Grace Jaramillo is core lecturer at University of British Columbia’s School of Global and International Affairs. She specializes in International Political Economy and, more specifically, Latin American Political Economy. Her latest publication, co-edited with Maxwell Cameron, Challenges to Democracy in the Andes was launched officially at the Organization of American States in January 2023. Other recent publications include: “Comparing historical cases: advances in Comparative Historical Research” for the Handbook of Research Methods in Comparative Policy Analysis; “Latin America: Trade and Culture at the Crossroads” for the International Journal of Cultural Policy; and “Rafael Correa’s Foreign Policy Paradox” for the edited volume Assessing the Left Turn in Ecuador. Grace holds Ph.D. in Political Studies from Queen's University in addition to a master’s degree in Public and International Affairs from University of Pittsburgh, thanks to a Fulbright Scholarship. Before moving to Canada, Grace was a professor and Head of the International Relations Program at FLACSO, the largest graduate program in Social Sciences in Latin America, member of the Council of Foreign Relations and part of the Carter Group of Dialogue.

Abstract

Since the end of the Cold War, the diminishing weight of Latin America in the global political economy has impaired its ability to mobilize increasing resources and investment from its traditional ally: The United States. The region compensated the void not only by securing trading ties with an ascendant China, but also credit and investment. This lecture discusses how Latin America became one of the silent battlegrounds for the dispute between China and the United States over trade and investment and the hidden geopolitical battles to reassert its relative autonomy and reactivate economic growth.