Hemispheric Shifts: Power, Strategy, and Latin America

Monday, February 2, 2026
5:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. EST

Location: Online Zoom

The world is at an inflection point. The political and economic underpinnings of many affluent nations are coming loose, as discontent over the distribution of the spoils of globalization fuels political unrest—magnified by an ethno-nationalist backlash against large migration flows. The policies inspired by these dynamics increasingly clash with the cosmopolitan world economy built over the last half century and with the liberal democratic order that enabled it.

The consequences are particularly troubling in the United States, as it turns against the institutional architecture it built in the aftermath of World War II—an architecture that has shaped the global order since the end of the Cold War. China, meanwhile, has become a direct challenge to American hegemony, acquiring economic, technological, and military capabilities that could soon rival those of the United States. Moreover, China’s political system and large domestic savings allow it to operate aggressively and quickly in the international and financial arena, unleashing new geopolitical conflicts that will affect every country on earth.

These political riptides are gaining force as the world is threatened by climate change, and as civilization awaits—almost with bated breath—the development of artificial intelligence. AI’s capabilities remain hard to evaluate, yet it is already generating era-defining technologies that may upend the global economic and political order.

We are staring down a path with multiple possible futures. It offers promise, but also inspires dread. One might paraphrase Karl Polanyi’s opening line in The Great Transformation (1944) —“Twentieth Century Civilization has collapsed”—or recall Antonio Gramsci’s famous warning: “The old world is dying, and the new world struggles to be born: now is the time of monsters.”

In this context, this series of events will explore the specific challenges for Latin America. The region has historically lived in the shadow of the United States while drawing closer to China. It possesses vast natural resources yet continues to search for a path toward equitable and sustained prosperity. It is a heterogeneous set of countries with a shared history, split by deep rivalries, yet strengthened by the enduring idea of a regional identity. It is imperative that Latin American leaders confront these forces of transformation with clear eyes.

As a part of the event series “Latin America and the Geopolitical and Economic Transition: How to Harness the Revolution,” the Georgetown Americas Institute is pleased to host Jorge Castañeda, Global Distinguished Professor of Politics and Latin American and Caribbean Studies at New York University and former secretary of foreign affairs of Mexico. The session will explore pressing geopolitical issues, including the future of Venezuela and broader U.S.-Latin America strategy in the context of great power competition with China. The conversation will be moderated by Eduardo Porter, Guardian columnist and author of the Substack “Being There,” and GAI Founding Director Alejandro Werner.

Featuring

Jorge G. Castañeda has been a professor at Sciences Po in Paris since 2022 and was formerly Global Distinguished Professor of Politics and Latin American and Caribbean Studies at New York University and the author of America Through Foreign Eyes (2020). He served as Mexico’s secretary of foreign affairs from 2000 to 2003.

Eduardo Porter writes “Being There” on Substack and has a regular column in the Guardian. Porter worked for nearly two decades at the New York Times, and he also wrote for the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg Opinion, and the Washington Post. He has reported from Tokyo, London, São Paulo, and Mexico City. He is the author of American Poison (2020), on how racial hostility shaped the American social contract, and The Price of Everything (2011), an exploration of the cost-benefit analyses that underpin human behaviors and institutions. Born in Phoenix, he grew up in the United States, Mexico, and Belgium, and he now splits his time between Mexico City and Brooklyn.

Alejandro Werner is the founding director of the Georgetown Americas Institute and a non-resident senior fellow at the Peterson Institute. He recently completed almost nine years as director of the Western Hemisphere Department at the International Monetary Fund. Prior to that appointment, he was undersecretary of finance and public credit in Mexico’s Finance Ministry and held several positions in that ministry and the Central Bank. He also taught at leading universities in Mexico, Spain, and the United States. He holds a Ph.D. in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a B.A. in economics from ITAM.