GDP of Countries in North and South America

Country GDP/capita (dollars)The USA 47,283Canada 46,214Uruguay 11,997

Chili 11,827Brazil 10,817

Mexico 9,565Argentina 9,138Colombia 6,273

Bolivia 1,858Nicaragua 1,126

Haiti 672

Source: IMF 2010

Demographic and Social Indicators 2011

North America

Central America

Caribbean South America

Birth rate (%) 12 21 18 18Infant Death Rate (%) 6 17 32 19Fertility rate (# children per woman)

1.9 2.4 2.4 2.1Life expectancy at birth

79 76 72 74Proportion of under 15 yr olds (%)

19 31 27 27

Source: Population et sociétés, n° 503, INED, September 2013)

HDI (Human Development Index) 2012

USA 0.937 Haiti 0.456Canada 0.911

World Average

0.693Latin America and Caribbean

0.740

Source: Human Development Report 2013, UNDP

Gini coefficient• Expressed as a number between 0 and

1 (or between 0 and 100)• 0 meaning perfect equality of income

distribution • The higher the number, the more

unequal the wealth distribution

GINI COEFFICIENT INDEX1. CANADA 33.7 10. PARAGUAY 482. U.S.A. 41.1 11. MEXICO 48.13. URUGUAY 41.3 12. COSTA RICA 48.64. EL SALVADOR 41.8 13. CHILE 50.85. ARGENTINA 43.6 14. PANAMA 51.96. PERU 45.3 15. GUATEMALA 52.47. DOMINICAN

REPUBLIC45.7 16. BRAZIL 52.7

8. BOLIVIA 46.6 17. COLUMBIA 53.59. ECUADOR 46.6 18. HONDURAS 57.4

Source: World Bank, 2012

C. Periphery Countries falling behind in development

1. Several Latin American countries are dominated peripheries– Some benefit from price explosions in raw

materials & rising demand for exports from Asian markets• Trinidad & Tobago – petroleum

– Majority suffer from weak economies with no added value • Tropical fruit, aquaculture in Ecuador and Central

America• Single export countries – e.g. Bauxite from Surinam

2. Major gap separating countryside from the city– Agriculture unequally competitive & often

for self-consumption– Previously flourishing in Cuba, severely

affected by fall of USSR & US embargo (now lifted)

– Coca crops for cocaine trafficking both an alternative and a blight

3. The Poorest Populations and States excluded from the globalized economy– Haiti one of least developed countries– Indigenous populations (60% in Bolivia

& Guatemala) first people struck by poverty

– Corruption slows down development– Natural disasters add to the vulnerable

situation (cyclones, earthquakes in Haiti & Honduras)

Poverty Rates in South America

•End of 20th C. more than 40% population below poverty rate

•Since 21st C, been reduced to 33%

•Chili: poverty rate cut in half, now less than 15%

•10 million Latin Americans middle class consumers

II. An increasingly integrated Continent

• Key Question: How do exchanges and cooperation reinforce continental integration?

A. Reinforcement of Regional Integration1. Integration of the Americas based on

regional economic agreements and free exchange– MERCOSUR and NAFTA are the 2 motors

of integration on the continent– Aim to eliminate customs barriers and

facilitate cross-border exchanges of goods and services

– Level of integration remains far inferior to the EU

Canada

European Union

Mexico

China

JapanRest of

the World

U.S.A.

Exportations and Importations of the United States

32

3719 145

6

19

7 13 12

19

17

Source: in % of exportations & importations, WTO, 2010

U.S.A.

European Union

Mexico

China

JapanRest of

the World

Canada

Exportations and Importations of Canada

18

1075 50

2

3

11

3 1 6

9

12

Source: in % of exportations & importations, WTO, 2010

U.S.A.

European Union

Canada

China

JapanRest of

the World

Mexico

Exportations and Importations of Mexico

Source: in % of exportations & importations, WTO, 2010

13

878 54

1

5

15

1 7 2

5

11

2. Less powerful alternatives to MERCOSUR & NAFTA– Andean community (CAN)

• Bolivia, Columbia, Ecuador, Peru– Pacific Alliance (right-wing/free-trade policies)– Central American Integration System (SICA)– Caribbean Community (CARICOM)

• 20 member states– Bolivian alliance for peoples of the Americas

(ALBA)

Bear testimony to the desire of small States to not depend exclusively on large regional powers

3. Organization of American States (OAS) – Unifies all States of the Western

Hemisphere– Political and security objective more

than economic• Promotion of democracy• Defense of human rights• Fighting drug trafficking and corruption

– 2 major issues not addressed• Environmental protection• Risk management

B. Intensification of Flows1. Regional economic groups favor

commercial exchanges– Values within MERCOSUR increased by

10 in 20 years– Exchanges very unequal & dominated

by Brazil– NAFTA exchanges similarly dominated

by US supremacy

2. Many exchanges occur outside of regional groups– 50% of migrants entering the US come from

the continentOrigins of immigrants to US– Money earned in US represents 30% of Haiti’s

and Guyana’s GDP and 15% of Honduras’ and Jamaica’s

– Mexicans living in US transferred record sum of $24 B towards their country of origin in 2007

