Georgetown Americas Institute

In 2021, the Georgetown Americas Institute supported four Georgetown faculty projects to expand research and understanding of investor-state dispute settlements in Latin America and the Caribbean, the intersection of art and the realities of migration policy, the impact of COVID-19 in the region, and environmental displacement in Central America and Mexico. 

GAI supports interdisciplinary research and teaching on the Western Hemisphere around four critical challenges facing the region: governance and the rule of law, economic growth and innovation, social and cultural inclusion, and sustainability and the environment. The institute offers grants to faculty and students designed to promote research within Georgetown on issues relevant to the Western Hemisphere, bring Georgetown faculty and students closer to the region, and bridge the gap between academia and policymakers. The four projects below describe results from collaborative research funded in fall 2021 by GAI. 

2021 Collaborative Research Projects

Measuring and Building Institutional Capacity (MBIC) for Investor-State Dispute Settlement in Latin America and the Caribbean

Alvaro Santos, Georgetown Law

Diana Kapizweski, Department of Government

The MBIC Initiative seeks to identify and map Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries’ institutional capacity to prevent and manage claims from foreign investors. Current research focuses on identifying countries’ institutional framework, characterizing their leading agency or institution defending the state against these claims, and assessing their capacity to anticipate and prevent an internal grievance from escalating into an international dispute. 

A central challenge to democratic governance and the rule of law in Latin America is the growing use of investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) by multinational corporations (MNCs). Using this mechanism, MNCs can bypass domestic judicial systems to challenge regulations, including those enacted in the public interest. A study by the Center for the Advancement of Rule of Law in Latin America (CAROLA) of all regional disputes over 25 years revealed that LAC states have together faced claims for $1.5 trillion and been ordered to pay a staggering $32.2 billion in awards and settlements. Internal governance and institutional challenges, such as weak coordination among relevant government ministries and the inclusion of different branches and levels of government, stymie states’ ability to prevent claims and successfully manage disputes. In addition, new officeholders are often unaware of the scope of their liability exposure stemming from previously-signed international agreements.

The first phase of the project was supported by GAI and has been able to collect and analyze data from four countries, including Argentina, Colombia, Peru, and Mexico. The project will eventually expand to focus on 15 LAC countries. Following data collection, the project will compare and contrast institutional capacity across the 15 LAC countries of focus and begin to develop ideas for how LAC countries can build their institutional capacity in this critical area.

Latinx Voices from Law to Opera

Angel Gil Ordoñez, Department of Performing Arts

Anna Deeny Morales, Center for Latin American Studies

¡ZAVALA-ZAVALA! An Opera in V Cuts presents a case of family separation which was the result of a pilot program carried out in 2017 by the Trump administration along the Mexico-U.S. border. Such cases sought to evaluate the resilience of local juridical systems to the administration’s Zero Tolerance directive. The libretto draws from legal proceedings; interviews of legal professionals, including those involved in this case; migrant testimonies; and Central American creation myths. The work was performed by the Georgetown University Orchestra and professional vocalists at the Kennedy Center. 

To supplement the performance, scholars and practitioners were convened across the Latinx, Latin American, and U.S. fields of law, literature, music, and the performing arts for three panels. The project’s administrators wanted to present a range of representative possibilities and intersections for those who participated as well as for our students and local communities. GAI was pleased to support both the performance and panels. 

The first panel, “ZAVALA-ZAVALA: From Home to Archive and Opera,” addressed the ideation, development, and production of the opera with the composer, director, conductor, writer, and vocalists. The second panel, “Taking Time, Sound, Space | Latinxs on Stage,” considered the significance of representing Latinx, Afro-Latin, and Latin American stories, temporalities, cosmogonies, movements, sounds, and bodies, on stages within the United States. Lastly, the third panel, “Children Who Migrate | The Mexico-US Border and Family Separation,” considered the particular experiences and conditions under which children migrate to the Mexico-US border as well as the ongoing legal challenges caused by forced separation; the rights of children; and issues of asylum.   

Latin American and the Caribbean COVID-19 Digital Map

Angelo Santos, Center for Latin America Studies

Latin America and Caribbean COVID-19 Map (LACCOM) was a project from the Georgetown University Center for Latin American Studies (CLAS) that documented the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean between August 2020 until April 2022 across three rubrics: governance and the rule of law, growth and innovation, and social and cultural inclusion. 

Designed and supervised by Professor Angelo Rivero Santos, the content and technical aspects of the project were fully developed, managed, and updated by a group of 32 undergraduate and graduate Georgetown University students affiliated with CLAS. Due to its quality and relevance, the Library of Congress selected LACCOM for inclusion in its E-resources Online Catalog. As Latin America and Caribbean countries continue to adapt to the realities of living with COVID-19, the historical analysis and resources produced and collected during the life of the project will serve as a useful tool for students, educators, and researchers in the years ahead.

Internal Versus Cross-Border Environmental Displacement in Central America and Mexico 

Katharine Donato, Institute for the Study of International Migration

Elizabeth Ferris, Institute for the Study of International Migration

This project examines the relationship between internal and cross-border displacement in both Mexico and Central America with a particular focus on environmental drivers of migration. While there is a growing literature on environmental and climate change drivers of migration in the region, there is still much that remains unknown. This project seeks to answer questions such as: Do people who move because of drought in the ‘dry corridor’ in Central America or other environmental hazards have different migration patterns than others? Do people who move for environmental reasons have distinct demographic characteristics versus those who move because of economic factors or conflict? 

This project engaged some of the top migration researchers in the region to assess the current state of knowledge about environmentally-induced internal migration and displacement and its relationship to cross-border movements, and to suggest priorities for future research. Their contributions will form the basis of “An Agenda for Future Research on Environmental Migration in Latin America,” a working paper to be published by the Georgetown University Institute for the Study of International Migration in early 2023.