Inter-American Relations Research Articles

Inter-American Relations and Encounters: Recent Directions in the Literature

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Close Encounters of Empire: Writing the Cultural History of U. S.-Latin American Relations (review)

286 Arizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies tious in criticizing Cuban cultural production , not out of any lingering reverence for socialist/revolutionary culture (which one still ought to preserve in one degree or another ), but because the whole idea of Cuban culture since the Revolution has been to resist being interpreted in terms of concepts such as Euro-American feminism. Therefore, while it has been obvious that a feminist component of whatever configuration has not generally emerged in Cuba, it is not adequate simply to inquire whether feminism or a women's movement exists in Cuba. Concomitantly, the features that Benamou charts certainly do point to a shift in Cuban filmmaking that can surely be related to an emerging project of cultural production that will allow for feminism to be more justifiably used in this context. Elena Feder's essay has two notable features about it: the attention given to gender in Bolivian filmic production, a national tradition that, with the exception of Jorge Sanjinés, has not been in the forefront of production because of the clear economic limitations encountered in that country, and the attention given to video, which is a viable alternative to the enormous cost of conventional film stock and its processing. Video, and its forerunner, super-8, constitute mediums for visual narratives that are easily accessible to subaltern producers. Karen Schwartzman's "The Seen of the Crime" is a detailed analysis ofthe Venezuelan Solveig Hoogesteijn's Macu, the Policeman's, a complex analysis ofthe social positionings of women and a deconstruction of the masculinist Law that defines them, all within the context of the police or detective genre, apparendy à la film noir. Hoogesteijn, who has to receive the same sort of international attention accorded to Bemberg or to Novaro, is, nevertheless , very much in their class (as is also the delightful work of Fina Torres, another Venezuelan feminist filmmaker who, unfortunately, does not get mentioned here). Finally, Rosa Linda Fregoso's essay on the Chicana Lourdes PortUlo's The Devil Never SUeps centers on a film that is rather a standard-issue treatment of family and identity, of loss and memory, and it is more of a description of the film followed by an interview with Portillo, along the same lines as Burton-Carvajal's essay on Bemberg, than it is the more detailed interpretive analysis that makes the other essays particularly compelling . I don't mean to dismiss the value of criticism by interview, but only to underscore how this volume is particularly significant in providing, in the majority ofthe essays on Latin American filmmaking, the sort of in-depth examination of the filmic text that is, in my view, what is needed now, in order to begin to continue to provide the coverage ofthe exceptional richness of Latin American production. David William Foster Arizona State University Close Encounters of Empire: Writing the Cultural History of U.S.-Latin American Regions Duke University Press, 1998 Edited by Gilbert M. Joseph, Catherine C. LeGrand and Ricardo D. Salvatore The product of a 1995 Yale University Conference, this mammoth collection is an ambitious and creative effort to rethink U.S.-Latin American relations. Inspired by the proliferation of work following the Arizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies 287 quincentenary ofthe "Columbian Encounter ," the editors propose to examine Latin America's more enduring encounter with the United States. The essays apply some ofthe insights from post-colonial studies on Asia and Africa to Latin America, a region that has inspired little work in this vein. The essays are divided into three sections , an initial trio of theoretical essays, ten empirical studies, and three concluding essays , the last of which combines visual images with a textual analysis. Fernando Coronil offers a foreword highlighting the collection's theoretical conttibutions. In the first essay, Gilbert Joseph outlines the volume's theoretical ambition: to apply cultural analysis to Inter-American relations. He persuasively argues that the development, diplomatic history, and Inter -American relations literatures (whether liberal or Marxist) largely ignored cultural issues. By marrying cultural approaches with political economy, he argues, we can get at the complexity of these relationships, highlighting both their ambiguity and the difficulty of identifying clear boundaries...

