Publisher
Editorial Calendar

Our Story

The Americas are at an historic moment as a new generation of political, economic, and social leaders emerges from Canada to Tierra del Fuego.  While new voices and ideas have long resonated at a local level, no publication previously  existed to promote region-wide debate among this new class of leaders and young technocrats. 

For over 40 years, the Americas Society and Council of the Americas have actively engaged in the dissemination and discussion of a policy agenda that aims to significantly influence the future of our hemisphere.  We look forward to a new era of fresh, positive exchange on the critical topics of the day.

Letter from the Editor (Winter 2008)

What differentiates companies that take social responsibility seriously  and those who merely use it as a convenient PR device?
 

My first exposure, unfortunately, to the business and investment ethic in Latin America was in college.  I read Eduardo Galeano's Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent – the bible for those who want to blame first colonial and then capitalist exploitation for all the region's problems.  For a naive college student in the 1980s, it was a compelling read – in large part because it was so reductionist.  Why  is Latin America poor?  Because outsiders have repeatedly subjugated the hemisphere for their own enrichment.  Simple.  Sadly, Galeano's screed still weighs heavily on interpretations of Latin America and in the region itself.  Fortunately, though, my thinking has evolved – as has much of the scholarship.  And just as fortunately, domestic and foreign investors have launched their own efforts to change the image of the rapacious capitalist bent on bleeding the continent dry (at best a caricature, and a bad one at that).

It is this change in corporate mentality and commitment that Americas Quarterly highlights in our third issue.  Today both domestic and international corporations are investing in schools and scholarships, promoting diversity in the workplace, reducing carbon emissions, and building infrastructure – just to name a few of the socially responsible activities you will find covered in the pages of our Special Feature.  Our plan was to tell the story of what appears to be a "booming business," as Richard Feinberg, one of our contributors, puts it, of conscience-driven profit seeking – and to evaluate its impact.  True to our goal of bringing you all facets of an important policy issue, we also take a close look at some of the key questions.  What are the risks of not taking action?  What differentiates companies that take social responsibility seriously and those who merely use it as a convenient PR device?  Where does CSR go from here?  Our signature sidebars, researched and written by our dynamic and passionate staff at AQ, highlight the success stories.

One good example of our commitment to emerging new voices in the hemisphere is a new department we're inaugurating in this issue, Dispatches from the Field.  These lively pieces are intended to give our readers a quick, personal look at events behind the headlines.  The Oaxaca piece featured in this issue is written by two young authors who went to Oaxaca more than a year after the popular protests that convulsed Mexico's southern state.

As growing numbers of readers join our ranks, we are gratified to hear how many of you find the journal useful and stimulating.  Please tell us what you think we've been doing right – and wrong.  We also welcome your ideas for topical themes.  If you are returning to our pages, we're glad to have you with us again.  And if you've just found us for the first time, thanks for giving us a try!  You will find plenty in these pages to make it worth your time.

Christopher Sabatini, Editor-in-Chief
 

Editorial Board

Fernando Henrique Cardoso is a former president of Brazil (1995-2003).  He earned a Ph.D. in political science from the University of São Paulo.  While Minister of Finance, Cardoso implemented the Plan Real in 1993 credited with stabilizing the Brazilian economy.  Presently, he is a professor at the Thomas J. Watson Jr. Institute of International Studies of Brown Universtiy and lectures at other renowed universities, including the University of Cambridge and Stanford University.  He also serves as President of the Club of Madrid. Cardoso has written numerous books including Dependency and Development in Latin America (1979), Charting a New Course: The Politics of Globalization and Social Transformation (2001), and The Accidental President of Brazil (2006).

Tom Carothers is the Vice President for Studies–International Politics and Governance at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.  He founded and presently directs the Democracy and Rule of Law Project, which promotes democratic governance and assesses its role in U.S. foreign policy.  He is a recurrent visiting professor at the Central European University in Budapest and has authored widely respected books on democracy and the rule of law.  Prior to joining the Carnegie Endowment, he was an attorney-adviser in the Office of the Legal Adviser of the U.S. Department of State.  He holds a M.Sc. from the London School of Economics and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.

Javier Corrales is an associate professor and chair of political science at Amherst College.  He holds a Ph.D. in political science from Harvard University and has published on the politics of economic policy reform in leading international policy journals.  He is also the author of Presidents Without Parties: the Politics of Economic Reform in Argentina and Venezuela in the 1990s (2002).  He has been a Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and has consulted for the World Bank, the United Nations, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
 

Ricardo Lagos is a former president of Chile (2000-2006).  As president, he aggressively pursued free-trade agreements and improved health and education, among other accomplishments. Previously, Lagos served as Minister of Education under the government of Patricio Aylwin (1990-1994) and as Minister of Public Works under President Eduardo Frei (1994-2000).  He served at the United Nations as an ambassador, consultant, and chief economist throughout the 1970s and 1980s.  Lagos is well-respected for his stance against the Pinochet military government.  He holds a law degree from the University of Chile and a Ph.D. in economics from Duke University. 

