Our programme’s overarching theme for 2026/27 is “The Competition for Latin America”.

Our first event of the year is a lecture by Dr Zara Albright of University College, London (UCL), entitled “Autonomy Under Pressure: Great Power Rivalry in Latin America”.

The lecture explores interactions between agency at the state level and structural pressures from both the United States and China, investigating how much space for autonomy Latin American nations have and how changes in US-China competition have changed that space.

Dr Albright is Associate Professor of International Relations at UCL. Her professional background was formed after undergraduate studies at Georgia Tech, at Boston, Notre Dame and Princeton universities. She has held Visiting Appointments at institutions in Ecuador and Chile. Her current research is focussed on South American states non-alignment in the era of US-China competition.”

Description supplied by the event organiser.