International collaboration has become increasingly important in carrying out

research activities. This book, written by a large group of scholars from Europe

and Latin America, maps, analyses and discusses research collaboration

between the two continents during the last twenty years. The empirical

material underlines the richness and the variety of the links that bind the two

continents, well beyond the simplified views of science, either as the brainchild

of global networking or as a result of dependence. The book also develops an

innovative methodological approach, combining bibliometric analysis, social

surveying, in-depth interviews, and a careful analysis of research programmes

and policies. While arguing that the asymmetry of relations that once existed

in cooperation has turned into a more equal partnership between the two

continents, it deciphers some of the reasons behind this more balanced

cooperation. It also challenges the view of science as a global self-organising

system through collective action at the level of researchers themselves. On

the contrary, the importance of policy, institutions, and previously developed

research is highlighted and recognised.