This month, two important developments in the academic study of the ALBA have emerged.

Firstly, the Latin American Council of Social Sciences (CLACSO) has published a new book on the ALBA by Maribel Aponte Garcia titled El nuevo regionalismo estratégico: Los primeros diez años del ALBA-TCP  or The new strategic regionalism: The first ten years of the ALBA-TCP.

Keeping in line with CLACSO’s commitment to maintaining and promoting open access, this book is available to view or download for free at this location. Hard copies are also available for those who would like a copy for their bookshevles.

Secondly, a call for papers has been made for a one-day conference “Ten Years of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our Americas (ALBA): Progress, Problems and Prospects” to be hosted at the Institute for Latin American Studies, University of London, in February 2015.

Initiated by Dr Asa Cusack, the conference has already confirmed its keynote speaker as the Olivier Dabene: President of the Political Observatory of Latin America and the Caribbean .

Full details for the planned conference can be found at the events page on the ILAS website.

In other news, a review of the book Counter-Globalization and Socialism in the 21st Century: The Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America has been published in the latest edition of the International Journal of Cuban Studies