Contents - Spring 2007
Where is Latin America Heading from Here?
A
new generation takes power. Can it come to grips with the
region's old problems?
Featuring:
Democracy's Growing Pains
By Former Presidents Fernando Henrique Cardoso
and Ricardo Lagos
Fernando
Henrique Cardoso, former president of Brazil, and Ricardo Lagos,
former president of Chile, in a candid conversation with Moisés
Naím, Editor-in-Chief of Foreign Policy. Two of
Latin America's leading political figures confide that one of
the region's greatest challenges is political polarization.
Full article
Departments
From the Editor
Introducing the inaugural issue of Americas Quarterly
Full Text
Letters to
the Editor
George H.W. Bush,
David Rockefeller, Al Fishlow, and Dani Rodrik
Interview
Former Spanish
Prime Minister Felipe González discusses the relevance of
contemporary Socialism.
Innovators/Innovations
Andrés
Velasco
is trying to steer Chile to a more prosperous future;
Viva Rio in Brazil is organizing favela
communities to combat crime; Marcos Galperín is leading his
generation to the world of e-commerce.
Hard Talk Forum
Does U.S.
immigration policy make sense? Deborah Meyers of the
Migration Policy Institute and Steven Camarota of the Center
for Immigration Studies debate the costs and benefits of the nearly
2 million legal and illegal immigrants who come to the U.S. each
year.
Panorama
Find out
what's going on in our Americas: policy conferences on Asia and
Latin America; the filming of Gabriel García Márquez's Love in
the Time of Cholera; the arrival of the hemisphere's first,
region-wide public television station; and 10 fun things to do in
Montreal.
Tongue in Cheek
The hemisphere's
most intriguing political cartoons.
Policy Update
What's new and
worth thinking about across the region:
Energy: Canada's tar sands hold the potential for improving
the region's energy supply.
Fiscal Reform: Even so-called leftist governments are fiscal
conservatives today.
Microcredit: Private banks find profit in the world of
microfinance.
Fresh Look Reviews
Andrés Oppenheimer's take on China's economic success and its
meaning for Latin America, Cuentos Chinos, is reviewed by
Thomas Trebat. Eduardo
Engel and Patricio Navia publish a roadmap for Chile's future.
Oscar Landerretche reviews Que gane el "más
mejor."
Also reviewed: Caferino Reato's
analysis of President Lula and the PT in Brazil, Lula, la
izquierda al divan, and Fernando de la Rúa's tale of alleged
political deceit, Operación Política:
la causa del Senado.
First Look
New and
recently released books.
Just the Numbers
The rising
global popularity of Latin music.
Features
New
Leaders, New Voices
Election post-mortem: the
2005-2006 elections have nudged the region to the left, but that's
only part of the story.
—By
Jorge Castañeda and Patricio Navia
Trade this Election
Now that the electoral
dust has settled, did voters tilt the balance against or in favor of
trade integration in the region?
—Agustín
Cornejo and Gary Hufbauer
Six Secrets of Success
A handful of Latin American companies
have emerged as global business leaders. Here's how.
—By
Andrew Schrank
Watchdog Generation: Wired
Politics
Young bloggers and Internet-savvy citizens are turning up the heat
on governments. Plus, profiles of Latin America's most
plugged-in bloggers.
—By
Monica Campbell
Summary
*Correction: The
Presidential Election Results 2005-2006 map on page 43 of the Spring
2007 issue incorrectly depicts the vote totals in the first round of
the Peruvian elections on April 9, 2006. The colors representing
Ollanta Humala (30.6%) and Lourdes Flores Nano (23.8%) were
misrepresented: Mr. Humala should have been coded blue and Ms.
Flores Nano should have been coded red.
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.
With the goal of filling this void, the Americas Society and Council of the Americas launched Americas Quarterly—
a journal dedicated to deepening policy analysis and debate on economics, finance, and politics in the region. The editorial mission of the journal is to target this new generation and to engage them in a discussion of future policy alternatives, highlight specific reforms throughout the
hemisphere, and provide a forum for the exchange of ideas.
We have assembled a top-notch editorial board that includes former presidents Ernesto Zedillo, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, and Ricardo Lagos, as well as a new generation of emerging scholars from the worlds of economics and political science.
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.
