Daniel Chavez Moran: Constructing Democratic Governance

With support from the Vidanta Foundation, the nonprofit organization founded by Daniel Chavez Moran, the Constructing Democratic Governance series explored democratic institutions and practices in Latin America.
Though the region has seen numerous free and fair elections, almost all Latin American countries continue to face challenges, and possible setbacks, to democratic governance and the rule of law. 

In the Constructing Democratic Governance project, Michael Shifter at the Inter-American Dialogue and Jorge Dominguez at Harvard University, took an in-depth, systematic look at regional trends in democratic governance to illuminate trends and challenges, and to make practical lessons available to analysts and key decision makers on Latin American issues.

In addition to producing a fourth edition of the book with the same title, “Constructing Democratic Governance,” the project included a two-day meeting in Washington, D.C., bringing together the best analysts and academics on democratic governance in Latin America, and engaging the wider policy community in Washington with varied perspectives and interpretations to shed light on political trends.

For more on Daniel Chavez Moran and the Constructing Democratic Governance project, visit www.vidantafoundation.org.

Chavez Moran: Travel News of Note

Retired developer Daniel Chavez Moran, widely recognized for modernizing the Mexican tourism industry in the 1990s, notes this travel news reported in the WallStreet Journal: Mexican President Felipe Calderon reassured the international travel industry that Mexico remains a safe destination for tourists in his address to the Global Travel & Tourism Summit, the foremost gathering of travel and tourism leaders in the world, held recently in Las Vegas, Nevada.

"Mexico is a safe place to visit," Pres. Calderon told the conference attendees. "Yes, we have problems, but we are being transparent. We are dealing with it and we are fixing it."

A presentation at the summit revealed that travel and tourism contribute $6 trillion to the world gross domestic product.  And in Mexico, the numbers tell more of the story: Visitors grew to 23 million in 2010, a 6 percent increase from a year earlier. And Mexico's Caribbean coast remains the world's top port of call, welcoming six million cruise-ship visitors in 2010.

Read more about philanthropist Daniel Chavez Moran and the treasures that await visitors to Mexico here.

Chavez Moran: Promoting Social Science and the Common Good

The new website for the Vidanta Foundation, one of the foundations of philanthropist Daniel Chavez Moran, clearly outlines the mission of the nonprofit organization: To promote social sciences and culture with a focus on Latin America to the benefit of all with a special interest in academia and policymaking.

The Foundation’s main objectives are to:

• Generate and spread awareness of the factors determining the gap in political, economic and social development that holds Latin America back from achieving the standards of economic growth and welfare that characterizes developed countries.
• Actively influence the formulation of public policies designed to strengthen democracy, promote economic and social development and reduce poverty and social inequality in Latin America.
• Promote the field of Latin American studies, and the analysis of Latin American international relations and the strategies for a positive integration of the region in the global world of the XXI Century.
• Promote corporate social responsibility.

For more on Daniel Chavez Moran and the important work of the Vidanta Foundation, read here.

Chavez Moran Joined by International Experts

The success of the Vidanta Foundation, the non-profit organization founded by Daniel Chavez Moran in 2005, can be attributed to the leadership of Dr. Roberto Russell and the Foundation’s advisory board of international experts, including:

Jorge I. Domínguez
Harvard PhD 1972, M.A. 1968; Yale B.A. 1967.
Vice Provost for International Affairs, Harvard University, Chairman of the Harvard Academy for International and Area Studies.
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Luis Maira
Degree in Law, University of Chile. Studied international relations at Oxford University and Bristol University (United Kingdom) and Mexico.
Former Minister of Planning and Cooperation, Chile (1993-1996).
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Celso Lafer
PhD in Political Science, Cornell University, U.S.A.
Former Brazilian Minister of Development and of Foreign Affairs.
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Erika Ruiz Sandoval
Studied International Relations at El Colegio de México; she has a Master in Public Policy from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University.
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Read more here on Daniel Chavez Moran and the Vidanta Foundation.

Daniel Chavez Moran: Contemporary Inter-American Relations

Daniel Chavez Moran founded the non-profit organization Vidanta Foundation to promote economic and social development in Latin America. Among the Foundation’s many sponsored projects: an international seminar on “Contemporary Inter-American Relations.” This seminar analyzed the relationship between Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Central America, the Caribbean, Cuba, Peru, Mexico and Venezuela with the United States and other global economic leaders like China. Findings were published in a 2010 book entitled Contemporary U.S.-Latín American Relations: Cooperation or Conflict in the 21st Century, edited by Jorge I. Domínguez and Rafael Fernández de Castro.

An excerpt from the chapter, “The Changes in the International System during the 2000s,” by Jorge I. Domínguez, examines the impact of trade with China:

“Latin America’s good economic performance between 2000 and 2007 owes much to the rise of its trade with China. From the end of the recession in 2003 to the end of 2008—on the eve of the severe economic crisis at the close of the decade—Latin America’s aggregate gross domestic product grew between 4.6 and 6.1 per cent every year. Among the countries studied in this book, Argentina, Peru, and Venezuela grew substantially above the Latin American median during those years; Colombia rose also above the median; Brazil, Chile, and the aggregate of the Caribbean and Central America hugged the Latin American median; and Mexico lagged the median but still grew respectably ... Because this economic growth resulted to a large extent from an export boom, the international financial position of most countries in Latin America and the Caribbean also improved substantially.”

The publication is available for purchase at Amazon.com. Read more on Daniel Chavez Moran and the Vidanta Foundation here.