Routledge The Politics of Transnational Actors in Latin America: Power from Afar

The Politics of Transnational Actors in Latin America: Power from Afar explores the important issues of transnational actors and their influence on institutions and people in Latin America, raising profound questions of accountability, social justice, and sovereignty. The text focuses on four particularly significant groups that transcend national boundaries: the Catholic Church, transnational corporations, transnational drug networks, and transnational human rights networks. By comparing each of their impacts on the region, Frederick M. Shepherd explores larger questions about transnational power and how it has deeply penetrated the nations of Latin America. The book’s analysis delves into attempts made over the last 100 years by citizens, social movements, and governments to reassert a degree of control over these transnational actors, setting up a framework to understand how local, national, and global forces interact in a setting of transnational dominance. The volume suggests that local and national groups can use principles and power to bring about equitable and just outcomes in relation to transnational actors, and that, in some cases, transnational actors can be a part of constructive change in Latin America. This concise volume will be of interest to students of History, Latin American and Caribbean Studies, and Political Science, as well as those interested in 20th-century Latin American politics and political history. Review Frederick M. Shepherd has driven the literature forward in Latin American Politics by filling a gap on the influence of transnational actors. Shepherd’s three levels of analysis (societal, national and transnational) provides a nuanced 20,000-foot view of the region and the influence, or lack thereof, of transnational actors. . . His coverage is comprehensive yet succinct, stretching from early drug prohibitionist history, to the modern drug war in Latin America and current administrations. . . [The book] introduces an important analytical variable of state infrastructural capacity, which when low, weakens Latin American governments’ ability to address societal needs broadly. Nathan P. Jones, Associate Professor of Security Studies, Sam Houston State University, USA Fred Shepherd’s book provides both a detailed analysis of how globalization plays out through four critical non-national institutions. It explores the links between the global discourse of these organizations and their actions on the ground while detailing how these powerful forces further constrain the capacity of the Latin American state. The book will of course be of interest to Latin Americanists, but it should draw a broader audience of those interested in how globalization plays out in the Global South, for good and for ill. Miguel Angel Centeno, Musgrave Professor of Sociology, Princeton University, USA About the Author Frederick M. Shepherd is Professor of Political Science at Samford University, USA. He is the editor of Christianity and Human Rights: Christians and the Struggle for Global Justice and the author of numerous publications on Latin American politics, religion, human rights, and genocide.