Americas Archives | Geopolitical Futures

Americas

The Americas constitute the entire Western Hemisphere but are dominated by the United States, which has long held the rest of the lands to its north and south in its sphere of influence. South America and the Caribbean are far less politically and geographically coherent than North America, and until that changes, they will continue to live in the shadow of their northern neighbor.

Washington’s New Economic Strategy in Latin America

Allison Fedirka - September 23, 2020

A few weeks ago, the head of the U.S. National Security Council – not a State Department official, as would normally be the protocol...

The Trouble With a Premature Vaccine

Alex Berezow - September 11, 2020

Hope is beginning to fade that the world will have a safe and effective coronavirus vaccine before the predicted “second wave” arrives that will...

What We’re Reading: Making America and the Caucasus

Allison Fedirka, Ekaterina Zolotova - September 8, 2020

American Nations: A History of Eleven Rival Regional Cultures by Colin Woodard There’s no denying a deep social divide exists in the United States. Most anyone...

Look North: A Short History of US-Colombian Relations

Allison Fedirka - August 20, 2020

Colombia is among the United States’ closest allies in the Western Hemisphere. For the past 200 years, the two countries have partnered in mutually...

Vaccine Nationalism Is an Exaggerated Threat

Alex Berezow - August 12, 2020

Nationalism is all the rage these days. Following decades of globalization, the pendulum has begun to swing back the other direction, triggering fears that...

The Truth About the US-China Thucydides Trap

FREE

George Friedman - July 14, 2020

We remember Thucydides as a historian thanks to his documentation of the Peloponnesian War, but we often forget that he was also a philosopher....

How Paraguay Gets By

Allison Fedirka - July 9, 2020

Not all countries are created equal. Geopolitics revolves around power – its acquisition, maintenance and loss relative to other countries. How much power a...

Will the Coronavirus Forge a Brave New World?

Alex Berezow - June 24, 2020

Of all the major geopolitical players on the planet, Mother Nature may be the toughest adversary. Nature has neither imperatives nor constraints to guide...

Latin America’s Place in the World

Allison Fedirka - June 17, 2020

Whether they like it or not, most countries are drawn into the international system in one way or another. For this reason, introducing the...

Mother Nature as a Geopolitical Force

Alex Berezow - June 3, 2020

History is biased, and not just because the victors tend to write it. The study of history is largely the study of humankind –...

The Geopolitics of the Americas

Colonial governance, production systems and transportations routes heavily shaped the economic and political development of the region well in to its post-colonial era of independence.

The Western Hemisphere has been dominated by the United States since the start of the 20th Century.

South America has struggled to produce a regional leader partly because no single country embodies the necessary qualities to become one. Brazil has the most potential, thanks to the size of its of territory, population, natural resource deposits and economy. Argentina is a counterweight to Brazilian influence in.

The modern governments are actually young and relatively inexperienced democracies. They are still refining their social contracts with their citizens.

Read Regional Assessment

Required Reads: The Americas

From our 2020 Forecast...

Brazil will use its weight and dominance in Mercosur to get Argentina to fall in line with Brasilia’s desired trade policies. There will likely be much resistance, and Brazil will then shift to questioning the utility of Mercosur to get Argentina to fall in line.