Institute for Policy Studies

Against a global backdrop of intertwined crises, capital flows to Latin America and the Caribbean are linked to the struggle among the major capitalist powers for control of strategic resources and global supply chains. In this context, Latin America and the Caribbean attracted $188 billion in 2025, a 14% increase from the previous year. Meanwhile, numerous Latin American countries are facing growing pressure in the context of arbitration over disputes.

This summer, as part of his broader effort to make New York’s cultural spectacles more accessible, Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced that the city would be making $100 tickets to the U.S. Open available to 1,000 residents. The U.S. Open has not always needed a $100 ticket program though. For decades, affordable tickets were simply part of the Queens-based tournament. In 1999, a U.S. Open ticket was $35.

Panel Discussion Venue Online Zoom Event In January The Santa Marta Five water defenders were officially acquitted of all charges after a San Vicente tribunal reaffirmed their innocence. The Santa Marta Five; Miguel Ángel Gámez, Alejandro Laínez García, Pedro Antonio Rivas Laínez, Antonio Pacheco. and Saúl Agustín Rivas Ortega, are prominent environmental and community leaders who led the historic campaign that made their country the first in the world to ban metal mining in 2017.

This is the second article in a two-part series. The first part, First Principles for a New Progressive Foreign Policy, can be found here. In this run-up to the 2026 mid-term elections, progressive movements and candidates remain caught up in the challenges of rising authoritarianism and militarism both at home and around the world.

On September 9, the Windham World Affairs Council in Brattleboro, Vermont hosted a full-house lecture marking the 50th anniversary of the assassination of IPS colleagues Orlando Letelier and Ronni Karpen Moffitt.

In an interview on the Jasim Al-Azzawi Show, Phyllis Bennis, director of the New Internationalism Project at the Institute for Policy Studies, breaks down Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s September 2026 United Nations General Assembly speech, the mounting evidence of genocide in Gaza, and the growing political shift in the U.S. and Europe away from unconditional support for Israel.

Congressional negotiations over the federal budget for Fiscal Year (FY) 2027 are well underway. While FY 2027 begins October 1, Congress passed a continuing resolution (CR) on September 1 that funds the government at current levels through December 11, punting the debate over next year’s budget to after the midterm elections. By December 11, they will need to either pass full-year appropriations bills (including for the military), pass another CR, or risk a government-wide shutdown.

On November 3, 2026, California voters will vote on Proposition 40, a one-time 5 percent levy on the net worth of billionaires who were California residents on January 1, 2026. Ninety percent of the revenue would fund health care programs, with the remainder set aside for food assistance and education. A small segment of the state’s 200 plus billionaires has stepped up to oppose Prop 40, contributing millions to opposition groups and vocally speaking out against the one-time fee.

Sometimes, a defeat can include many triumphs. This is the case of the Mexican government’s efforts to beat back a lawsuit by Legacy Vulcan. This company, the largest U.S. producer of crushed construction stone, sued in 2018 over Mexico’s closure of its limestone mining quarry in the Yucatan peninsula, over concerns that the extractive operation threatened local water quality.

European leaders are now fretting about Vladimir Putin in much the same way that everyone worries these days about artificial intelligence. Until recently, AI agents remained within the virtual spaces where they’d been developed. Rather than free range, they were confined to their “sandboxes.” But there have been a number of cases of these AI agents lying, cheating, and hacking their way out of their designated spaces.