Dear Chile Summer Program 2009 Participant:

When deciding about summer programs, there are many choices.  Our program is a little bit different:  We really learn about Latin America, work in its institutions, and experience its legal systems – both state-based and indigenous.  This is one part law school, one part activism boot camp, one part extreme sport and one part annual shareholders meeting.  You are coming to study, work in, and learn about the legal culture of Latin America at a really interesting time. 

Latin Americans keep moving to the U.S. and the U.S. keeps investing in Latin America.  Yet U.S. legal culture continues to lead globally.  New York City-styled mega-firms dominate the skyline of “Sanhattan”, as an eastern part of Santiago has been called.  Mediation and arbitration continues to grow, the adversarial model of criminal procedure is replacing the inquisitorial model, and U.S. drug courts and DNA evidence influences the administration of justice around the region.  U.S. styles of legal education and professional training have been instilled.  But Europe continues to make important contributions to legal reform, legal education and legal practice.  Moreover, the economic influence of Germany, Italy, and Spain throughout Latin America cannot be underestimated.  China, India and Russia have all made new deals with Latin American governments for security, investment and natural resources.

With the changing political landscape, legal reform projects still underway and the transition to democracy now in its second decade, Latin America faces the future in the midst of the global economic crisis.  This is place where the Cold War, free market economics, and economic nationalism are fought out.  Even the new James Bond film, Quantum of Solace, is about Bolivian water privatization and governance.  But then again the Bolivian scenes were actually filmed in northern Chile.  Those Bolivian police uniforms, however, are the real deal.  You should know that Bolivia and Chile do not have full diplomatic relations.  The Bolivians are still upset that Chile took their Pacific seacoast in a war in 1879.  Bolivia is land-locked as a result.  They still have a navy though. 

Welcome to Latin America and to the Chile Summer Program. Bring a sweater, your snowboard, and some aspirin.

It’s Your Hemisphere. Use it Wisely.

Professor James Cooper