U.S.-Latin America Relations

Course Description

Course Description:
This course begins by examining U. S. and Latin American relations from the Wars of Independence and the emergence of Latin America?s nation-states to U. S. expansion southwards at the beginning of the 20th century. However, the 19th century is discussed mainly to shed light on the processes of policy formation that occurred as the U.S. emerged a world power during the 20th century. The bulk of the course thus concentrates on the impact of the two World Wars, the Cold War and the current post-Cold War transition. The course highlights specific moments and crises, as well as the major figures that shaped inter-American relations and some lesser-known actors.

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(PALAS 366) U.S. ? Latin America Relations

Professor Dr. Claudio González Chiaramonte
Programa de Estudios Argentinos y Latinoamericanos
Universidad de Belgrano

Taught in English

Course Description

This course begins by examining U. S. and Latin American relations from the Wars
of Independence and the emergence of Latin America?s nation-states to U. S.
expansion southwards at the beginning of the 20th century. However, the 19th
century is discussed mainly to shed light on the processes of policy formation that
occurred as the U.S. emerged a world power during the 20th century. The bulk of
the course thus concentrates on the impact of the two World Wars, the Cold War
and the current post-Cold War transition. The course highlights specific moments
and crises, as well as the major figures that shaped inter-American relations and
some lesser-known actors.

Course Requirements

Following the UB policy, students need a minimum of 75% of attendance to be in
good standing for the final exam. Classes missed for national holidays will be
recovered on Fridays. No excuse for travels not programmed by the course. The
teaching process, through theoretical and practical activities, seeks to stimulate
active and reflexive, individual and group participation through critical reading. The
UB holds to the view that plagiarism is dishonest and undermines the University's
educational and social mission. Any student caught plagiarizing will immediately be
given a ?no credit? for all courses taken in the semester.

Criterio de evaluación/ Grading Policy

In-class participation: 10%
Assignments: 20%
Written midterm exam: 30%
Short Paper: 20%
Final oral exam: 20%

For a better understanding of the comparable table for grading: check the student
handbook (page 9) in orientation kit packet.

Required Textbooks

Course Reader. Claudio Chiaramonte, ed.

Contenido del programa / Course Content:

