International Relations in Latin America 2104-ERASMUS-IRLA
Part One – History of International Relations in Latin America
1. Introduction to Latin American Foreign Policy and Latin American Political Culture: •Authoritarian Legacy • The Caudillo Tradition • Democratic Deficit • Military Rule and •Bureaucratic Authoritarianism •Elitism and Pacted Democracy •Personalism
2. Latin America in XIX century – introduction to main political and economic issues : •Colonial times and its political and economic heritage •Towards the independency - Latin American revolutions • The Brazilian Path • Pacific War •Beginning of the Inter-American relations •”Little Splendid War” •Latin America in the international balance of powers (Monroe doctrine) •The Pan-American system
3. Latin America: from the Mexican Revolution to the World Wars
•The Mexican Revolution •Latin America and the I World War – The Zimmermann Telegram •From Roosevelt Corollary to the Good Neighbor Policy: the evolution of the Latin America – US relations •Latin America during the II World War •Inter-American system: new dimension of regional cooperation •The Treaty of Rio – regional security system •Organization of American States
Part Two – International Relations in Latin America after 1945
4. Cold war in the Western Hemisphere: •Inter-American Relations during the Cold War • Latin American dictatorships •Operation Condor, •Revolution in Cuba and its impact on Latin America and Africa •The Alliance for Progress and the strategy of import substitution industrialization • The Liberation Theology and Latin American revolutions – case study: Bolivia
5. U.S. anticommunist interventions in Latin America: •Guatemala, • Cuba, • Chile, •Granada, •The Falklands War and its influence on the regional security system •Central America - “proxy wars”?
6. Inter-American relations after the Cold War: •Democratization Process (Central America, Haiti etc.); • War on narcotics • Case study: Plan Colombia, Merida Initiative etc. • War on terror” or “war on narcoterrorism” ? •Inter-American relations during the Obama administration: US-Cuba: a breakthrough? •D. Trump and Latin America – new challenges for the inter-American relations?
7. Latin America on the turn of the century: • “Pink Tide” and Latin American populism • Social disparities and the New Social Movements activity •the Zapatistas in Mexico, •Brazil’s Landless Workers Movement (Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra, MST) •the Cocaleros in Bolivia and the situation of indigenous communities • Case study: Colombian civil war and peaceprocess New challenges: Environmental policy • Migration: case study – “child migrant crisis” in 2014 •Security challenges (maras/pandillas etc.) •Territorial disputes
Part Four – Regional Strategies: different models of regional development
8. The Political Economy of Latin America. Regional integration in the Western Hemisphere: •The evolution of regionalism in the Western Hemisphere •Regional Integration in Latin America: from Raul Prebish to post-liberal regionalism •Dependency Theory • Import Substitution Industrialization •The Lost Decade, •Between two Consensuses: from Washington to Buenos Aires • Case studies: North America (NAFTA, FTAA), Central America and the Caribbean; South America (Mercosur, UNASUR, CELAC, ALBA, Andean Community)
9. Various proposals for the regional leadership: • Middle powers in Latin America: Mexico, Brazil or Venezuela? •Latin America in the United Nations – global activity • From “ left” to “right” – changes on Latin American political map •Economic crisis in Venezuela and its influence on the regional politics Latin America vs Asia and Europe: •China’s expansion in Latin America, •BRICS and the South-South Cooperation • EU-Latin American relations • Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investments Partnership/Trans-Pacific Partnership and their impact on Latin American economies •the Pacific Alliance
10. Final exam
Type of course
Mode
Prerequisites (description)
Course coordinators
Learning outcomes
After completing this course, students should:
Knowledge
- know trends in U.S.-Latin American relations, the roles of extra-hemispheric actors in the region, and the roles of Latin American nations in the global arena
-analyze key policy issues relevant to the region effectively
-know key sources for knowledge on the international relations of Latin America and become familiar with a variety of sources on the international relations in Latin America available in selected literature and through the Internet
-be able to make more complex analytical arguments and develop the ability to formulate reasoned conclusions
- have an extended knowledge of internal and external determinants of foreign policy of the Latin American states;
- have a thorough knowledge of the process of formulating these foreign policies and their social and economic determinants;
Skills:
-have the skill in critical observation and interpretation of the international activity of Latin American states;
- develop the capacity for analytical and critical thinking
-have the skill to analyze internal and external roots of their foreign policy;
-have the skill to formulate general ideas and initiatives in the sphere of the international relations in Latin America
Social competences:
- be able to work in a group;
- be able to define in an appropriate manner priorities that serve carrying out different academic tasks;
- be able to critically complete knowledge and skills
- be able to synthesize ideas from different sources in formulating valid thesis statements
Assessment criteria
Course Requirements:
1. Class attendance. This includes regular attendance as well as meaningful participation in class discussions. Students are expected to complete the assigned readings prior to class. No more than two unexcused absences will be allowed in this course (one double session).
