EU relations with Latin America and the Caribbean: Books

This book focuses on EU-MERCOSUR relations from a diplomatic and trade perspective against the background of the political agreement between the two in 2019. The authors take into consideration that EU-MERCOSUR cooperation developed during recent decades has tried, on the one hand, to build a strategic partnership to respond to the main challenges of international agendas and, on the other, to incorporate in Latin American countries the European new vision of transatlantic regionalism. Starting from a historical perspective of the development of interregionalism between the EU and MERCOSUR, the book goes on to study the geopolitical impacts of Brexit, stagnation of the EU-USA relationship, the COVID-19 pandemic, and of new geopolitical players in EU-LAC interregionalism.

Latin America–European Union relations in the twenty-first century provides a valuable overview of transatlantic trade agreement negotiations and developments in the first decades of the twenty-first century. The collection examines key motivations behind trade agreements, traces the evolution of negotiations and explores some of the initial impacts of new-generation trade agreements with the EU on South American countries. The book makes an important contribution to our understanding of relations between these regions by contextualising relations and trade agendas within the frames of both domestic political and economic policies and broader global trends.

The text is an input for a strategic analysis of the institutions of the European Union’s relationship with its counterparts in Latin America and the Caribbean. Its interpretation can be useful to understand the common policies and agendas that seek new models of sustainable development and coordinated governmental responses to the challenges of the changing international order, and to the persistent issues of the relationship such as climate change, ecological transition, digitalisation, productive transformation, social inclusion and the revitalisation of multilateralism.

The EU has pursued many trade pacts across the world. This is part of its foreign policy: as the third largest economy in the world and lacking hard power, the EU relies on trade agreements to project its interests. These are often complex and far-reaching initiatives that have the potential to shape not only economic but also political and social life in the EU and its trading partners.
See chapter 7 : Interregionalism, trade, and standardization: the long road to the EU-MERCOSUR trade agreement and the uncertainties ahead.

Transcurridas más de siete décadas desde que finalizó la II Guerra Mundial, la noción de integración económica y política está más viva que nunca. Si bien es cierto que en la región europea se produjo, y se sigue produciendo, esa labor integradora, no es menos cierto que en otros lugares del globo, han entendido también que la forma de progresar que tienen los países en el S. XXI ha de pasar, necesariamente, por la integración. Este ideal fue especialmente bien recibido en América Latina, donde los diversos procesos de integración no tardaron en sucederse, con la importancia estratégica que ello implica tanto para España y Portugal como para el resto de la Unión Europea.

The 2022 Yearbook of European Security provides an overview of events in 2021 that were significant for European security. The book charts major developments in the EU’s external action and security and defence policy. Divided into region and issue-specific sections, this Yearbook contains entries on the EU’s multilateral efforts and work in security and defence, as well as specific geographical sections on North Africa and the Middle East, Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas.
See chapter 6 (pp. 138-147) on Latin America and the Caribbean.

2022 has been the year of Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified war against Ukraine. The Russian aggression and its global consequences raise many questions for EU foreign and security policy. How can the EU, in this new geopolitical context, maintain international law and revitalise the multilateral framework to ensure cooperation on global issues like climate change? And how can the EU reinforce its engagement with Africa, the Indo-Pacific and Latin America, what some now call the “Global South”? In this book, which brings together a collection of blog posts, op-eds and speeches, HR/VP Josep Borrell Fontelles addresses these questions and other issues that dominated EU foreign and security policy in 2022.
Chapter 6.5 deals with Latin America (pp. 329-357).

This collective book presents the papers submitted for discussion at the panel “The Euro-Latin American dialogue and diversification of interregional cooperation” during the 9th Congress of CEISAL that took place in Bucharest in July 2019. The focus of this panel was on the evolution, state-of-the art and paradigmatic changes in EU-Latin American (and, to some extent, Caribbean) relations, and the identification of pathways for strengthening these collaboration efforts in the framework of the Sustainable Development Goals. The contributions approach these topics of EU-Latin American dialogue and cooperation from different perspectives, including the overarching bi-regional, multilateral framework, traditional bi-lateral cooperation, as well as alternative, sub-regional or even local (city-driven) networks.

Over the years, the European Union has developed relationships with other international institutions, mainly as a result of its increasingly active role as a global actor and the transfer of competences from the Member States to the EU. This book presents a comprehensive and critical assessment of the EU's engagement with other international institutions, examining both the EU's representation and cooperation as well as the influence of these bodies on the development of EU law and policy.

This book seeks to develop our understanding of the contemporary geopolitical reconfigurations of two regions of the world system with high cultural affinity and traditional close relations: Latin America and Europe. Relations between Latin America and Europe have been interpreted generally in the social sciences as synonyms of interstate relations. However, although States remain the most important actor in the geopolitical scene, they have been deeply reconfigured in recent decades, impacted by transnational dynamics, politics and spaces. This book highlights interregional relations and transnational dynamics between Latin America and Europe from a critical geopolitics perspective, promoting a new look for interregional relations which encompasses international cooperation and development, global policies, borders, inequalities and social movements.

