Understanding ALBA: Progress, Problems, and Prospects of Alternative Regionalism in Latin America and the Caribbean

Thiscollection analyses the impact and influence of the Bolivarian Alliance for thePeoples of Our America (ALBA), whose vision of alternative regionalism hasspearheaded Latin America and the Caribbean's collective challenge toneoliberal globalisation in the twenty-first century. The volume'scomprehensive coverage incorporates insights from the domestic level inNicaragua, the Anglophone Caribbean, and especially Venezuela, while alsoexploring ALBA's key regional economic and social-policy initiatives and itsplace in the wider international relations of Latin American and theCaribbean. Moving beyond normative debates about the project'sdesirability and descriptive accounts of its initiatives, this volume providescritical analyses that consider equally ALBA's progress, problems, andprospects. In tackling many of the key questions about the past and futureof ALBA it reveals a frequently misunderstood organisation whose impacts havebeen significant but whose failings also jeopardise the project's long-termsustainability. This timely volume helps us to understand the dynamicsshaping the region at a time when its global relevance has never been greater.