U.S. Hegemony in the 21st century: Cuba's Place in the regionalizing geopolitics of North America and Caribbean Countries

Abstract

This paper is concerned with the implications of U.S. hegemony upon the strategic location of regional geo‐economic and geopolitical borders in North America and its neighbors. In a case study which uses U.S. foreign policy towards Cuba as a measure of the regional influence of American hegemonic pressure, the paper explores the way in which extraterritorial policies like the Helms Burton Act, transnational intergovernmental economic structures like NAFTA, or border accords and agreements like the ‘Third Border,’ both influence and respond to U.S. ‘Cuban policy.’ It raises question such as how, in doing so, do they contribute to the discourse and practice of U.S. hemispheric domination? Or, how can we evaluate the degree to which these foreign policy and transnational agreements, in asserting hegemony, influence the contours of existing ‘regional boundaries’ in North America in the post 9/11 era?