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Highlights of OLA Conference: "Beyond the Economic Crisis: Assessing Impact and Defining New Norms for Economic Policy in Latin America"
2-3 November, 2009 · The New School, New York

Summary

The Observatory on Latin America of the New School convened a two day conference November 2-3, 2009 in New York on the impact of the global economic crisis in Latin America, and the conclusions that can be drawn from the efforts of Latin American governments to mitigate the worst effects. Participants included present and former government officials from Latin America, representatives of the World Bank and the United Nations, leading academics, and NGO leaders.

The main conclusions from the conference were that the impacts of the crisis have varied considerably between countries, from contained impacts in Argentina, Brazil, and Chile, to more severe consequences in Mexico, depending on the character of government policies and measures. Governments which had pursued counter-cyclical and heterodox policies had managed to shield their economies from the worst effects of the crisis. The crisis had first affected the Latin American region through a drastic reduction in world trade and a squeeze on credit. This significantly reduced employment and incomes, pushing millions of people below the poverty line, while at the same time creating a crisis in public finance. The impacts are felt particularly in the urban areas of the region, rural populations dependent on production and export of commodities, and by the poorest people, including those in the informal sector.

Participants agreed that the global economic crisis offers an important opportunity to assess the utility of different approaches to governance and macro-economic management. The collapse of the Soviet bloc in 1989 and the years thereafter saw one group of countries experience economic failure and the triumphant claim of victory of capitalism and the West by others. In contrast, the current global crisis allows the assessment of country performance across all countries in the face of a common set of global financial and economic changes, channels of contagion and impact, and a series of financial, economic, social, and in the last analysis, political consequences across countries.

Within these broader debates, special attention should be given to the recent experience of Latin American countries that adopted "heterodox" economic policies. National elections over the period 2002-2009, involving three quarters of the Latin American electorate, have installed progressive governments, some of which have adopted a set of economic policies which have deliberately shifted away from the Washington Consensus policies of the 1990s. Prior to the onset of the global crisis in the second half of 2008, these governments enjoyed a five year period of historic levels of economic growth, with averages over 5 percent, and made significant progress in reducing poverty and inequality. The routes to these achievements have varied considerably, from strong social policy in Chile, to active employment policy, social expenditures, and public investment in Argentina, to fiscal policy measures in Uruguay.

Evidence now shows that these policies and measures have helped many Latin American countries considerably outperform the United States and most European countries in mitigating the impact of the crisis and in restarting their economies toward growth. This is well-demonstrated by the steep V curve representing recovery in Brazil versus the L curve of the United States and Europe. Some, but not all, Latin American economic managers seem to have learned from the negative results of policies which focused heavily on managing the fiscal deficit, deregulating markets, and leaving monetary policy to the pressures of the global economy. They have found alternative measures which have protected themselves from some exogenous changes and have been able to restore growth. Those who have not, such as the Calderon Government in Mexico, are suffering the most in the region from the global crisis, and the contracting U.S. economy has had a particularly strong impact.

The heterodox policies adopted in Latin America include counter-cyclical measures such as aggressively building reserves in Argentina, Brazil, and Chile, despite external advice from the IMF, the Paris Club, and private banks. An example is the four pillars of President Néstor Kirchner´s post-2001 crisis strategy in Argentina, which includes: privileging domestic needs over international obligations (including delaying debt repayments until urgent social needs at home have been addressed), strengthening the state, adopting pro-poor social expenditures including cash transfers to the poor, the elderly, and children, and allocating public expenditures for infrastructure. Similar approaches on a larger scale have been pursued by President Lula in Brazil, including tax incentives for investment, an active use of credit from the BNDES, and transfers to the poor. All of these policies contrasted sharply to the international advice from Washington which focused on management of the fiscal deficit.

Participants agreed that reducing the impact of the crisis, however, is only one objective. The real challenge is to reduce poverty and inequality as a precondition for both sustainable democracy and improved social and economic welfare. It is therefore necessary to examine how heterodox policies have responded to these challenges. It was agreed that record-setting levels of economic growth are a necessary, but insufficient, condition for significant reductions of poverty and inequality in the region. The conference also noted the importance of collective international action to reform global institutions and the regulation of the global economy and global finance.

Conference Highlights

The Conference participants were welcomed by Tim Marshall, Provost of the New School, and Michael Cohen, Director of the Observatory on Latin America and Director of the Graduate Program in International Affairs at the New School.

