Department of International Relations
Latin America
FHSS, Bond University, Queensland, Australia
R. James Ferguson © 2006
Week 1:
An Introduction to Latin America in the Global System:
Places, Themes, Legacies and Uneven Development
Topics: -
1. Terminology and Geography
2. Themes and Places
3. Moving Past the Colonial Legacy?
4. Independence and Nationalism
5. The Early International System
6. Crises of Social Order and Development
7. Bibliography, Further Reading and Resources
1. Terminology and Geography
'Latin America' specifically comprises Mexico, and the countries of South and Central
America that have a Spanish or Portuguese cultural influence. More loosely, however,
it can also include some 32 countries in South America, Mesoamerica (Central and
Middle America) and the Caribbean (Moran 1987, p3). In this subject, we will be
looking at the interaction of Latin American nations among each other, regionally in
the 'Western hemisphere' (comprising North and South America), in new interregional interactions with North America, Europe, East Asia and the Pacific region,
and the place of Latin America in the international system during a period of rapid
globalisation. Latin America comprises one of the most important regions of the
world, interacting intensely with North America and Europe, and comprising a major
test case for democratisation, neo-liberal economics, and for new strategies in the
developing world (for one view, see Comeau 2003). Although some of these states
have emerged as major powers, e.g. Brazil, overall perhaps only 15-20% of the
population can afford a 'first world' life style (Petras 1999), with a lower tier too poor
to gain benefits from current globalisation trends. Latin America has demonstrated
considerable evolution both in regional institutional building, as well as in grass-root
strategies designed to empower ordinary individuals. At the same time, the challenges
of inequality and poverty, as well as the legacies of violent political confrontation
remain very strong in many of countries (see Ferranti 2004 & Schneider 2000). As a
result, some of these countries have democracies which function unevenly, marked to
some degree by limited rule of law, or by highly divided classes and communities, e.g.
as in Venezuela through 2003-2006 (for background see Foweraker & Krzarnic 2002).
In this area, there are dangers in terminology. 'Hispanic', for example, is no longer a
favoured term among some Latin Americans, since it sometimes infers that these
cultures are little more than a reflection of Spanish culture, and also does not include
Brazil and Portuguese influences. Likewise, people in Latin America and within the
United States object that it is an umbrella word that is not precise enough to indicate
either ethnicity or identity, while others specifically use the term to indicate a Spanish,
rather than Amerindian or African origin (see Hamilton 2001). Thus writers 'such as
Gloria Anzaldua, Sandra Cisneros and Denise Chavez are on record as being strongly
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and proudly "Latina" -not "Hispanic"' (Hamilton 2001). In this subject we will look at
major countries which have had a strong 'Hispanic' tradition, e.g. in Mexico and
Colombia, but also look at Brazil with its strong Portuguese legacy. It is important to
note that these countries now have a unique tradition influenced by indigenous
peoples, plus European, African and contemporary American influences. In many
cases it is better to look at the specifics of national or local societies, e.g. Chilean
cultures, which are different in many ways from either Mexican or Venezuelan
culture. Likewise, it is important not to generalise worst case conditions or
patterns to the entire region, though some partially shared historical, developmental
and regional experiences will be outlined (lectures 1-2, 9-12). In other weeks we will
look at particular countries and issues in detail (lectures 3-8).
Latin America, showing borders with United States (courtesy PCL Map Library)
The region is geographically dominated by the Andean mountain chain and by several
highland plateaus in Mexico, the Guianan and Brazilian plateaus, as well as by river
systems of the Amazon and Parana-Paraguay rivers (Moran 1987, p5). The climate of
the region is very diverse: alongside jungles, deserts and snow clad mountains, there
are also savannas and temperate tablelands. The resources of the region as a whole are
vast, including oil, gas, minerals, rainforests, and expanding ranch-lands that have
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both led to a scramble for resource access as well as leaving considerable
environmental management problems for most of these nations. Human, social,
intellectual and cultural resources are also very diverse, as well shall see.
2. Themes and Places
There will not be enough time to look at all the countries, institutions and issues that
affect Latin America in the international system. Instead, the subject lectures and
seminars will sample some of the major countries and central themes, providing a
backbone of ideas and approaches. In later lectures we will look at Mexico, Cuba,
Colombia, and Brazil in some detail, and at Chile from the point of view of
democratisation processes. Major themes will include current economic development,
democratic and political systems, regional cooperation, environmental impact, Andean
cultures, relations with the United States and Europe, new institutional structures and
diplomatic initiatives, current strategic issues, and the future prospects of Latin
America. These lecture themes can be seen in the subject outline: 1) An Introduction to Latin America in the Global System: Places and
Themes
2) Latin America: From Colonisation to Nationalism to Globalisation
3) Mexico in Progress and Crisis: From Cortés to NAFTA
4) Cuba: Revolution, Resistance, and Globalisation
5) Colombia and the Paradox of Intervention
6) Brazil: An Emerging, Revisionist ‘Great Power’?
7) The Struggle for Democracy: Chile and Argentina
8) The Shifting Pattern of US-Latin American Relations (Guest Lecturer)
9) Regional Organisations and Political Regionalism: The Hemispheric
Dream
10) From Mercosur to Free Trade Areas
11) The Latin American Search for Foreign Policy and Security in the 21st
Century
12) The Quest for Stability: From Dependence to Interdependence
3. Moving Past the Colonial Legacy?
Latin America today is still largely shaped by its unique history and economic
development. To understand contemporary political, economic, social and strategic
trends, some background information is needed. It was during the 19th century that the
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nations of Latin America were formed, but carried forward social legacies from the
past. We will not try to cover this in detail, but a timeline and a few key themes will
act as an introduction to contemporary Latin America. We will look a little more
closely at the history of Mexico, Cuba, Colombia and Brazil later in the subject. The
Amerindian and indigenous culture, with its rich history, will also be touched on
briefly in later lectures, especially in connection to current political and developmental
challenges.
