Argentina

It's not often--or maybe ever--that a book steeped in emerging-market economic theory reads like a thriller. But And the Money Kept Rolling In (and Out) has cliffhangers and plot twists equal to a detective's tale, as Paul Blustein chronicles the spectacular rise and fall of Argentina's economy at the turn of the 21st century. The book has its flaws, of course, including the author's insistence on using goofy metaphors from the overripe Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Evita (from which the book takes its awkward title). But by and large, Blustein, a staff writer at the Washington Post, tells a cynic's tale of greed run amok on a massive scale.

While policy wonks at the International Monetary Fund had much to do with Argentina's implosion, Blustein also holds the country's own government responsible. Conventional wisdom says that the influence of the world's investors keeps everyone in line--a key tenet of the pro-globalization argument--but in practice, Blustein writes, "foreign funds numbed Argentine policymakers into minimizing the perils of their policies. The effect was similar to a dose of steroids, giving the economy a short-term boost while insidiously increasing the risk of a breakdown in the long run." From that point on, only devastation lay ahead for many average Argentineans, who could no longer remove savings from their banks, and for international investors, who saw their returns vanish in a flash. Blustein effectively makes the case that Argentina wasn't a rare example or a perfect storm of problems, but--bearing "striking parallels" to Enron and other financial scandals of the era--a preview of more meltdowns to come. It's a compelling cautionary tale well worth telling. --Jennifer Buckendorff

This book is a compendium of representative photographs of every corner of the country. A regional tourist approach has been carefully followed for easy understanding. Each region, identified by a color, includes various neighboring provinces which share cultural and historic characteristics, or simply a river such as in the Litoral. Texts enrich the more interested reader with information on the scenery, geography, history and even the local gossip.

Historically, Argentina has been one of the strongest, most independent countries of Latin America. It seems odd then, that Argentina should develop a foreign policy during the post-Cold War period characterized by a strong allegiance to the United States. However, the end of the bilateral world left the U.S. foreign policy much less focused at the same time that Argentine foreign policy became much more focused. For Argentina, domestic changes-especially economic and political instability-encouraged the government to redefine U.S.-Argentine relations from prior patterns of conflict and distrust, in order to improve the country's international image and attract foreign support. Covering two decades of history, this book seeks to explain for the first time, the reasons for the emergence of a strong friendship between the United States and Argentina. Beginning with the history of U.S.-Argentine relations up until the end of the Cold War, the text then considers changes in: *The international political system *The nature of domestic politics and their influence on foreign policy-making in both countries *Recent issues in U.S.- Argentine relations The United States and Argentina sets out to explore the nature of U.S.-Argentinean relations by concentrating on the issues which have shaped and stood out in the dialogue between the two countries and how this shifting relationship has been played out in international institutions. This will be the fourth in our Contemporary Inter-American Relations Series .

Memory of the Argentina Disappearances examines the history of the production, public circulation, and the interpretations and reinterpretations of the Nunca Más report issued by Argentina’s National Commission on the Disappearance of Persons (CONADEP). It was established in 1983 by constitutional president Raúl Alfonsín to investigate the fate of thousands of people who had been disappeared by the state during the seventies.

Upon publication in 1984, Nunca Más became a bestseller, was translated into several languages and won greater public importance when the military juntas were brought to trial and the court accepted the report as key evidence. The report’s importance was further enhanced with the adoption of CONADEP and Nunca Más as models for truth commissions established in Latin America, and when it was postulated as a means for conveying an awareness of this past to Argentina’s younger generations.

This book contributes to understanding the political processes that led to Nunca Más becoming the way in which Argentines remembered the disappearances and the country’s political violence, and how its meaning is modified by new interpretations. Given the canonical nature of Nunca Más, the book sheds light on the most substantial changes and the continuities in Argentina’s social memory of its recent past.

In 1977 'Julia' became one of the 30,000 victims of Argentina's most recent military dictatorship. Julia was a young physician and mother-to-be kidnapped from a medical clinic and found years later in a clandestine grave along with 334 other corpses. Who were these thousands of victims? Who was Julia? By reconstructing the life of one victim, Eric Stener Carlson gives voice to the thousands of citizens who were 'disappeared'. Ironically, in doing so, he must use the pseudonym 'Julia' for this young woman to protect the people she left behind. The pieces of Julia's story come together through the emotional and poignant memories of those who knew her - childhood friends and family, classmates and colleagues, an ex-lover, and fellow prisoners whose lives intersected with hers in the government torture centers. Interspersed between the personal testimonies are the voices of others who give her story a political and social context. They include a military general, a priest, a politician, a human rights activist, and a prosecuting attorney in the war crimes tribunal. Carlson creates a personalized account that addresses not only the atrocities of Argentina's Dirty War, but human rights transgressions throughout Latin America and the world. It is impossible to read this story and not come away with a profound sense of human tragedy and personal suffering associated with repressive government policies everywhere. Author note: Eric Stener Carlson is a Fellow of Physicians for Human Rights, working with the "War Crimes Tribunal" for the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague. He previously spent two years in Buenos Aires, Argentina, as a Fulbright Scholar conducting research and interviews for this book.

The complex question of the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands remains far from resolved, even after the military and political events that took place from April to June 1982. The first scholarly work of its kind, this broad and dispassionate study of the causes of the South Atlantic war between Britain and Argentina addresses the larger issues raised by the Falkland crisis and untangles a web of events and attitudes that stretch back over the past century. The book begins with a close evaluation of the two pivotal arguments: Argentina's stance that international law supports their historical right to the islands, and Britain's position that the length of their occupation of the Falklands, together with the principles of self-determination, legalized their de facto control. Gustafson then discusses how potential off-shore oil reserves, diplomacy, domestic politics, and the use of force entered into the sovereignty dispute; analyzes the effects of war on international relations; and considers possible future approaches to handling the dispute.