Recovery or Deepening Crisis for the Poor?

The first session included two presentations, the first by James Adams, Vice-President of the World Bank for East Asia and the Pacific, who spoke about the leading role of China in spurring world recovery, and the importance of the Chinese experience with its stimulus package. In the second presentation, Professor Deepak Nayyar, from the New School and Delhi, emphasized the impact of the crisis on the poorest countries and poorest people in the developing world. He noted that prior emphasis given by the international financial institutions to management of the fiscal deficit needed to give way to a broader understanding of the need for economic growth, capital creation, and the active role of the state in regulating markets and supporting the social sectors. He concluded by insisting on the need for reform of the global financial architecture and strong inter-governmental collective action.

Discussants included Floyd Norris, Chief Financial Writer for The New York Times, who noted the absence of discussion of currencies and monetary policy. He expressed concern about "financial protectionism". Sakiko Fukuda-Parr, Professor of International Affairs at the New School and former Director of the UNDP´s Human Development Reports, spoke about the impact of the crisis on the poor and the absence of special concern for the poor in the various stimulus packages that had been adopted. James Adams noted the lack of adequate data on the impacts on people in the poorest countries. Deepak Nayyar reiterated the need for more emphasis on domestic policies, rather than such a focus by governments on international perceptions of country performance.

Latin America: More than a Trade Crisis?

In the second session, José Antonio Ocampo, former Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations for Economic and Social Affairs and now a Professor of Economics at Columbia University, described the global crisis in Latin America as a trade crisis, induced by dropping trade volumes and prices of commodities, including copper and agricultural crops like soya. He focused heavily on the international dimensions of the crisis, and argued that the Latin American countries need to consider how to increase the domestic share of their economies, rather than be so vulnerable to external volatility. He cited countries such as Argentina, Brazil, and Colombia as countries more likely to succeed in this transformation. A lively discussion followed in which various country examples were cited.

Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico: The Diversity of Impact and Response

The third session was devoted to three country presentations:

Martin Abeles, former Secretary of Economic Policy of Argentina, spoke about the country´s recovery from the crisis of 2001, its high growth rates from 2003 to 2008, and its relative success in not experiencing a financial crisis or high unemployment. He mentioned the political difficulties resulting from the government?s efforts to maintain competitiveness, while also seeking revenue from highly profitable agricultural exports, to redistribute towards the poorest.

Nelson Barbosa, current Secretary of Economic Policy of Brazil, spoke of the countrys success in generating a rapid recovery from the first shock of the crisis by a combination of public spending, providing credit for consumption and investment, support for housing, and targeted payments to vulnerable groups. He also noted President Lula´s personal role in urging Brazilians not to let the economy contract by reducing consumption. In reality Brazil had achieved a very steep V curve in its recovery.

Juan Carlos Moreno Brid, from the UN Economic Commission on Latin America and the Caribbean, presented disturbing data on the heavy impact of the crisis on Mexico, with declining trade and remittances seriously affecting investment and savings, resulting in high unemployment and a major public crisis at the state and local level in Mexico. The Mexican example was clearly the most dramatically negative impact at a country level in the Latin American region.

The City: the Unrecognized Site of Impact and Recovery

In the opening session of the second day, Michael Cohen presented a paper on the role of cities in the crisis, noting that cities were major sites of impact of the crisis as well as sites for stimulating demand and recovery. However, based on an analysis of the stimulus packages adopted by the Latin American countries as well as those in the United States and a sample of other countries, he concluded that the remedies recommended by the G-20 and most governments had ignored the urban component. The U.S. plan, for example, seems to have allocated substantial resources to rural America rather than focus on cities and towns. This lack of targeting might help to explain the generally disappointing performance of such measures.

Agreeing with the conclusions of this paper, William Milberg, Professor of Economics at the New School, noted that it would be helpful to place the role of government stimulus packages and Keynesian measures into the historical framework provided by historian/philosopher Karl Polanyi who had written about the pendulum swings from state to market and back again. The session chair, Lisa Servon, Dean of the Milano School for Management and Urban Policy at the New School, noted the political dimension of the destination of funds as well as the channels used in the U.S. Martha Chen, Professor at the Kennedy School at Harvard, commented that the poor had not been considered in the design of stimulus packages. Margarita Gutman, Professor at the University of Buenos Aires and the New School, observed that there is a lack of attention by economists to the linkages between space and the economy. She suggested that it would be a useful follow up to this paper to try to systematically identify these linkages and, using experience from government and testing theory, see how the linkages, indicators, and multipliers actually work in practice.

