U.S.-Latin America Relations

Universidad de Belgrano

Course Description

  • Course Name

    U.S.-Latin America Relations

  • Host University

    Universidad de Belgrano

  • Location

    Buenos Aires, Argentina

  • Area of Study

    History, International Relations, Latin American Studies, Political Science

  • Language Level

    Taught In English

  • Course Level Recommendations

    Upper

    ISA offers course level recommendations in an effort to facilitate the determination of course levels by credential evaluators.We advice each institution to have their own credentials evaluator make the final decision regrading course levels.

    Hours & Credits

  • Recommended U.S. Semester Credits
    4
  • Recommended U.S. Quarter Units
    6
  • Overview

    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.

    -----------------------------------------------

    (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)

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