Timeline (Post European contact, 1415-1889, adapted from Slatta 2000)
Exploration and Conquest, 1492-1550:
1415-60 Prince Henry the Navigator opens the great Portuguese "Age of Exploration"
1492 Columbus makes landfall in the Bahamas on October 12
1494 Treaty of Tordesillas divides the New World between Spain & Portugal
1500 Pedro Alvares Cabral claims the Brazilian "hump" for Portugal
1507 A German cartographer publishes a map of the New World, using the name America in
honour of Amerigo Vespucci (1454-1512)
1519-22 Cortez enters, lays siege to, and conquers Aztec capital Tenochtitlan
1532 Pizarro captures Atahualpa, ending the Inca Empire
1535 Maya defeat and force out all Spaniards from the Yucatan
1540 Pedro de Valdivia begins the conquest of Chile
Colonial Era, 1550-1800:
1524 Council of the Indies established to help administer the new colonies
1536 Pedro de Mendoza founds Buenos Aires
1540 Francisco Vasquez de Coronado explores north from Mexico to the Great Plains
1609 Spanish establish Santa Fe, New Mexico
1680-92 Massive Pueblo revolt drives Spaniards out of northern frontier
1697 Last of the Maya defeated by Spaniards
1767 Society of Jesus (Jesuits) expelled from Spanish America
1780-81 Indian revolt led by Tupac Amaru in Upper Peru
1781 Comuero Revolt in Colombia
1791-1804 Slave revolt on French island of Saint-Dominigue (Haiti) leads to independence
1793-1815 Napoleonic Wars disrupt political rule in Europe
Beginning of Independence:
1807 King John and his court flees to Brazil to escape Napoleon's invading armies in Portugal
1808 Napoleon Bonaparte installs his brother Joseph on the Spanish throne
1810 Creoles establish ruling juntas in Carcas, Venezuela, Santiago, Chile, Buenos Aires,
Argentina; Hidalgo's "Grito de Dolores" in Mexico
1811 Venezuela and Paraguay declare independence from Spain; Hidalgo killed and replaced
by Morelos; José Gervasio Artigas leads battle for Uruguayan independence
1815 Bolívar forced to retreat to the island of Jamaica
1816 Argentina declares independence
1818 Chile declares independence
1821 Iturbide declares Mexico independent with his Plan of Iguala
1822 San Martín and Bolívar meet a Guayaquil, Ecuador; the former departs for France and
self-imposed exile; King Pedro declares Brazil independent from Portugal
1823 US issues the Monroe Doctrine warning against recolonization of the newly independent
Spanish American republics
1824 Last patriot victories against the Spaniards: Bolívar at Junín in August and Sucre at
Ayacucho in December; Pedro writes a new Brazilian constitution
1825 Bolivia declares independence
Aftermath of Independence, 1826-1860s:
1828 British force a settlement of the war between Argentina and Brazil over the "Banda
Oriental." This long-contested land becomes newly independent Uruguay.
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1829 Venezuela leaves "Gran Colombia"
1830 Ecuador leaves "Gran Colombia"; Bolívar dies preparing to go into exile
1830s Rise of caudillos, self-interested military dictators backed by private armies 1831-1844
Pedro I forced to abdicate. Brazil ruled by committee--the Regency--a time of political
fragmentation
1844-89 King Pedro II rules Brazil
Several unusual impulses need to be considered in the European view of the 'New
World'. As we all know, Christopher Columbus (= Cristoforo Colombo = Cristóbal
Colón) had headed westwards in the hope of finding a new route to India, the East
Indies, China and Japan. Instead, from 1492 he helped open up a new continent to
European expansion. Although at first viewed as less lucrative than the goal of India
and the East Indies trade, Portuguese and Spanish conquests in the Americas were
driven by several factors: * Access to removable wealth including gold, silver and slaves. In time, the
wealth of agricultural land also became central, with the creation of vast
plantations and ranches. Thus 'the mines of Mexico and Peru produced only one
quarter of the wealth produced by agriculture and cattle ranching', even at their
height (Fuentes 1992, p156). Yet this value could only be realised with the use of
cheap labour, and at first this was done through encomienda and then the
repartimientos grants, whereby Indian inhabitants were tied to land as labourers
(Williamson 1992, pp14-15; Fuentes 1992, p131). Eventually these grants became
private property, leading to the hacienda system, with workers often being tied to
these large estates through debt peonage (Fuentes 1992, p135; discussed further
in lecture 3).
* The geopolitical contest of powers, including rivalry among Spanish,
Portuguese, British, French and Dutch interests. European powers competed to
enrich themselves and therefore gain more dominance back in Europe, as well as
for strategic ports and colonies. From the 19th century onwards emerging
American powers, including the United States, Brazil and Mexico, would seek to
limit and moderate European political influence achieving their at times tenuous
independence (see below).
* The interests of the Catholic Church in the conversion and 'education' of native
Americans. Christianity, for good and bad, was one of the main shapers of
colonial experience in Latin America. A major debate soon emerged among
different Christian orders: some argued that the Indians were innocent humans
with rational souls ready for conversion (as thought by Father Bartolomé de Las
Casas), others denied that they had true souls and following a line of thought that
goes back to Aristotle suggesting that they were fit only for conquest and
enslavement (Hanke 1959; Fuentes 1992, p125, p130). Catholicism also became
one of the contested patterns of identity in many Latin American communities,
to be challenged in diverse settings by revolutionary rationalism, modernism,
nationalism and Protestantism (for resurgent indigenous voices I the 21st century,
see Cleary 2005).
* An important early trend was also utopian idealism, hoping that this new
continent would offer a paradise of plenty and harmonious social relations
(Fuentes 1992, p8). This utopian trend also included images of the 'noble savage',
as well as experiments in utopian social villages in Mexico, e.g. the efforts of a
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Fransiscan bishop to create communal Christian villages among the Tarascan
Indians (Fuentes 1992, p134). In Brazil, Jesuits missions protected natives under
the idea that Europeanisation need not precede Christian education, and their
missions protected these people from enslavement from the 16th century down
till the early 17th century, but these towns were raided extensively during the 'just
war' of the late 16th century, and was intensified after the Jesuit expulsion from
Portuguese (1759) and Spanish (1763) lands (Hudson 1997). This 'invention' of a
better place (Fuentes 1992, p125) would form part of the founding myths of the
United States, but also influenced images of Brazil and Latin America as a whole.
The contrast between North and South American culture would in part be due to
different visions of political and social order that would shape their
societies and economies in divergent ways (see Véliz 1994).
* The was a pressing need for land and resources for an expanding population,
a burgeoning middle and trade class, and land for people within Europe who saw
emigration as an escape from poverty. This would in part explain (but not
justify) the oppressive treatment of indigenous people, and the appropriation of
their land at every opportunity. Political elites also needed wealth to maintain
their power and enhance status, while the Spanish and Portuguese crowns sought
to enhance their national power through rich colonies. Spain already had the
model of conquest and appropriation from their conflict with the Moors (see
Fuentes 1992).
* Massive migrations of people into the Americas, the first from Asia (probably
over land bridges connecting Siberia and Alaska) probably between 15-12,000
B.C., though some controversial archaeological data has suggested possible earlier
dates. The second wave of migration began from 1492, first from Europe, and
then forcibly from Africa. Certain aspects of these migrations would have long
term effects, shaping the culture of Latin America today: a) The arrival of the Amerindians into the Americas remains only
partially charted. It has been suggested that about 14,500 thousand years
ago their ancestors crossed over from northeast Asia, then travelled
south, gradually exploring and settling as they went. The oldest, dateconfirmed finds are about 11,500 years old, but some scientists suggest
that the arrival date might have to be pushed back as far as 20,000 years,
with migrants using boats rather than crossing on land bridges (see
Wright 1999). Numerous different cultures would evolve, some largely
based on advanced hunter-gatherer structures, others on more sedentary
agricultural systems (as in the Aztec, Maya and Inca). This was not static:
change, conquest, and migration occurred within these indigenous
cultures, e.g. the arrival of the Mexica (Aztec) into the valley of Mexico
and the spread of the Chibchas, Arawaks and Caribs (Hanratty &
Meditz 1988) into parts of Colombia.
b) Migration of Europeans was largely shaped by the political control of
the territories by the imperial powers. This led to a largely 'Hispanic
culture' in much of Latin America, but with Portuguese culture shaping
Brazil, while British and French culture influencing North America and
parts of the Caribbean. This division between an Anglo-American
north and a Hispanic/Luso-Brazilian south is an important cultural
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divide (Véliz 1994) that remains even today as a factor in foreign affairs
and identity politics.
c) From 1518 African slaves were brought into the Americas as labourers,
mostly for plantations. Over the next three centuries, they would form
the mainstay of many colonial economies (e.g. in Cuba and Brazil), with
some 3.5 million coming in during this period (Fuentes 1992, p197).
