Security in Latin America

This article provides an overview of recent trends in Latin American security and examines three common assumptions that underpin both academic analysis and policy debate—assumptions about the links between political democracy, economic integration and regional stability, and about the need to broaden the agenda of regional security. In contrast to the liberal orthodoxy, there is little reason to believe that the promotion of political democracy and economic liberalization and integration will automatically tend towards regional stability, especially given the weakness of regional institutions, the fragility of many states, the inequality of power among states, and the lack of consensus over the meaning and implications of the 'new security agenda'.     

行走拉美

正在遥远的太平洋彼岸,静卧着从诞生伊始就在苦难中艰难前行的拉丁美洲,那里开拓了最初的玛雅文明,印证了殖民主义的丑恶,缔造了光辉的印加文化;那里有漫长的安第斯山脉,有举世无双的伊瓜苏瀑布,有浩浩荡荡的亚马孙河……那一片静谧而广袤的土地,就如热带雨林一般,充满诱惑,令人心驰神往。     

Photography and Latin American Ruins

Ever since the nineteenth century photographers have regularly turned to Latin American ruins to express a diverse range of scientific, colonial, aesthetic and spiritual desires. This article looks at photographs of Latin American ruins from the nineteenth century through several archaeological expeditions in Central and South America over the course of the twentieth century. Focusing in particular on photographs of ruins that include human subjects, I argue that the human-material interactions evident in these images undermine the traditional view of a split between the archaeological subject and the material object, serving as a reminder of the political actuality of ‘classical’ ruins, sites that have sometimes been left out of the West’s contemporary fascination with the dark underbelly of modernity. Acknowledging that such politics is by no means always innocent, sometimes reflecting as it does the embedded power relations of neo-colonial desires, I argue nonetheless that ancient ruins in Latin America continue to be spaces around which social relations can be formed, not least through humour and pleasure.     

The anthropology of Latin America

Dwight B. Heath, ed. Contemporary Cultures and Societies of Latin America: A Reader in the Social Anthropology of Middle and South America [Second ed.]. New York: Random House, 1974. xvii + 572 pp. Charts, tables, figures, and bibliography. $11.95 (cloth).     

Fighting Inflation in Latin America

Inflation has been a chronic problem for Latin American economies since the Second World War. In the 1980s, inflation ran out of control in many countries. This article analyses the causes of these high inflation rates and discusses the experiences of Latin American countries in fighting (hyper-) inflation in the 1980s and 1990s. Particular attention is given to the relative merits of orthodox versus heterodox approaches, and to the use of the exchange rate as an inflation stabilizer. The article concludes, among other things, that achieving fiscal balance is crucial, whatever method is used, and that a fixed exchange rate can help to stabilize inflation but contains many risks, in particular with open capital accounts.     

Italian scholarship on Colonial Latin America

Historie del S. D. Fernando Colombo; nelle quali s'ha particolare, et vera relatione della vita, et de’ fatti dell'Ammiraglio D. Christoforo Colombo, suo padre . . . 1571. Edited and introduction by GIUSEPPE BELLINI. Roma: Bulzoni Editore, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, 1992. Pp. xxv, 248.

Viaggio e relazione delle Indie (1539–1553). By GALEOTTO CEI. Edited and introduction by FRANCESCO SURDICH. Roma: Bulzoni Editore, 1992. Pp. viii, 172, facs.

I segni del diavolo e i segni di Dio. “La carta al Emperador Carlos V” (2 gennaio 1555) di Fray Toribio Motolinía. Edited and introduction by PIERLUIGI CROVETTO. Roma: Bulzoni Editore, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, 1992. Pp. xi, 317.

L'America nei libretti italiani del Settecento. By DONATELLA FERRO. Roma: Bulzoni Editore, 1992. Pp. 89.

Iconografia Colombiana. Introduction, notes and studies by GAETANO FERRO, LUISA FALDINI and MARICA MILANESI. In collaboration with CARLA PAMPALONI, LAURA MONFERDINI and MARIA TERESA DI PALMA. Nuova Raccolta Colombiana. Edited and coordinated by GIANNI EUGENIO VIOLA. Roma: Istituto Poligrafico, 1991. Pp. 655.