The Crisis before the Crisis

The second session, chaired by Margarita Gutman, focused on a presentation by Martha Chen on the impact of the crisis on informal workers. She reported on a global study of a network of researchers in ten countries, including Chile, Mexico, and Perú, which examined the impact on waste pickers, home-based workers, day laborers, and other informal employment. The data demonstrated a strong contraction in the demand for these goods and services, notably including materials for waste recycling, a significant drop in prices for these goods and services, and a corresponding decline in incomes for some of the poorest people in developing countries. This has had a disproportionately large impact on women as well.

This presentation was followed by an active discussion initiated by Alberto Croce, President of Fundacion SES (Sustentabilidad, Educacion, y Solidaridad) from Argentina. Croce praised the study´s impact on the poor and emphasized the importance of asking how the crisis has affected the region and civil society, how does it specifically affect the poor, how has this happened in Latin America, and what has been done by civil society in response? He noted that these questions had been largely ignored by the G-20. Alberto Minujín, Fellow of OLA, mentioned the importance of disaggregating economic trends and impacts by gender and by age groups, specifically children. He also spoke about the middle class becoming poor, noting the importance of policies to address specific impacts. Martha Chen noted that both commentators had emphasized the fact that there had been a crisis before the crisis and that it is important to study these prior vulnerabilities and the real employment opportunities provided by the informal sector as well.

How to Regulate the Financial Sector

The next session, chaired by Teresa Ghilarducci, Director of the Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis at the New School, focused on the role of the financial sector at the global and regional level, with a presentation by Stephany Griffiths-Jones, an economist from Chile working at the Initiative for Policy Dialogue at Columbia University. She strongly emphasized the need to rethink the role of the financial sector and asked about the type of financial sector we want. The financial sector seems to be intrinsically flawed and overly sensitive to global changes, and it has not responded to the needs of people. She spoke about the need for financial regulation and the potential of public banks, She concluded by arguing that regulations have to be comprehensive, global and national, as well as cyclical, and thus provide an additional policy instrument.

This presentation led to a discussion about these recommendations with Robert Buckley, Managing Director of the Rockefeller Foundation. Buckley disagreed with the speaker and questioned the experience with public banks and the heavy and misguided role of regulation in many countries. Nelson Barbosa from Brazil argued that his country has had a very positive experience with public banks. Andrew Arato, Professor Sociology at the New School, remarked that the lessons of experience in Europe, and particularly Eastern Europe, had to be more fully understood in this discussion.

The End of Small Government

The next session, chaired by Professor Andrew Arato, involved a presentation by Jeff Madrick, Director of Research at the Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis and author of the recently acclaimed book, The Case for Big Government. Madrick addressed the issue of the role of the state through a discussion of the historical evolution of government in the United States and the pro-active role of government in the economic and social development of the country. He strongly criticized the ideological position developed by Milton Friedman, which has been adopted by both Republicans and Democrats, who accepted the historically incorrect thesis that the country was better off with less government and lower taxes. This talk led to an extended discussion on the need for an active government in both assuring that new crises were not precipitated by insufficient regulation and in helping the economy recover from the existing crisis.

Conclusion: Principles and Norms for Economic Management

The final session was a roundtable discussion chaired by Sakiko Fukuda-Parr and involved Deepak Nayyar, Martín Abeles, and Nelson Barbosa. Deepak Nayyar reflected on the norms and institutions at the international level and focused on the logic of international collective action, democratic structures of governance, and the need for new rules to manage the world economy. He argued that the foci of efforts on economic management is misplaced because they are means, not ends, asserting that economic growth and social progress should be the objectives. Public action should be focused on achieving these objectives, and ends should shape norms, not the other way around. The need for international collective action is more necessary than ever before, but there is little evidence that this is happening. To do so requires rethinking national sovereignty. Nayyar used the example of macro-economic management and explained how globalization of the world economy has forced the need for collective action to address what he called "global macro-economics". This requires both representation of the developing countries and their presence in decision-making, but now most of what is done is either by the market, or by the G 1, the United States. There is a need for an institutional mechanism.

Nayyar addressed the issue of democratic governance by arguing that the developing countries need to be included and not excluded in representation by the few large developed countries. He noted that representation is not just unequal, but it is also incomplete, including civil society or people. Decision-making is even less democratic and the peoples of poor countries need to be given a voice.