Afro-Americans soon became much more than a source of forced
labour. As noted by Carlos Fuentes:
There was hardly an aspect of labour and life in the New World that
was not marked by the black culture. In Brazil, which began importing
slaves from 1538, blacks helped explore and conquer the interior.
Black regiments under black leaders fought the Dutch and defended
Rio de Janeiro against the French. They were essential to the
conquest, settlement, and development of Brazil. They also rebelled.
(Fuentes 1992, p198)
Thus slaves were not merely passive victims. Numerous rebellions were
attempted, slave ships were on occasion taken control of by their
prisoners, in Brazil they created their own independent town (Palmares)
in the late 17th century away from Portuguese settlement (eventually
crushed), and in Haiti their rebellion led in 1804 to the creation of 'the
second independent state in the Western Hemisphere and the first free
black republic in the world.' (Haggerty 1989) Soon a growing free AfroAmerican and mixed population would develop in countries such as
Cuba and Brazil, becoming professionals, poets, musicians, nationalists
and sometimes revolutionaries. These trends would have numerous
implications for the identity, culture and current social forces within Latin
America as a whole (discussed further in the Cuba and Brazil lectures).
4. Independence and Nationalism
Various factors aided and hindered the emergence of independent nation-states
in Latin America. The independence movement would become strong in the early 19th
century, and after wars with loyalist and Spanish forces eventually create new nations.
Independence would be recognised by Spain for Mexico (1836), Ecuador (1840),
Chile (1844), Venezuela (1845), Bolivia (1847), Nicaragua (1851), Argentina (1858),
Costa Rica (1859), Guatemala (1863), Peru (1863), El Salvador (1865), Paraguay
(1880), Colombia (1881), Uruguay (1882), Honduras (1894), with Brazil establishing
its independence from Portugal by 1822 (August 1999, p45).
The path towards nationhood, however, was turbulent, and shaped by a number
of factors. These include: * The role of caudillos or military chiefs (Fuentes 1992, p38), who often
resisted centralising impulses and fought to maintain regional power, though at
time prominent caudillos would also become national leaders. Likewise, in Brazil,
local leaders (given the honorary title of coronel) dominated regional politics
(especially in rural areas and the Northeast of Brazil), a trend continuing into the
early 20th century. As explained by Rex Hudson: -
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Under the more traditional style of politics, coronelismo, the local coronel
(colonel), in alliance with other large farmers, controlled the votes of rural
workers and their families. The local political chiefs in turn exchanged votes
with politicians at the state level in return for political appointments and public
works in their municipalities (municípios). (Hudson 1997)
Some would see this as one origin for the prominent role of the military in the
20th century, and the continued rise of 'strong men' who controlled political
life in countries such as Chile and Argentina. This remains a serious issue for
Cuba and Venezuela through 2005-2006, though for different reasons (see
further below). In a general sense, the military was also a source of
revolutionary and modernising leadership in many cases, leading to a
continued role for the military in politics that would become highly problematic
in the 20th century.
* Although kingship was the dominant institution in Europe when the New
World was first settled, there was a partially democratic institution in Spanish
medieval cities whereby limited self-government occured through elected
magistrates, alcaldes, and through municipal assemblies, ayuntamientos (Fuentes
1992, pp70-72). This was exported into the new urban centres of Latin America,
e.g. in Buenos Aires (Fuentes 1992, pp138-140). The building of cities (either
new ones or transformed pre-Colombian cities) is a crucial aspect of European
settlement. For example, in Mexico we find a rapid phase of city founding:
Veracruz (1519), Oaxaca (1521), Colima (1522), Taxco (1529; Culiacán (1531),
Puebla (1535), Guadalajara (1542), Querétaro (1550), and San Cristóbal (1561),
with a similar pace of construction of cities in Argentina from 1553 down to
1617 (Fuentes 1992, p140). Today, Latin America hosts megacities such as
Mexico City, Sao Paulo, and Rio de Janeiro, which are sources of great wealth
but also have infrastructure and social problems (poverty, drugs, crime) with a
rapidly expanding urban population not fully catered for by services (sewage,
water, housing, transportation), nor by secure, formal employment.
* The relationship with indigenous native culture was problematic in most of
these states. The simple image of the conqueror was later adapted to a
Christianising and than humanitarian re-readings of history, while the massive
impact, economically and socially, of indigenous culture was only partly
recognised. One trend, as we shall see, was indigenismo and Indianismo, (Ruiz
1992, p365), whereby any high elements of indigenous culture were
appropriated as part of national culture, or used as part of a wider literary and
artistic fusion (see further lecture 3). Vigorous cultural life, as found in the Maya,
for example, could not be suppressed, and form part of social, political life of
ordinary people in southern Mexico and parts of Central America today. This
complex relationship is symbolised by the image of the Indian interpreter who
became Cortés' lover: La Malinche (Malintzin) - the term Malinchista symbolises a
kind of treachery (Fuentes 1992, p111), and at the least a bowing down before
foreign influences. But in Mexico it can be used as kind of insight into the reality
of the relationship among the conqueror and conquered (Lanyon 1999, pp6-7).
Likewise, indigenous needs and cultural remain important in several Andean
countries (especially Peru, Ecuador and Bolovia) and to some extent in Brazil.
Racially and socially, the history of Latin America was not just a straightforward
conquest and colonisation. Fuentes thus suggests a kind of cultural counterconquest: -
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The naked facts of conquest were answered by the more secret and
insinuating facts of counterconquest. Both the defeated Indian peoples and
the mestizos, eventually joined by the African arrives in the New World, began
a process of conquering the conquerors, thus fostering the rise of a properly
American, multiracial, polycultural society. (Fuentes 1992, p124)
* Latin America, and more slowly Brazil, began to develop it own version of
intellectual, literary and artistic life, at first based on European models, but
later on looking back to selective parts of indigenous cultures. Universities were
founded in Santo Domingo (1538), Lima and Mexico City (1551), while the first
printing press was set up in Mexico City in 1535 (Fuentes 1992, p141). In time,
artists, writers and thinkers brought a kind of fusion between European views
and 'new world' conditions. This is one of the great cultural resources of Latin
America, which retains vigorous high cultures (in literature, film, art, classical
music) and strong folk cultures (popular music, dance, religion, story-telling,
textiles, art). These cultural resources have economic implications (e.g. tourism
and cultural products as export, as in Cuba and Brazil), but also shape the internal
and external perceptions of these countries and their national identity.
5. The Early International System
It can be seen that the American colonies (north and south) were soon embroiled in
international affairs changing the balance of power in Europe and the geopolitics
of imperial expansion. For a time, these colonies helped boost the power of Spain,
Portugal, and to a lesser extent France. However, the benefits were not always
sustained. The enormous influx of bullion (gold and silver) through Spain, for
example, did increase Spanish military and naval power. However, as Europe's silver
resources multiplied seven times this led to higher prices, inflation, and a tendency for
Spain to import manufactures from European neighbours, delaying her entry into the
industrial revolution (Fuentes 1992, pp156-157). It was estimated that by 1629 that
75% of the bullion from the Americas ended up in Amsterdam, London, Rouen, and
Antwerp (Fuentes 1992, p157; see further Braudel 1986).
