75006 - International Relations and Development in Latin America

Learning outcomes

The course aims to provide advanced knowledge of the different moments of international relations and the development in Latin America from the Nineteenth century to the present. At the end of the course, the student will be able to: a) identify and compare the different interpretations of the history of development and international relations in Latin America; b) detect and analyze the features of continuity and discontinuity in the dynamics of the western hemisphere, in relation to changes in the international system; c) discuss, from a global perspective, the development models in Latin America from the 19th century to the present.

Course contents

The course aims to offer students the knowledge to be able to analyze the political and economic development and international relations of Latin America in the Contemporary age, from independence to the 21st century.

Starting from the analysis of the consequences, for the Latin American area, of the Napoleonic invasion of the Iberian Peninsula, the course will analyze the International dimension of the processes of State building and - subsequently - of Nation building, the inclusion of Latin American Countries in the dynamics of the first Globalization, the consolidation of the export-led growth strategy model, the transition to mass democracies and, in some cases, the structuring of populist regimes, the definition of the ISI development model, the evolution of the Pan-American system and, then, the inter-American the diffusion of the dynamics of the cold war, the diffusion of the Washington Consensus in the Western hemisphere and the nationalist reactions, and, finally, the emergence of forms of regional integration and 'new' forms of relationship between politics and economics starting from the 1990s last century up to the present day.

Readings/Bibliography

1. Textbook:

• Smith, Peter H., Talons of the eagle: dynamics of U.S.-Latin American relations, Oxford University Press, 2000 (or all subsequent editions).

2. Monographic Part (alternative texts can be agreed with the teacher):

• Brown, Jonathan C., Cuba’s Revolutionary World, Harvard University Press, 2017.
• Calandra, Benedetta, Il corpo del Caribe, Ombre Corte, 2020.
• Fajardo, Margarita, The World That Latin America Created. The United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America in the Development Era, Harvard UP, 2022.
• Garcia-Bryce, Iñigo, Haya de la Torre and the Pursuit of Power in Twentieth-Century Peru and Latin America, University of Carolina Press, 2018.
• Gardini, Gian Luca – Lambert, Peter (a cura di), Latin American Foreign Policies. Between Ideology and Pragmatism, Pallgrave – Macmillan, 2011.
• Iber, Patrick, Neither Peace Nor Freedom. The Cultural Cold War in Latin America, Harvard University Press, 2015.
• Klein, Herbert S. – Vidal Luna, Francisco, Brazil 1964-1985. The Military Regimes of Latin America in the Cold War, Yale University Press, 2017.
• Marchesi, Aldo, Latin America’s Radical Left, Cambridge University Press, 2018.
  
• McPherson, Alan, The Invaded. How Latin Americans and Their allies Fought and Ended U.S. Occupations, Oxford University Press, 2014.
• Ragno, Francesco Davide, Liberale o populista? Il radicalismo argentino (1930-1943), Il Mulino, 2017.
• Rinke, Stefan, Latin America and the First World War, Cambridge University Press, 2017.
• Rupprecht, Tobias, Soviet Internationalism after Stalin. Interaction and Exchange between the USSR and Latin America during the Cold War, Cambridge University Press, 2015.
• Sabato, Hilda, Republics of the New World. The revolutionary political experiment in the 19th-Centrury Latin America, Princeton University Press, 2018.
• Thornton, Christy, Revolution in Development. Mexico and the Governance of the Global Economy, University of California Press, 2021.
• Wise, Carol, Dragonomics. How Latin America Is Maximizing (or Missing Out on) China’s International Development Strategy, Yale University Press, 2020.
• Zanatta, Loris, I sogni Imperiali di Perón. Ascesa e crollo della politica estera peronista, Libreria Universitaria, 2016.

Further readings will be provided in class and duly uploaded to Virtual.

Teaching methods

Frontal lectures taught in presence (20 lectures) and student presentations.

Assessment methods

For attending students, there is an oral exam. In this, the knowledge of the fundamental notions of teaching and the skills acquired in critical analysis of such contents . will be assessed. At the same time, the ability to establish connections between the different sources (notes, manuals and monograph (s)) will be assessed. The oral exam will focus on:

1. lecture notes 
2. the text in point 1 of the bibliography;
3. a text among those in point 2 of the bibliography.

Non-attending students must submit a paper [max. 25,000 characters - spaces and bibliography included], on a theme agreed with the teacher. At the same time they will have to perform an oral exam which will focus on:

1. Smith, Peter H., Talons of the eagle: dynamics of U.S.-Latin American relations, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2000 [up to chap. 4, included];
2. Brands, Hals, Latin America's Cold War, Harvard University Press, 2010;
3. Zanatta, Loris, Fidel Castro. L’ultimo “re cattolico”, Salerno, 2019.

For all: Criteria and assessments for the evaluation for the final grade:

Analysis skills only with the help of the teacher, expression in overall correct language → 18-19;

Ability of independent analysis, expression in correct language → 20-24;

Ability to carry out critical analysis, evident ability to articulate the analyses, expertise of using specific terminology → 25-29;

Ability to carry out critical and connecting analysis, full expertise of using specific terminology and evident ability to argue → 30-30 L

Teaching tools

Pc, slides, video.

Office hours

See the website of Francesco Davide Ragno