Latin American Report

Geopolitical Conflict around the Climate Emergency: The Case of Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon

Zoe Anna Elsner — Tue, 22 Jun 2021 00:00:00 +0000

The 2019 United Nations (UN) Climate Action Summit was challenged by controversies around increasing deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon. Perspectives from the global community, the Brazilian government and indigenous and forest communities were heard, presenting a complex landscape of multi-scale approaches towards the rain forest. This paper takes the controversies made visible at the summit as a starting point to unravel the complex field of deforestation as an integrated part of the climate-change debate. Firstly, it will give some insights into the current situation in the Brazilian Amazon and the conflicting perspectives. Then it will explore theories that have emerged around climate justice and equity, leading to a call for “burden sharing” aimed at assistance in climate matters for the Global South. It will continue by showing such efforts and will comment on their insufficiencies. It will use relevant literature to showcase how the example of the Brazilian Amazon is representative of a complex set of systems created by the Global North, set on their agenda. These multifaceted theories show a complex field—with a multitude of stakeholders—that is hard to negotiate. In this light, the text concludes that the current discourse, vilifying Bolsonaro, falls short of adequately addressing the complexity of the issue.

Echoes from the Global South: Reflections on the Student Public Intellectual, Hashtags and Neoliberal Themes in the #FeesMustFall Student Protests in South Africa (2015–2016)

Quraysha Bibi Ismail Sooliman — Tue, 22 Jun 2021 00:00:00 +0000

The student protests in South Africa (2015–2016) reflected multiple dimensions of the crisis in higher education. These included epistemic, economic, political, psychological and social dimensions, raising serious concerns about the social compact in a post-1994 South Africa. What I examine through an eclectic approach which incorporates a first-person methodology and critical discourse analysis are the nuances and meanings that surfaced when students captured specific events and then articulated the events and the unfolding experiences in a vocabulary that provided a translation for their emotions and pain. This was done by the students by both linking and challenging protest hashtags or referencing texts that had only recently become accessible to them. As they learnt, they shared, and as they shared they realised that there were others experiencing similar challenges, such as the student protests in Chile (2011–2012). Sharing experiences is an act of solidarity and the benefits of solidarity strengthened the language needed to articulate what the students encountered in specific moments. I show that the South African students echoed issues that were found in the higher education protests in Chile, whilst also drawing lines in the sand with regards to the challenges in their own lived context. What is most significant for me is that in both the South African and Chilean protests an interesting phenomenon is evident that has not been acknowledged—this is the rise of the student-academic public intellectual. This paper highlights these developments to challenge the narrative of “uncivilised” and violent black students by contextualising and animating their articulations, questions and their understanding of the ideology and system that was suffocating them.

BRICS and the Economics of Terrorism

Bhaso Ndzendze — Tue, 22 Jun 2021 00:00:00 +0000

This article investigates the effect of security perceptions on inward foreign direct investment (FDI) in the BRICS countries. To do so, it traces correlations between annual changes in BRICS countries’ scores in the Global Terrorism Index (GTI) and new FDI influxes over the 2008–2018 period. I note differences in correlations between GTI and new FDI; for Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, the Pearson r correlation scores were ?0.903, ?0.7783, ?0.2793, ?0.2766, and -0.6309, respectively. Thus, the apparent role of low terrorism as a prerequisite for new FDI influxes is most demonstrable for Brazil, Russia, and South Africa. It is less significant for India and China, though still adversely correlated. The article discusses the causes of these intra-BRICS differences through the prism of the prevalent literature and case-specific factors and explores their implications. Examining whether terrorism is enough of an economic threat to justify allowing potentially intrusive BRICS-wide cooperation, this study’s findings imply that terrorism has not been a weighty enough threat to garner policy support behind such cooperation in the time studied.