Several key factors engaged Latin America into the emerging international system
from the 16th-20th centuries and changed the global system. These included: * The rise of the Ottoman Empire (Ottoman Turks) as a dominant force in the
Middle East and eastern Mediterranean from the 14th-17th centuries reduced the
flow of trade and increased costs, especially rare spice and silk imports into
Europe, though Venice and Goa maintained trade. Nonetheless, this encouraged
the exploration of Africa and the search for alternative naval routes to ‘East
Indies’ (Williamson 1992, p2). In this Portugal and then Spain excelled, moving
from trade expansion to empire-building (Meilink-Roelofsz 1962). In this light we
can see why Christopher Columbus was so keen to find what he thought would
be a short westward route around the globe to the Indies. These factors helped
turn Spanish and Portuguese attention outwards, away from the confines
of the Mediterranean and north European world.
* The race for imperial control of colonies led to numerous clashes among
Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch, French and British colonists and militias. Certain
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treaties were used to establish boundaries and spheres of influence. One of the
earliest of these was the Treaty of Tordesillas (1494), arbitrated by Pope
Alexander VI to delineate Spanish verses Portuguese spheres of colonisation
along a line from pole to pole 370 leagues west of the Azores in the Atlantic, a
daring and arrogant peace of diplomacy. Through the Treaty of Madrid in 1750
this boundary would be adjusted westward to allow Portugal to claim the
territories it already controlled into the interior of Brazil, and allowing Spain
control of the colonies along the Andes, the Caribbean and Pacific coast (Eakin
1998, p23).
* The emergence of the United States as a hemispheric and global power,
clearly established by the time of its war with Mexico (1846-1848), in which
Mexico lost almost half of its territory and the U.S. acquired its southern tier of
states including California, New Mexico, and Arizona. The U.S. quickly moved to
try to exclude the influence of other European states, especially Spain, Russia,
France and Britain, in the western hemisphere through the Monroe Doctrine of
1823, though in fact they would not be unable to do this effectively until the late
19th century. In the twentieth century, the U.S. would often intervene in
following its own interests (as in Cuba during the early 20th century), or as part
of a wider ‘ideological agenda’ in support of liberal capitalism. This intensified
during the Cold War when Washington was intensely sensitive to any hint
of Marxist or communist-alignment as undermining the 'inter-American'
system of diplomacy. At times other causes came into play: suppressing drug
activity, supporting U.S. business interests, and more recently in terms of security.
This led to indirect interventions (e.g. in Nicaragua and ending the government
of Socialist president Salvador Allende, 1970-1973, in Chile), failed military
intervention (in the Bay of Pigs fiasco in which Cuban rebels, directly supported
by the CIA in a covert operation, tried to invade Cuba), and 'successful' military
interventions in Guatemala, the Dominican Republic, Grenada, Panama, and
Haiti (Grant 2001; Edwards 2000; Falcoff 2000; Booth & walker 1993). More
generally, during the Cold War period, the U.S. supported right-wing
governments that opposed left-wing parties and guerrilla groups, and trained
military and police in counter-insurgency, intelligence, and interrogation
procedures, e.g. at the School of the Americas, now called the Western
Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (for ongoing controversies, see
Marrin 2000). This led to later charges that such officers were often involved in
human rights abuses, the use of torture, and the support of death squads, as
occurred during the height of the conflict in Guatemala (see Erlick 2001).
Although today U.S. training involves courses in human rights and rule of law,
there are still concerns about the linkage of such local officers to paramilitary
groups in some countries, e.g. in Colombia. Likewise, the renewed emphasis on
security concerns since 2001 has also made military cooperation one of the
most active areas of U.S. engagement in the wider region.
* In large measure both the U.S. and Latin American states suffer from a simple
reality: the great asymmetry of power between the United States and any single
state in the region, even large nations such as Argentina, Brazil and Mexico. Even
in contrast to the entire region, the U.S. remains a dominant power whose
involvement in regional agendas and organisations is crucial. The
Caribbean region, for example, has sometimes been viewed as an 'American lake'
needed to secure U.S. access to the Panama canal and its shipping routes into the
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Atlantic. Here either an unyielding dominance or indifference can be disastrous
for the development of the region. In one view the U.S. may need to move
towards a more consistently cooperative approach, rather than a series of uneven
and fitful polices designed to support its national interests under difference
administrations, i.e. from Pax Americana to a more Pan American approach (see
Dominguez 1998b). Likewise, Latin America is not so much the U.S. 'backyard'
as a vital region with serious economic and security projects than support the
hemisphere's international stability (e.g. via institutions such as NAFTA and the
OAS).
* Any tendencies for unilateral policies, coercive diplomacy and intervention in
U.S. foreign policy, however, has been moderated by other trends in U.S.
thinking. Thus, at another level, the U.S. hoped for a multilateral regional
system which would lead towards greater peace and development (as in the
'Good Neighbour' and 'Alliance for Progress' policies, and under the
administration of former President Carter), towards democratisation and
eventually lead ‘cooperative security’ in the Western hemisphere, as
developed under the administration of former President Clinton (Johnson 2001).
This was based in part on the theory that democratic states do not go to war with
each other (the ‘democratic peace thesis’), but in Latin America the process of
democratisation ‘is a dynamic and uneven process that creates uncertainty among
political actors and instability across borders’ (Johnson 2001; to be looked at in
later lectures).
* The Americas became part of global trade routes from Europe into the
Pacific and thence to East Asia. Silver from the Spanish colonies was sent to
Manila in the Philippines for trade with China and Japan. This trend continued
when later on the U.S. insisted that it was a two ocean power and built up its
navy accordingly, gaining influence in the Pacific through Hawaii, the Philippines,
and Guam. Accordingly, trade routes along the tip of South America became
strategically and economically important, as did the Isthmus of Panama. Balboa
first crossed the Isthmus to see the Pacific Ocean in 1513, while the city of
Panama was founded in 1519 (Williamson 1992, p16). This culminated in the
American imperative to build a Canal it could control, leading to its interference
in Colombian affairs and the creation in 1903 of the 'independent' state of
Panama, which soon became a U.S. client (see Hanratty & Meditaz 1988). Today
Panama has charted a more independent path and has a reduced U.S. presence,
with Panama assuming direct control of the Panama Canal after the end of
2000. However, the Treaty Concerning the Permanent Neutrality and Operation of the
Panama Canal after 1999 was designed to ensure its continued operation during
war and peace, with the U.S. allowed to act military in defence of the Canal
(Atkins 1999, p201). For a time there had been some alarm within the U.S. about
Chinese (PRC) economic influence and investment on the small state (Morton
1999). A more serious issue is the need to modernise and upgrade the canal to
handle bigger ships and more cargo, or alternatively improve the railway
networks across the isthmus. Likewise, environmental impact and the relative
poverty of indigenous groups are part of a wider Central American focus of
developmental needs (see Call 2002 & lecture 12).