From a Political Scientist's Point of View

This fine work, presented by a political scientist as “a personal statement,” emphasizes the importance of “historical perspective” in comprehending “contemporary international realities.” Peter H. Smith centers his attention on the end of the Cold War and its impact on U.S.-Latin American relations. He also assesses “the novelty and significance of the current situation by comparing it with previous epochs” (p. vii). In this way, he confirms the importance of historical analysis and displays some of the differences between political scientists and historians. Smith sets forth three additional aims. First, he embraces the techniques of “interdisciplinary scholarship” in order “to blend insights from political science and international relations with the study of diplomatic, intellectual, cultural, and political history.” Seeking to bridge the gap in communication among “these apparently disparate fields,” he proposes to draw “some new connections” (p. vii). Next, Smith affirms his “conviction” that U.S. scholars must pay “close attention to Latin American viewpoints.” “Too often,” he contends, “the study of inter-American relations deteriorates into the study of U.S. foreign relations.” To correct this problem, he insists upon “an understanding of Latin American feelings, attitudes, and actions” (p. vii). Finally, he attests to his “appreciation” of “intellectual synthesis.” While working with “a conceptual framework” to highlight “changing patterns,” he employs “solid evidence” to support his views. The outcome, an interpretation based on what he calls “historical political science,” should generate much interest among the readers of Diplomatic History (p. viii).

Hemispheric Relations in the 21st Century

The key to understanding Latin American relations with the United States as the century, and the millennium, draw to a close is to realize that all of the nations in the Western Hemisphere are still caught up in the transition from the Cold War. That transition, which began nearly a decade ago, is proceeding more slowly, and with greater confusion, than most observers had anticipated. The issues that constitute the framework, or infrastructure, for Hemispheric relations in the coming century emerge from the efforts of each nation in the Hemisphere, including the United States, to effect their insertions into the emerging world order. Given the priority accorded commercial and economic questions in the insertion of most Latin American nations, those are the questions that dominate the discourse. However, questions of governance — and what I call the international code of good behavior — are rapidly assuming greater salience in inter-American relations. It is my judgment that they will dominate relations among the nations of the Hemisphere in the 21st century.

The Impact of the End of Cold War on Inter-American Relations: The Search for Paradigm and Principle

The Impact of the End of Cold War on Inter-American Relations: The Search for Paradigm and Principle

Managing Latin America: US power, North American knowledge and the cold war

Abstract Introduction: US Power, North American Knowledge and the Cold War There is now a substantial literature which seeks to situate the influential Latin American theories of development which emerged during the Cold War in their wider political and historical context. And there is a large number of articles which look at the North American historiography of Latin America and at the study of inter-American relations. Unlike most of these studies, however, this article focuses more directly on the relationship between US power in, and the production of a professional North American knowledge about, Latin America during the Cold War. Building on imperial state theory, recent international relations theory derived from Gramsci, and discourse theory, it emphasises the need to locate the emergence and subsequent consolidation of Latin American studies at the height of the Cold War, in the context of the rise of the historical and social science professions and the vicissitudes of US foreign policy in Latin America. A brief discussion of theories of imperialism and the role ofthe imperial state in the projection of US hegemony will be followed by a critical examination of the structures and discourses of North American social science generally and Latin American studies more specifically. The centrality ofliberalism to North American academic and political activity throughout the twentieth century will be addressed, and the discursive creation of Latin America, with particular reference to the period from 1945 to the early 1990s, will be examined. It will be argued that Latin American studies, as a set of professional discourses and practices which emerged in North America during the first half of the twentieth century, and was consolidated during the Cold War, has facilitated the creation and maintenance of the institutions, inter-state relations, politico-economic structures and technologies that underpin the US hegemonic position in the Americas. In short the professional study of Latin America has been instrumental to the wider US effort to manage the interAmerican system.

Turning Weakness Into Strength

Social movement activists of the 1980s urged their constituencies to integrate grass-roots activity and international consciousness with the slogan Act locally-think globally. But movements to support the rights and better the conditions of indigenous peoples of the Americas have followed the opposite path. A movement that epitomizes local knowledge and consciousness has engaged in extensive international activity with surprising success; the anthropologist Stefano Varese has described this as Think locally, act globally (NACLA, 1991). How has a movement representing the most marginalized within its own societies been empowered by acting globally? What can a study of the Indian rights experience tell us about social movements and transnational relations?' International relations are an increasingly important determinant of domestic social change, while transnational alliances play a growing role in social movement activity (Alger, 1988). Yet most treatments of social movements are still framed in terms of implicit levels of analysis that subsume domestic protest and reform under relations with the state. These questions assume particular significance in Latin America. Historical patterns of U.S. domination have so thoroughly colored the region's international relations that many scholars treat Latin American international relations as a version of inter-American relations in a way that takes the claims and agenda of the

The Miami Summit and Drugs: A Placid, Innocuous Conference?