Exploring the Underlying Drivers of Transnational Terrorism in Africa’s Sahel Region and Counter-terrorism Policy Interventions

Sikhumbuzo Zondi — Mon, 13 Sep 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Contemporary global affairs are faced with one of the most malicious phenomena in human history that has evolved over time at a pace unrivalled by its present outlook. Terrorism and the war against it have come to define the age in which we live. Threats of terrorist attacks and counterterrorism interventions are now part of our daily lives from Paris to Bamako, from New York to Ouagadougou and from Indonesia to Mauritania. Transnational terrorism is redefining the international security landscape and, in the Sahel, this phenomenon has made its existence felt on the security and stability of the region, owing largely to other pressing factors that the study identifies as preconditions and determinant drivers of terrorism. These preconditions and determinants are categorised into structural drivers, enabling drivers, stimulating drivers and precipitating drivers of terrorism. The paper is a qualitative analysis of existing literature on the drivers and counter-policy interventions on transnational terrorism in the Sahel. The paper begins by unpacking reasons for adopting the underlying drivers approach to terrorism in the Sahel. It then provides a brief background and origins of terror in the Sahel, followed by a detailed examination of the underlying drivers of terrorism in the region. The paper concludes by highlighting policy interventions ushered in by relevant actors in the region.

What kind of post COVID-19 Recovery? Unpacking the World Economic Forum’s Reset 2021 report.

Ashraf Patel — Tue, 22 Jun 2021 00:00:00 +0000

The global Covid-19 pandemic crisis is the gravest global disaster of modern times. Above all it is important to reflect on the sustainability of the mode of hyper globalization of the past three decades, which was witnessed throughmultiple interconnectedness of global-regional-national-local value chains, enabled by the internet digital economy, offshoring, outsourcing, rapid urbanization and a borderless world of travel and commerce. It is Globalization that enabled the rapid ‘warp like’ spread of the Covid-19 pandemic, destroying over 2 million lives and disrupting every nation and economy. Humanity was presented with a unique opportunity to cooperate with the United Nations (UN) around a common historical crisis. Sadly, it rapidly descended into a mostly rabid nationalistic form of vaccine nationalism and selfishness, which became the moniker of international relations, especially with regards to the Covid-19 vaccine development, starkly divided by geopolitics and mistrust

The Impact of Covid-19 and the Rise of Nationalism in Global Politics

Kagiso Mkonza — Tue, 22 Jun 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Prior to the global Covid-19 outbreak, the rise of nationalism had started to reshape global politics; nationalism in political discourse has strengthened across the world, especially in Europe through the successful rise of nationalist and populist political parties in Italy, Austria, Hungary, France, and Germany. Nationalist rhetoric has become normatively acceptable, from USA President Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” to Brexit, and what others might label “populist” government positions driven by political parties of countries such as South Africa, China, and India.

Can ASEAN Play a Leading Role in Resolving Myanmar’s Crisis?

Kenny Dlamini — Tue, 22 Jun 2021 00:00:00 +0000

On 2 March 2021 representatives from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member states convened a meeting to discuss the situation in Myanmar following the military coup on 1 February 2021 where the Myanmar civilian government was toppled by the military junta. The outcome of the meeting did not deviate from the bloc’s traditional response of non-interference; they strongly encouraged all parties concerned to seek a peaceful solution through constructive dialogue and practical reconciliation in the interests of the people and their livelihood.

Latin America and the Caribbean: Trends Outlook for Quarter 1, 2020

Arina Muresan — Tue, 22 Jun 2021 00:00:00 +0000

A mixed bag of opportunities and risks impacts on Latin America and the Caribbean’s (LAC) ability to create an image as a stable environment for business and investment, and this is further impacted by the enormous challenge posed by the Covid-19 pandemic. The increase in populist leaders, social unrest, corruption, climate change, drug-related issues and poverty have been a direct consequence of forced migration, organised crime, and governance maladministration. These issues have further impacted foreign policies of the LAC and its ability to converge as a region, and coupled with extreme climate events and fires devastating biodiverse areas, create a pessimistic image of otherwise optimistic societies. Many of the practical challenges in observing the LAC are due to language barriers and viewing the region through particular lenses that are already informed by an agenda. This report considers the regional developments through a discussion of pro-democracy protests and elections, security, gender trends, mass protests on rising costs and lack of service delivery for the marginalised, economic and financial matters, and heightening environmental concerns.