Arrighi, Jean-Michel Keywords: Organization of American States | Public international law | International law | Institutional law | Institutions and organs | Legal co-operation | Democracy | History | Mots clefs: Organisation des Etats américains | Droit international public | Droit international | Droit institutionnel | Institutions et organes | Coopération juridique | Démocratie | Histoire | ABSTRACT The Organization of American States (OAS), created in 1948, is just a link in a long chain of inter-American institutions that emerged from the first Am…