United States | President , Inter-American Dialogue
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Michael Shifter is president of the Inter-American Dialogue. He was previously vice president for policy and director of the Dialogue’s democratic governance program. Since 1994, Shifter has played a key role in shaping the Dialogue’s agenda, commissioning policy-relevant articles and reports.
Shifter writes and talks widely on US-Latin American relations and hemispheric affairs. His recent articles have appeared in The New York Times, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, Financial Times, Current History, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, Miami Herald, Journal of Democracy, Harvard International Review and in newspapers and journals in Colombia, Peru, Mexico, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Jamaica, Chile, Panama, Argentina and Brazil. He is often interviewed by US, Latin American, European and Chinese media, and appears frequently on CNN and BBC. Shifter has lectured about hemispheric policy at leading universities in Latin America and Europe and has testified regularly before the US Congress about US policy towards Latin America and the Caribbean.
Prior to joining the Dialogue, Shifter directed the Latin American and Caribbean program at the National Endowment for Democracy and, before that, the Ford Foundation’s governance and human rights program in the Andean region and Southern Cone, where he was based, first, in Lima, Peru and then in Santiago, Chile. In the 1980s, he was representative in Brazil with the Inter-American Foundation, and also worked at the Woodrow Wilson Center’s Latin American Program.
Since 1993, Shifter has been an adjunct professor at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, where he teaches Latin American politics. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Latin American Studies Association and is a contributing editor to Current History. He has served on the Board of Directors of the Washington Office on Latin America and on the Advisory Committee of Human Rights Watch/Americas Division, and the Social Science Foundation of the Graduate School of International Relations at the University of Denver.
Shifter graduated Phi Beta Kappa and Summa Cum Laude from Oberlin College and holds a MA in sociology from Harvard University, where he taught Latin American development and politics for four years.
After a divisive campaign season and unprecedented election year marked by the Covid-19 pandemic, Joe Biden will be sworn in tomorrow as the 46th president of the United States of America. What implications will his presidency have for US foreign policy, particularly in Latin America? Our experts share their opinions in these quotes, op-eds, interviews, and Q&As from the Latin America Advisor.
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En entrevista con El Washington Post, él podcast en español de The Washington Post, Michael Shifter comentó acerca de la inclusión de Cuba en la lista de países patrocinadores del terrorismo y las implicaciones que esto tendrá para la administración Biden.
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Michael Shifter, presidente del Diálogo Interamericano, conversó con Carolay Morales de Radio Cadena Nacional sobre las implicaciones del asalto al Capitolio en Washington, DC por parte de grupos extremistas el pasado 6 de enero. También se tocaron temas como la decisión tomada por el gobierno saliente de Donald Trump de incluir nuevamente a Cuba en la lista de países que apoyan el terrorismo.
The country is perhaps more profoundly and bitterly polarized than ever, with a high level of mutual distrust. Trumpism proved not to be a fleeting phenomenon, but a movement that is likely to persist and be part of the US political landscape for some time.
Brent Scowcroft was truly one of the giants of the US foreign policy establishment. We admire his wisdom, prowess as a strategist, and humility as a person. Like few others, he understood the importance of building and sustaining US alliances and respectful relations. At the Dialogue, we are inspired by Scowcroft’s rich legacy.
What the Bush administration showed is how crucial “style” is in diplomacy. Genuine and regular consultations are key to building trust and a sense of community. This is true generally, but especially so in Latin America, where the asymmetry with the United States is so pronounced and has strongly shaped inter-American relations, often with unhappy results.
Hernández did everything the Trump administration asked on immigration, and he got a free pass on corruption issues. Now [under the Biden administration], he won’t get a free pass. It will be a radical shift.
Repairing the substantial damage to US image in the world and regaining credibility on democracy issues will be tough and take a long time, even under the best scenario.
