letter from the editor
What differentiates companies
that take social responsibility seriously
and those who merely use it as a
convenient PR device?
My first exposure, unfortunately,
to the business and investment ethic
in Latin America was in college. i
read eduardo Galeano’s Open Veins
of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a
Continent—the bible for those who want to blame
first colonial and then capitalist exploitation for all
the region’s problems. for a naïve college student
in the 1980s, it was a compelling read—in large
part because it was so reductionist. Why is Latin
America poor? Because outsiders have repeatedly
subjugated the hemisphere for their own enrichment. simple. sadly, Galeano’s screed still weighs
heavily on interpretations of Latin America and in
the region itself. fortunately, though, my thinking
has evolved—as has much of the scholarship. And
just as fortunately, domestic and foreign investors
have launched their own efforts to change the
image of the rapacious capitalist bent on bleeding
the continent dry (at best a caricature, and a bad
one at that).
it is this change in corporate mentality and
commitment that Americas Quarterly highlights
in our third issue. today both domestic and international corporations are investing in schools and
scholarships, promoting diversity in the workplace,
reducing carbon emissions, and building infrastructure—just to name a few of the socially responsible
activities you will find covered in the pages of our
special feature. our plan was to tell the story of
what appears to be a “booming business,” as richard feinberg, one of our contributors, puts it, of con-science-driven profit seeking—and to evaluate its
impact. true to our goal of bringing you all facets of
an important policy issue, we also take a close look
at some of the key questions. What are the risks of
not taking action? What differentiates companies
that take social responsibility seriously and those
who merely use it as a convenient pr device? Where
does Csr go from here? our signature sidebars,
researched and written by our dynamic and passionate staff at AQ, highlight the success stories.
one good example of our commitment to emerging new voices in the hemisphere is a new department we’re inaugurating in this issue, Dispatches
from the Field. these lively pieces are intended to
give our readers a quick, personal look at events
behind the headlines. the oaxaca piece featured in
this issue is written by two young authors who went
to oaxaca more than a year after the popular protests
that convulsed Mexico’s southern state.
As growing numbers of readers join our ranks,
we are gratified to hear how many of you find the
journal useful and stimulating. please tell us what
you think we’ve been doing right—and wrong. We
also welcome your ideas for topical themes. if you
are returning to our pages, we’re glad to have you
with us again. And if you’ve just found us for the
first time, thanks for giving us a try! you will find
plenty in these pages to make it worth your time.
—Christopher Sabatini, Editor-in-Chief
