Quote: (05-12-2015 09:15 PM)Merenguero Wrote:
Agreed. I've been around latin culture my whole life and been traveling through Latin America for just as long and there is no way that I will ever live in any of those countries. I'll visit them, and probably visit them frequently, but that's it. For me, first tier U.S. cities are the only places that make sense. In a way, I envy and am impressed by you guys who are staying in Colombia for weeks or months at a time. I would go for a week or two, get some notches, then get the hell out of there with no regrets about either going or leaving.
My quality of life is way better down here in LA than it is in North America. Granted I don't make a lot of money so that plays a role, but I live a much better life down here than in the US or Canada (and I even say this as I intend to move to the US this fall).
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Latin America has two regional powers: Brazil and México. You have to consider that Latin America is more of a cultural grouping of countries rather than a true geographical one.
México displays it's power in Central America, while Brazil displays it's power in South America, particularly in the Southern Cone.
Culturally it's a little more complicated. Because Brazil has the only Portuguese based culture, the diffusion of it's culture doesn't penetrate as deeply as you would expect from a regional power. For the most part, Brazil's culture is kind of a closed off laboratory which can actually be argued has contributed to it's deep roots and diversity within the country. Although, in the last 10-20 years Brazilians have become a lot more mobile with the rise of the middle class. In recent years, you can find a number of Brazilians working and living in South America, particularly in the Mercosur countries. México on the other hand dominates Latin American culture, especially in the popular arts. Music, cinema, art from México diffuses into the entire region. Most of the most famous actors and movies from Latin America are from Mexico.
Economically, Brazil is really starting to take a major role in South America's trade and general economic zone. Besides much of the raw resource exportation, most of the high end manufactured goods, particularly in agriculture, are developed in Brazil. They also have by far the best overall GDP in the region. México will always have a pretty dominant role in Central America due to their integration with the US however, and it remains to see just how much Brazil can continue it's economic expansion.
At one point Venezuela could have been made as a case (the same could be said for Argentina way back in the day) as a regional power. Venezuela seemed prime to be a power in the Andean region but in the last 20 years or so their institutions have crumbled due to a number of political and economic factors.
Into the future Brazil, Argentina, and Chile will dominate Latin America, particularly South America, economically. In fact, in as little as 10-20 years or so Chile might very well be a first world country in terms of GDP per capita. Argentina is rife with political problems but they still remain a fairly important piece of the region in terms of culture and economics.
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Another thing worth noting is Latin America has never been a region where a regional power has used hard power on other nations. Since nationalization, besides a few minor border skirmishes and the Triple Alliance War, Latin America has been extremely peaceful as a region. Part of this is because of the US' dominant role in international politics in the region but another reason is because, particularly in the 60s-80s, much of military power was turned towards domestic uses rather than external threats. The military in most Latin American countries is quite fused to the greater state apparatus rather than a separate institution like you see in other countries. What this means is that regional powers have come up in Latin America through economic means rather than through their military might. This is in stark contrast to other regions, such as Europe and the Middle East (and more recently East Asia) where military power plays a strong role in the formation of the balance of power between nations.
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I don't even mind learning some portuguese.
