The Globalization of U.S.-Latin American Relations: Democracy, Intervention, and Human Rights

The globalization of U.S.-Latin American relations has had multiple impacts and legacies. Herein, renowned literary scholars, historians, political scientists and policy analysts, economists, and philosophers chart the legacies of the past, challenges of the present, and visions for the future of inter-American relations. Through the shifting prisms of democracy, intervention, and human rights, these authors analyze the impact of globalization and neo-globalization on the hemisphere and address the different U.S. experiences and experiments in hemispheric intervention and the diverse responses of such intervention.

Bouvier and her contributors document the changes and the continuities of the past century—in the United States, within Latin America, in the multiple relationships between the United States and Latin America, and within the greater international context within which these relationships have unfolded. As the contributors question the goals and assumptions surrounding notions of democracy, intervention, human rights, and sovereignty, and place them within their particular historical and socio-political contexts, they help to reclaim and restore meaning to these terms. They suggest that paradigms which are limited to bilateral governmental relations between nations are no longer adequate, and they bring into relief the often hidden traditions of progressive activism and the roles of women, international organizations, and nongovernmental organizations in the construction of hemispheric relations over the past century. The text is a particularly useful collection for scholars, researchers, and students involved with inter-American relations and history.