* The notion of North and South America as a unique Western hemisphere
with its own destiny was used by the U.S. to further its own foreign policy, and
11
by Latin American nationalists (e.g. in Mexico and Cuba) to help shake off
control from Spain. Indeed, the original liberators of South America from Spain
(such as Simón Bolívar) had hoped for some kind of cooperation among the new
states. This was emphasised again in the 1960s with the birth of the Latin
American Free Trade Association, while during the same period the U.S.
sponsored Alliance for Progress as aimed at regional development (Johnson
2001). This sense of uniqueness would later aid trends towards
regionalism, regional cooperation, and the creation of regional
organisations (see below).
* The trade of new agricultural products was part of the exchange, e.g.
tobacco, maize, potatoes, natural rubber and cocoa came from the Americas. In
turn, key products such as sugar and coffee would be brought from the West and
grown in huge plantations that would change entire economic structure of
several nations, e.g. in Brazil and Cuba. It would affect the millions of people
who came to work the plantations, whether as slaves, planters, or small-scale
farmers (the latter particularly important in coffee production in Colombia).
* With the above factors in mind, it is not surprising that much of Latin America
was developed as an agricultural resource base for the global system. This
had serious implications for future development. Since early colonisation by
Spain, the America's were at first thought of as a resource to be exploited at will.
This mentality was modified but not entirely changed through the 19th and 20th
centuries:
The Latin American economy since Columbus has been influenced by the
preference for export agriculture over staple food production. This has meant
that most of the best soils have been controlled by a few individuals who
exploit only small areas of their total estates (about 19 percent in these vast
estates or latifundia) and then in monocultures that tend to deplete the soil.
The rural population has been forced into tiny plots or minifundia located on
less productive, and sometimes on steeper, land wherein forests that
previously had been important sources of game and protection for soil
resources were cleared. (Moran 1987, p9).
As such the agrarian question remains: 'How might the rural sector be
restructured so that national economic goals are achieved and the disenfranchised
masses secure greater access to basic resources?' (Moran 1987, p9). Failures in
agrarian reform have led to continued demographic shifts towards the city,
creating new urban and social problems in megacities such as Mexico City . It has
also exacerbated social tensions, and fuelled revolutionary and guerrilla
movements. Problems of indigenous land rights, and the returning of land to
traditions elders, also remains a contested issue that can at times lead to political
violence, e.g. in Brazil where even though court rulings have returned some
lands, e.g. to the Guarani-Kaiowá, this has led to ongoing political violence
through early 2003, with 3 Indians being killed, including the tribal leader Marcos
Veron (Lobe 2003). The current government of Brazil supports indigenous
rights, but this has been difficult to consistently and evenly implement. President
Chavez has suggested large scale land-reform as one way of reducing poverty in
Venezuela, though this has been a slow process (see Syvia & Danopoulos 2003).
Likewise, large-scale agribusiness, found as major producers in Mexico and
Brazil, for example, remains in sharp contrast to traditional patterns of small
peasant landholders (see Petras & Veltmeyer 2003; Cabello 2003).
12
Central America (Courtesy PCL Map Library)
6. Crises of Social Order and Development
It can be seen then, that the major nations of Latin America soon established their
freedom from Spain and Brazil, and began to take on the mantle of effective,
modernising states with strong elements of nationalism. This trends, however, would
soon be complicated by unresolved relations with displaced indigenous peoples,
intense political competition among elites and between different political parties (see
Shifter 2004), continued population growth, increasing rural poverty, the emergence
of urban shanty towns, environmental destruction and problems in becoming
industrially competitive with the developed 'first' world (for these trends, see Atkins
1999; Williamson 1992, Fuentes 1992; Hopkins 1987). As a result, even with the
industrialisation, modernisation, liberalisation, and democratisation of the twentieth
century, much of Latin America through the 1980s and early 1990s still had a sense of
grappling with a state of crisis: Inflation, unemployment, the excessive burden of foreign debt. Increasing poverty and
illiteracy ; an abrupt decline of purchasing power and standards of living. A sense of
frustration, or dashed hopes and lost illusions. Fragile democracies menaced by
social explosion. (Fuentes 1992, p9).
13
By the start of the 21st century, broad trends seemed to have improved in some areas:
In important respects, the regional context of the Western Hemisphere has changed
dramatically in the past decade. Authoritarian rule has given way to democracy in
almost every Latin American country: societies wrenched by years of violent and
costly civil wars, driven by Cold War ideological rivalries, have decided to settle their
differences with ballots rather than bullets; state controlled, closed economies have
been pried open, both by the distress of massive debt and the opportunity of new
markets. (Johnson 2001)
However, key elements in the path towards statehood made the emergence of
democratic states problematic in much of Latin America. Numerous factors contribute
to this, and different theories have been proposed to account for the emergence of
weak states, problematic development (see Comeau 2003), limits to international
cooperation, a fear of political instability, and uneven democratisation. In part,
this crisis was based on poor patterns of economic development, in part on unresolved
political crises driven groups who do not feel included in the procedural (electionbased) democracies that are now the norm.
This has resulted in various forms of civil protest, and at the most extreme, guerrilla
movements bent on control of regions within states and maintaining their own
international agenda. In the view of one (left-wing) commentator: On the other hand a more consequential extra-parliamentary opposition is growing
which questions the "globaloney" of the dominant classes. New sociopolitical
movements like the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) in Mexico, the
Landless Workers Movement (MST) in Brazil, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of
Colombia (FARC), and the peasant-Indian movements in Ecuador, Bolivia, and
Paraguay are openly challenging the neoliberal regimes and their imperialist backers.
Although the tactics vary from large scale land occupations to guerrilla armies, and
encompass a wide range of other mass action, these movements have called for the
socialization of strategic sectors of the economy, far-reaching land redistribution, and
the reduction of overseas debt and other transfers. The size and scope of extraparliamentary struggle is significant. The MST has organized hundreds of occupations
covering twenty-four states and has settled five hundred thousand families. Organized
as a national-political movement, the MST has successfully unified urban and rural
workers in a common struggle against neoliberalism. In Colombia, the FARC controls
half of all rural municipalities with an army of fifteen thousand militants and support
from close to a million people. In Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico, rank-and-file industrial
workers are organizing class-based trade unions to challenge state-run official unions.
While full blown alternative programs are still being elaborated, these movements are
struggling to form anti-imperialist regimes which can begin the reconstruction of the
domestic market, regain control over the essential levers of the economy, redistribute
wealth and create a participatory form of democracy to replace the elite-driven
foreign-based electoral systems that describe themselves as democracies. (Petras
1999)
We will look at these controversial issues in more detail throughout the subject, but a
few problems in political and economic development can be highlighted now: * As we have seen, South and Central America were soon engaged in the global
trade system for over three centuries, but usually as primary producers and
markets, i.e. a periphery reliant for the terms of trade first on Europe and then
14
the U.S. This led to a body of theory which suggested that truly modern,
independent states would find it hard to emerge because such post-colonial states
were vulnerable to outside pressures, and did not have a balanced path of
economic or social development. In its most extreme form, this emerged as
dependency theory (see Atkins 1999, pp67-72) and a call for greater industrial
development and economic independence in these developing states. On this
basis, strong external actors, e.g. at first Spain and Britain, now the U.S., can
often intervene in the politics, foreign policy and economic management of
weaker or dependent Latin American states. At another level, the power of
major transnational companies has been a very strong factor throughout the
20th century, e.g. in the 1950s in Venezuela multinational oil companies such as
Jersey Standard, Royal Dutch Shell, Gulf Oil, Texaco, and Exxon were the
mainstay of the economy (Corrales 2001), while in the past the United Fruit
company and Coca-Cola had controversial roles to play in the politics of
Guatemala (Erlick 2001). Today, automobile companies such as Ford, Renault
and Volkswagon have a very strong influence (in terms of economic
development) in Mexico, Argentina and Brazil (see later lectures). As such, these
national economies are strongly subject to the (negative and postive) trends of
global markets, flows of foreign investment, and high levels of international
competition.
