Ctr. for Strategic...Studies

Energy cooperation in the Western Hemisphere; benefits and impediments.

In conducting the research that resulted in this volume, chief editor Weintraub (political economy, Center for Strategic and International Studies) and his collaborators were guided by the twin, if sometimes conflicting assumptions, that the countries of the Americas can benefit if they can establish energy policy cooperation and that political and historical relations between these countries can often impede such cooperation. They review relevant political, economic, and social issues for the countries that produce exportable quantities of oil and gas — Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, Trinidad and Tobago, the United States, and Venezuela — and also provide coverage of the energy policies of the North American Free Trade Agreement countries (Canada, Mexico, and the United States) in relation to each other. The further examine comparative legal and regulatory regimes for energy, the energy roles of China and India in the western hemisphere, the hemispheric infrastructure for the transport of oil and gas, and sources of future oil and gas supply. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Puerto Rico's future; a time to decide.

Former US Attorney General Thornburgh reviews the legal and constitutional issues concerning the status of Puerto Rico within the United States. Essentially arguing that Congress and the courts must act to set Puerto Rico on the path to either full statehood or national independence, Thornburgh reviews the treatment of US territories since the adoption of the Northwest Ordinance in 1787, the constitutional framework and international law context for territorial issues, relevant Supreme Court decisions, recent Presidential efforts to clarify the status of Puerto Rico, and problems with the "enhanced commonwealth" proposals recently put forth by Puerto Rico's Popular Democratic Party. Thornburgh's former boss, George H. W. Bush, penned the foreword. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)