Kursthemen
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The agenda of salient issues in relations between the United States and the diverse countries of Latin America and the Caribbean has become much more diverse and complex in recent years. Below, I am listing a number of different issues that are important in specific or multiple bilateral and sub-regional relations with the United States. Seminar participants will divide responsibility for becoming knowledgeable about the basic structure of each agenda item, who is affected and how, what interests are engaged both in specific Latin-American countries and in the US, how policies are made and by whom on each side, what the prospects are for greater cooperation or increased conflict regarding each issue, and how the issues might be managed. Each participant will prepare a short (6-8 pages) briefing memorandum and present it orally for discussion at the seminar.
1- Changing concepts of security, including citizen security, environmental security, food security, health security, as well as traditional military security, cyber security, counterterrorism.
2- Illicit trafficking and gross corruption
3- Trade and investment
4- Energy and sustainability
5- Human Rights and democratic governance
6- Environment and climate change
7- Migration flows and immigration policy
8- Public health, health security and contagious disease
9- “Intermestic” issues
10 – Improving mutual comprehension in the Americas
Suggested initial readings on each topic will be provided.
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Sobre Intermestic Issues
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Concluding session
The final session of our seminar will be devoted to discussing the main points we have learned together and how they might influence our thinking about future scenarios and policy options. There will also be a discussion about how best to prepare the final assignment for the seminar, which must be submitted by e-mail to prof. Lowenthal by June 29th.
Each participant in the seminar will be asked to write a memorandum directed to the president or foreign minister of a specific Latin-American country, reviewing current issues between that country and the United States as of January 1st 2019. The memorandum should outline the premises and objectives of that country’s policies toward the United States, and of the policies of the United States toward the specific country. Each memorandum should spell out the underlying political circumstances in the United States and in the chosen Latin American country as of December 31st 2018, by using your imaginative and predictive capacities, but without taking leave of foreseeable reality.
The memorandum should specify important national, sectorial, or particular interests shaping national policy and how these interests will affect the policy process. It should outline: (1) the opportunities to develop and implement more effective policies in order to promote its main interests; (2) the means and instruments recommended to move forward on such initiatives; (3) the obstacles to achieving the desired goals, and (4) how such obstacles could be overcome.
- The memorandum should be no less than 12 double-spaced pages and no more that 24 double-spaced pages (if you furnish more than 24 pages, please tell me which 24 to read…).
- It should include a bibliography of works actually consulted. Specific data should be footnoted, but the emphasis should be on developing your own line of analysis and argument, not on summarizing someone else’s work.
- Make sure your memorandum is concisely written and not repetitive. It should be well organized with an introductory précis that summarizes the fundamental argument in one or two paragraphs, and it should conclude with operational recommendations addressed to a specific official with the authority to act upon the recommendations.