Introductory description

An old refrain in Latin America, asks: “Why are there no coups in the United States?” The answer: “There is no U.S. embassy in Washington.” Behind the joke is a serious allegation and assumption: the region’s politics are not determined by local actors, but by the machinations of the United States. International Relations in the Americas are characterized by tremendous disparities of power. The United States dwarfs the combined nations of Latin America and the Caribbean in terms of economic might, military power, and global influence. Historically, this has led most observers to focus on the “hegemonic presumption” of the United States. How did the Northern colossus impose its will on its weaker Southern neighbours? Was U.S. power also the determining factor for Western Hemispheric relations? This module examines the history and current challenges of international politics in the Americas, trying to understand the motivations and actions of multiple actors within the hemisphere in addition to the salient role of the United States. This module will be of great interest to students with want to deepen their knowledge of Latin America, of the history of U.S. foreign policy, and for those with an interest in the broader application of IR theories on power disparities, regionalism, and more.

Module aims

Outline syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

1. Introduction and context
2. IR theories in the Americas
3. Independence to early asymmetry
4. US rise and interventionism
5. Post-war to revolution
6. Reading week
7. Late Cold War
8. A post-hegemonic hemisphere?
9. Regional organizations
10. Transnationalization

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

• Explain and apply different approaches to the study of inter-American relations
• Describe critical junctures and their impact on the development of international relations in the Americas
• Assess key concepts used in Latin American scholarship, such as autonomy and dependency
• Have improved their research and writing skills

Indicative reading list

Bitar, Sebastian E. US Military Bases, Quasi-bases, and Domestic Politics in Latin America.
Springer, 2016.
Darnton, Christopher. "After Decentering: The Politics of Agency and Hegemony in Hemispheric
Relations." Latin American Research Review 48.3 (2013): 231-239.
Dominguez, Jorge I., and Ana Covarrubias. Routledge Handbook of Latin America in the World.
Routledge, 2015.
Friedman, Max Paul. "Retiring the Puppets, Bringing Latin America Back In: Recent Scholarship on
United States–Latin American Relations." Diplomatic History 27.5 (2003): 621-636.
Friedman, Max Paul, and Tom Long. "Soft Balancing in the Americas: Latin American Opposition
to US Intervention, 1898–1936." International Security 40.1 (2015): 120-156
Gilbert, Joseph, and Daniela Spencer, eds. In From the Cold: Latin America’s New Encounter with
the Cold War. Durham: Duke University Press, 2008.
Gallagher, Kevin P. The China triangle: Latin America's China boom and the fate of the
Washington consensus. Oxford University Press, 2016.
Harmer, Tanya. "Two, Three, Many Revolutions? Cuba and the Prospects for Revolutionary
Change in Latin America, 1967–1975." Journal of Latin American Studies 45.01 (2013): 61-89.
Harmer, Tanya. Allende's Chile and the Inter-American Cold War [in English]. Chapel Hill:
University Of North Carolina Press, 2014.
Kacowicz, Arie M. "US–Latin American relations and the role of the United States in the world." In
Efraim Inbar, Jonathan Rynhold, eds., US Foreign Policy and Global Standing in the 21st Century:
Realities and Perceptions. London: Routledge, 2016, ch. 9.
Long, Tom. Latin America Confronts the United States: Asymmetry and Influence. New York:
Cambridge University Press, 2015.
Moulton, Aaron Coy. "Building their own Cold War in their own backyard: the transnational,
international conflicts in the greater Caribbean basin, 1944–1954." Cold War History 15.2 (2015):
135-154.
Pastor, Robert A., and Tom Long. "The Cold War and Its Aftermath in the Americas: The Search for
a Synthetic Interpretation of US Policy." Latin American Research Review 45.3 (2010): 261-273.
Pastor, Robert A., Exiting the Whirlpool: US Foreign Policy Toward Latin America and the
Caribbean. Westview Press, 2001.
Rabe, Stephen G. The Killing Zone: The United States Wages Cold War in Latin America. New York:
Oxford University Press, 2012.
Riggirozzi, Pia and Diana Tussie, The Rise of Post-Hegemonic Regionalism in Latin America
Schoultz, Lars. Beneath the United States: A History of U.S. Policy Toward Latin America.
Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1998.
Shirk, David, and Joel Wallman. "Understanding Mexico’s Drug Violence." Journal of Conflict
Resolution (2015).
Smith, Peter H. Talons of the eagle: Latin America, the United States, and the world, 4th ed.
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012.
Weeks, Gregory B. US and Latin American relations. Oxford: John Wiley & Sons, 2015

View reading list on Talis Aspire

Subject specific skills

TBC

Transferable skills

TBC