This Element develops a new Strategic Capabilities Framework for studying and steering complex socio-ecological systems. It is driven by the central question of what are the most essential capabilities that ought to be fostered for addressing the fundamental 21st Century environmental challenges and Earth system transformations. The author's objective is to innovate transformative ideas toward better climate and ocean governance that are of interest both to academics and policymakers in th...

This book provides an analysis of the recent governance of the Amazon in Brazil, Peru, Bolivia and Colombia with a particular focus on deforestation processes, demonstrating that current policies and political and socioeconomic dynamics in the four countries are risking the forest’s resilience.The authors examine and compare Amazonian politics and policies under different administrations, concentrating on the main actors, policies and dynamics that have affected the region, as well...

Climate change is increasingly a part of the human experience. As the problem worsens, the cooperative dilemma that the issue carries has become evident: climate change is a complex problem that systematically gets insufficient answers from the international system.This book offers an assessment of Brazil’s role in the global political economy of climate change. The authors, Eduardo Viola and Matías Franchini expertly review and answer the most common and widely cited questions on ...

The Brazil-United States relations represent a huge potential, but in recent decades have suffered from lack of communication and understanding between academics and policymakers from both countries. This book goes a long way towards demystifyingthis relationship. Covering from the final decades of the 19th century until the period of the Rousseff and Obama administrations,the work apprehends the political, economic and diplomatic contexts that define the present day.

Brazil is the world's sixth-largest economy, and for the first three-quarters of the twentieth century was one of the fastest-growing countries in the world. While the country underwent two decades of unrelenting decline from 1975 to 1994, the economy has rebounded dramatically. How did this nation become an emerging power? Brazil in Transition looks at the factors behind why this particular country has successfully progressed up the economic development ladder. The authors examin...

This book argues that Latin America has a distinctive, enduring form of hierarchical capitalism characterized by multinational corporations, diversified business groups, low skills and segmented labor markets. Over time, institutional complementarities knit features of corporate governance and labor markets together and thus contribute to institutional resiliency. Political systems generally favored elites and insiders who further reinforced existing institutions and complementarities. Hie...

This publication fills the increasing demand for analyses about the Brazilian diplomacy, from the best comprehension of theBrazilian positioning in non-proliferation treaties to the Additional Protocol of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), or the Brazilian attitude toward themes of the Doha Round, and the difficulties that occasionally rise with Paraguay regarding Itaipu. The author links theory to the practice and to the power realities and makes predictions and judgments base...

In this compelling and comprehensive look at the rise of Evo Morales and Bolivia’s Movimiento al Socialismo (MAS), Linda Farthing and Benjamin Kohl offer a thoughtful evaluation of the transformations ushered in by the western hemisphere’s first contemporary indigenous president. Accessible to all readers, Evo’s Bolivia not only charts Evo’s rise to power but also offers a history of and context for the MAS revolution’s place in the rising “pink tide” of the political left. Farthi...

In 2004, the United States, five Central American countries, and the Dominican Republic signed the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), signaling the region’s commitment to a neoliberal economic model. For many, however, neoliberalism had lost its luster as the new century dawned, and resistance movements began to gather force. Contesting Trade in Central America is the first book-length study of the debate over CAFTA, tracing the agreement’s drafting, its passage, and i...

Bolivia decentralized in an effort to deepen democracy, improve public services, and make government more accountable. Unlike many countries, Bolivia succeeded. Over the past generation, public investment shifted dramatically toward primary services and resource distribution became far more equitable, partly due to the creation of new local governments. Many municipalities responded to decentralization with transparent, accountable government, yet others suffered ineptitude, corruption, or...

Paradise may have been found in the Western Amazon, but it is on the brink of destruction. Oil in the Soil analyzes the campaign to save the Ishpingo-Tambococha-Tiputini (ITT) block of Yasuní National Park in Ecuador's Amazon and the global networks that have resulted in one of the world's most innovative plans to save the Amazon and other biodiverse places on our planet. Pamela L. Martin examines the path-breaking global environmental governance mechanisms that have resulted from...

Brazil has suddenly become a country of interest to the West, playing a critical role in global economic talks at the G20 and WTO, brokering North-South relations through its new international economic geography, and stepping into regional and global security questions through its activities in Haiti, Paraguay and the nuclear question in Iran. This book explains why Brazil is taking an increasingly prominent international role, how it conducts and plans its regional and global interactions...