This wide ranging thematic and comparative text analyses the origins and nature of the developmental and political crises of the region and the reasons for their recent intensification. It covers all the Central American states and the largest Caribbean island territories - Jamaica, Cuba, The Dominican Republic, Haiti and Puerto Rico - as well as Panama and Grenada, assessing their common experiences as small economies living in the shadow of the United States but also highlighting key differences.

This collection of essays includes papers presented at the 22nd annual Eugene Scassa Mock OAS Conference, an inter-collegiate competition and prestigious academic conference focused on inter-American political systems and the politics, history, and culture of the Americas. The volume includes sections on cultural perceptions and soft power in the Americas, migration and immigration, crime and terrorism, commodities and economic partnerships in the Americas and beyond, and relations and impacts between Asia and the Americas. Running the historical gamut from the Colonial Era into the present day, and written by recognized authorities in their fields and promising new scholars alike, the collection presents a wide assortment of viewpoints and research backgrounds to portray the Americas and its historic, present, and future place in the ever-changing world order.

Most non-Central Americans think of the narrow neck between Mexico and Colombia in terms of dramatic past revolutions and lauded peace agreements, or sensational problems of gang violence and natural disasters. In this volume, the contributors examine regional circumstances within frames of democratization and neoliberalism, as they shape lived experiences of transition. The authors--anthropologists and social scientists from the United States, Europe, and Central America--argue that the process of regions and nations "disappearing" (being erased from geopolitical notice) is integral to upholding a new, post-Cold War world order--and that a new framework for examining political processes must be accessible, socially collaborative, and in dialogue with the lived processes of suffering and struggle engaged by people in Central America and the world in the name of democracy.

The paper discusses changes of the new world order, the role of the United States as part of the new world order, and the effects of the new order on Latin American and Caribbean States.

In the aftermath of the Cold War, Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer offers his most challenging book to date: a probing assessment of the meaning and implications of what U.S. leaders have called a "new world order." While the end of the Cold War and the mobilization of sanctions against Iraq opened the possibility of a truly new world order, Nelson-Pallmeyer argues that the Gulf War was used to serve a very different purpose. United States elites in the national security establishment instead sought to make the world safe for future wars, to derail the post-Cold War "peace dividend," and to foreclose the possibility of a world order based on international justice and commitment to human rights. From the perspective of the Third World, where ever-greater debt leads to ever-greater death, Nelson-Pallmeyer shows how the "new world order" is only a new way of managing the old world order: the misery of the poor will continue to sustain the appetites of the rich. Parallel to the increased pauperization of the Third World, the 1980s saw the massive transfer of wealth within the United States, from the poor to the very wealthy. The consequences: the decay of our cities and dramatic increases in racial violence, drug abuse, and crime. At the same time, the impending ecological crisis has escalated rapidly. Finally, Nelson-Pallmeyer turns his attention to the role of Christians in blessing the "new world order." Appalled by the abuse of religious rhetoric in justification of the Gulf War he examines how Jesus confronted the "world order" of his day, and calls for a radical discipleship that worships the God of life rather than the idols of power and wealth.

The age of Western hegemony is over. Whether or not America itself is declining, the post-war liberal world order underpinned by US military, economic and ideological primacy and supported by global institutions serving its power and purpose, is coming to an end. But what will take its place? A Chinese world order? A re-constituted form of American hegemony? A regionalized system of global cooperation, including major and emerging powers? In this timely and provocative book, Amitav Acharya offers an incisive answer to this fundamental question. While the US will remain a major force in world affairs, he argues that it has lost the ability to shape world order after its own interests and image. As a result, the US will be one of a number of anchors including emerging powers, regional forces, and a concert of the old and new powers shaping a new world order. Rejecting labels such as multipolar, apolar, or G-Zero, Acharya likens the emerging system to a multiplex theatre, offering a choice of plots (ideas), directors (power), and action (leadership) under one roof. Finally, he reflects on the policies that the US, emerging powers and regional actors must pursue to promote stability in this decentred but interdependent, multiplex world. Written by a leading scholar of the international relations of the non-Western world, and rising above partisan punditry, this book represents a major contribution to debates over the post-American era.