He concluded by examining the rules of the game in the international economy, which are largely set by the rich countries, observing that developing countries must be given the time and space to develop their capacity to work with and to affect the nature of the rules. Rights and obligations should not be symmetrical, but should favor countries which are economically weaker.

Martin Abeles complemented Nayyar´s presentation by going back to guidelines which would make macro-economics work for development in Latin America. He described a study undertaken by the Argentine government which concluded that unemployment did not correlate well with poverty, but employment did correlate with poverty, suggesting that poverty is also a production problem. Abeles elaborated on three policy issues: management of aggregate demand, management of credit for production purposes, and creation of policy space to deal with downturns. He concluded with the need to understand macro-prices and the avoidance of "Dutch disease", the syndrome by which economies with a preponderance of natural resources tend to develop distorted prices.

Nelson Barbosa concluded the session by considering economic policies from a political perspective. He started by discussing principles and argued that heterodoxy requires being able to adjust policies.

The first principle involves the role of the state and the need for the state to produce and maintain macro-economic stability, but it can be done in various ways. He quoted John Williamson´s recent statement that "the era of small government is over". These functions include: the state must regulate and supervise the market, including consumer protection and consumer rights; reducing inequality, which is especially important for Latin America and developing countries more generally; the state must provide public services such as health and education (despite the debates in the United States); and lastly, the state must promote development. The market tends to concentrate wealth and not to promote democratic development.

The second issue is the promotion of development, while allowing asymmetrical policies because countries start from different points. Developing countries will need to use industrial policies and these will conflict with free trade. This means more reliance on exchange rate management. This issue is already part of the international global system, as suggested by the agreements between the US and China -the G2- in management of their exchange rates.

Another global challenge is global warming, which will require global coordination. It´s a problem of relative prices which can be adjusted, but now, there is a major conflict between rich and poor countries. This could lead to "green protectionism".

Demographic change is another major issue. The world is aging, bringing new political problems such as pressures on budgets and policies towards migration.

Finally, political thinking must change. We have unifying principles as progressives, with many solutions to solving problems. This leads to the issue of political choice. We cant go back to earlier solutions. There is a need for catch phrases like "no one is left behind". We need to increase the power of government in the market because markets produce inequality and volatility.

Sakiko Fukuda-Parr ended the session by noting the complexity of international coordination. She noted that the Millennium Development Goals include reduction of poverty, but not inequality.

Michael Cohen concluded the conference by noting the diversity of individual country circumstances. He argued that the crisis is considerably beyond being solely a trade crisis, and that there is a need to look at both the micro and macro-economic levels. He referred to the earlier work of Hollis Chenery, who had argued in the 1970s, that development strategies had to be evaluated in terms of country differences. This led to a concluding observation that differences needed to be recognized both between and within countries. The latter focus also requires recognizing democracy as a critical dimension of economic management.

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Highlights of the Presidential Lecture with Dr. Tabaré Vázquez, President of Uruguay, “The Challenges of Progressive Governments in Latin America: the experience of the Frente Amplio administration in Uruguay”
September 21, 2009 · The New School, New York

In the last year of his term, President Tabaré Vázquez of Uruguay gave an overview of the economic and social policies that have been implemented during his term as President. He also discussed the process of integration in Latin America.

Tabaré Vázquez, an oncologist and former mayor of Montevideo, became the first Uruguayan Frente Amplio president in 2005, after winning more than 50% of the vote in the national elections. The Frente Amplio is a nacional coalition of progressive groups.

The President said that progressive recipes are the best for Latin American countries, and stated that "the right and conservative ideologies have shown they are unable to solve global problems like the energy crisis and climate change”.

Introduced by Professor Michael Cohen, Director of the Observatory on Latin America, and moderated by Bob Kerrey, President of The New School, the successful event was crowded with students, faculty, trustees, and individuals from the tri-state area’s Uruguayan community. The event was also broadcasted into a nearby room to accommodate the overwhelming interest in the President’s remarks.

In Pursuit of Equity

Vázquez highlighted that, even through the global financial crisis, Latin America has made progress on economic growth and poverty reduction. The President pointed out that these improvements have been the result of the recovery of democracy in the region, and the efforts of the governments to be more responsive, efficient and have a new role for the society.

