Spring Break
Panel discusses years of socialism in Latin America
Issue date: 4/10/08
A mix of students, faculty members and locals filled the Glass Pavilion on Wednesday night for a panel discussion of the rise of socialism in Latin America.
In keeping with the Foreign Affairs Symposium's theme, "A Decade of Discussion," the panel examined trends in economic, social, and political development in Latin America over the past 10 years.
First to speak among the panelists was James M. Roberts, a research fellow at the Heritage Foundation with 25 years of foreign service experience.
Roberts's opening statement drew chuckles from the crowd. "I feel like a parish priest serving communion in front of the pope," he said, referring to his fellow panelists Riorden Roett, director of Latin American Studies at SAIS, and Dan Restrepo, director of the Americas Project for the Center of American Progress.
Roberts's presentation consisted of a detailed PowerPoint of the 2008 Index of Economic Freedom, an annual study conducted by the Heritage Foundation used to measure the growth, decline and trends in economic openness of countries around the world. The greatest barriers that prevent Latin American countries from "catching up" economically, according to Roberts, are work rules that create jobs but keep prices high, zoning restrictions banning large-scale retailers from building factories and stores, government corruption and inefficiency and the absence of free trade.
"We take for granted that we have a system in place and have easy access to an advanced property rights system," Roberts said. "In Latin America the property rights system is woefully an impediment. Corruption overall is probably the biggest problem. People don't have faith in the government or the police. That is a major barrier to economic freedom."
The next panelist, Restrepo, warned against the tendency to overemphasize particular countries when evaluating Latin American politics.
"To understand Latin America through a prism that focuses on Hugo Chavez and socialism is not accurate," he said in his introduction. Restrepo cited several surveys conducted in Latin America that asked subjects to rate their ideology level from zero (extreme left) to 10 (extreme right). The study, Restrepo revealed, placed countries between 4.9 (Chile) and 5.8 (Colombia).
In keeping with the Foreign Affairs Symposium's theme, "A Decade of Discussion," the panel examined trends in economic, social, and political development in Latin America over the past 10 years.
First to speak among the panelists was James M. Roberts, a research fellow at the Heritage Foundation with 25 years of foreign service experience.
Roberts's opening statement drew chuckles from the crowd. "I feel like a parish priest serving communion in front of the pope," he said, referring to his fellow panelists Riorden Roett, director of Latin American Studies at SAIS, and Dan Restrepo, director of the Americas Project for the Center of American Progress.
Roberts's presentation consisted of a detailed PowerPoint of the 2008 Index of Economic Freedom, an annual study conducted by the Heritage Foundation used to measure the growth, decline and trends in economic openness of countries around the world. The greatest barriers that prevent Latin American countries from "catching up" economically, according to Roberts, are work rules that create jobs but keep prices high, zoning restrictions banning large-scale retailers from building factories and stores, government corruption and inefficiency and the absence of free trade.
"We take for granted that we have a system in place and have easy access to an advanced property rights system," Roberts said. "In Latin America the property rights system is woefully an impediment. Corruption overall is probably the biggest problem. People don't have faith in the government or the police. That is a major barrier to economic freedom."
The next panelist, Restrepo, warned against the tendency to overemphasize particular countries when evaluating Latin American politics.
"To understand Latin America through a prism that focuses on Hugo Chavez and socialism is not accurate," he said in his introduction. Restrepo cited several surveys conducted in Latin America that asked subjects to rate their ideology level from zero (extreme left) to 10 (extreme right). The study, Restrepo revealed, placed countries between 4.9 (Chile) and 5.8 (Colombia).
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