Research Library

With the recent approval of Mexico's energy reform and the current enthusiasm of South American governments to attract foreign investment in oil, one might be tempted to conclude that the tide of resource nationalism is receding in the region. Nevertheless, the cycles of investment and expropriation that have characterized the oil sector in Latin America are unlikely to go away.

This issue brief explores China’s deepening relationship with Costa Rica, which severed diplomatic relations with Taiwan in 2007 to strengthen its economic ties with the PRC. China’s relationship with Costa Rica has opened the possibility for the PRC to reach out to other countries in the region.

Achieving the decentralization of citizen responsibility is the biggest challenge not only in waste management but also in public services as a whole. This type of decentralization refers not to the transfer of government functions to citizens, but rather to the need for the citizen to see herself as an active participant in the urban system.

Fossil fuel subsidies have allowed energy exporting countries to distribute resource revenue, bolstering legitimacy for governments, many of which are not democratically elected. But subsidy benefits are dwarfed by the harmful consequences of encouraging uneconomic use of energy. Now, with consumption posing a threat to long-term exports, governments face a heightened need to raise prices that have come to be viewed as entitlements. While reforms of state benefits are notoriously politically dangerous, previous experience shows that subsidies can be rolled back without undermining government legitimacy — even in autocratic settings — given proper preparation.

A speaker series addressing a variety of important topics related to Latin America.

A collaboration uniting the resources and expertise of Rice University's Baker Institute and the Organization of American States.

Venezuela is a textbook example of a resource-dependent country. Nevertheless, Venezuela currently combines an economy that is stagnant, despite high oil prices, with an increasingly authoritarian government.

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Throughout the last two decades, China has…

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When U.S. President Barack Obama addressed the…

With a favorable market and nearly inexhaustible resource base, Venezuela has a historic opportunity to boost its oil industry. However, the industry faces serious policy hurdles, and the potential of this investment is likely to be wasted.