Venezuela Alba And The Limits Of Postneoliberal Regionalism In Latin America And The Caribbean

This book provides a comprehensive analysis of the implementation, functioning, and impact of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA), cornerstone of Venezuelan foreign policy and standard-bearer of “postneoliberal” regionalism during the “Left Turn” in Latin America and the Caribbean (1998-2016). It reveals that cooperation via ALBA’s regionalised social missions, state multinationals, development bank, People’s Trade Agreement, SUCRE virtual currency, and Petrocaribe soft-loan scheme has often been hampered by complexity and conflict between the national political economies of Ecuador, Dominica, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Antigua and Barbuda, and especially Venezuela. Shared commitments to endogenous development, autonomy within mutlipolarity, and novel sources of legitimacy are undermined by serious deficiencies in control and accountability, which stem largely from the defining influence of Venezuela’s dysfunctional economy and governance. This dual dependency on Venezuela leaves the future of ALBA hanging in the balance.

This edited collection is only the second academic publication dedicated solely to Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA), the "Left Turn" regional project founded by Venezuela and Cuba in 2004 and since expanded to Bolivia, Ecuador, Nicaragua, and much of the Anglophone Caribbean. As ALBA celebrates its first decade, this book offers a considered, critical, and comprehensive account of the project. This work provides insights into all manner of unanswered questions: among others, the roles and involvement of member-states both central and peripheral; the nature of ALBA governance; the sustainability of the project; its effect on domestic politics; and the true nature and extent of specific initiatives. Bringing together scholars from across ideological divides, the book provides a comprehensive analysis of ALBA's successes and failures, evaluating the project's viability and mapping possible future trajectories. The opacity of ALBA and its member-states, and the perplexing lack of research into ALBA despite its significance, makes the contribution of this edited volume a particularly valuable one.

This cutting-edge volume brings together a diverse roster of scholars to shed light on the reconfiguration of twenty-first century Latin American regionalism. Reflecting on both the multiplicity of regional integration across Latin America (LA) and the theoretically pluralist turn in contemporary scholarship on LA politics and International Relations, this edited volume proposes an ‘integrative pluralist’ methodology to deciphering the complexity of regionalisation projects, from both above and below. The book charts the contemporary evolution of older regionalisation schemes, such as the Common Market of the South (MERCOSUR), as well as more recent twenty-first century regional innovations, including the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America-Peoples Trade Treaty (ALBA-TCP), Pacific Alliance (AP), and the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR). Complementing this more traditional institutional perspective, the book also charts the underexplored dynamics of regionalism from below, in the context of region-wide networks of political organisation among indigenous and peasant movements. Set against the backdrop of a more critical reading of the historical origins of regionalism, this volume aims to contribute to the ever-growing conversation among scholars within and beyond Latin America on the actors, processes, contradictions, and prospects for regional cooperation. In offering a more holistic perspective on Latin American regionalism from above and below, this volume will be of interest to both newcomers to the field and more seasoned scholars working within/across disciplinary boundaries, from International Relations and International Political Economy to Historical Sociology and Institutionalism. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of Globalizations.

International trade has, for decades, been central to economic growth and improved standards of living for nations and regions worldwide. For most of the advanced countries, trade has raised standards of living, while for most emerging economies, growth did not begin until their integration into the global economy. The economic explanation is simple: international trade facilitates specialization, increased efficiency and improved productivity to an extent impossible in closed economies. However, recent years have seen a significant slowdown in global trade, and the global system has increasingly come under attack from politicians on the right and on the left. The benefits of open markets, the continuation of international co-operation, and the usefulness of multilateral institutions such as the World Trade Organization (WTO), International Monetary Fund and World Bank have all been called into question. While globalization has had a broadly positive effect on overall global welfare, it has also been perceived by the public as damaging communities and social classes in the industrialized world, spawning, for example, Brexit, and the US exit from the Transpacific Partnership. The purpose of this volume is to examine international and regional preferential trade agreements (PTAs), which offer like-minded countries a possible means to continue receiving the benefits of economic liberalization and expanded trade. What are the strengths and weaknesses of such agreements, and how can they sustain growth and prosperity for their members in an ever-challenging global economic environment? The Handbook is divided into two parts. The first, Global Themes, offers analysis of issues including the WTO, trade agreements and economic development, intellectual property rights, security and environmental issues, and PTAs and developing countries. The second part examines regional and country-specific agreements and issues, including NAFTA, CARICOM, CETA, the Pacific Alliance, the European Union, EFTA, ECOWAS, the SADC, TTIP, RCEP and the TPP (now the CPTPP), as well as the policies of countries such as Japan and Australia.

Group Politics in UN Multilateralism provides a new perspective on diplomacy and negotiation. UN multilateralism is shaped by long-standing group dynamics as well as shifting, ad-hoc groupings. These intergroup dynamics are key to understanding diplomatic practice at the UN.

This book provides a timely and nuanced analysis of the successes and shortcoming of efforts to move beyond market democracy in Bolivia and Venezuela. A twin crisis of democratic representation and socio-economic precarity created space for anti-system outsiders to emerge on the left flank of traditional party-systems in Bolivia and Venezuela, paving the way for a "post-neoliberal" democratization process. Over the course of the projects headed by Evo Morales in Bolivia and Hugo Chávez and his successor Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela, however, power struggles emerged between a recalcitrant elite, the left-led government, and organized popular sectors. These tensions shaped the pathways that processes followed, with simultaneous democratization and de-democratization occurring whereby a partial deepening and extending of democratic quality for popular sectors was accompanied by the bending of liberal norms. Comparing the varying balance and forms of power between competing actors, this book offers a novel and rich explanation of the partial and stuttering efforts to advance a post-neoliberal democracy in Bolivia and Venezuela. Bringing important insights on the reasons for the emergence of anti-system leaders and parties, the impact that they have on the quality of democracy, and how progressive governments interact with social movements, this book will be of interest to researchers studying Latin America, as well as those specializing in development and political science more broadly.

What is the role of regional organizations in maintaining security across different parts of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC)? How did COVID-19 impact states in the region and what types of collective action have helped respond to public health emergencies? In what way is LAC environmental policy formulated and what broader lessons can be drawn for the Global South? This edited volume addresses these questions, revealing the reasons behind the successes and failures of LAC regional responses to collective challenges as well as their limitations and potential for future improvement. It contains 11 chapters, authored by 16 authoritative academics who employ methodologically-diverse perspectives. Each chapter provides insights that would be of interest to scholars, students and policy-makers working on the regional governance of LAC and the Global South. The contributions are thematically organised in three parts and produced with pragmatic considerations in mind, discussing existing and potential real solutions to pressing issues.

Using decades of their own insight into teaching undergraduate International Relations (IR) courses, leading experts offer an introduction to IR thinking throughout history in Latin America, unfolding ideas, voices, concepts and approaches from the region that can contribute to the broader Global IR discussion. The book highlights and discuss the growing possibility of a Latin American agency, defined broadly to include both material and ideational elements, in regional and international relations, covering areas where Latin America’s contributions are especially visible and relevant, such as regionalism, international law, security management, and Latin America’s relations with the outside world. This is not about exclusively "Latin American solutions to Latin American problems", but rather about contributions in which Latin Americans define the terms for understanding the issues and set the terms for the nature and scope of outside involvement. Written with verve and clarity, Latin America in Global International Relations exposes readers to the relevance of redefining and broadening IR theory. It will serve as a guide for instructors in structuring their courses and in identifying the place of Latin America in the discipline.