This study challenges several widely held assumptions about Central American economic integration, arguing that the key to understanding the failure of the integration program lies in neither advanced economic nor regional integration theory, but in the domestic politics of the states involved. Thus, the author contends that the Common Market was not the cause of the balance-of-payments and balanced-growth crises in Central America; rather, domestic political forces were the major factor in the collapse of the market and the subsequent attempts at restructuring. Professor Shaw disputes the standard interpretations of the role of the technocrats in the integration process and demonstrates that the domestic political elites played an important role throughout. He also challenges the assumption that economic integration is always a force for conciliation, pointing out that the Common Market aggravated some of the conflicts that led to war between El Salvador and Honduras in 1969. Nor are integration programs among less developed countries necessarily instruments of political and social change, according to this analysis; on the contrary, political elites used the Common Market to bypass the internal economic reforms necessary for national development. This study incorporates new material—interview data and other primary source material—on events of the past eight years.

This report is one of several studies conducted by UNODC on organized crime threats around the world. These studies describe what is known about the mechanics of contraband trafficking - the what, who, how, and how much of illicit flows - and discuss their potential impact on governance and development. Their primary role is diagnostic, but they also explore the implications of these findings for policy. Publisher's note.

This powerful book stands on its head the most venerated tradition in international law and discusses the challenges of scarcity, sovereignty, and territorial temptation. Newly emergent resources, accessible through global climate change, discovery, or technological advancement, highlight time-tested problems of sovereignty and challenge liberal internationalism's promise of beneficial or shared solutions. From the High Arctic to the hyper-arid reaches of the Atacama Desert, from the South China Sea to the history of the law of the sea, from doctrinal and scholarly treatments to institutional forms of global governance, the historically recurring problem of territorial temptation in the ageless age of scarcity calls into question the future of the global commons, and illuminates the tendency among states to share resources, but only when necessary.

The Cuban revolution served as a rallying cry to people across Latin America and the Caribbean. The revolutionary regime has provided vital support to the rest of the region, offering everything from medical and development assistance to training and advice on guerrilla warfare. Cuba and Revolutionary Latin America is the first oral history of Cuba’s liberation struggle. Drawing on a vast array of original testimonies, Dirk Kruijt looks at the role of both veterans and the post-Revolution fidelista generation in shaping Cuba and the Americas. Featuring the testimonies of over sixty Cuban officials and former combatants, Cuba and Revolutionary Latin America offers unique insight into a nation which, in spite of its small size and notional pariah status, remains one of the most influential countries in the Americas.