The Western Hemisphere summit, which has been called by President Bill Clinton and is scheduled to be held in Miami (FL) in December 1994, will no doubt prove to be yet another major milestone along the evolving path of inter-American relations. Nevertheless, the significance of this meeting has been muted by the scanty information and limited signals given out by the host country regarding the meeting's purpose and agenda. In some ways, the upcoming summit projects a double image: of an event that is both transcendental and superficial at one and the same time. At least two elements point in this direction. On the one hand, much like similar previous conferences in history, not all members of the Hemisphere will attend, since some nations - like Cuba - have not been invited, an aspect that will affect the nature, spirit, and scope of this long-awaited assemblage of the Americas.

El Salvador's Negotiated Transition: From Low-Intensity Conflict to Low-Intensity Democracy

Like the reports of Mark Twain's death, the claims of a wave of democratization sweeping Latin America may be exaggerated. Yet the resurgence of electoral politics and the receding of military rule since the 1980s are trends that hold significance both for the future of Latin America and for inter-American relations. The transitions from bureaucratic-authoritarian rule in South America, and from the oligarchy-military alliances in Central America, have been a major focus of recent US policy attention. From the human rights approach of the Carter administration to the Reagan rollback doctrine, US policy became more actively engaged in controversial attempts to define and impose “democracy” in the region. After the end of the Cold War, US action or inaction remained key factors in the events surrounding the 1989 elections in Panama and the 1990 elections in Haiti and Nicaragua.

Environment and Diplomacy in the Americas

The Environment in Inter-American Relations, H. Munoz Environment and Development - A View from Brazil, J. Lutzenberger Environment and Development - A View from Chile, L. Alvarado A Commitment to Life, M.K. Tolba Inter-American Program of Action for Environmental Protection Selected Documents The Declaration of Brasilia Amazon Declaration Action Plan for the Environment in Latin America and the Caribbean Our Own Agenda Central American Agreement for the Protection of the Environment The Tlateloco Platform Stockholm Declaration on the Human Environment UN General Assembly Resolution on the Conference on Environment and Development UN General Assembly Resolution on International Co-operation in the Field of Environment.

International Organizations & Democracy: The OAS-Putting Principles into Practice

Peter Hakim is the acting president of the Inter-American Dialogue, a Washington-based center for policy analysis and exchange on Western Hemisphere relations. He authors a regular column for the Christian Science Monitor on international affairs. This essay draws heavily on Chapter H of the Dialogue's recent policy report, Convergence and Community: The Americas in 1993. The notion that violations of democratic practice and human rights in any one country of the Americas should be the concern of all countries is not a wholly new concept in inter-American affairs. This idea, as the preceding article by Heraldo Mufioz explains, has a long history and, indeed, is embedded in the legal framework of the Organization of American States (OAS). In one form or another, it has served to justify a variety of OAS actions. Over the past few years, the OAS has become a far more active and influential institution. During the 1970s and 1980s, it had been largely irrelevant and ignored in inter-American relations. Stymied by continual friction and mutual suspicion between the United States and Latin America, the prevalence of military rule in much of the region, and Washington's unilateralist impulses and Cold War preoccupations, the OAS sat on the sidelines as the major issues played themselves out in other forums. Called upon to help resolve the Panama crisis in 1989, the Organization suffered a humiliating setback when it was unable either to end General Manuel Noriega's rule or to prevent the United States from invading in order to depose him. Only a few months later, however, the OAS began a remarkable turnabout, starting with the Nicaraguan presidential elections of February 1990. At first, the nations of the hemisphere appeared to confirm the impotence of the OAS by recruiting the United Nations to take the lead role in monitoring the elections. Yet in a show of surprising resilience, the OAS joined forces with the UN in Nicaragua and ended up playing

