Evan Ellis - Re-focusing on the Value of Free Enterprise, the Rule-of-Law and Limited Government, in Competing with the PRC in Latin America
Dear Colleague,
I hope your 2023 is off to a good start. As the U.S. thinks about how to compete with the PRC in Latin America (and elsewhere in the world), and how to be better partner in responding to the region’s challenges and new political currents, I thought it appropriate to begin the year with a reflection on VALUES…specifically, what has given the U.S., despite our imperfections, the POWER TO INSPIRE, and occasionally to lead:
Democracy and partnership is an important part of it…but there is another key element: the value of a MARKET-BASED ECONOMIC SYSTEM, rooted in RULE-OF-LAW and LIMITED GOVERNMENT, as the best path to enable human INNOVATION and ACHIEVEMENT, while protecting individual RIGHTS.
I had a bit of an epiphany, as I reflected on new left-oriented Latin American governments responding to grave problems with solutions whose most common element is arguably EXPANDING GOVERNMENT, and associated TAXES…policies that, while often well-meaning, are arguably unlikely to end well.
The PRC state-led economic system and its appeal to Latin America is part of the same seductive danger. It has put government and technology over the individual, in order to produce superficial benefits of “development” and “security,” which are attractive to many in Latin America due to their relative absence in much of the region. Yet those PRC “achievements” come at the expense of grave economic distortions increasingly apparent now, as well as the silencing of rights and democratic voice. As shown by the policies of “zero covid,” the repression of democracy in Hong Kong, and the imprisonment of 2 million Uighur Muslims in Xinjian, the system comes at a brutal cost to those not aligned with the impulses of PRC leadership.
Much of the U.S. response to challenges in the region in recent years (and not just among Democrats), has been to respond with our own “government-led” solutions. While there is a role for “government” in addressing Latin America’s problems, and China’s attempt to “woo it,” we will never “out-government” the PRC…nor does it make sense to try.
As Latin America’s new wave of leftist regimes looks to apply a state-led solution and tax increase to every problem, it is appropriate for the US to respect their sovereign decisions and look for points where we can agree. Yet the US cannot effectively respond to the Chinese challenge by advocating for “democracy” without keeping front-and-center the fundamental role of a market-based economic system, rule of law and limited government, in empowering human beings to respond to our challenges, and protecting our fundamental rights, whether against an oppressive majority or the state, of whatever ideology.
The article is available here for download:
It is also available from National Defense Magazine, which published it:
https://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/articles/2022/12/28/how-us-can-compete-with-china-in-latin-america#
Podcast and Radio Shows:
I would also like to share with you the links to my latest programs on the John Batchelor Show, in his special ongoing series on Latin America, The New World Report:
The ongoing crisis in Peru: https://audioboom.com/posts/8219324-newworldreport-former-president-pedro-castillo-remains-in-jail-latin-american-research-profess
Venezuela: https://audioboom.com/posts/8219326-newworldreport-caracas-welcomes-moscow-in-wartime-latin-american-research-professor-evan-elli
Website for all Publications:
As always, at my professional website you can access the present, and all of my past publications, as well as select webinars and podcasts:
https://revanellis.com/
Book on China-Latin America:
My latest book, China Engages Latin America: Distorting Development and Democracy, is available through my publisher Palgrave-Macmillan, at:
https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-96049-0
Please feel free to share this post with a friend or colleague. If you would like to be included in my (always free) distribution list, I welcome the opportunity to include you:
Thank you, as always, for your interest in my work.
Respectfully,
R. Evan Ellis, PhD
Latin America Research Professor
U.S. Army War College Strategic Studies Institute
@REvanEllis
Website: https://revanellis.com