Social-reformist Experiments in Latin America during the Cold War

2021 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-105
Author(s):  
Ruslan Kostiuk ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Cold War ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Scientific Article ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
Political Transformations ◽  
Socialist Movement ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Left Movement ◽  
Latin American Countries

The article is devoted to the consideration and analysis of the practical policy of Latin American national reformism and social reformism during the Cold War. The author shows that the political and ideological gamut of the non-communist left movement in Latin America in the bipolar period was very wide. Specifically in this scientific article, the author refers to examples of the exercise of power by different directions of the socialist movement in the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Panama, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Peru, Chile. The author shows the existing connections between Latin American national reformism and the Socialist International and at that time comes to the conclusion that the ideology and practice of Latin American social democracy during the Cold War had a special, specific character. The common features characteristics of both the ideological project and the practical policy of the social reformist forces in the period under review were a commitment to political transformations, the expansion of social and political rights of citizens, the strengthening of the state and public sector in the economy, the priority of social policy, an anti-oligarchic strategy, a focus on a fair agrarian reform, anti-imperialism and the desire to defend national independence in foreign policy. In some cases (Nicaragua, Panama, Chile), the nature of social-economic transformations went beyond the framework of classical social reformism and had a revolutionary democratic content. The results of the center-left experiments in Latin American countries during the Cold War have varied, but by the 1990s most of them had failed. This is largely due to the fact that in the specific historical conditions of Latin American countries, national reformism in power led to the development of authoritarian and personalist tendencies, an increase in corruption and bureaucracy, attempts to merge the party and state apparatus.

Latin America, Chile and East Asia: Policy-Networks and Successful Diversification

2004 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. 743-770 ◽  
Author(s):  
JÖRG FAUST
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Cold War ◽  
East Asia ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Policy Networks ◽  
Asia Pacific ◽  
Policy Network ◽  
External Relations ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Latin American Countries

Latin American countries have a long tradition of attempting to diversify their external relations. In this context, since the end of the Cold War East Asia has gained increasing importance. However, despite the rising interest in improved political and economic links, these attempts at diversification showed only modest results, Chile being a noteworthy exception within this overall trend. The following analysis presents an empirical overview of the development of relations between Latin America and East Asia with special emphasis on Chile, demonstrating how domestic transformation has affected the Asia-Pacific policies of Latin American countries. The main conclusion is that while in most countries domestic conflicts over the future course of political and economic development have hampered the creation of a consistent Asia-Pacific policy, the elite settlement in Chile has enabled strategic actors to create a policy network which provides the institutional basis for successfully diversifying external relations to East Asia.

Reassessing the Causes of Nongovernmental Terrorism in Latin America

2004 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 101-132 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreas E. Feldmann ◽  
Maiju Perälä
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Cold War ◽  
Political Violence ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Economic Conditions ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Terrorist Acts ◽  
Pooled Time Series ◽  
Latin American Countries

AbstractFor years, nongovernmental terrorism in Latin America was considered an epiphenomenon of the Cold War. The persistence of this type of political violence in the 1990s, however, not only belied many assumptions about its causes but also led scholars to reexamine the phenomenon. This article investigates the validity of a number of hypotheses by applying a pooled time-series cross-section regression analysis to data from 17 Latin American countries between 1980 and 1995. Findings indicate that nongovernmental terrorist acts in Latin America are more likely to occur in poorly institutionalized regimes characterized by varying degrees of political and electoral liberties, a deficient rule of law, and widespread human rights violations. The analysis also shows that nongovernmental terrorism in the region tends to surface in cyclical waves; but it finds no association between economic performance or structural economic conditions and the incidence of nongovernmental terrorism.

Triangulating Labor, Capital, and Land: Italian Emigrant Colonization in Latin America and the Contradictions of US Hegemony, 1947–1953

2021 ◽  
Vol 51 (4) ◽  
pp. 543-566
Author(s):  
Dario Gaggio
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Settler Colonialism ◽  
Marshall Plan ◽  
World War ◽  
Us Hegemony ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Peasant Farmers ◽  
Latin American Countries

In the aftermath of World War II, Italy’s centrist leaders saw in the emerging US empire an opportunity to implement emigration schemes that had been in circulation for decades. Hundreds of thousands of Italian peasant farmers could perhaps be able to settle on Latin American and African land thanks to the contribution of US capital. This article examines the Italian elites’ obsession with rural colonization abroad as the product of their desire to valorize the legacy of Italy's settler colonialism in Libya and thereby reinvent Italy's place in the world in the aftermath of military defeat and decolonization. Despite the deep ambivalence of US officials, Italy received Marshall Plan funds to carry out experimental settlements in several Latin American countries. These visions of rural settlement also built on the nascent discourses about the ‘development’ of non-western areas. Despite the limited size and success of the Italian rural ‘colonies’ in Latin America, these projects afford a window into the politics of decolonization, the character of US hegemony at the height of the Cold War, and the evolving attitude of Latin American governments towards immigration and rural development. They also reveal the contradictory relationships between Italy's leaders and the country's rural masses, viewed as redundant and yet precious elements to be deployed in a global geopolitical game.