Unit 1: The American Revolutions (1776-1824)
Nature and crisis of the European imperial systems in America. The American
revolutions of independence and the emergence of national states. Initial contacts
among the new Americans.
Unit 2: The formation of the national States and of the intercontinental
diplomatic relations (1825-1898)
The context of the European Industrial Revolution: colonialism and imperialism.
Great Britain in the Americas. The formation of the U.S. foreign policy: the Monroe
Doctrine, the Manifest Destiny, the territorial expansion, and the projection over
Central America. The Panamerican Union as transcontinental projection.
Unit 3: The transition of the U.S. to great power (1898-1945)
Financial capitalism and imperialism. The Theodore Roosevelt Corollary to the
Monroe Doctrine and the Caribbean Policeman as exports of the domestic Reform.
Intervention in the Mexican Revolution. Contradictions in the First World War:
neutrality and engagement. The Panamerican Conferences: conflicting continental
projects. The new FDR policy: Good Neighbors. Contradictions in the Second World
War: neutrality and engagement.
Unit 4: The Cold War and the U.S. continental hegemony (1947-1990)
The transition of the U.S. to superpower: meaning and dynamics of the Cold War in
Latin America. Limitations of the regional U.S. policy: the National Security Doctrine
and the Populist regimes. Interventions in Argentina, Bolivia, and Guatemala. Trade
not Aid, Trade and Aid, and the 1958 Nixon failure. Limitations of the new regional
U.S. policies: the Alliance for Progress for continental modernization vs. coups d?état
and covert operations. Carter and the brief emergence of human rights: Nicaragua.
Reagan´s new Cold War: crisis of the external debt and multiple interventions.
Unit 5: The post-Cold War transition (1991- )
Redefinition of the U.S. hegemony in Latin America. The Initiative for the Americas:
global capitalism, free market, commercial integration, and recurrent economic
crisis. U. S. intervention through the new intermestic agenda: natural resources,
patents, speculative capital, protectionism, migrations, narcotraffic, terrorism.
Course Syllabus Page 3
Calendario Académico / Academic Calendar
Week 1/ Unit 1
Introduction: The American Revolutions (1776-1824)
Lecture session: Langley, America and the Americas Prelude, Chapter 1
Discussion session: Hunt, Ideology and U.S. Foreign Policy Chapter 2
Week 2 / Unit 1
Introduction: The American Revolutions (1776-1824)
Lecture session: Langley, America and the Americas Chapter 2
Discussion session: Tulchin, Argentina and the United States Chapter 1
Hunt, Ideology and U.S. Foreign Policy Chapter 3
Week 3 / Unit 2
The formation of the national States and of the intercontinental diplomatic
relations (1825-1898)
Lecture session: Langley, America and the Americas Chapter 3
Discussion session: Hunt, Ideology and U.S. Foreign Policy Chapter 4
Week 4 / Unit 2
The formation of the national States and of the intercontinental diplomatic
relations (1825-1898)
Lecture session: Langley, America and the Americas Chapter 4
Discussion session: Tulchin, Argentina and the United States Chapter 2
Week 5
Evaluation I: Report due
Unidad 3/ Unit 3
The transition of the U.S. to great power (1898-1945)
Lecture session: Langley, America and the Americas Chapter 5
Discussion session: Leonard, Panama, the Canal, and the United States Ch. 2
Paul W. Drake, ?From Good Men to Good Neighbors: 1912-1932,? in
Lowenthal (ed.), Exporting Democracy
Week 6 / Unit 3
The transition of the U.S. to great power (1898-1945)
Lecture session: Langley, America and the Americas Chapter 6
Discussion session: Tulchin, Argentina and the United States Chapter 4
Week 7 / Unit 3
The transition of the U.S. to great power (1898-1945)
Lecture session: Tulchin, Argentina and the United States Chapter 5, 6
Discussion session: Leslie Bethell, ?From the Second World War t the Cold War:
1944-1954,? in Lowenthal (ed.), Exporting Democracy
Week 8
Evaluation II: Midterm exam
Course Syllabus Page 4
Week 9 / Unit 4
The Cold War and the U.S. continental hegemony (1947-1990)
Lecture session: Langley, America and the Americas Chapter 7
Rabe, Eisenhower and Latin America Chapter 2
Discussion session: Rabe, Eisenhower and Latin America Chapter 3, 6
Week 10 / Unit 4
The Cold War and the U.S. continental hegemony (1947-1990)
Lecture session: Langley, America and the Americas Chapter 8
Rabe, Eisenhower and Latin America Chapter 7
Discussion session: Tony Smith, ?The Alliance for Progress,? in Lowenthal (ed.),
Exporting Democracy
Claudio González Chiaramonte, ?Expanding Paradgms,
Redesigning Frontiers,? in Ninkovich & Bu, The Cultural Turn
Week 11 / Unit 4
The Cold War and the U.S. continental hegemony (1947-1990)
Lecture session: Langley, America and the Americas Chapter 9
Lowenthal, Partners in Conflict Chapter 2
Discussion session: Tulchin, Argentina and the United States Chapter 8, 9
Week 12 / Unit 4
The Cold War and the U.S. continental hegemony (1947-1990)
Lecture session: Langley, America and the Americas Chapter 10, Epilogue
Thomas Carothers, ?The Reagan Years,? in Lowenthal (ed.),
Exporting Democracy
Discussion session: Lowenthal, Partners in Conflict Chapter 5
Week 13 / Unit 5
The post-Cold War transition (1991- )
Lecture session: Lowenthal, Partners in Conflict Chapter 4
Discussion session: Lowenthal, Partners in Conflict Chapter 6
Week 14 / Unit 5
The post-Cold War transition (1991- )
General review
Individual research projects
Week 15
Evaluación III: Examen final
Evaluation III: Final exam

Bibliografía/ Bibliography

Lester D. Langley, America and the Americas: The United States in the Western
Hemisphere (Athens: The University of Georgia Press, 1989)
Michael H. Hunt, Ideology and U.S. Foreign Policy (New Haven: Yale UP, 1987)
Joseph S. Tulchin, Argentina and the United States: A Conflicted Relationship
(Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1990)
Thomas Leonard, The Panama Canal & the United States (Claremont: Regina, 2001)
Abraham F. Lowenthal (ed.), Exporting Democracy: The United States and Latin
America; Themes and Issues (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins UP, 1991)
Stephen G. Rabe, Eisenhower and Latin America (Chapel Hill: The University of Nort
Carolina Press, 1988)
Frank Ninkovich & Liping Bu, The Cultural Turn (Chicago: Imprint Pub, 2001)
Abraham F. Lowenthal, Partners in Conflict: The United States and Latin America in
the 1990s (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins UP, 1990)
Tulio Halperín Donghi, Contemporary History of Latin America (Berkeley: University
of California Press, 1987)
Fernando Enrique Cardoso y Enzo Faletto, Dependency and Development in Latin
America (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1979)
Demetrio Boesner, Relaciones Internacionales de América Latina (Caracas: N.
Sociedad, 1987)
Eduardo Galeano, Las venas abiertas de América Latina (Buenos Aires:
Sudamericana, 1973)