STUDY GUIDE:
FINAL EXAM
POLITICAL SCIENCE 146A
WINTER 2014
TIME AND PLACE
 Monday, March 17
 7:00-9:59 p.m.
 Location: Center Hall 214
 Closed-book exam
 No cell phones, I-pods, or anything else
 Bring blue books and pens/pencils
 Write legibly!
 Answer the questions!
I. DISCUSSION ITEMS (10/~13 = 30 points)
Daniel Ortega
Washington Consensus
FMLN
Nicolás Maduro
Cuban American National Foundation
Free Trade Area of the Americas
Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA)
Operation Just Cause
MERCOSUR
ALBA
Operation Gatekeeper
Mérida Initiative
José Martí
SHORT ESSAYS (2/4 @ 20 points each = 40 points total)
1. Is NAFTA working? In what sense? Are there ways in which it
seems to be failing?
2. Evaluate the U.S. war on drugs. What are its impacts on
countries of Latin America?
3. Analyze competing options for “immigration reform” in the
United States. Which do you prefer and why? What are likely
to be the most significant impacts for different countries (or subregions) of Latin America?
4. What have been the principal determinants of U.S. policy toward
Latin America since 9/11? How have they affected the quality
of U.S.-Latin American relations?
LONG ESSAY (1/2 or 3 = 30 points)
1. Has U.S. influence over Latin America been rising or
declining since the early twentieth century? Why and in
what ways?
2. What has promoted U.S. military action in Latin America
since the end of World War II? What have been the results?
3. Compare the Cold War with the post-9/11 era in terms of
policy options and strategies available to Latin America. Be
sure to identify similarities as well as differences.
4. Evaluate U.S. efforts to promote democracy in Latin
America. On balance, have they succeeded or failed? Why?
Principal Sources
 Lectures (including guest lectures!)



David Shirk
Charles Shapiro
Jeffrey Davidow
 Readings:


Smith, Talons of the Eagle
Domínguez and Fernández de Castro, Contemporary U.S.-Latin American
Relations, chs. 1-9, 11
 Videos:



Missing
Balseros
The Invisible Mexicans of Deer Canyon