Marinera with the Yankees

2018 ◽  
pp. 91-124
Author(s):  
Iñigo García-Bryce
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Latin America ◽  
Cold War ◽  
Latin American ◽  
State Department ◽  
The United States ◽  
Political Asylum ◽  
Student Leader ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
The U.S

This chapter explores Haya’s changing relationship with the United States. As an exiled student leader he denounced “Yankee imperialism” and alarmed observers in the U.S. State Department. Yet once he entered Peruvian politics, Haya understood the importance of cultivating U.S.-Latin American relations. While in hiding he maintained relations with U.S. intellectuals and politicians and sought U.S. support for his embattled party. His writings increasingly embraced democracy and he maneuvered to position APRA as an ally in the U.S. fight fascism during the 1930s and 40s, and then communism during the Cold War. The five years he spent in Lima’s Colombian embassy awaiting the resolution of his political asylum case, made him into an international symbol of the democratic fight against dictatorship. He would always remain a critic of U.S. support for dictatorships in Latin America.

Da Segunda Guerra Mundial à Guerra Fria: políticas militares estadunidenses para a América Latina (1943-1947)

Diálogos ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 157
Author(s):  
Dennison De Oliveira
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
Cold War ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Advisory Board ◽  
World War ◽  
Us Military ◽  
National Archives ◽  
America Latina ◽  
The Cold War

O texto interpreta a atuação de organizações militares e diplomáticas estadunidenses dedicadas à América Latina. O contexto é o da transição da Segunda Guerra Mundial à Guerra Fria. A base empírica é composta por diferentes documentos mantidos nos Arquivos Nacionais dos EUA (US National Archives) do acervo do Comitê Consultivo Conjunto das Repúblicas Americanas, (Joint Advisory Board on the American Republics - JAB) cobrindo o período 1940-1945. O comitê estava encarregado de propor e executar políticas ligadas à Defesa Hemisférica a serem desenvolvidas em conjunto com os países da América Latina na guerra e no pós-guerra. Abstract From World War II to the Cold War: US military policies for Latin America (1943-1947) The text interprets the performance of US military and diplomatic organizations dedicated to Latin America. The context is that of the transition from World War II to the Cold War. The empirical basis is composed of different documents maintained in the US National Archives of the collection of the Joint Advisory Board of the American Republics (JAB) covering the period 1940-1945. The committee was charged with proposing and implementing policies related to Hemispheric Defense to be developed jointly with the Latin American countries in war and postwar. Resumen De la Segunda Guerra Mundial a la Guerra Fría: políticas militares estadounidenses para América Latina (1943-1947) El texto interpreta la actuación de las organizaciones militares y diplomáticas estadounidenses dedicadas a América Latina. El contexto es el de la transición de la Segunda Guerra Mundial a la Guerra Fría. La base empírica está compuesta por diferentes documentos mantenidos en los Archivos Nacionales de los Estados Unidos (US National Archives) del acervo del Comité Consultivo Conjunto de las Repúblicas Americanas (JAB) cubriendo el período 1940-1945. El comité estaba encargado de proponer y ejecutar políticas vinculadas a la Defensa Hemisférica a ser desarrolladas en conjunto con los países de América Latina en la guerra y en la posguerra.

scholarly journals Neoliberalism and Democracy in Latin America: A Mixed Record

2004 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 135-157 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kurt Weyland
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Government Accountability ◽  
Mixed Blessing ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Economic Constraints ◽  
Leftist Parties ◽  
Latin American Countries ◽  
Opening Up

AbstractThis essay argues that neoliberalism has strengthened the sustainability of democracy in Latin America but limited its quality. Drastic market reform seems to have abetted the survival of competitive civilian rule through its external and internal repercussions. By opening up Latin American countries to the world economy, neoliberalism has exposed them to more of the international pressures for preserving democracy that intensified with the end of the Cold War. At the same time, the move to market economics has weakened leftist parties, trade unions, and other proponents of radical socioeconomic reform, reassuring elites and preventing them from undermining democracy. But tighter external economic constraints limit governments' latitude and thereby restrict the effective range of democratic choice; and the weakening of parties and interest associations has depressed political participation and eroded government accountability. The available evidence therefore suggests that neoliberalism has been a mixed blessing for Latin American democracies.