However, he declared that progress is not enough, because Latin America is still the most unequal region of the world. Vázquez affirmed that one of the biggest challenges of Latin American progressive regimes is to reduce inequality. “If nations are historic constructions -and I think they are-, they are past, but also future. One of the unavoidable and urgent tasks is to reduce the inequalities that hinder growth so that we can build a future for all. There is no real economic growth based on the wealth of some and the needs of others”, Vázquez said.

Investing in Human Capital: social policies implemented by the Frente Amplio

Vázquez reviewed the achievements of his government in the economic and social areas. The President said that poverty in Uruguay decreased from 31.9% in 2005 to 20% today, and indigence fell from 3.9% to 1.5%. He stated that, during that period, more than 170,000 jobs were created, and unemployment fell from 18%, during the crisis of 2001-2002, to 6.9% today.

"In 2004, social investment represented 25% of the annual state budget. This year, it represents 49%. This increase may include the investment in infrastructure and services (because building roads and highways, expanding the sewerage and lighting systems, and improving transport services are also social policies)", Vázquez said.

A central part of his speech was dedicated to describe Plan Ceibal, a program that provided one laptop for every student and teacher in Uruguayan public schools (Watch video about Plan Ceibal) . This includes students with learning disabilities who receive computers that are specially designed to meet their needs.

Vázquez explained that Plan Ceibal is fully funded by the Uruguayan government, which has spent $100 million thus far in purchasing the computers. The government has also spent $15 million annually for maintenance and the continuity of the program (including an information portal for students and teachers, educational games spaces of interaction and, soon, a television signal). President Vázquez said that Plan Ceibal is a real revolution: “This plan is a unique educational transformation, a profound change in teaching and learning, a major advance towards equal opportunities from childhood”.

The Challenges of the Region

At the end of the lecture, Vázquez said that progressive regimes in Latin America face two major challenges: the advancement of governance and integration.

The President of Uruguay affirmed that the region has to make improvements in the democratic transformation of the state. He also said that it is necessary to reinforce the quality and efficiency of governance, to strengthen the political system, and to build social and political majorities that can sustain the necessary changes.

The other major challenge of Latin American progressive forces is to move ahead in the process of regional integration. "Throughout the world, there is no region more integrationist than Latin America. However, this does not always translate into facts and concrete progress", Vázquez said.

The President affirmed that he does not have an idyllic or dramatic vision of integration. He said he knows it is a complex process that takes time, perseverance, generosity and strategic thinking, but he also expressed his belief that each country can and should do more.

In this context, Vázquez wondered about the role of "Americans who are non-Latin Americans”, and expressed his optimism about the possibility of generating a new relationship between the United States and Latin America in order to leave behind a long and painful history of disagreements. “This is not to forget the past. It is about building the future of all, because it is the only possible future”, Vázquez said.

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Highlights of the Conference "The Future of US-Latin American Relations · False Choices and New Premises in USA Latin American Relations: Conclusions from a Symposium of Latin American Voices"
April 10, 2009 · The New School, New York

The Observatory on Latin America of the New School in New York convened a group of leaders, public figures, and academics from 6 Latin American countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, Mexico, and Uruguay, to discuss new opportunities for US-Latin American relations since the inauguration of the Obama Administration (see complete program of the conference).

The point of departure in this meeting was a review and discussion of recent reports produced by The Brookings Institution, the Council of Foreign Relations, the Americas Society, and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in anticipation of the new Administration and the April 2009 Summit of the Americas held in Trinidad Tobago.

The Conference

The conference was organized in three sessions. The first one, "Overview: Visions of US Latin American Relations", was chaired by Prof. Michael Cohen, director of the OLA. New York University Professor Greg Grandin opened the discussion presenting a summary of these reports and comparing these times to the Franklin Delano Roosevelt presidency, usually regarded as a "foundational moment for the United States diplomacy" and other historical periods. After his presentation, Ariel Bergamino, presidential advisor to President Tabaré Vázquez of Uruguay, analyzed the reasons of the permanent inability to establish good relations between the United States and the region. Bergamino identified the failure of the regional integration process as one of the explanations.

During this first session Lázaro Cárdenas, former governor of the Michoacan State, Mexico, recognized that the reports sought to defend US interests in the region and reflect on how to conciliate them with those of Latin America. Cárdenas advocated for a collaborative approach of regional affairs such as immigration and trade. Torcuato Di Tella, former Secretary of Culture in Argentina and political scientist, asserted that ideology cannot play a key role in hemispheric relations anymore, and focused on the importance of economic interests of countries. The last presentation of this session was by Joao Feres, Professor at the Instituto Universitario de Pesquisas do Río de Janeiro, Brazil. Feres questioned the consequences of thinking and representing Latin America as a unity without paying attention to the complexity of the region.

