Summitry in the Americas

Book excerpt: The 1994 Summit of the Americas, the first such gathering of hemispheric leaders in over a generation, defined a new substantive agenda and architecture for United States-Latin American relations. The summit committed participating countries to negotiate a Free Trade Area of the Americas by 2005 and to defending the region's democratic institutions.This book, whose author actively participated in planning the summit, traces the White House's decision to convene the summit, analyzes the administration's foreign affairs decision making, and details the other countries' diplomatic strategies for contributing to the summit agenda. Feinberg critically assesses post-summit implementation and makes specific recommendations for the second summit, planned for 1998, and for maintaining the momentum for liberalization in the Americas.