* Much of Latin America developed rather hierarchical societies in which class,
and to a lesser extent race, acted as limits to the development of egalitarian
society. Various groups (Amerindians, the descendants of African slaves, the
poor etc.) were effectively excluded from wealth ad political participation. Such
excluded groups were not only an ongoing social cost (in terms of poverty,
resistance and protest, health and crime problems), but would find other paths
seeking their own security. This has led to social, political and military
resistance. In this context, the creation of revolutionary groups and
paramilitaries to contest the political order was common: since no other path was
possible, violence and revolutionary ideologies were needed (e.g. in Cuba,
Colombia, Guatemala, Nicaragua, etc.). Other forms of less violent mobilisaton
are also found among poor and indigenous groups in many of these countries,
e.g. in Brazil, Mexico (see later lectures), and among Mayan Indians in Guatemala
who have begun to influence the media, with one of their own talk-back radio
programs, and via indigenous columnists in newspapers (Erlick 2001)
* Independence and nationalism also often led to strong individual leaders
who became the symbols of the country and became virtual dictators, even when
the forms of democracy and elections were retained. The paths to this were either
through direct military support, as in Caudillos or military leaders (see below), or
via mass popular mobilisation in which large segments of society support a
reforming agenda (i.e. populism and presidentialism), as in the case of Juan
Domingo Peron in Argentina and Brazil’s Getulio Vargas (Lecuona & Momayezi
2001). Associated with this is the cult of the leader, and also the political culture
of personalismo (Erlick 2001) and patronage by political elites.
* Nation building in many of these states was at least in part reliant on the role of
military forces, both in terms of successful revolutions, but also in terms of
development and modernisation. This has meant that the army has often had a
strong role to play in political affairs, and has been willing to view itself as
guarantors of the nation if politicians fail, thereby justifying either a coup or at
15
least pressure on civilian governments. Martial law and the military model,
however, has also led to oppression of opposition groups, human rights abuses
and torture. Mexico, Argentina, Chile, and Brazil in different ways have had a
precarious relationship between the military and civilian governments (Palmer
1987). Most Latin American states have moved forward from military rule
towards more democratic governments (a strong trend through the 1980s and
1990s, the so-called ‘democratic third wave’). Scars remain from the past abuses
of such regimes. Thus the legacy of the 'disappeared' in Argentina and Chile
remains strong today. Only a few states have eliminated or seriously reduced their
military forces, e.g. Haiti and Panama in the mid-1990s (Johnson 2001), while
Costa Rica abolished its military forces in 1948 (Lecuona & Momayezi 2001).
* Political parties formed very early in Latin America, but contests between
Liberal and Conservative elites still often excluded the needs of many groups
in society. Elsewhere, as in early Cuba, strong political parties did not evolve, and
were often seen as self-interested or ineffective factions, leading to public
disenchantment (see Corrales 2001), or to problematic power-sharing
arrangements or ‘national fronts’ (as in Colombia). In these cases, once again, it
was quite possible for opportunistic leaders to develop authoritarian
regimes based around an individual leader and his supporters (e.g. Cuba under
the Batista regime 1952-1958, Venezuela under the regime of Marcos Perez
Jimenez, 1948-1958, in Guatemala under the dictator Frain Rios Montt during
the 1970s). Other regimes have developed corporatist state models based on
both nationalism and the support of the military (as in the past in Argentina and
Chile). In all these cases, different paths can occur as these dictatorships are
eroded, e.g. in Cuba the Batista dictatorship was eventually overthrown and
replaced by the ‘mobilizational authoritarianism’ of Fidel Castro, while in the case
of Venezuela a consensual democracy emerged, though some would say that it
has been eroded by the strong presidential powers of President Chavez (Corrales
2001), which has generated an ongoing constitutional and economic crisis in the
country over the last several years. Here, forms of presidentialism and
popularism may undermine and polarise procedural democracies (see Ellner
2003). In general terms, Latin American needs stronger, more inclusive and
reliable political parties that can act as conduits for stable democratisation
(Corrales 2001), e.g. in Mexico, Brazil and Cuba, Guatemala (Erlick 2001), Haiti
and Argentina.
* Even when civil wars have ended, often the underlying social problems and
political actors remain, leading to an unsteady peace in which democratic
processes and development remain highly problematic. We can see this is in the
Central American state of Guatemala, in which one of the longest and bloodiest
of civil wars (36 years and 250,000 deaths) was eventually ended through an
drawn-out, ten year peace process which was technically completed in December
1996 (Erlick 2001). However, a lack of ‘sense of completion, or of healing’, and
the return of leaders responsible for the horrific past limited hope for real
conciliation (Erlick 2001), in spite of the activities of a 'truth commission' into
military atrocities which has published a 3,500 page report (Roberts 1999). Thus
the United Nations mission (MINUGUA) to the country remained past its
expected completion date, while ‘only moderate progress has been made on the
laundry list of social and economic reforms, including land redistribution, rural
development, educational reform, bilingual education, democratization, and
16
modernization of public management’ (Erlick 2001). Political murders and
vigilante violence continued in the country, with a strong sense by many that the
country has the disease of ungovernability, ingobernabilidad (Erlick 2001). There
is a danger that: ‘Lethargy, cynicism, dependency and corruption can subvert the
hopes for peace’ even when the war stops (Erlick 2001). Some have dubbed this
a 'violent peace', and note the local joke: "Beware the peace . . . because now the
government is fighting everyone." (Gilbert 2002) Rural, gang, and revenge-based
violence continued through 2001 to early 2002, in spite of the peace accords.
Through early 2003, UN and OAS (Organization of American States) continued
to investigate attacks on ‘judges, prosecutors and rights campaigners’, though the
country has since been able to hold democratic elections (completed in
December 2003, with Oscar Berger becoming president), and has also begun to
solve a border dispute with Belize (BBC 2004a; BBC 2004b). Progress towards a
stable state through 2004-2005 has been real but slow in this case, with limited
trends in economic development: Guatemala has earned the lowest marks for democratic development of any
of the 18 nations in the hemisphere included in the study. A report, the
Informe de Desarrollo Democratico by the Argentine nongovernmental
organization (NGO) Polilat, sponsored by the Fundacion Konrad Adenauer,
found that, on a scale of one to 10, Guatemala scored 1.6. This compares
with Chile, which got a perfect 10 plus. The scoring to arrive at a democraticdevelopment index is based on evaluation of 31 indicators, among which are
spending on education, gender equity, capacity to solve political crises, civil
liberties, and the economic situation.
