Latin America at the Crossroads Conference
November 17, 2006
Presented by the Latin American Student Association (LASA)
School of International and Public Affairs
Columbia University

Over the course of the past two decades, Latin America has experienced the truth of Machiavelli’s insight into “the introduction of a new order of things,” as the region has suffered radical economic, political and social transformations from both within and out. Today, having undergone a lost decade and showing meager signs of recovery, the nations between the Rio Grande and the Straits of Magellan must also face an ever more challenging global environment that demands higher levels of knowledge and skills from its peoples. The integration of economies and markets in this technological era has revolutionized traditional forms of organization across the globe, signifying the adaptation of societies and cultures to this new phenomenon.

Date: Friday, November 17th
Location: 15th Floor, International Affairs Building
Room 1501 - Dag Hammarskjold Lounge 

8:00 – 8:30 a.m. REGISTRATION & CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST

8:30 – 9:00 a.m. WELCOME & OPENING REMARKS
Speaker: Lisa Anderson, Dean of the School of International and Public Affairs

9:00 – 10:15 a.m. PANEL 1: POLITICAL ECONOMY –Latin America’s Political Economy: Balancing Market & State Relations
Panelists (confirmed):
Carlos Guimaraes, Private Sector Coordinator, Inter-American Development Bank
Luis Jacome, Professor, Georgetown University
Diego von Vacano, Professor of Political Science, Texas A&M University
Moderator: Thomas Trebat, Executive Director of the Institute of Latin American Studies

10:15 – 10:35 a.m. NETWORKING BREAK

10:35 – 11:50 a.m. PANEL 2: POLITICS –The Political Pendulum Swings Left?
Panelists (confirmed):
Terry Karl, Professor of Political Science, Stanford University
Hector Schamis, Professor, School of International Service, American University
Arturo Sotomayor, Professor, Centro de Investigación y Docencias Económicas (CIDE)
Moderator: Douglas Chalmers, Former Director of the Institute of Latin American Studies

12:00 – 1:30 p.m. LUNCH BREAK (not provided)

1:45 – 3:00 p.m. PANEL 3: SOCIETY –Social Policy: Health, Education & Welfare For Whom?
Panelists (tentative):
Adriana Abdenur, Professor, The New School
Milena Gomez, Professor, School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University
Miguel Székely, Former Director, Oportunidades, Mexico
Moderator: Miguel Urquiola, Professor, Columbia University

3:00 – 3:15 p.m. NETWORKING BREAK

3:15 – 4:30 p.m. PANEL 4: CULTURE –The Art of Owning & Divulging a Self-Truth: Latin America’s Quest to Define Its Own Present & Future Condition.
Panelists (confirmed):
Georg Gugelburger, Professor of Comparative Literature at UC Riverside
Fabrizio Mejía, Mexican writer and journalist for the La Jornada daily newspaper
José Manuel Prieto, Cuban Author of Livadia (published in English in 2001 as Nocturnal Butterflies of the Russian Empire) and El tartamudo y la rusa and Treinta días en Moscú
Moderator: Alfred MacAdam, Professor, Barnard College