The United States and Latin America in the 1990s: beyond the Cold War

comprehensive examination of both unresolved tensions in inter-American relations and the specific problems facing U.S. and Latin American policymakers in the 1990s.-- American Political Science Review These well-integrated essays analyze the key issues in contemporary inter-American relations very clearly. The authors address their themes with subtlety and insight, in this first overall assessment of North-South relations in the Western Hemisphere during the post-Cold War period.--Christopher Mitchell, New York University A superb contribution...At a time when U.S.-Latin American relations face a critical turning point, policymakers would benefit from a careful reading of this fine book.--Eduardo A. Gamarra, Florida International University

"Drug Trafficking" and Social and Political Conflicts in Latin America

Virtually no reference to inter-American relations fails to include what is misleadingly labeled as one of the major problems to be dealt with, along with the Central American conflict, the regional economic crisis (and in particular foreign debt), the vicissitudes of the democracies, or migration (see, among others, Munoz, 1988; Las Americas en 1989, 1989; Fauriol, 1989; Santa Fe 1, 1989). Despite the recent development by the official and semiofficial media in the United States of more comprehensive approaches to the causes of the drug problem (in particular, very intense rhetorical reference to the need for simultaneously attacking demand and supply), the prevailing values and actions still emphasize its judicialrepressive aspects in relating drug use to crime, political and ordinary violence, trafficking in weapons, official corruption, and, in certain extreme analyses, the challenge this entails to the national security of the United States and of the Latin American countries. They disregard the economic, social, political, and cultural conditions responsible for the persistent expansion of the consumption and production of various mind-altering substances in a number of countries and in particular in the ever-growing North American market. As has been recognized even by some advocates of the failed earlier policy, this biased approach has made it difficult not only to develop an objective diagnosis and prognosis on this problem but also to devise effective policies for containing and reversing the increasing supply and demand of this peculiar commodity (Suairez Salazar, 1987). According to Dialogo Interamericano, From any point of view that we adopt, the countries of the

A Last Interview with Manuel Puig

A Last Interview with Manuel Puig

Marching Ahead (Slowly): The Historiography of Inter-American Relations

Marching Ahead (Slowly): The Historiography of Inter-American Relations

Inter-American relations: the Latin American perspective

Inter-American relations: the Latin American perspective

Interests, Influence, and Inter-American Relations

Interests, Influence, and Inter-American Relations

The Politics of Inter-American Energy Relations: Prospects and Pitfalls

Latin American societies and economies are. in a world of change and transition. The past decade, from 1973 to the present, has been for them an era of anxiety on the one hand and of opportunity on the other, a paradoxical era in which prospects for development had to compete with the high social costs of stagnation in many instances.Energy was the catchword, and the name of energy was oil. Its price, its availability, and its promise (a road to riches for those fortunate enough to possess it, a threat of increasing poverty for those unfortunate enough to have to buy it) brought turmoil to the economies, and the bodies politic, of Latin America.

WHEN NOBODY LISTENS

All of the media flows in Latin America described previously in this volume are motivated primarily by profit-making commercial interests. In contrast, Radio Martí is a U.S. propaganda broadcasting operation intended to bring about political effects among the people of Cuba. The plan for Radio Martí ignores (1) past communication research showing that the mass media seldom have direct effects, and (2) the ineffectiveness of previous U.S. radio propaganda aimed at Cuba. If broadcasting to Cuba will not be effective in changing the attitudes of Cuban audiences, why is the U.S. government spending $14 million annually on Radio Martí? This article views Radio Martí as a system's response prompted by (1) a shift in inter-American relations, and (2) Cuban exiles and politically conservative groups in the United States who influenced the Reagan Administration to launch this project as a political symbol. Thus Radio Martí can be understood best as a political effect rather than as a cause of audience effects.

Changing Patterns in Inter-American Relations

Changing Patterns in Inter-American Relations