In early 2009, at the start of a new administration in Washington, the Brookings Institution Press published The Obama Administration and the Americas: Agenda for Change, offering a roadmap for a fresh approach to U.S. relations with its neighbors. Now, at the midway point of that presidential administration, the editors of that insightful volume follow up with Shifting the Balance: Obama and the Americas, an authoritative and critical look at what President Obama and his team have done in regard to Latin America and the Caribbean, how they have been received in the region, and what steps should be taken in the future.
Abraham F. Lowenthal is professor of international relations at the University of Southern California and a nonresident senior fellow of the Brookings Institution. Theodore J. Piccone is a senior fellow and deputy director for Foreign Policy Studies at the Brookings Institution and an adviser to the Club of Madrid. Laurence Whitehead is an official fellow in politics at Nuffield College at the University of Oxford and editor of the Oxford Studies in Democratization series.
Contents Foreword: Mauricio Cardenas (Director of the Latin American Initiative at Brookings) Chapter 1: The Obama Administration and the Americas, Abraham F. Lowenthal Chapter 2: Mexico and the United States: The Search for a Strategic Vision, Carlos Heredia and Andres Rozental Chapter 3: Obama and Brazil, Joao Augusto de Castro Neves and Matias Spektor Chapter 4: The United States and Colombia: Recalibrating the Relationship, Michael Shifter Chapter 5: The Chavez Challenge for Obama: An Inconvenient Marriage or Frosty Separation, Jennifer McCoy Chapter 6: U.S.-Bolivian Relations: Behind the Impasse, George Gray Molina Chapter 7: Obama's Cuba Policy: The End of the New Beginning,A" Daniel P. Erikson Chapter 8: Honduras: A Test for Obama's Policies, Kevin Casas-Zamora Chapter 9: Haiti: Life Beyond Survival, Juan Gabriel Valdes Chapter 10: The Democracy Agenda in the Americas: Multilateral Action, Theodore Piccone Chapter 11: Obama and the Americas: Old Hopes, New Risks, Laurence Whitehead
"For all who harbored great expectations regarding Barack Obama's policy toward Latin America, Shifting the Balance is a timely, relevant, and accurate analysis of why those expectations emerged, why they might have been exaggerated, and how many of them can be fulfilled. A book to read, and whose reading should be encouraged." -Jorge Castaneda, Global Distinguished Professor of Politics and Latin American and Caribbean Studies at New York University, former foreign minister of Mexico |"Latin Americans are building dynamic economies and democratic institutions and reshaping the demographics of the United States. Transnational crime threatens us across the Americas and gives us even more reasons for shared engagement. This timely book, covering such key countries as Brazil, Mexico, Cuba, and Haiti, thoughtfully sheds light on the challenging issues that face the Obama administration now. It offers ideas for effective U.S. policy toward Latin America that would serve the public good." -Jorge I. Dominguez, Antonio Madero Professor of Mexican and Latin American Politics and Economics and Vice Provost for International Affairs, Harvard University
