The most recent book co-authored by Ambassador Jorge Heine, former Research Professor at the Pardee School of Global Studies and Chilean ambassador, The Non-Aligned World: Striking Out in an Era of Great Power Competition (Polity Press 2025), has been cited in a major new report from the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), highlighting the growing influence of his concept of “active non-alignment” (ANA) and contemporary debates about the region’s place in a changing global order. Titled Ruptures and Opportunities: Proposals for Latin America and the Caribbean to Prosper in the New Geopolitical Era, the report examines how Latin America and the Caribbean can navigate an increasingly fragmented and multipolar international system.

The report was produced by a high-level commission chaired by former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet and former Colombian President Iván Duque, and led by ECLAC Executive Secretary José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs. Notably, it is the first report on geopolitics produced by ECLAC in the institution’s nearly 80-year history.

Within it, the document argues that the region must adapt to a world shaped by intensified competition among the United States, China, and the European Union while strengthening its own capacity for strategic decision-making and economic development.

Central to the report’s recommendations is the concept of ANA, a framework that has been a defining theme of Heine’s, and his co-authors Carlos Fortin and Carlos Ominami, recent scholarship. Rather than committing to any single geopolitical bloc, active non-alignment encourages countries, notably those in the Global South, to pursue flexible partnerships based on their own individual interests and specific policy objectives. As the report notes,

The Commission endorses the idea that countries should seek variable geometry, issue-specific coalitions with partners that share enough common goals to act together. Within the region, this vision has been embodied in the concept of active non-alignment (p. 29).

The report presents this approach as a practical strategy for preserving autonomy and expanding opportunities in an era of geoeconomic fragmentation.

Drawing on the structuralist tradition long associated with ECLAC, the report further argues that Latin America must move beyond dependence on exporting raw materials and instead promote productive diversification and stronger regional empowerment.

The citation of The Non-Aligned World highlights the relevance of Heine’s work to these discussions and reflects the growing prominence of active non-alignment as a guiding framework for policymakers seeking to strengthen the region’s resilience and influence in an increasingly complex global landscape.