An examination of three vectors of integration—travel, migration and everyday exchange—offers a look into the challenges the Southern Cone faces given the COVID-19 pandemic.
Isolation and integration: COVID-19 in the Southern Cone
By Greg Ross /
Human Rights & Multilateral Organizations
Uruguay returns to the Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance
By Kyle Rapp & Nicolás Albertoni /
More than six months after abandoning the TIAR, Uruguay rejoins the pact. The government’s reversal provides Uruguay with an important voice in regional decision-making.
Democracy & Elections
The new Uruguayan government and the regional defense of democracy
By Gabriel Salvia / GabrielSalvia /
By not inviting Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela to his inauguration, Uruguay’s President-elect Luis Lacalle Pou breaks the close ties of his predecessors with the region’s autocracies.
Economics, Trade & Development
Will a trade agreement between Mercosur and the EU finally come true?
By Nicolás Albertoni / N_Albertoni /
After almost a quarter of a century of negotiations, a trade agreement between Mercosur and the EU could be signed soon. But the electoral uncertainty in South America as well as the protectionist tensions that emerged after Brexit could present risks for the agreement’s ratification.
Venezuela
Venezuela: When dialogue is agony
By Nicolás Albertoni and Victoria Gaytán /
In confronting an autocrat intent on remaining in power, empty dialogue only prolongs the agony of the Venezuelan people. Will the Montevideo Mechanism continue this failed policy?
Economics, Trade & Development
Can Mercosur be updated and reformed or is it a relic of the past?
By Nicolás Albertoni / N_Albertoni /
Mercosur must modernize to adapt to a new international geopolitical reality, but there’s no clear path forward. If it can’t reform, Mercosur risks joining the long list of failed dreams of regional integration.
Politics
South America: 2030 Trends
The reports examine five specific areas—transnational security challenges, institutional capacity, economic growth, demographics, and technology—and how they will shape politics, economic and U.S. relations in South America by 2030.
Economics, Trade & Development
A conversation with Nicolás Albertoni, doctoral student at the University of Southern California
Global Americans spoke to Nicolás Albertoni, a scholar pursuing a Ph.D. in political science and international relations at the University of Southern California (USC), associate researcher at the Universidad Católica del Uruguay, and one of the Global Americans 2018 New Generation of Public Intellectuals.
Human Rights & Multilateral Organizations
2018 Inter-American Court of Human Rights Candidate Bios
By William Naylor / wm_naylor /
The OAS has elected three new members to serve six-year terms on the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.
Politics
Does inequality drive corruption and unethical behavior?
By Benjamin Waddell /
Like their conservative predecessors, left-leaning presidents in Latin America have shown a tendency to fall for the vice of corruption. Recent studies argue the causes stem from more than just an absence of ethics but also high levels of inequality.