The second session was on economic relations in a time of global crisis and it was chaired by OLA Fellow Alberto Minujin. Ambassor Pablo Solón, Bolivian representative to the United Nations, pointed out that the key issue of these times is the discussion on the nature of the crisis: is it cyclical or systemic? He argued the current economic downturn is systemic and called for solutions taking this into account. Marcelo Brignoni, Member of the Provincial Chamber of Deputies of the Province of Santa Fe, Argentina, agreed with Solón's analysis and criticized the lack of discussion on poverty and inequality of the reports. Anwar Shaikh, professor at The New School and well-known Marxist economist, affirmed that the debate on diplomatic relations is crucial in these times because there is no way of talking about local problems without talking about global problems. On the economic context, he claimed that a paradigm shift is occurring in a chaotic way and advocated for also changing policies.

The last session, on US Relations with Progressive Regimes, was chaired by Prof. Margarita Gutman, director of the Bicentennial OLA Program. The main presentation was by Ambassador María Fernanda Espinosa, Ecuadorean representative to the United Nations, who advocated for a "democratization" of the agenda and called for a more active participation from Latin America. Espinosa affirmed countries of the region should consent on what the topics to be discussed should be and what are the minimum possible agreements. She also highlighted the fact that important voices of the region were not included in the report, such as the indigenous and afro-american populations. Jaime Sorín, Dean of the Faculty of Architecture, Design, and Urban Planning of the University of Buenos Aires and one of the founders of the Carta Abierta Movement, considered that what is missing is not an economic reform but a cultural change. He highlighted how South American countries worked together to overcome the crisis in Bolivia and called for reinforcing the integration process to deal with the relations with the US.

José Luis Valdés Ugalde, Director of the UNAM Center for Research on North America, Mexico, affirmed that the fundamental premise of the relations between the US and Latin America should be the recognition of the asymmetries. Valdés Ugalde considered the Obama administration needs a new approach to Latin American issues in order to recover its lost position in the region. Lastly, Federico Vázquez Calero, researcher-advisor at the UNDP Regional Project on Political Analysis and Prospective Scenarios, stressed the lack of discussion on democratic development in the reports, but considered there are some positive signs, such as the intellectual change in the US and Obama's emphasis on shared responsibility. However, Vázquez Calero admitted there are also some shadows over the prospective Latin American relations with Washington; among them, he pointed out the protectionist trend and some negative attitudes in the US towards the region.

Some Conclusions

Participants noted that these reports largely ignored the following factors:

With these concerns in mind, participants noted that the methodologies for the preparation of these reports were not clear, either in terms of the evidence used or the explicit presentation of their basic assumptions. Participants also noted that the people who participated in their preparation, including some Latin Americans living in the United States, did not represent the majority of assessments and feelings within Latin American countries.

The discussion further identified several false choices and asymmetries in the reports. Rejecting some of these choices and redefining the range of possibilities are key steps in establishing new premises for future relations between the United States and the countries of the region.

These included:

Within this broad framework of discussion, participants also noted the importance of resolving some outstanding disputes such as the United States blockade of Cuba which fundamentally hurts the Cuban people and is inconsistent with the United States' own foreign relations with other states.

While the participants in this day-long conversation were not asked to formally agree to either a single assessment of the current situation or specific arenas for productive change in US-Latin American relations, there was a clear broad convergence of views from individuals who included current and former government officials, elected representatives, and academics. The meeting demonstrated that reports prepared in the United States to suggest paths for new relations with Latin America were insufficient in failing to recognize and acknowledge important changes in thinking and official practice within the region. Moreover, this failure represented a failure to understand that the economic and political problems between the United States and Latin America are structural and not merely results of business or electoral cycles. As such, progress required both stronger efforts to understand the deeper origins and causes of current problems and to jointly identify solutions for the medium and longer-term.