Sylvia Maxfield is a professor at Simmons College and an expert on international political economy.  Previously, she taught at Yale University for 10 years and evaluated emerging economies and markets on Wall Street for three years.  Her recent publications examine women business leaders in Latin America and cross-national variations in entrepreneurial activity.  Maxfield holds a Ph.D. in political economy from Harvard University. 

Moisés Naím is the editor and publisher of Foreign Policy. He specializes in the political economy of international trade and investment, multilateral organizations, economic reforms, and globalization.  In Venezuela, he served as Minister of Trade and Industry in the early 1990s and as a professor and dean at the Instituto de Estudios Superiores de Administración (IEASA).  Naím is the author or editor of eight books, numerous essays, and his opinion columns are regularly published in leading newspapers.  At The World Bank, he held the positions of executive director and as a senior advisor to the president.  He has also directed projects on economic reform and on Latin America at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.  Naím holds a Ph.D. and a master’s degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Patricio Navia is a master teacher of global cultures in the General Studies Program and adjunct assistant professor in the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies at New York University. He is also a researcher and professor at the Instituto de Investigación en Ciencias Sociales at Universidad Diego Portales in Chile. He holds a Ph.D. in politics from New York University and has published scholarly articles and book chapters on democratization, electoral rules and democratic institutions in Latin America. A regular columnist at La Tercera newspaper and Capital magazine in Chile, he has also written two books, Las grandes alamedas: El Chile post Pinochet (2004), and Que gane el más mejor. Merito y competencia en le Chile de hoy (2006).

Jorge Pinto is a professor of International Business at the Pace University Lubin School of Business.  He is also honorary president of the US-Mexico Chamber of Commerce and owns a publishing company.  In the Mexican government, Pinto has served as the Ambassador of Mexico in Sweden (1991-1994), Undersecretary for International Cooperation at the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Relations (1994-1995), and Consul General in New York.  Prior to his government service, he was an executive director at The World Bank and a professor at the Universidad National Autónoma de México (UNAM).  Pinto has a law degree from UNAM, and specializes in economics and political science.

Jeffrey Schott is a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics (IIE) where he focuses on international trade policy and economic sanctions. Since joining the IIE in 1983, he has been a visiting lecturer at Princeton University (1994) and an adjunct professor at Georgetown University (1986-1988).  Schott also serves as a member of the U.S. Trade and Environment Policy Committee.  He has written extensively on trade and U.S. trade policy.  Some of his recent books include: Trade Relations Between Colombia and the United States (2005); NAFTA Revisited: Achievements and Challenges (2005); Free Trade Agreements: US Strategies and Priorities (2004); and Prospects for Free Trade in the Americas (2001).  Schott holds a master’s degree with distinction from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies.

Ken Shadlen is a lecturer in Development Studies at The London School of Economics and Political Science.  He is also an associate fellow at the University of London Institute of Latin American Studies.  Previously, he taught at the University of Miami, Brown University, and the University of Connecticut.  Shadlen specializes in comparative and international political economy and has written numerous book chapters and articles on democratization and government-business relations in Latin America.  He is the author of Democratization Without Representation: The Politics of Small Industry in Mexico (2004) and a forthcoming book that examines the politics of intellectual property in Latin America.  He received a Ph.D. in political science from the University of California, Berkeley.

Federico Sturzenegger is a visiting professor of public affairs at Harvard University.  From 1998-2004, he was Dean of the Business School at the Universidad Torcuato Di Tella in Argentina, with the exception of his yearlong appointment as Secretary of Economic Policy.  As Secretary, he negotiated Argentina’s 2001 package of reforms with the International Monetary Fund.  In 2004, the World Economic Forum at Davos chose Sturzenegger as a Young Global Leader.  He holds a Ph.D. in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and is the author of several books and nearly 30 refereed articles.

Ernesto Zedillo is a former president of Mexico (1994-2000). As president, he led the nation out of the 1994 Peso crisis and ushered in broad democratic and electoral reforms, most notably the transition to a pluralistic party system.  From 1987-1993, he held various senior and ministerial level government positions including Undersecretary of the Budget, Secretary of Budget and Economic Planning, and Secretary of Education.  After leaving office, he has held several influential posts at the United Nations and has been recognized by various institutions for his contributions to democracy promotion and global development.  Currently, Zedillo is the Director of the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization and a professor of international economics and politics at Yale University.  He holds a Ph.D. in economics from Yale University and is the recipient of various honorary degrees and awards.

 

Americas Quarterly Staff

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Publisher

Americas Quarterly is published by the Americas Society and Council of the Americas (AS/COA) and is supported in part by grants from the Foundation Open Society Institute and the Tinker Foundation.
 

The Americas Society and Council of the Americas are non-partisan organizations founded to promote better understanding and dialogue in the Western Hemisphere, working in collaboration to advance their respective missions.  The Americas Society is a public charity described in I.R.C. Section 501(c)(3), and Council of the Americas, a business league under I.R.C. Section 501(c)(6).The positions and opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors or guest commentators and speakers and do not represent those of the Americas Society and Council of the Americas or its members or the Boards of Directors of either organization.  No part of Americas Quarterly may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the Americas Society and Council of the Americas.