Despite a stop-and-go policy, over the past twenty years the European Union, Latin America, and the Caribbean Region have joined forces to scale-up their partnership. Today, the time seems ripe for the EU to give new impetus to bi-regional relations as the US interest in the region appears to be decreasing, and China quickly steps in. The near future will indicate whether the political will to bolster relations between the EU and the region is actually stronger than before: how will the agreements between the EU and Mexico, Chile, and the Caribbean be updated? Will the EU-MERCOSUR Association Agreement be completed? If so, the EU will be able to enact free trade agreements with all the countries in the region, except Bolivia, Venezuela and Cuba. The latter is already involved in its first ever negotiation with the EU to strengthen bilateral cooperation. This volume provides an overview and wide-ranging analyses on the negotiations ongoing at the time, viable options and possible results.

This text provides a distinctive and empirically rich account of the European Union's relationship with the Common Market of the South (Mercosur) and the motivations that determine the EU's policy towards Mercosur.

This book analyzes the relations between two geographical areas with different levels of regional institutionalization: the European Union and Latin America. Characterized by low interdependence and asymmetry, this relationship operates in different levels ranging from EU-individual countries to EU-Latin American summits.

Este volumen recoge las ponencias del Curso de verano “La presidencia española de la UE y las relaciones con América Latina y el Caribe: balance y perspectivas”. Examina aspectos como el papel de la UE como actor global; las relaciones entre la UE y América Latina con énfasis en el impacto y los resultados de la última presidencia española del Consejo de la UE; asi como los desafíos que plantea esta la relación, en particular los referidas al regionalismo, el desarrollo y la lucha contra la pobreza, la cohesión social, las políticas de cooperación al desarrollo y las migraciones.

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 discusses 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 book examines the role of external powers in Latin America in the 21st century. Non-traditional partners have significantly increased their political and economic engagement with the continent. Five key questions arise: why has this surge taken place; when has it happened; in which regions and sectors is it mostly felt; what is the Latin American perspective; and what are the actual results? The book analyses 16 case studies: the United States, the European Union, China, Russia, Japan, Canada, India, Turkey, Iran, Israel, South Korea, Taiwan, Indonesia, the ASEAN countries, South Africa and Australia.

This volume explores several notable themes related to foreign affairs in Latin America and the reconfiguration of the power of the different states in the region. It offers insightful historical perspectives for understanding national, regional and global issues from the beginning of the 20th century to the present day, from analysis of the traditional "hegemony" of the United States over Latin America through its military, and political influence due to the presence of the European Union, Russia, and China.

Regionalism is under stress. The European Union has been challenged by the Eurozone crisis, refugee flows, terrorist attacks, Euroscepticism, and Brexit. In Latin America, regional cooperation has been stagnating. Studying Europe and Latin America within a broader comparative perspective, this volume provides an analytical framework to assess stress factors facing regionalism. The contributors explore how economic and financial crises, security challenges, identity questions raised by immigration and refugee flows, the rise of populism, and shifting regional and global power dynamics have had an impact on regionalism; whether the EU crisis has had repercussions for regionalisms in other parts of the world; and to what extent the impact of stress factors is mediated by characteristics of the region that may provide elements of resilience.

The book draws comparison between MERCOSUR and the European Union to explain variation of regionalism and to expose its limits. The project is based on the idea that contemporary examples of regionalism should be evaluated against several propositions of multiple integration theories rather than against a single theory. In order to systematically explain why and how integration outcomes in MERCOSUR differ from those in the EU, the author develops an analytical framework for the comparison of the two blocs. MERCOSUR is compared with the EU by the use of the various criteria of economic interdependence, economic convergence, intra-bloc size and interest asymmetries, cultural diversity and geostrategic motivations, which are identified as the salient parameters of integration theories.

This volume explores several notable themes related to the economy in Latin America and offers insightful historical perspectives to understand national, regional, and global issues in the continent since the beginning of the 20th century to the present day. The collected essays focus on economic crises, the relationship of growth models to society and politics, the fluctuations of local economies, and regional protests. Other aspects of consideration in this area include the evolution of integrated regional trading blocs, the informal economy, and the destruction of the productive potential that has had a serious social, cultural, and environmental impact.

The 2022 edition of the Economic Survey of Latin America and the Caribbean outlines the region’s economic performance in 2021 and analyses trends in the early months of 2022, as well as the outlook for growth for the year. It examines the external and domestic factors that have influenced the region’s economic performance in 2021, trends for 2022, and how these factors will affect economic growth in the coming years. This edition also presents some of the main challenges the region faces in investing for sustainable and inclusive economic growth. It analyses the trends in total investment over the last 70 years and highlights the profound change brought about by the 1980s debt crisis, with a slowdown in investment from the 1990s onwards.