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Highlights of the International Conference "Building Latin American Bicentennials in the Age of Globalization"
United States, New York

21 Universities and 12 Institutions from 12 Countries Participated

After the welcome remarks of Linda Dune, Dean of the New School for General Studies, the five awarded works were presented by their authors in front of an audience of students, professors, scholars, intellectuals, historians and specialists in Latin America. Among them, there were representatives of numerous institutions as the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM); Universidad Autónoma de Querétaro, México; FLACSO, Ecuador; Universidad de Buenos Aires; Universidad de Palermo, Buenos Aires; Universidad Central de Chile; Cambridge University, United Kingdom; Tulane University, New Orleans, USA; Tufts University, Boston, USA; Brown University, Providence, USA; New York University, New York, USA; City University of New York, New York, USA; Rutgers University, New Jersey, USA; Consulate General of Argentina in New York; Province 25, a group of Argentine who live in New York and the CEGA (Centro de Estudiantes y Graduados Argentinos en Estados Unidos).

Presentations and discussions

The presentations were contextualized from diverse regional and national perspectives that culminated with the discussion of future research on the Latin American bicentennials.

Regional Perspectives

At regional level, the Director of OLA, Dr. Michael Cohen, analyzed the impact of the financial global crisis on Latin America. Co-director Margarita Gutman discussed the meaning of the bicentennial commemorations in the progressive political context of numerous Latin American countries and the increasing number, modality and diversity of initiatives, agents, actors and localities involved. Fernando Carrión analyzed the contrast between the historical meanings of the centennials as a celebration of the conformation of the national states and the developing emergence in these bicentennials of considering questions related to local identities, the recognition of the other, of the history, the present and the building of the future.

Bicentennials as a new foundation: Bolivia and Ecuador

This regional perspective was enhanced by the contributions of the Permanent Ambassadors of Ecuador and Bolivia to the United Nations. María Fernanda Espinoza, of Ecuador, emphasized the need for recovering the building of a non essentialist, multinational and racially mixed nation that includes the migratory community within the framework of non-territorial democracies. She highlighted the concept of sovereignty as an element of resistance and survival, in the context of Latin American cultural, social and trade integration. Pablo Sólon Romero, of Bolivia, redefined this second centennial as a second independence process, as a cultural and democratic revolution which consequences mark a strong rupture between Bolivia and the centers of power. He also maintained that this second independence is linked to the process of Latin American regional integration, to the change of rules of global operation and to the rupture of the "spider webs" of domination.

Bicentennial Challenge: Social Inclusion

Also from a regional perspective, Bernardo Kliksberg (UNDP) analyzed the dramatic consequences of the international economic crisis on the Latin America societies and in particular on their poor population if neo-liberal policies and ethics are continued to be applied. He proposed the implementation of public policies framed in social ethics, as far as the answers to the crisis will be more effective in the most democratic societies.

Nations on the Eve of Bicentennials

From a national perspective, an analysis was held on the bicentennial activities on the move in Argentina (Rita Molinos), Mexico (Virginia Guedea), Ecuador (Fernando Carrión) and Chile (Patricio Gross), in relation to the initiatives of governments and national, state, and municipal institutions, as well as those carried out by the civil society, and their manifestation in urban design, social and cultural activities. Mike Wallace from CUNY presented the exhibition that will be held in the New York Historical Society on the life and influences of the Hispanic and Latin American communities throughout the history and development of the city.

Awards of the International Call

There were five authors awarded by the international call for papers and audiovisual presentations "Building Latin American Bicentennials in the Age of Globalization", carried out between April and September 2008.
Three of the awarded works concentrated on urban related research questions.

Luis Colón Llamas, in "To Represent the Nation in the Urban Space: Bogotá and the Celebration of the Centenary of the Independence", analyzed the symbolic readjustment of the ritual of the celebration and the process of "civilization" of the celebrations during the century XIX in Bogota, emphasizing the urban impact of the idea of progress in the celebrations.

Luis Inostroza Pino, in "The Celebration of the Bicentennial of the Republic in the End of the World. Works-Projects-Concepts", proposed the Bicentennial as the propitious date to "pay the debt" of the Centenary in Punta Arenas and the Chilean Magallanes region through the vindication of its urban patrimony.

On the other hand, the authors of the awarded audiovisual presentation "Plaza de Mayo: 200 years", Alberto Boselli and Graciela Raponi, represented the condensation of the national historical time in the physical space of the plaza, center of the civic life of Buenos Aires. They used digital assemblies of films, photographs, drawings, maps and journalistic articles.

The other two essays analyzed the role of media in the centenary and its possible impact in the construction of the bicentennial.

Andrea Cuarterolo, in "Building the Nation. The Argentine Fiction Cinema of the First Centennial", analyzed the prevailing ideological currents at that time - positivism and nationalism- and its manifestation in the documentary cinema and fiction.

