31705 - International Relations of Latin America

Learning outcomes

Objective of the course is to provide a map of Latin American geopolitics, with particular attention to the history of relations between the United States and Latin America. At the end of the course the student will be able to understand and interpret the Latin American international system and its interaction with Hemispherical and global systems.

Course contents

The course will study the Interamerican relations embracing the entire range of time from the independence of Latin American states from Spain and Portugal and the present day. From the Monroe Doctrine, therefore, the war between the U.S. and Mexico and the Hispanic-American War for Cuba, to continue with the age of the Big Stick and Dollar Diplomacy, the Good Neighborhood, the consolidation of interamerican system after the Second World War, the relations between the U.S. and Latin America during the Truman administration, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush Sr. and after the end of the Cold War. Particular attention will be placed on intra-American relations, namely the history of relations between nation-states of Latin America.

Readings/Bibliography

Peter H. Smith, Talons of the eagle: dynamics of U.S.-Latin American relations, - 2. ed. - New York - Oxford : Oxford university press, 2000

 

For students who have never attended Latin American History:

L.Zanatta, Storia dell'America Latina contemporanea, Laterza, Roma-Bari 2010

(in spanish:Historia de América Latina, de la Colonia al siglo XXI, Siglo XXI, Buenos Aires 2012)

 

Students will also study two books chosen from the following:

 

 

 

Armony, Ariel, Argentina, the United States, and the anticommunist crusade in Central America, 1977-1984, Athens : Ohio university center for international studies, 1997.

 

Brands Hal, Latin America's Cold War, Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press, 2010.

 

Crandall, Russell, The United States and Latin America after the cold war, Cambridge University Press, 2008.

Dávila, Jerry, Hotel Trópico : Brazil and the challenge of African decolonization, 1950-1980, Durham [NC] : Duke University Press, 2010.

Domínguez Jorge and Fernández de Castro Rafael, [editors], Contemporary U.S.-Latin American relations : cooperation or conflict in the 21st century? New York : Routledge, 2010.

 

Gallagher Kevin and Porzecanski Roberto, The dragon in the room: China and the future of Latin American industrialization, Stanford, Calif. : Stanford University Press, 2010.

Gardini, Gian Luca, The Origins of Mercosur: Democracy and Regionalization in South America, Pallgrave – Macmillan 2010.

Gilderhus, Mark t., The second century: U.S.-Latin American relations since 1889, Wilmington, DE : Scholarly Resources, 2000.

 

Hirst, Monica, United States and Brazil : a long road of unmet expectations, New York ; London : Routledge, 2005.

 

Longley, Kyle, In the eagles shadow: the United States and Latin America, Wheeling: Harlan Davidson, 2002.

 

McPherson, Alan, Yankee, no!: anti-Americanism in U.S.-Latin American relations Harvard university press, 2003.

 

McPherson, Alan, Intimate ties, bitter struggles : the United States and Latin America since 1945, Washington : Potomac books, 2006.

 

Pérez, Jr., Louis, Cuba and the United States: ties of singular intimacy - 3 ed. - Athens : University of Georgia Press, 2003.

 

Rabe, Stephen G., The most dangerous area in the world: John F. Kennedy confronts communist revolution in Latin America, Chapel Hill , The University of North Carolina Press, 1999.

 

Sheinin, David, Argentina and the United States: an alliance contained, Athens; London: The University of Georgia press, 2006.

 

Smith, Gaddis, The last years of the Monroe doctrine: 1945-1993, New York : Hill and Wang, 1994.

 

Smith, Joseph, The United States and Latin America: a history of American diplomacy, 1776-2000, New York : Routledge, 2005.

Teaching methods

Assessment methods

oral interview

Office hours

See the website of Loris Zanatta