Video: Migrant families divided at Mexican border, 2’30, Aljazeera

3. The Dynamics of Integration destabilize territories – Energy (hydrocarbons) and

transportation networks expanding rapidly

– Twin cities have emerged on most active borders due to the complementarities between States (Brazil-Uruguay; US-Mexico)

– Intensification of mobility in Tri-border area of Brazil, Argentina & Paraguay• New language emerging: mix between

Spanish & Portuguese

C. Limits of Integration1. Continent remains divided between

liberal economic model and anti-imperialist tendencies– Rise to power of politicians with anti-

capitalist positions demonstrates defiance of the populations towards free trade

– Bilateral agreements with the U.S. numerous (Dominican Republic, Chile, Mexico, Columbia)

2. Free Trade Area of the Americas (US initiative)on hold– Several countries have blocked the

process and created the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR ) in 2008• Joins the 12 countries of South America

primary aim: the energy integration of the region

3. Certain social groups remain particularly excluded from integration

– On the national scale, indigenous populations remain economically & politically marginalized (even when they represent the majority, e.g. Guatemala)

– On the continental scale, obstacles to the free circulation of people are common, e.g. US-Mexican border

III. The Americas: Between Tensions and Appeasement

Key Question: How have tensions recently evolved on

the American continent?

A. The Rejection of US Domination1. US Hegemony of Latin America is long-

lived– US foreign policy, legacy of the Monroe

Doctrine 1823 accompanied by the support of military regimes and banana republics (named after the support of the US firm – The United Fruit Company) during the Cold War

– Roosevelt Corollary• “walk softly and carry a big stick”

2. US Military Presence–Major US influence in the Caribbean

basin• Guantanamo Bay military base • 1961 embargo against Cuba lifted in 2014• Numerous Military interventions in last 50

years– Panama, Grenada, Nicaragua, etc…

• US army active in the struggle against drug trafficking

3. Anti-American Attitudes persist in several South American countries– Impact of the world crisis on economies

highly dependent on US consumer markets reinforced anti-imperialist axis embodied by Hugo Chavez

– Stability of American democracy continues to serve as a model and a powerful pole of attraction

B. Sources of tension: drugs and access to resources1. The Americas are confronted with

major social inequalities which lead to violence– Highest rates of homicide in the world• El Salvador, Honduras & Venezuela

– Armed gangs (maras) seminate violence from LA to Central America

– Property and access to land – major factors of dispute and violence in Bolivia & Paraguay

Maras: Violence common to many countries

Source: Clare Ribando Seelke, Gangs in America, Congressional Research Service, 2011

Country Estimated number of members per country

Honduras 60,000

El Salvador 20,000

USA 20,000

Guatemala 14,000

Nicaragua 4,500

Mexico 3,000

Costa Rica 2,600

Panama 1,380

Belize 100

2. Drug Trafficking – source of violence

– Impotence of Mexico to control drug cartels (criminal organizations) explains high crime rate in cities along the US Mexican border• Ciudad Juarez, Tijuana

And in Central America• Guatemala, El Salvador

busting bad - The Daily Show

3. Control of resources generates some conflict

– Oil is cause of tensions between US and Canada (Arctic) and between Venezuela and Guyana

– Bolivia demands access to the sea from Chile

– Argentina continues to demand its rights over the Falkland Islands from the UK – fishing waters

C. National and International Tensions towards appeasement1. In 1980’s democratization swept away

many Latin American dictatorships supported by the U.S.– Peace treaties put an end to civil wars (El

Salvador, Guatemala)– Columbia remains only country confronted

with an internal armed conflict (FARC)– Return to democracy favored the rise to

power of former guerilla soldiers (Nicaragua, Uruguay) or indigenous peoples (Bolivia, Peru)

2. International tensions on the continent are rare– Last conflict took place in 1995 on the

contested militarized border between Peru and Ecuador

– 2008 Columbian incursion in Ecuador during an offensive against the FARC led to diplomatic relations being cut off between the 2 countries

Ecuador vs. PeruThe region’s development has thus brought friction as well as progress. In 1995, an outbreak of intensive fighting between Ecuador and Peru led both countries to mobilize their military forces and prompted a regional diplomatic effort that included stationing a four-nation military observer force in the disputed area. In 1998, that territorial dispute, which originated in seventeenth-century Spanish colonial edicts, was definitively settled, but 1999 and 2000 saw the reemergence of a series of other long-standing disputes and the advent of a number of new controversies in Central America and in the northern part of South America. These disputes, and a few other latent ones, generally fall into one of two types: arguments over land boundaries that date from colonial times, and the much more modern maritime delimitation controversies that stem from changes in international maritime law and rivalries over the rich resources, real and imagined, of the world’s oceans.

Source: “Boundary Disputes in Latin America”, U.S. Institute of Peace, 2003

3. In contrast with the U.S., Latin America is the region which spends the least on national defense

– Latin American States are tied by no military alliance

– Armies in Chile, Brazil, Argentina & Uruguay have worked together in maintaining the peace missions (e.g. Haiti) where political instability remains strong

Reading

• Five Texts on blog (1 page each)– Bolivia no longer landlocked– Haiti peacekeeper forces– Mexican border factories– Mexican drug gang hires– Mexican drug gangs

BBC Video: Latin America’s economic boom explained