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Back to the Negotiating Table: Renewed Prospects of an EU-Mercosur Free Trade Agreement

Justin Kopek ˙ ˙ Voces

Photo of Lula and Scholz REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino
In June 2019, after two decades of on and off negotiations, the European Union and Mercosur, the South American customs union consisting of Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay, reached an agreement to dramatically expand economic cooperation between the two blocs. This unprecedented free trade agreement would not only eliminate over…Read more +

Few Changes After Argentina’s Legislative Elections

Bruno Binetti, Gastón Ocampo ˙ ˙ Voces

Fernández habla en movilización del Frente de Todos Twitter / Alberto Fernandez
On the night of November 14, Argentine President Alberto Fernández euphorically celebrated an electoral defeat. Earlier that day, in the legislative elections, the ruling Peronist coalition –Frente de Todos– obtained only 33.5 percent of the national vote against 42 percent of the opposition coalition Juntos por el Cambio. Why was the president celebrating, then, apart from lifting the spirits of Peronist supporters?Read more +

Chile’s Coal Phase-Out: Opportunities for a Just Transition

Sarah Phillips, Ignacio Albe ˙ ˙ Voces

Smokestacks at a power plant Nick Humphries / Flickr / CC BY-NC-ND 3.0
Chile’s initiative to fully phase out coal generation by 2040 will be critical for the Southern Cone country to comply with its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement. However, despite the urgency of slashing Chile’s emissions, ensuring that coal workers are not economically abandoned in the process exemplifies one of the main challenges for policymakers surrounding the just transition.Read more +

Chile’s Constitutional Convention: The Ascent of the Anti-Establishment Left and the Death of the Moderate Center

William Skewes-Cox ˙ ˙ Voces

Chilean protesters on the street in 2019 holding signs that say Daniel Correa / Flickr / CC BY 2.0
The failure of the right to obtain sufficient seats for a veto, the near total rejection of the moderate parties that historically have governed Chile, and the stunning power of anti-establishment, independent leftists all point towards a Convention that will draft a thoroughly leftist new constitution.Read more +

The Unthinkable Crisis: Chile 2019

Lucía Dammert ˙ ˙ Voces

Flickr / Rodrigo Vera
In Chile, the second government of Sebastian Piñera in 2018 was viewed as the end of a cycle – the return of the Latin American right, together with Macri in Argentina, Duque in Colombia, and PPK in Peru. In Chile, the main threat in the presidential elections was seen as…Read more +

Argentina: Back to Normal

Bruno Binetti ˙ ˙ Voces

Casa Rosada/ Flickr / CC BY-SA 2.0
Mauricio Macri’s failure confirms that there seems to be no politically sustainable way to open up and reform Argentina’s economy. The long-term benefits of liberalizing, improving competitiveness and reducing fiscal spending might be clear in theory, but the immediate social costs of these policies are simply too high for Argentines to bear.Read more +

Remaking US-Brazilian Relations: The Odyssey of Trump and Bolsonaro

Peter Hakim ˙ ˙ Voces

Palácio do Planalto / Flickr / CC BY 2.0
It is hard to imagine exactly what kind of deal Bolsonaro and Trump, both anomalous, unconventional leaders, drawn to one another mainly by temperament and ideology, could strike with another. Could they really end up accomplishing what previous governments in both countries had failed to achieve? Could they forge an alliance between two countries that have long maintained a rather distant and often distrustful relationship?Read more +

Turning Back the Clock in Latin America

Tamar Ziff, Consuelo Benavente ˙ ˙ Voces

nefasth / Flickr / CC BY-SA 2.0
Even in more stable countries like Chile, disaffection with democracy pervades. Democracy in Latin America is and will always be an evolving issue. In November 2018, a Latinobarometro poll showed that only 48% of Latin Americans believed in democracy as the best form of government, the lowest percentage in decades. One of the more…Read more +

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