This volume aims to illustrate the uniqueness of the economies of the countries and territories of the Caribbean as well as the similarities they share with other regions. While most countries in the region share many of the characteristics of middle-income countries, theirs is a matter of extremes. Their generally small size suggests a fragility not found elsewhere. While much of the world is beginning to feel some effects of climate change, the Caribbean is ground zero. These factors suggest a difficult road ahead, but the chapters presented in this volume aim to help to spur the search for creative solutions to the region's problems. The chapters, written by expert contributors, examine the Caribbean economies from several perspectives. Many break new ground in questioning past policy mindsets, while developing new approaches to many of the traditional constraints limiting growth in the region.

In a regional and international context of weak growth, high inflation and growing inequality, the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean must focus policies on reactivating, rebuilding and transforming economic and production systems to advance towards low-carbon and high-tech economies that address climate change and reduce their historical gaps, structural heterogeneity and dualism. This document considers the complex conditions that pose significant challenges to accelerating growth, tackling high inflation and the cost-of-living crisis, maintaining transfers to the most vulnerable households, mitigating the social costs of the crisis and boosting investment. Its chapters analyse the dynamics of globalization and the policy challenges in changing the production structure and moving towards sustainable development.

Este libro es el resultado de una reflexión colectiva a la que invitó la Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL) en el marco de las discusiones que apoyaron la preparación del trigésimo octavo período de sesiones de la Comisión. Con la colaboración de Nicolo Gligo, fue posible reunir un grupo de pioneros en la reflexión sobre el desarrollo sostenible en América Latina y el Caribe, que desde los años setenta nutren con su pensamiento este campo de las disciplinas social y científica. Sus diversas contribuciones se integran en los 12 capítulos de este documento, que abordan los grandes temas que se debaten en la región y el mundo con relación al desarrollo y el medio ambiente.

This book presents the results of more than a decade of work carried out by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) on the economics of climate change. It analyses the conclusive global data and the impact of climate change in the region, examining sectors such as agriculture, health, transport and energy. In particular, it addresses the effects of climate change on the two most vulnerable subregions, Central America and the Caribbean, and gives an account of the agreements reached in the region to tackle the problem of global warming. The book discusses the advances made in relation to climate issues, climate finance flows and public policy innovations aimed at moving towards lower-carbon development better suited to a changing climate.

América Latina atraviesa una marcada crisis ambiental, que está llevando al subcontinente a un colapso, entendido este como un cambio en la sociedad, y en la forma de vivir en la actualidad. Esta crisis ecológica se ha visto ahondada con la profundización del modelo económico neoliberal y del neoextractivismo, el cual ha generado una disputa por los bienes comunes. Al mismo tiempo en distintos territorios de la región se están desarrollando alternativas agroecológicas, cooperativas, redes de economía solidaria, eco-tecnologías apropiadas y nuevas construcciones societales basadas en paradigmas como el buen vivir, que van sembrando esperanzas de evitar el colapso, bajo el desarrollo de sociedades en movimiento que reflexionan y actúan en defensa de la madre tierra.

Cette publication est issue du colloque « Éducation, numérique, cohésion sociale et politiques publiques » qui s’est tenu en juin 2022 dans le cadre de la Semaine de l’Amérique latine et des Caraïbes (SALC). Cette rencontre annuelle est organisée depuis 2012 par l’Institut des Amériques (IdA) en partenariat avec le Ministère de l’Europe et des Affaires étrangères (MEAE) et la Fondation EU-LAC. Les trois parties qui composent cet ouvrage permettent de revenir sur les défis et les politiques du numérique éducatif avant de discuter les dimensions citoyennes et professionnelles du numérique et de conclure sur les enjeux cruciaux de la réduction des fractures.

This new edition of Understanding Contemporary Latin America, reflects the many changes that have occurred in the region in the decade since the previous edition was published. An entirely new chapter on crime and security, along with new treatments of such classic subjects as geography, history, politics, economics, international relations, and more, make for an unparalleled introduction to the complexities of Latin America today.

Following this introduction, Social Panorama of Latin America and the Caribbean, 2022 has four chapters. Chapter I presents the relevant macroeconomic background in terms of the evolution of per capita GDP, employment, household income distribution and the consumer price index, and looks at how income inequality and poverty have changed over the past two decades (2002–2021). Chapter II addresses the worrying silent crisis of education as another of the pandemic’s major consequences, as well as the successive crises that have accompanied it. Chapter III looks at access to education and the unequal labour impacts of the pandemic on men and women. Chapter IV analyses the social institutional framework and the evolution of social spending in Latin America and the Caribbean.

In the mid-1970s, Latin America entered a period of profound social and economic crisis, marked by the rise of brutal military dictatorships across much of the region and the near-collapse of some of Latin America’s largest economies, in Mexico and Brazil. In response to this crisis, governments across the region adopted neoliberal structural adjustment programmes from the 1980s onwards, under the auspices of international organisations, such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. These reforms typically entailed sweeping cuts to public health and welfare programmes, the privatisation of large parts of the public infrastructure, the redistribution of wealth to economic elites, and a notable growth in poverty.