US and the Cold War in Latin America

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas C. Field Jr.
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Cold War ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Political Action ◽  
The United States ◽  
Western Hemisphere ◽  
Soviet Bloc ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The Cold War

The Cold War in Latin America had marked consequences for the region’s political and economic evolution. From the origins of US fears of Latin American Communism in the early 20th century to the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, regional actors played central roles in the drama. Seeking to maximize economic benefit while maintaining independence with regard to foreign policy, Latin Americans employed an eclectic combination of liberal and anti-imperialist discourses, balancing frequent calls for anti-Communist hemispheric unity with periodic diplomatic entreaties to the Soviet bloc and the nonaligned Third World. Meanwhile, US Cold War policies toward the region ranged from progressive developmentalism to outright military invasions, and from psychological warfare to covert paramilitary action. Above all, the United States sought to shore up its allies and maintain the Western Hemisphere as a united front against extra-hemispheric ideologies and influence. The Cold War was a bloody, violent period for Latin America, but it was also one marked by heady idealism, courageous political action, and fresh narratives about Latin America’s role in the world, all of which continue to inform regional politics to this day.

Connecting Central America to the Southern Cone: The Chilean and Argentine Response to the Nicaraguan Revolution of 1979

2021 ◽  
Vol 78 (4) ◽  
pp. 553-579
Author(s):  
Molly Avery
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Cold War ◽  
Central America ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Southern Cone ◽  
Regional Context ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Nicaraguan Revolution ◽  
Violent Conflicts

AbstractThe history of the Cold War in Latin America in the 1970s is commonly split into two episodes: the establishment of anticommunist dictatorships and the ensuing repression across the Southern Cone in the early and middle decade, and the Nicaraguan Revolution and the eruption of violent conflicts across Central America at its close. By exploring the Chilean and Argentine response to the Nicaraguan Revolution, this article brings these two episodes together, demonstrating how they were understood to belong to one and the same ideological conflict. In doing so, it highlights the importance of the revolution in the Chilean and Argentine perception of the Cold War and explores how the Sandinista triumph directly shaped Southern Cone ideas about US power and the communist threat, also prompting reflection on their own ‘models’ for anticommunist governance. Both regimes responded by increasing their support for anticommunist forces in Guatemala and El Salvador, often conducting this aid through a wider transnational and clandestine network. This article contributes to new understandings of the nature of Latin American anticommunism in this period, challenges traditional understandings of external involvement in Central America, and demonstrates the need to understand events in Latin America in this period in their full regional context.

From the Cold War to the Cruelty of Violence: Jean Franco's Critical Trajectory from The Decline and Fall of the Lettered City to Cruel Modernity

PMLA ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 131 (3) ◽  
pp. 701-710
Author(s):  
Arturo Arias
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Latin America ◽  
Cold War ◽  
Latin American ◽  
The United States ◽  
Central Intelligence Agency ◽  
Intelligence Agency ◽  
Lettered City ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
The Cold War

The Cuban Revolution Generated a New Communist Paranoia in the United States. Interest in Latin America Grew Dramatically after Castro's rise to power in 1959 and was partly responsible for the explosive growth in the number of scholars specializing in hemispheric issues during the 1960s. Latin Americans, in turn, saw this phase of the Cold War as a furthering of imperial aggression by the United States. The Eisenhower administration's authoritarian diplomatic maneuvers to isolate Guatemala by accusing the country's democratically elected president, Jacobo Arbenz (1950-54), of being a communist and by pressuring members of the Organization of American States to do likewise had already alarmed intellectuals and artists in Latin America five years before. On 17 June 1954, Carlos Castillo Armas and a band of a few hundred mercenaries invaded the country from Honduras with logistical support from the Central Intelligence Agency in an operation code-named PBSUCCESS, authorized by President Eisenhower in August 1953. By 1 July 1954 the so-called Movement of National Liberation had taken over Guatemala. Angela Fillingim's research evidences how the United States officially viewed Guatemala as “Pre-Western,” according to “pre-established criteria,” because the Latin American country had failed to eliminate its indigenous population (5-6). Implicitly, the model was that of the nineteenth-century American West. As a solution, the State Department proposed “finishing the Conquest.”

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