What If Latin America
Ruled the World?:
How the South Will
Take the North into the 22nd Century
For most Westerners, Latin America is the junior partner of the New World, an
underdeveloped sibling to the US and Canada.
The vibrancy of its culture is unquestionable, but the Spanish and Portuguese-speaking
countries of Central and South America are easily typecast and overlooked as exotic,
dangerous, and decidedly not part of the First World.
In his provocative and powerful book, Oscar Guardiola-Rivera shows how
Latin America and its people are making their presence felt across the world by upsetting
long-standing political and economic assumptions and orthodoxies.
The US will still occupy center stage in the West for the time being, but few
observers have taken notice of the rapid growth of Spanish language and culture within the
USA - which is quietly and quickly becoming part of Latin America in its own way.
Guardiola-Rivera's stimulating work is equally a hidden history of the modern world (the
silver peso was the first global currency) and a piercing look at the future. Latin
America has been in the vanguard of opposition to globalization, and its politics are
imaginative, innovative and unlike those anywhere else in the world. For anyone interested
in the future of the Western hemisphere or the world economy, "What if Latin America
Ruled the World?" is a must-read.
Oscar Guardiola-Rivera teaches international law and international
affairs at Birkbeck College, University of London. He has served as an aide to the
Colombian Congress and as a consultant to the United Nations in South America. He has
lectured in law, philosphy, and politics on three continents.
464 pages, Paperback