2. Class discussion input – 30%.
3. Written exam – 70%.
Practical placement
Not applicable
Bibliography
Readings:
Brandt Jon, Hottle Derek, Nav Aujla Nicole Adams, Dinh Christina and others, Chinese Engagement in Latin America and the Caribbean:Implications for US Foreign Policy, http://www.american.edu/sis/usfp/upload/chinese-engagement-in-lac-au_us-congress-final.pdf
Burges, S., “Building a Global Southern Coalition: the competing approaches of Brazil’s Lula and Venezuela’s Chávez,” Third World Quarterly, Vol. 28, No. 7 (2007), pp. 1343-1358.
Covarrubias, Ana, Containing Brazil: Mexico's Response to the Rise of Brazil, Bulletin of Latin American Research, 2015, vol. 35, issue 1
Dominguez Jorge. Latin America’s International Relations and their Domestic Consequences: War and Peace, Dependence and Autonomy, New York 2013
Ellis Evan R., Chinese Soft Power in Latin America. A Case Study, 2012, https://umshare.miami.edu/web/wda/hemisphericpolicy/Speaker_Presentations/6LAConf-ChineseSoftPowerinLACaseStudy-Ellis.pdf
Gill, Timothy M., Whither Venezuelan Bolivarianism?, NACLA Report on the Americas, Winter 2016, vol 48, issue 4
Hakim, Peter, Two Ways to Go Global, Foreign Affairs, January/February 2002, vol. 81, issue 1
Jenkins, Rhys, Latin America and China – a new dependency?, Third World Quarterly, 2012, vol. 33, issue 7
Nolte, Detlef, The Dragon in the Backyard: U.S. Visions of China’s Relations toward Latin America, Papel Politico, July-December 2013, vol. 18, issue 2
O. Mora Frank, Hey Jeanne A. K., Latin America and the Caribbean Foreign Policy, Rowman&Littlefield Publishers, Inc. 2003
Reid, Michael, Obama and Latin America, Foreign Affairs, September 2015, vol. 94, issue 5
Sanahuja Jose, Post-liberal Regionalism in South America: the case of UNASUR, EUI Working Paper RSCAS 2012/05
Skidmore Thomas E., Smith Peter H., Green James N., Modern Latin America, Oxford University Press 2014
Smith Peter H., Talons of the Eagle Dynamics of U.S.-Latin America Relations, New York 1996
Sotero, P., “Brazil as an Emerging Donor: Huge Potential and Growing Pains,” Development Outreach Vol. 11, No. 1 (February 2009).
Sotero, P., “Brazil’s Rising ambition in a Shifting Global Balance of Power,” Politics 30, S1 (2010), pp. 71-81.
Sultana, Tasneem, The European Union’s Relations with Latin America, Journal of European Studies, July 2016, vol. 32, issue 2
Tulchin Joseph S., Latin America in International Politics. Challenging US Hegemony, Lynne Rienner Publishers 2016
Vanden Harry E., Prevost Gary, Politics of Latin America. The Power Game, Oxford University Press 2015
Additional information
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