A reference guide to all the elements of the Inter-American System from its formal beginning in 1889 to the present.
A reference guide to all the elements of the Inter-American System from its formal beginning in 1889 to the present, as it developed into a major, multipurpose regional inter-governmental organization (IGO). The most notable elements in the current Inter-American System are the Organization of American States (OAS), the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), and the Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance (Rio Treaty) Regime. Today, all 35 sovereign American states are members of the OAS. This book makes clear reference to the system's interrelationships with other IGOs and states outside the Western Hemisphere.
Unique in its scope and approach to the subject, this work is intended to provide the reader with access to information on general as well as specific subjects. It is compiled with an interdisciplinary approach, and addressed to a variety of readers from students and scholars to professionals and government officials. With some 250 entries, cross-referenced and thoroughly indexed, this encyclopedia refers to membership and observers in the various organizational elements; policy orientations of the state members; treaties, conventions, protocols, declarations, and resolutions concluded over the years; concepts and doctrines underlying American regional organization; multinational principles and policies in major categories of activity; and cases of conflict and other situations undertaken by the system, including places, events, issues, and individuals notable for their contributions.
Preface
Abbreviations
Introduction
The Encyclopedia
Chronology
Appendix A: Charter of the Organization of American States
Appendix B: Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance
Appendix C: Membership in the Inter-American System
Appendix D: Changing Structure of the Organization of American States
Appendix E: The Secretariat
Appendix F: Inter-American Development Bank
Appendix G: State Profiles
Bibliographic Essay
Index
Reviews
Reference works are often mechanical compilations of dry factual material. That is emphatically not the case with this superbly useful scholarly work. Atkins, long the ranking authority in study of the inter-American system...now has brought out yet another publication indispensable for all students of the topic and the area....The entries consistently reflect the highest scholarly standard...That this encyclopedia is entirely Atkins' work attests to his exceptional research, knowledge, judgment, and unalloyed professionalism.—Choice
