Brazil and Mexico: Giants of Latin America

Mexico and Brazil - "Pivotal States" and Giants of Latin America
Keep your eye on Mexico and Brazil. They are highly dynamic countries and also the giants of Latin America. These two countries will play a big role in the future of our hemisphere.

These countries were named among 9 "Pivotal States" in the world in a book that came out in 2000 (The Pivotal States: A New Framework for US Policy in the Developing World" by Chase et al.) Those authors gave the term "Pivotal States" to countries which are "poised at critical turning points, and whose fate will strongly affect regional and even global security." In other words, Mexico and Brazil could "go either way" so to speak--they could succeed or fail in the near future and the repurcussions would be great for their surrounding region and the world.

Mexico is the largest Spanish-speaking country in the world. It is swirling with a whole range of issues:

-It's economy is enormous -- Ford and Volkswagen plants, computers assembly, massive agriculture. As part of NAFTA, Mexico's trade with the US only exploded even larger--Mexico is the US' 3rd highest trading partner after Canada and China.

-Drug trafficking and violence is tearing up whole swathes of Mexico -- notably the areas nearest to the US. Mexico's north has a vast, difficult scrub-desert terrain with many places for cartels to hide. Drugs, violence, and people continue to spill across the border into the US. While crossing the border was relatively easy a decade ago, in the last five years the US has greatly tightened border security with ATVs, helicopters, more manpower, and drones.

-Mexico's population resides largely far away from the US, down in the latitudes around Mexico City/Guadalajara/Puebla. Many Americans have a skewed, limited impression of Mexican culture because they only have seen Mexican border culture (Tijuana, etc.)

-Be sure to read about Maquiladoras in the textbook.

-Mexico has sent the most emigrants of any country around the world in the past several decades, chiefly to the US.

-Remittances i.e. money sent back to Mexico from Mexicans workign in the US form a giant source of income

Brazil makes up roughly half of South America's land and people.

-Brazil will be in the news a lot in the next few years, hosting the World Cup in 2014 and the Olympics in 2016

-Brazil has extreme inequality. Read about the favelas that make up 25% of Brazil’s housing in the textbook.

-Brazil’s economy is even bigger than Mexico’, it is the 7^th largest economy in the world. They are a world leader in many food exports like oranges, coffee, sugar, even chickens and beef.

-Brazil has the largest share of the Amazon rainforest, which has the highest biodiversity in the world.

-Brazil is the only other country besides the US which uses ethanol heavily in cars, but they make it from sugar which is much more efficient. All new Brazilian cars by law must run on ethanol—regular gas is becoming a thing of the past there.

-Brazil has the largest black population outside Africa. Brazil is not a chiefly “mestizo” country like much of Latin America. Instead, the racial mixing in Brazil is mostly black and white, not white and Amerindian. In fact, a new census reported that for the first time, Afro-Brazilians are the majority, 50.7%. Read about the Bahia region, the Afro-Brazilian culture hearth that was the original center of Brazil.

-Brazil has been famous for extreme deforestation in recent decades; Amazon deforestation has been decreased, but now deforestation of the Cerrado, a dry forest nearby, has taken the lead and is extremely rapid. Cattle ranches, soy, and sugar replace the forests.
Brazil on the Rise: The Story of a Country Transformed
by Larry RohterThe Pivotal States: A New Framework for US Policy in the Developing World
by Chase et alThe Three U.S.-Mexico Border Wars: Drugs, Immigration, and Homeland Security
by Tony Payan