We combed through all of our publications from 2018 and selected what we thought were the best ten articles that captured the trends and events of the past year.
In recent years, Vladimir Putin’s Russia has become increasingly strategically interested in Latin America. Despite clear geopolitical goals, the Kremlin’s relationship with the region has been marked by pragmatic realpolitik.
Though it’s unlikely to change anything, this is the first time the body has passed a resolution on Venezuela. There was also one shocking yes vote.
While a significant portion of the Latin American left continues to be driven by an anti-U.S., personalistic agenda, Lenin Moreno represents a principled branch of that left. The U.S. can and must learn to deal with leaders like him in a constructive fashion.
Like their conservative predecessors, left-leaning presidents in Latin America have shown a tendency to fall for the vice of corruption. Recent studies argue the causes stem from more than just an absence of ethics but also high levels of inequality.
Ecuador still has a long way to go to recover from a polarizing ten years under populist Rafael Correa, but the first eight months of Lenín Moreno’s presidency have re-confirmed the importance of succession and regularly held elections.
President Moreno may not be a newfound ally for the U.S., but he is a reminder that today the greatest challenges to U.S. interests in the region aren’t ideological but criminality, poor governance and populism.
The controversies swirling around the victory of Lenin Moreno’s narrow victory demonstrate why it’s important to have credible professional electoral observers.
Soon Rafael Correa will be an ex-president. Will he go calmly into presidential retirement or noisily wait in the wings for a future return?
Let’s be clear: NATO isn’t encroaching in the hemisphere, nor does China represent a stable path out of dependency for Latin America. The former is a convenient, traditional boogey man and the latter an ahistorical pipe dream.
