FOCAL POINT

Note from the Editor - A Summit of the Americas for Canadians
Peter Moore
For many Canadians, the Summit of the Americas was a one-time event that happened in Quebec City in April 2001. There were a lot of protesters and police in the street, separated by a fence and clouds of tear gas. The silver lining of this event—aside from linking democracy as a criterion to membership in the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas—was that it forced Canadians to ask that critical question: beyond the U.S., what is our place in the Americas? The Quebec Summit opened Canadians up to the idea that their historical affiliations in Europe and crucial modern alliance to the United States might not be enough or all that Canada can or should be.
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Making the Fifth Summit the Finest So Far
Richard Feinberg
The 2005 Summit of the Americas in Mar del Plata, Argentina was made a shambles by a duplicitous host government, an out-of-control Hugo Chávez, and an inept delegation from the United States. That Fourth Summit also lacked compelling themes with tangible supportive initiatives. Nor were there significant roles for private business and non-governmental organizations. These are the serious errors that the organizers for the important Fifth Summit, scheduled for Trinidad and Tobago next spring, must plan to avoid.
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Why We Are Together
Peter Hakim
In his book, City of Words, Argentine-Canadian essayist Alberto Manguel focuses on the question “Why are we together?”, referring to the long-standing inclination of humans to congregate. That is also the question that the Western Hemisphere’s 34 elected heads of state will have to answer when they assemble next April in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago for the Fifth Summit of the Americas.
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The Fifth Summit Needs a Big Idea to Stay Relevant
Paul Haslam
In many ways we can view the Summits of the Americas as performance art—a theatrical reiteration of Arthur Whitaker’s Western Hemisphere Idea—that enacts the notion that we, the nations of the Americas, share a common history and common destiny. It is this idea that forms the foundation of the current institutions of the inter-American system, such as the Organization of American States (OAS) and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). But the Americas have always been cross-cut by alternative ideas that, since Simón Bolivar, have sought to undermine the Western Hemisphere Idea. Pan-Americanism and Bolivarianism are such ideas. They find their institutional manifestation in institutions such as the Rio Group and now Unasur, and have coexisted with the inter-American institutions, at times rising to challenge them, and, at times, sinking into obscurity.
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Summit Reform: Taking A Deeper Look
Racquel Smith
On July 24, Trinidad and Tobago’s ambassador to the Organization of American States (OAS) unveiled the Draft Declaration of Commitment for the Fifth Summit of the Americas to be held in Port of Spain next April. The draft declaration marks a break from the past by targeting measurable Summit mandates, over specified time periods, with institutions assigned or encouraged to start finding the most efficient ways to work together and avoid duplication of efforts in fulfilling Summit commitments. Though the commitments in this document are more focused in scope and on issues of paramount relevance to the region as a whole, it will be a big job to get done. The OAS, Inter-American Development Bank, country ministries and the various other institutions identified for collaborating on the work outlined could also partner with civil society. Civil society is still often the last place people look to for solutions, but on a working methodology for Summit implementation they might be the first to ask.
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Energy Security and Energy Cooperation in the Americas
Anthony T. Bryan
The upcoming Fifth Summit of the Americas Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) is an appropriate locale for the discussion of hemispheric issues of energy and energy security. T&T’s hydrocarbon resources and natural gas reserves have made it the most industrialized country in the Caribbean. It is a mature petroleum economy and the world’s first natural gas economy, supplying 70 per cent of U.S. imports of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG). It is also the world’s major producer of methanol and ammonia. T&T’s democratic political stability; the ability of successive governments to understand, drive, and orchestrate the technocratic human talent in the service of the energy sector; and its consistently positive attitude toward foreign investment in the energy sector are ingredients Summit delegates should note.
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The OAS at Sixty: Renaissance or Senescence?
John W. Graham
Estimates place more than 28 million Latin Americans and Caribbean peoples living outside their country of origin. Although 79 per cent of migrants from the region go to high-income OECD countries, according to Dilip Ratha of the World Bank, migration researchers and development and social policy specialists are increasingly focusing on South-South migration flows in the Americas: Nicaraguans to Costa Rica, Paraguayans to Argentina, Bolivians to Chile, Haitians to the Dominican Republic. Much remains unknown about migrants’ access to social services and the portability of social security and health benefits across the region.
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Letter to the Editor
Jamie Kneen
Estimates place more than 28 million Latin Americans and Caribbean peoples living outside their country of origin. Although 79 per cent of migrants from the region go to high-income OECD countries, according to Dilip Ratha of the World Bank, migration researchers and development and social policy specialists are increasingly focusing on South-South migration flows in the Americas: Nicaraguans to Costa Rica, Paraguayans to Argentina, Bolivians to Chile, Haitians to the Dominican Republic. Much remains unknown about migrants’ access to social services and the portability of social security and health benefits across the region.
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News Briefs

Facts and Figures

Summit Fatigue?