The Quebec Summit of the Americas

The times, they are a changing. Some thirty to forty years ago, thinking about development economics and Latin America, coming from Latin America by the likes of Andre Gunder Frank and Theotonio Dos Santos, among others, focused on dependency, or the idea that the poverty of Latin American States was directly related to their dependence on the international capitalist system.

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During the interim, the world changed, the nature of the Latin American state changed, and even the economic development thinking coming from Latin America changed.

A double dose of international capitalist realism hit the region in the 1970s. The contorted form of capitalism, the OPEC cartel oil price hikes, sent Latin American states down the road to bankruptcy. The Western financial institutions, their previous source of capital infusion, turned off the spigots. The combined debts of three states, Argentina, Brazil and Mexico were enough to potentially bankrupt the global financial system.

Times were tough and Latin American states partially worked their way through their financial crises by a series of fiscal and monetary policies, including reductions in government spending on social programs, increased exports of basic commodities, and the institution of reforms leading to the privatization of state owned industries. Having no where else on the political spectrum to turn, these same states also began turning or returning to democratic forms of government.

Dependency theories gradually moved from early heavily deterministic forms into more flexible theories of economic development based on incremental changes in local capital accumulation and the bargaining power of the state. Scholars turned statesmen, such as Brazillian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso, (Dependency and Development in Latin America) changed the tone of economic development dialogue in theory and practice, ushering in a new era of hemispheric capitalist cooperation among states in the region.

The new economic thinking turned practical on the week-end of April 20-22, 2001, as the heads of state from the thirty four democratic states in the hemisphere met in Quebec City, Canada for the third Summit of the Americas, to discuss, among other things, the movement to integrate Latin American States from Chile to Mexico into a classical capitalist association, The Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA).

Certainly there is no smooth transition from a distaste to embrace of capitalism among the peoples of Latin America. The world is experiencing another OPEC inspired oil price hike, and Latin Americans, among others, are considering the lessons learned by their Asian counterparts during their most recent financial crises, when the going gets tough, the capitalists get going. Still, capitalist economics is the official talk of the town.

While one heard little of environment in the early early years of dependency theory, environmental issues eventually did come to light, in theory and practice. Today it would be as impossible to attend an economic gathering without an environment dialogue as it would be to attend an environment gathering without an economic dialogue. It almost goes without saying that environmental topics are also the official and unofficial talk of Quebec City during the week-end. During a meeting of Environment Ministers of the Americas held during the last week of March 2001, four sets of official talking points were established.

• International Environment and Sustainable Development Issues - The ministers agreed on the need for more coordination between state, hemispheric and international activity in a range of environmental areas. There was less than complete agreement on coordinated activity in the area of climate change.
• Environmental Management and Innovation - The ministers agree on the need to find ways to promote cooperative activity between the public, industry and state in promoting economic development in a manner that does not place further stress on the environment.
• Environmental Health - The ministers agree on the need to continue to improve air and water quality as a sure way to improve the health of all citizens.
• Conservation of Biodiversity and Ecosystems - The ministers agree on the need to continue movement in areas such as capacity building and information sharing through regional institutions such as the recently created (1996) Inter-American Biodiversity Information Network and international institutions such as the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES) and the various international forestry forums.

In February, 2001, The United States Government also informally hosted a public participation meeting with members of the environment community to gather their thoughts on environment topics for the Quebec City Summit. Closely paralleling their ministerial counterparts, the group arrived at four potential environmental agenda items.

• Sustainable Development - Institutional initiatives such as creating new laws and enforcing existing laws that promote sustainable development are the theme of this section. Improving corporate accountability and citizen access to information on a timely basis were among the specific suggestions offered.
• Trade and the Environment - Participants agreed on the need to include of strong labor and environment standards in any agreement.
• Biodiversity and Ecosystem Conservation - Participants agreed on the need for continued cooperation with international and regional environmental initiatives, including the Inter-American Biodiversity Information Network.
• Environmental Security - Recognizing that environmental degradation promoted increased competition for a limited resource base such as water, participants agreed on the need to establish a system for identifying potential resource depletion areas in each member state that may cause future conflict.

© 1999-2001. Patricia A. Michaels. All rights reserved.