024 and 2025 could be important years for multilateralism in the Latin American and Caribbean region. Leaders are participating in the 8th Summit of the Latin American and Caribbean Community (CELAC) in March and slated to participate in the China–CELAC Forum later this year, and then in 2025, the region will participate in the X Summit of the Americas and the EU–CELAC Summit. These gatherings of regional leaders alongside their Chinese, U.S. and Canadian, and European counterparts, respectively, provide a unique opportunity for the region to navigate an increasingly complex and multipolar world order. However, to take advantage of these opportunities, Latin America and the Caribbean must collectively identify their priorities and find a way to speak as one.
Collaboration and competition in the Americas throughout history
The Latin American and Caribbean has a long history of coordination efforts, but faces challenges in developing a unified approach to their foreign policy. With efforts to develop regional coordination dating back to the Congress of Panama in 1826, leaders from the Americas developed the oldest regional organization in the world, the Pan American Union (the predecessor to the Organization of American States [OAS]), in 1890 and the region played a pivotal role in the development of international organizations.
However, the tendency to create regional organizations, frustrations with how they function, and ideological differences have resulted in a cornucopia of organizations with overlapping memberships and mandates that limit their effectiveness to create meaningful change and collaboration. This in turn can create frustration that incentivizes the creation of further minilateral forums to address specific issues or that intentionally include or exclude different countries or perspectives. In fact, there are so many regional organizations that Former OAS Secretary General José Miguel Insulza once quipped that “we have had about 100 organizations in the past 100 years and they have all been dissolved because the government, or governments, that created them are not there anymore.”
The large number of organizations can make countries lose faith in their efficacy and allow them to largely become defunct. The challenge is that these “zombie” organizations are often resurrected rather than addressing the challenges within regional organizations or finding ways to speak with a unified regional voice. Indeed, the recent CELAC Summit in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines highlighted the challenge of building a consensus within the region with only eight presidents attending the Summit.
An opportunity in a multipolar era
With growing geopolitical tensions and rivalries across the globe, the Latin American and Caribbean region is fortunate to not be home to any of the major global tension points. At the same time, Europe, the United States, and China are interested in the region’s resources and political might. The region could benefit from this distance and its resources but must find a way to overcome traditional barriers and speak with a shared voice. For example, playing on the U.S.–Chinese rivalry to their own benefit could result in opportunities for Latin America and the Caribbean.
Working together to develop synergistic strategies for regional engagement with Europe, China, and the U.S. will require that countries in the region develop a shared strategy for engaging with these three geopolitical forces. A strategy based on finding common interests and encouraging competition between these three forces would likely result in improved engagement with these poles while encouraging investment from them in key areas for Latin America and the Caribbean. However, this will be no easy task. Creating a shared voice, even among a smaller subset of countries—as the Caribbean Community has attempted—has proven elusive. Ideological differences, economies that regularly compete with one another, and a historical preference for sovereignty all limit the ability for countries to come together with a shared strategy.
This is not to say that it is impossible. Despite the historic challenges of developing a coordinated foreign policy, 2024 and 2025 could provide a critical opportunity for the region to find a more collective voice in global affairs. This requires seeking areas of commonality rather than difference in a highly polarized region. Identifying core areas where the region wishes to engage with the European Union, China, and the United States will allow the region to engage on these issues and leverage the existing rivalries to ensure that benefits from these summits support their own interests. However, continued division will result in lost opportunities to leverage these summits to their full potential—a loss for the region and the promise of multilateralism in the Americas.
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Finding a Latin American and Caribbean voice for a multipolar world
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, where the X Summit of the Americas will be held. Image by DANIEL SANDOVAL from Pixabay.
April 1, 2024
With key summits scheduled, 2024 and 2025 could be important years for multilateralism in the Latin American and Caribbean region. As the world becomes more complex and multipolar, Latin American leaders have an opportunity to cooperate to make their voices heard, writes Adam Ratzlaff.
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024 and 2025 could be important years for multilateralism in the Latin American and Caribbean region. Leaders are participating in the 8th Summit of the Latin American and Caribbean Community (CELAC) in March and slated to participate in the China–CELAC Forum later this year, and then in 2025, the region will participate in the X Summit of the Americas and the EU–CELAC Summit. These gatherings of regional leaders alongside their Chinese, U.S. and Canadian, and European counterparts, respectively, provide a unique opportunity for the region to navigate an increasingly complex and multipolar world order. However, to take advantage of these opportunities, Latin America and the Caribbean must collectively identify their priorities and find a way to speak as one.
Collaboration and competition in the Americas throughout history
The Latin American and Caribbean has a long history of coordination efforts, but faces challenges in developing a unified approach to their foreign policy. With efforts to develop regional coordination dating back to the Congress of Panama in 1826, leaders from the Americas developed the oldest regional organization in the world, the Pan American Union (the predecessor to the Organization of American States [OAS]), in 1890 and the region played a pivotal role in the development of international organizations.
However, the tendency to create regional organizations, frustrations with how they function, and ideological differences have resulted in a cornucopia of organizations with overlapping memberships and mandates that limit their effectiveness to create meaningful change and collaboration. This in turn can create frustration that incentivizes the creation of further minilateral forums to address specific issues or that intentionally include or exclude different countries or perspectives. In fact, there are so many regional organizations that Former OAS Secretary General José Miguel Insulza once quipped that “we have had about 100 organizations in the past 100 years and they have all been dissolved because the government, or governments, that created them are not there anymore.”
The large number of organizations can make countries lose faith in their efficacy and allow them to largely become defunct. The challenge is that these “zombie” organizations are often resurrected rather than addressing the challenges within regional organizations or finding ways to speak with a unified regional voice. Indeed, the recent CELAC Summit in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines highlighted the challenge of building a consensus within the region with only eight presidents attending the Summit.
An opportunity in a multipolar era
With growing geopolitical tensions and rivalries across the globe, the Latin American and Caribbean region is fortunate to not be home to any of the major global tension points. At the same time, Europe, the United States, and China are interested in the region’s resources and political might. The region could benefit from this distance and its resources but must find a way to overcome traditional barriers and speak with a shared voice. For example, playing on the U.S.–Chinese rivalry to their own benefit could result in opportunities for Latin America and the Caribbean.
Working together to develop synergistic strategies for regional engagement with Europe, China, and the U.S. will require that countries in the region develop a shared strategy for engaging with these three geopolitical forces. A strategy based on finding common interests and encouraging competition between these three forces would likely result in improved engagement with these poles while encouraging investment from them in key areas for Latin America and the Caribbean. However, this will be no easy task. Creating a shared voice, even among a smaller subset of countries—as the Caribbean Community has attempted—has proven elusive. Ideological differences, economies that regularly compete with one another, and a historical preference for sovereignty all limit the ability for countries to come together with a shared strategy.
This is not to say that it is impossible. Despite the historic challenges of developing a coordinated foreign policy, 2024 and 2025 could provide a critical opportunity for the region to find a more collective voice in global affairs. This requires seeking areas of commonality rather than difference in a highly polarized region. Identifying core areas where the region wishes to engage with the European Union, China, and the United States will allow the region to engage on these issues and leverage the existing rivalries to ensure that benefits from these summits support their own interests. However, continued division will result in lost opportunities to leverage these summits to their full potential—a loss for the region and the promise of multilateralism in the Americas.