Guatemala took sole possession of last place thanks to a particularly poor
showing on these indicators and its high indebtedness, low level of
investment, poor participation of political parties in the Congress, and the
worst possible accounting procedures. (NotiCen 2005)
It can be seen, then, that there has been considerable progress politically and
economically in parts of Latin America. However, this has not solved the enormous
social, political and economic problems placing enormous pressures on developing
states of the region, and stressing even more developed nations such as Argentina and to
some degree even Chile (see Graham and Sukhtankar 2003). We can see some of the
long-term and complex linkages among political stability, social justice, and
economic growth: It is important to understand the channels through which stability affects growth. An
unstable political setting provokes greater uncertainty and renders investors reluctant
to engage their capital. With instability, the rules of the political and economic game
become subject to constant revisions, making it virtually impossible to form rational
expectations. The cost of capital rises with various risks (that is, loan defaults,
violation of the principle of private property, unreliability of the judiciary, etc.), and
entrepreneurs expatriate their funds in search of calmer environments. Worsening the
effects of capital flight, instability causes a reduction in the supply of labor. Fragile
social climates (that is, insecurity, social violence, authoritarian police forces, etc.)
mean greater personal risks for workers. The depletion of investments translates to
declines in labor demand and in overall employment. The resulting economic
hardship, coupled with the fear of further deterioration in the political arena, incites
more workers to emigrate. Also, quite damaging is the tendency for emigration to
involve skilled workers, for whom the likelihood of smooth integration into better
settings is higher than for unskilled workers. In the end, the economy suffers from a
deterioration in the quality of the labor force. Assuming positive marginal productivity
17
of factors of production, reduced amounts of capital and labor deplete total output.
Deteriorated labor quality slackens the pace of production, further harming growth
through diminished marginal productivity, . . . . The final blow to good economic health
comes from drastic reduction in research and development activities and subsequent
shrinking of technological progress. (Comeau 2003)
On this basis, Latin America needs improved patterns of international
cooperation and effective patterns of investment alongside economic and social
development to sustain robust human societies. Next week we will look in a little
more detail in trends in International and Regional development, at the impact of
uneven globalisation, and look briefly at future prospects (we will take this further in
Week 12).
7. Bibliography, Further Reading and Resources
Further Reading - You could further your knowledge by looking at one of the
following:
ARCENEAUX, Graig Transforming Latin America: The International and Domestic Origins of
Change, Pitttsburgh, University of Pittsburgh Press, 2005
ATKINS, G. Pope Latin America and the Caribbean in the International System, Boulder,
Westview Press, 1999
COMEAU, Ludovic "The Political Economy of Growth in Latin America and East
Asia: Some Empirical Evidence", Contemporary Economic Policy, 21 no. 4, October
2003, pp476-489 [Access via Infotrac Database]
FERRANTI, David M. Inequality in Latin America and the Caribbean: Breaking with History?
Washington, The World Bank, The 2004 [ebook available via Ebrary]
FOWERAKER, Joe & KRZNARIC, Roman "The uneven performance of third wave
democracies: electoral politics and the imperfect rule of law in Latin America",
Latin American Politics and Society, 44 no. 3, Fall 2002, pp29-62 [Access via Bond
University Library Databases]
FRIEDEN, Jeffry A. et al. (eds.) Modern Political Economy and Latin America: Theory and
Policy, Boulder, Westview, 2000
FUENTES, Carlos The Buried Mirror: Reflections on Spain and the New World, Boston,
Houghton Mifflin, 1992
GRAHAM, Carol & SUKHTANKAR, Sandip “Economic crisis, markets, and
democracy in Latin America: some evidence from the economics of happiness”,
Brookings Review, 21 no. 2, Spring 2003, pp36-41
KEEN, Benjamin & HAYNES, Keith A History of Latin America, Boston, Houghton
Mifflin, 2004
SKIDMORE, Thomas E. & SMITH, Peter H. Modern Latin America, Oxford, OUP,
2000
TULCHIN, Joseph S. & ESPACH, Ralph H. (eds.) Latin America in the New International
System, Boulder, Lynne Rienner, 2001
UNGAR, Mark Elusive Reform: Democracy and the Rule of Law in Latin America, London,
Lynne Rienner, 2002
WILLIAMSON, Edwin The Penguin History of Latin America, Harmondsworth, Penguin,
1992
Resources
18
Primary databases found of the Bond University Library webpages include Ebsco,
Infotrac Academic, JSTOR and Ebrary (on-line books), accessible through
www.bond.edu.au/library/
The International Relations Portal includes a Latin America daily news update, as well
as a range of articles, lectures and links concerning international affairs. An
education and research site, selected lectures from this subject for 2006 will be
loaded onto this site later in the semester. See http://www.international-relations.com
Useful articles on Latin America will be found in the publicly accessible
Findarticles database, located at www.findarticles.com
Useful material on Argentina past and present will be found on the Financial Times
webpages at www.ft.com/argentina and www.ft.com/argpast
The
BBC
has
useful
news
services
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/default.stm
on
the
Americas,
located
at
Bibliography
ALTMAN, Daniel “Is Bankruptcy an Option for Argentina?”, Straits Times, 8 January 2001, p15
AROSTEGUI, Martin "Fidel's Successor in Latin America", Insight on the News, 30 April 2001 [Internet Access
via www.findarticles.com]
ATKINS, G. Pope Latin America and the Caribbean in the International System, Boulder, Westview Press, 1999
AUGUST, Arnold Democracy in Cuba and the 1997-1998 Elections, La Habana, Editorial José Martí, 1999
BBC “Guatemala Timeline”, January 2004a [Internet Access]
BBC “Country Profile: Guatemala”, January 2004b [Internet Access]
BOOTH, John A. & WALKER, Thomas W. Understanding Central America, 2nd ed., Boulder, Westview Press,
1993
BRAUDEL, Fernand The Perspective of the World (Civilization and Capitalism: 15 th-18th Century), London,
William Collins, 1986
CABELLO, Gaspar Real “The Mexican state and the agribusiness model of development in the globalisation era”,
Australian Journal of Social Issues, 38 no. 1, Feb 2003, pp129-139
CALL, Wendy "Plan Puebla Panama", NACLA Report on the Americas, 35 Issue 5, Mar/Apr2002, pp24-26
CATAN, Thomas & LAPPER, Richard “Argentina on the Brink of Devaluing”, Financial Times, 22 December
2001, p1
CATAN, Thomas & LAPPER, Richard “President Who Stumbled from Failure to Disaster”, Financial Times, 22
December 2001b, p4
CLEARY, Edward L. "Missionaries and the indigenous resurgence in Latin America", International Bulletin of
Missionary Research, 29 no. 4, Oct 2005, pp177-182
COMEAU, Ludovic "The Political Economy of Growth in Latin America and East Asia: Some Empirical
Evidence", Contemporary Economic Policy, 21 no. 4, October 2003, pp476-489 [Access via Infotrac
Database]
CORRALES, Javier “Strong Societies, Weak Parties: Regime Change in Cuba and Venezuela in the 1950s”, Latin
American Politics and Society, 43 no. 2, Summer 2001, pp81-113 [Internet Access via Proquest
Database, BU Library]
CROOKS, Ed “Markets See Argentina as Localised Disaster”, Financial Times, 22 December 2001, p4.