Finally, Alejandra Niedermaier, in "The Visual Imaginary of a national project", examined the images of the Argentine centenary in a selection of massive magazines, postal and albums. The author discussed the possible use of the photographs and the images in the bicentennial.

The awarded works and presentations were commented on by Fernando Carrión (Flacso, Ecuador), Patricio Gross (Universidad Central, Chile), Virginia Guedea (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México -UNAM-, Mexico), Bernardo Kliksberg (UNDP, USA), Peter Lucas (The New School, USA), Brian McGrath (The New School, USA), Carol McMichael Reese (Tulane University, USA), Louise Noelle (UNAM, Mexico) and Thomas Reese (Tulane University, USA).

These five works were selected by an evaluation committee integrated by 31 specialists from 9 countries. The selection process involved evaluations by e-mail and three discussion rounds held in Buenos Aires, New York and Santiago de Chile.

Next activities

Finally, the future research topics of discussion for the biennium 2009-2010 were collectively discussed which detail and implementation will be presented in May 2009.

The Power Points presented in this conference will be accessible on the OLA website soon and a book is expected to be published by the end of 2009. The publication will include the contents of this conference, the five awarded essays, and seven honorary mentions by the international call for papers carried out between April and September of 2008.

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Results of the International Call for Submissions: Papers and Visual Presentations "Building Latin American Bicentennials in the Age of Globalization"

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Awards and Mentions

In the third and last round of evaluation celebrated in the Universidad Central de Chile on November 30th and December 1st, 2008, 5 awards and 7 honorable mentions were selected corresponding to the international call for papers and visual presentations "Building Latin American Bicentennials in the Age of Globalization"

The granted awards and honorable mentions were announced in a press conference held on December 2nd in the headquarters of the Universidad Central de Chile, Santiago. The results were announced by: the authorities of the Universidad Central de Chile represented by the Dean of the Facultad de Arquitectura, Urbanismo y Paisaje of the Universidad Central of Chile Eliana Israel, the Director of the Centro de Estudios del Patrimonio Patricio Gross and the researcher René Martinez Lemoine; the Director of the Observatory on Latin American (OLA) of The New School University of New York, Michael Cohen; the Dean of the Urbanismo de la Universidad de Buenos Aires (FADU UBA) Jaime Sorín; the representative of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) Virginia Guedea; the co-directors of the Bicentennials Program of FADU UBA Margarita Gutman and Rita Molinos and the general coordinator of the program Ileana Versace. Among the attendees were professors, students who participated in the project.

The following 5 essays and presentations were awarded:

N0037: Cuarterolo, Andrea. "Building the Nation. The Argentine Fiction Cinema of the First Centennial". (Essay)

N0070: Boselli, Alberto; Raponi, Graciela." Plaza de Mayo 200 Years". (Audiovisual)

N0083: Niedermaier, Alejandra. "The Visual Imagination of a National Project". (Essay)

N0097: Colón Llamas, Luis Carlos. "To Represent the Nation in the Urban Space: Bogotá and the Celebration of the Centenary of the Independence". (Essay)

N0101: Inostroza Pino, Luis. "The Celebration of the Bicentennial of the Republic in the End of the World. Works-Projects-Concepts". (Essay)

The following 7 essays obtained an honorable mention:

N0021: Cortés Aliaga, Gloria. "That's Offensive! The Cartoons of the Centennial and the Monuments to Spain". (Essay)

N0032: Giaudrone, Carla. "Cultural Memory and Visual Culture of the Centennial. Iconography of the Gaucho in Commemorative Albums of Argentina". (Essay)

N0035: Quiroz Rothe, Héctor. "Commemoration, Freedom and Citizenship". (Essay)

N0074: Condoleo, Sandra; González, Lydia; Zangrandi, Marcos. "Buenos Aires Celebrates the Centennial. Uncertainty and Splendor in a City Under Construction". (Essay)

N0075: Coutinho Marques Gives Silva, Rachel. "The Re-creation and Re-Modeling of City: The Plan and Ideology of the 1922 International Exposition of the Brazilian Independence Centennial in Rio de Janeiro". (Essay)

N0127: Valenzuela Levi, Nicolás. "Santiago de Chile: Two-hundred Years as Republican City, Against the Naturalization of the Urban Space". (Essay)

N0131: Garavelli, Clara. "Between the Binary Construction and the Uncertainty". (Essay)

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