Greater America: A New Partnership in the Americas in the 21st Century by L. Scheman

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Synopsis

Can democracy develop in Latin America without United States assistance? Why should the United States care? Why is Latin America relevant to U.S. economic growth in global competition? In Greater America: A New Partnership for the Americas in the 21st Century L. Ronald Scheman argues that our future lies not in Europe, Asia, or the Middle East but right here in our own backyard—the Western Hemisphere.

He shows how the political and cultural legacy of colonization, immigration, assimilation and pluralism binds North, Central and South America, and how the trends in market growth and resources make the Americas a rich prize in global trade. Despite the tendency of many northerners to underestimate our ties, we are closer to our southern cousins than to any other societies. That relationship will be increasingly stronger given the growing and irrepressible influence of Latino and Caribbean populations in the U.S. For Latin America, the linkage to the U.S. is essential for attracting investment and creating the jobs necessary to overcome its oppressive heritage of poverty and to provide opportunity for a young population that will increasingly expect a better standard of living. Most important, Greater America demonstrates how closer ties with Latin America will help build a stronger U.S. economy while reducing illegal immigration and drug trafficking. He argues that only a NATO-like coalition in the Americas will defeat the drug traffickers, and that a major program to build infrastructure is essential to make trade agreements work.

This book celebrates the contribution of the Americas as one of the more important factors in the spread of humanfreedom in the last half millennium. It makes the case for the unlimited potential of the Americas and shows how it can be unleashed through greater political and economic integration.

Foreign Affairs

It remains one of the great mysteries why most people in the United States neither know nor care much about Latin America, despite geographic proximity and a long and deep history of U.S. involvement in the region. Scheman takes on that basic question in this comprehensive and well-argued text. Arthur Schlesinger has argued that U.S. interest in Latin America seems to peak and ebb in 30-year cycles; if the Schlesinger pattern holds, Latin America is scheduled to disappear once more from the U.S. radar. Scheman fears this will happen. He does not claim that Latin America should be central to U.S. foreign policy, but he does argue that several kinds of issues make it important to the United States — economic (open markets and transparency in commercial dealings); political (democracy and the rule of law); social (the challenges of poverty); and moral (respect for human rights) — and these, he shows, are issues that increasingly know no borders. Scheman asserts that the hemisphere needs new multilateral frameworks and institutions — the Organization of American States and the Inter-American Development Bank, he argues, are insufficient — but he ultimately wants Americans to think of America in broader terms, looking toward such goals as a greater American common market — a challenge indeed.

Biography

L. Ronald Scheman is Director General of the Inter-American Agency for Cooperation and Development. From 1993 to 1998, he served as the United States Executive Director of the Inter-American Development Bank. His previous books include The Foundations of Freedom, The Inter-American Dilemma, and The Alliance for Progress. He lives in Washington, D.C.