The North-South Center

The Dante B. Fascell North-South Center was an independent research and educational institution established in 1984, first as the research component of the University of Miami's now-defunct Graduate School of International Studies,[1] and later established by a 1991 Act of Congress "to promote better relations between the United States and the nations of Latin America and the Caribbean and Canada through cooperative study, training, and research."[2]

Mission and activities

Its mission was to improve relations and act as a catalyst for change among the United States, Canada, and the nations of Latin America and the Caribbean by advancing knowledge and understanding of the major political, social, economic, and cultural issues facing the nations and citizens of the Western Hemisphere. The Center conducted research and outreach on a range of Inter-American issues, including democratic governance, security, trade and economic policy, sustainable development, migration, civil society participation, narcotics trafficking, and inter-American business and labor issues. The Center served as the academic and operational home for the Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs and its successor, Latin American Politics and Society, from 1984 until 2000. Through its in-house publishing arm, The North-South Center Press, the Center published policy-relevant research and commentary from its own wide range of research expertise and from collaborative projects with governmental and non-governmental partners in the United States, Latin America, the Caribbean, and Canada. Throughout the Center's history its publications were distributed through Transaction Publishers and Lynne Rienner. The Center's research, outreach activities, and published works played a significant role in framing policy dialogue for key decision-makers and scholars, and non-governmental activists throughout the Americas. Its most seminal publications are still used in university classrooms, government agencies, and non-governmental institutions as resources for education and policy decision-making.

Prominent associates

Distinguished Fellows, associates and collaborators from 1984–2003 include: Sergio Aguayo, Felipe Aguero, Cresencio Arcos, Bernard Aronson, Bernardo Benes, C. Fred Bergsten, Richard Bernal, Anthony Bryan, Roberto Bouzas, Cole Blasier, Fernando Cepeda Ulloa, Charles Cobb, Sue Cobb, Isaac Cohen, Aaron Cosbey, Charles Dallara, Winston Dookeran, Cristina Eguizabal, Richard Feinberg, Leonel Fernández, Peter Field, Georges Fauriol, Steven Flynn, Alejandro Foxley, Eduardo Gamarra, Gustavo Gorriti,[3] Wolf Grabendorff, Bob Graham, Lee H. Hamilton, Irving Louis Horowitz, Donna J. Hrinak, Irwin M. Jacobs, Daniel Jaime Gut, Yolanda Kakabadse, Jim Kolbe, Steven Landy, Manuel Lasaga, Abraham F. Lowenthal, Anthony Maingot, Max Manwaring, Luigi Manzetti, Gabriel Marcella, Mack McClarty, Jennifer McCoy, Frank McNeil, Richard Millett, Luis Moreno Ocampo, Moisés Naím, Ricardo Melendez Ortiz, Heraldo Muñoz, John O'Leary, Sylvia Ostry, Jeffrey Puryear, Beatrice Rangel, Bill Richardson, Kathleen Rogers, Joaquin Roy, Gonzalo "Goni" Sanchez de Lozada, Lynn Reinner, David Rockefeller, Francisco Rojas Aravena, Jose Salazar Xirinachs, Jacob Scherr, Stephan Schmidheiny, Jeffrey Schott, Andres Serbin, Jose Serra, Michael Shifter, Steve Stein, Jaime Suchlicki, Lloyd Timberlake, Sherry Tross, Aldo Vacs, Konrad Von Moltke, Sidney Weintraub, Carol Wise, Robert Zoellick.

Closure

The center was directed by Ambler H. Moss, JD. Its deputy director was Robin L. Rosenberg, Ph.D. It was shut down at the end of 2003 for political reasons relating to the South Florida Cuban-American lobby. In a September 4, 2003 Miami Herald column, Andres Oppenheimer called the University of Miami's decision "dubious" and asked, "Has there been a right-wing coup at the University of Miami?"[4]

A report on the closure of the North-South Center published by Associated Press stated, "Many observers speculated privately that the center received lukewarm support in the House of Representatives because it did not focus enough on Cuba and did not conform to more traditional Cuban exile ideological positions such as support for the trade embargo. "The existence of a center in Miami that is not right-wing concerns them," said Bernardo Benes, a former banker who has advocated dialogue with the Cuban government."[5]

References
  1. The Graduate School of International Studies (GSIS), the successor to UM's Cold-War resource, Center for Advanced International Studies (1964), was shut down in 2001 with the first major decision by incoming University of Miami president Donna Shalala after her appointment and contract were held up by South Florida Cuban-American lawmakers and University Trustees. The founding and then current dean of GSIS was Ambler Moss, Jr., the North-South Center director, who remained with the North-South Center until its closing in December 2003.
  2. The 1991 Act of Congress Archived September 24, 2004, at the Wayback Machine did not specify that the North-South Center would be at the University of Miami: The purpose of this section is to promote better relations between the United States and the nations of Latin America and the Caribbean and Canada through cooperative study, training, and research, by supporting in Florida a Center for Cultural and Technical Interchange Between North and South where scholars and students in various fields from the nations of the hemisphere may study, give and receive training, exchange ideas and views, and conduct other activities consistent with the objectives of the Mutual Educational and Cultural Exchange Act of 1961 [22 U.S.C. 2451 et seq.] and other Acts promoting international, educational, cultural, scientific, and related activities of the United States Language in Congressional appropriations bills for Commerce, State and Justice, provided funding to the University of Miami in the form of a grant contract.
  3. Larry Rohter (September 4, 1997). "Panama's Move to Oust Editor Sets Off Storm". The New York Times. Archived from the original on August 28, 2012. Retrieved August 28, 2012.
  4. The Miami Herald, September 4, 2003.
  5. The Associated Press (April 10, 2003). "Academics fired at U. of Miami think tank". Sarasota Herald Tribune. Retrieved February 16, 2018.
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