Summitry in the Americas

However, it has also suffered from evident shortcomings, the most serious being the following: the wide gap between words and deeds that has generated a summitry credibility gap; the limited engagement of existing multilateral institutions in partnering and helping to finance Summit initiatives; and the ups and downs of civil society inclusion. [...] For example, human rights activists have looked to organs of the Organization of American States (OAS) to force their governments and judicial systems to honour inter-American norms.3 At the global level, the G-7/8 has expanded to the Group of 20 and has taken on new urgency as leaders address the fallout from the 2008-2009 global financial crisis, climate change and pressing international securit [...] Within the Western Hemisphere, the debate as to whether the United States and Latin America have enough common interests to sit collegially around the same table is as old as Simon Bolivar, who at times seemed to answer “yes” to that question and at times “no”; in the end, the liberator invited the U. S. to attend the first pan-American Congress of Panama in 1826. [...] Despite the contentious atmosphere at the Port of Spain Summit in 2009, several of the initiatives from the plan of action are showing signs of momentum. [...] And the longer the preparatory talks, the more the temptation and time available to lengthen the list.