DOMINGUEZ, Jorge I. (ed.) International Security and Democracy: Latin America in the Caribbean in the PostCold War Era, Pittsburgh, University of Pottsburg Press, 1998a
DOMINGUEZ, Jorge I. "The Americas: Found, and Then Lost Again", Foreign Policy, Fall 1998b [Internet
Access via www.findarticles.com]
EAKIN, Marshall C. Brazil: The Once and Future Country, N.Y., St. Martin's Griffin, 1998
EDWARDS, Catherine "Haiti Puts Hex on Clinton Policies", Insight on the News, 17 July 2000 [Internet Access
via www.findarticles.com]
ELLNER, Steve "The Radical Potential of Chavismo in Venezuela", Latin American Perspectives, 28 no. 5,
September 2001, pp5-32
ELLNER, Steve “The contrasting variants of the populism of Hugo Chavez and Alberto Fujimori”, Journal of
Latin American Studies, 35 no. 1, 2003, pp139-162 [Access via Infotrac Database]
ERLICK, June Carolyn “The Sorrows of Peace in Guatemala”, World Policy Journal, 18 no. 2, Summer 2001,
pp65-70 [Internet Access via Proquest Database, BU Library]
19
FALCOFF, Mark "Regionalist Momentum in the Southern Cone", Orbis, Summer 2000 [Internet Access via
www.findarticles.com]
FERRANTI, David M. Inequality in Latin America and the Caribbean: Breaking with History? Washington, The
World Bank, The 2004 [ebook available via Ebrary]
FINAN, Timothy “Drought and Demagoguery: A Political Ecology of Climate Variability in Northeast Brazil”,
Workshop on Public Philosophy, Environment and Social Justice, Carnegie Council on Ethics and
International Affairs, 21-22 October 1999
Financial Times, “Argentina’s Sad Christmas”, 22 December 2001, p8
Financial Times, “Peso Devaluation Will Hit Multinationalis”, 2001b, p5
FOWERAKER, Joe & KRZNARIC, Roman "The uneven performance of third wave democracies: electoral
politics and the imperfect rule of law in Latin America", Latin American Politics and Society, 44 no. 3,
Fall 2002, pp29-62 [Access via Bond University Library Databases]
FUENTES, Carlos The Buried Mirror: Reflections on Spain and the New World, Boston, Houghton Mifflin
Company, 1992
GILBERT, Robert A. "Guatemala's Violent Peace", America, March 25, 2002 [Internet Access via
www.findarticles.com]
GONI, Uki & DENNY, Charlotte "Argentina's Peso Crumbles", The Guardian, 12 January 2002 [Internet Access]
GRAHAM, Carol & SUKHTANKAR, Sandip “Economic crisis, markets, and democracy in Latin America: some
evidence from the economics of happiness”, Brookings Review, 21 no. 2, Spring 2003, pp36-41
GRANT, Will "America, the Origin Rogue States - A Guide to its Postwar Adventures", New Statesman, 5
November 2001 [Internet Access via www.findarticles.com]
HANKE, Lewis Aristotle and the American Indians : A Study in Race Prejudice in the Modern World, London,
Hollis & Carter, 1959
HAGGERTY, Richard A. (ed.) Haiti: A Country Study, Washington, U.S. Library of Congress, 1989 [Internet
access
at
Washington,
U.S.
Library
of
Congress,
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[Internet
access
at
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/httoc.html
HAGGERTY, Richard A. (ed.) Venezuela: A Country Study, Washington, Library of Congress, 1990 [Internet
Access at http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/vetoc.html]
HAMILTON, Kendra "Finding a Name that Fits", Black Issues in Higher Education, 27 September 2001 [Internet
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HANRATTY, Dennis M. & MEDITZ, Sandra W. (eds.) Colombia - A Country Study, Washington, U.S. Library of
Congress, 1988 [Internet access at http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/cotoc.html]
HOPKINS, Jack W. (ed.) Latin America: Perspectives on a Region, N.Y., Holmes & Meier, 1987
HUDSON, Rex A. (ed.) Brazil: A Country Study, Washington, Library of Congress, 1997 [Internet Access at
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/brtoc.html]
JOHNSON, Kenneth L. “Critical Debates: Regionalism Redux? The Prospects for Cooperation in the Americas”,
Latin American Politics and Society, 43 no. 3, Fall 2001, pp121-138 [Internet Access via Proquest
Database, BU Library]
LANYON, Anna Malinche's Conquest, Sydney, Allen & Unwin, 1999
LAPPER, Richard & CATAN, Thomas “Legal Issues Cloud Decision on Presidency”, Financial Times, 22
Decembr 2001, p4
LECUONA, Rafael A. & MOMAYEZI, Nasser “Privatization in Costa Rica: Political and Economic Impact”,
International Journal on World Peace, 18 no. 2, June 2001, pp23-40 [Internet Access via Proquest
Database, BU Library]
LEVINE, Daniel H. "Venezuela: The Character, Crisis, and Possible Future of Democracy", World Affairs, Winter
1999 [Internet Access via www.findarticles.com]
MARRIN, Pat "Protesting at the Fort (Fort Benning's Army School Western Hemispheric Institute for Security
Cooperation)", National Catholic Reporter, 8 December 2000 [Internet Access via
www.findarticles.com]
MEILINK-ROELOFSZ, M.A.P. Asian Trade and European Influence In the Indonesian Archipelago
Between 1500 and About 1630, The Hague, Martinus Nijhoff, 1962
MORAN, Emilio F. "Environmental and Social Systems", in HOPKINS, Jack W. (ed.) Latin America:
Perspectives on a Region, N.Y., Holmes and Meier, 1987, pp3-18
MORTON, Robert " As U.S. Leaves the Panama Canal, China Moves In ", Insight on the News 5 April 1999
[Internet Access via www.findarticles.com]
New India Express “New Argentina President Receives Baptism of Fire”, 3 January 2002, p11
NotiCen "Guatemala: Barely Measureable Democratic Development, No National Identity', NotiCen: Central
American & Caribbean Affairs, Sept 22, 2005 [Access via Infotrac Databae]
OSTROVSKY, Arkady “Investors Show Resolve in Face of Crisis”, Financial Times, 22 December 2001, p5
PALMER, David Scott “The Military in Latin America”, in HOPKINS, Jack W. (ed.) Latin America: Perspectives
on a Region, N.Y., Holmes & Meier, 1987, pp257-272
PERRY, William " Has the Future Arrived for Brazil?", Orbis, Summer 2000 [Internet Access via
www.findarticles.com]
PETRAS, James "Latin America at the End of the Millennium", Monthly Review, July-August 1999 [Internet
Access via www.findarticles.com]
20
PETRAS, James & VELTMEYER, Henry “Dynamics of peasant organizing in Latin America”, Social Policy, 33
no. 4, Summer 2003, pp33-38 [Access via Infotrac Database]
ROBERTS, Tom " Guatemala Truth Commission Report Details Years of Military Abuses", National Catholic
Reporter, 12 March, 1999 [Internet Access via www.findarticles.com]
RUIZ, Ramón Eduardo Triumphs and Tragedy: A History of the Mexican People, N.Y., W.W. Norton & Co.,
1992
SANCHEZ, Enrique "Latin America: Shifting to New Paradigms", Business Economics, July 1999 [Internet
Access via www.findarticles.com]
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