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.

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.

Globalization and Development draws upon the experiences of the Latin American and Caribbean region to provide a multidimensional assessment of the globalization process from the perspective of developing countries. Based on a study by the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), this book gives a historical overview of economic development in the region and presents both an economic and noneconomic agenda that addresses disparity, respects diversity, and fosters complementarity among regional, national, and international institutions. For orders originating outside of North America, please visit the World Bank website for a list of distributors and geographic discounts at http://publications.worldbank.org/howtoorder or e-mail [email protected].

Latin America is developing rapidly. As the authors see the region, a small group of countries has found a fast-forward button. In these countries change is exciting, occurring at such a rapid pace that a major breakthrough hi economic growth appears within grasp. After an almost decade-long period of recession and stagnation, many Latin American economies now have elected governments. With a few exceptions, most have also improved their socioeconomic conditions beyond meeting basic human needs. Yet few North Americans or Europeans are aware of these advances. How does Latin America fit into the changing world in the 1990s, and why should someone living in the United States, Europe, or developed parts of the Pacific Basin care? Fast Forward shows that Latin America's economic renaissance clearly has implications for a post-Cold War world order. Latin America is starting to make important contributions, particularly in the areas of international diplomacy, economics, and culture. Collectively, Latin Americans now demonstrate a coherent collective will about where they wish to take themselves. This does not mean that U.S. influence in the Americas will soon disappear, but that new challenges in the international system will force greater equity in Western Hemisphere relationships. While Latin America in the 1990s offers much to be excited about, the authors caution that there are dangers in being too enthusiastic. The always-present potential for top-down authoritarian approaches must temper enthusiasm about a better Latin American future. Despite this, the authors see a well-defined departure from past economic modes occurring and the potential for a higher level of development for some countries. This book is for economists, sociologists, and political scientists interested in economic and political development, and researchers interested in Latin America in particular.

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.

Relations with Latin America have never been and will probably never be a priority for the People's Republic of China (PRC), as they will be a dependent variable of domestic economic needs and other more important foreign policy goals among all, the ties with the United States. During the first forty years of existence, geopolitical and economic considerations (Latin America was considered to be Washington's backyard and the economies of the region were not complementary with that of China) were keeping the PRC away from the area; nevertheless, things have changed ever since the end of the Cold War, and more so since the new millenium. The PRC finds in Latin America a market of 500 million people and an almost infinite source of commodities: it currently gets from here around 17% of its overall agricultural products imports, and 11% of its fuel and mining ones. It is a big buyer of three of the four Latin American commodities (soy, copper and oil) and it's increasing its purchases of the fourth, coffee. The region is also a valuable partner in the struggle for a new world order, more democratic and more concerned with the stakes of the developing countries; it is a 33-wide voting block whose consensus is useful whenever the human rights policy of the PRC comes under the scrutiny of the United Nations or any of its agencies. Finally, Latin America is a pawn in the battle for the sovereignty over Taiwan, since 12 of the 23 countries that recognize the Republic of China (ROC) are in the area, mainly in Central America and the Caribbean, plus Paraguay alone in South America. For Latin America, the PRC is a huge 1.3 billion people market and a potential source of much-needed Foreign Direct Investment, which in actuality turns out to be smaller than expected and mostly concentrated in the fiscal heavens of the Caribbean. Politically, besides the partnership in the struggle for a new world order, the mere existence of a China-option is itself a source of leverage when Latin American countries have to deal with the United States, who now have to face a competitor on trade and politic issues in what used to be their backyard. Apparently, deepening ties with Latin America is a winning solution for the PRC. The same is not completely true for Latin America, whose relationship with Beijing can be beneficial, but with some caveats. As far as bilateral trade is concerned, the problem is that of export concentration: in 2006, 62.5% of the region's exports to China were in the commodity sector - it was just 35% in 1995. This leaves Latin America, especially South America, exposed to the price volatility of its resources, which is historically more elevated than that of the manufactured goods and breeds macroeconomic uncertainty in a region that has always struggled with that issue. Furthermore, export concentration in the commodity sector, as far as the terms of trade are favorable as in the years before the ongoing global crisis, might hinder the upgrading of the industrial structure of those countries who find in it an easy and quick source of revenues. A positive effect on the welfare of the people and the fight against poverty and inequality is not automatically related to the blossoming of exports of natural resources, but depends on economic policy choices. A more recent, less studied aspect of Sino-Latin American trade is the increasing penetration of Chinese manufactured goods in the domestic markets of the region: while initially outplacing foreign competitors, the flow is becoming a source of concern for businesses in the textile sector of countries like Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico, who find it hard to compete with the minimum cost of labor that makes Chinese goods so cheap. That explains why the region has tariffs on imports from the Middle Kingdom that are 10% above world average (20% in the case of South America). Competition with Chinese manufactures in the third markets is also Central America's main problem in its re