This volume offers a concise and accessible overview of the promotion and defence of democracy in the Americas, examining the nature of challenges to democracy in Latin America, the role of regional organizations as democracy promoters, and the transformation of Inter-American relations. Taking the Inter-American Democratic Charter of 2001 as a baseline it charts the evolution of the issue over the past decade. Heine and Weiffen provide a comprehensive examination of the promotion and defence of democracy in the Western Hemisphere, beginning with background information and historical antecedents, and moving on to take into consideration the specific nature of the challenges to democracy in the Americas and power shifts in the region. The authors analyze democratic norms, norm enforcement mechanisms and how they work in practice, with a particular focus on the 2009 Honduras coup.Seeking to provide a discussion that pays more attention to the role of the OAS, rather than simply focusing on US foreign policy, the authors examine whether the United States still act as regional hegemon, and how the role of emerging regional powers such as Brazil and Venezuela are challenging that position of the hegemon. This work will be of great interest to students and scholars of democratization, US-Latin American relations, international relations of Latin-America and international organizations.

This volume offers a concise and accessible overview of the promotion and defence of democracy in the Americas, examining the nature of challenges to democracy in Latin America, the role of regional organizations as democracy promoters, and the transformation of Inter-American relations. Taking the Inter-American Democratic Charter of 2001 as a baseline it charts the evolution of the issue over the past decade. Heine and Weiffen provide a comprehensive examination of the promotion and defence of democracy in the Western Hemisphere, beginning with background information and historical antecedents, and moving on to take into consideration the specific nature of the challenges to democracy in the Americas and power shifts in the region. The authors analyze democratic norms, norm enforcement mechanisms and how they work in practice, with a particular focus on the 2009 Honduras coup.Seeking to provide a discussion that pays more attention to the role of the OAS, rather than simply focusing on US foreign policy, the authors examine whether the United States still act as regional hegemon, and how the role of emerging regional powers such as Brazil and Venezuela are challenging that position of the hegemon. This work will be of great interest to students and scholars of democratization, US-Latin American relations, international relations of Latin-America and international organizations.

At a time when diplomatic practices and the demands imposed on diplomats are changing quite radically, and many foreign ministries feel they are being left behind, there is a need to understand the various forces that are affecting the profession. Diplomacy remains a salient activity in today's world in which the basic authoritative actor is still the state. At the same time, in some respects the practice of diplomacy is undergoing significant, even radical, changes to the context, tools, actors and domain of the trade. These changes spring from the changing nature of the state, the changing nature of the world order, and the interplay between them. One way of describing this is to say that we are seeing increased interaction between two forms of diplomacy, 'club diplomacy' and 'network diplomacy'. The former is based on a small number of players, a highly hierarchical structure, based largely on written communication and on low transparency; the latter is based on a much larger number of players (particularly of civil society), a flatter structure, a more significant oral component, and greater transparency. The Oxford Handbook of Modern Diplomacy is an authoritative reference tool for those studying and practicing modern diplomacy. It provides an up-to-date compendium of the latest developments in the field. Written by practitioners and scholars, the Handbook describes the elements of constancy and continuity and the changes that are affecting diplomacy. The Handbook goes further and gives insight to where the profession is headed in the future. Co-edited by three distinguished academics and former practitioners, the Handbook provides comprehensive analysis and description of the state of diplomacy in the 21st Century and is an essential resource for diplomats, practitioners and academics.

This pioneering study of the dynamics of city politics in one of Puerto Rico's largest townships examines the fascinating career to Benjamin Cole. A quasi-legendary figure in island politics, Cole served as mayor of Mayaguez from 1968 to 1992. His spectacular success often ran counter to the broader political trends in Puerto Rico and offers insights in the currents of change that swept the island from the 1960s through the 1990s.
Based on years of intensive research, including unusually candid interviews with members of Puerto Rico's political elite, The Last Cacique offers the first in-depth study of local politics in Puerto Rico and one of the very few available for the Caribbean region.