Cooperation And Hegemony In Us-latin American Relations: Revisiting The Western Hemisphere Idea Cooperation And Hegemony In United States-latin American Relations

This book emerged from two initiatives organized by the editors of the volume. They were the symposium, "Re-thinking US-Latin American Relations: Historiographical and Contemporary Debates," held at the Centre of Latin American Studies (CLAS), University of Cambridge in June 2011, and the panel "On Hemispheric Order: Historical and Contemporary Debates in the Americas" held at the Latin American Studies Association (LASA) annual congress in Washington, DC, in May 2013. Many people made these events and the book possible. First, we would like to thank Charles Jones, whose work and approach, especially his book American Civilization , was an important stimulus for this project. At CLAS, we would also like to acknowledge David Lehmann and Julie Coimbra for supporting and contributing to the organization of the symposium. We are very grateful to the keynote speakers Felipe Fernandez-Armesto, Laurence Whitehead, and Joseph Smith, as well as the many other participants, including Katharina Rietzler, Peter Birle, Grace Livingstone, and Sally-Ann Treharne. We also thank our colleagues who presented their chapters in progress at LASA and especially the panel discussant Par Engstrom, who commented and offered useful feedback on some of the chapters, in addition to contributing a chapter himself. Alan Knight, Eduardo Posada-Carb ó and Michael Goebel also made valuable comments in the context of these two events. We thank Tanya Harmer for joining the project in its final stages and contributing a valuable chapter on historiography. At Palgrave Macmillan, we are very grateful to Maxine Molyneux, the editor of the series, who has been especially supportive of the project and has offered guidance and advice at crucial moments. We also thank Chris Robinson and Sara Doskow for their excellent editorial support. Finally, Ricardo Salvatore offered feedback and advice throughout the process of preparing and completing the book. This edited volume revisits the idea of the Western Hemisphere. First articulated by Arthur P. Whitaker in 1954 but with origins in the earlier work of Herbert E. Bolton, it is the idea that "the peoples of this Hemisphere stand in a special relationship to one another which sets them apart from the rest of the word" (Whitaker, 1954). For most scholars of US-Latin American relations, this is a curious concept. They often conceptualize US-Latin American relations through the prism of realism and interventionism. While this volume does not deny that the United States has often acted as an imperial power in Latin America, it is unique in that it challenges scholars to re-think their preconceived notions of inter-American relations and explores the possibility of a common international society for the Americas, especially in the realm of international relations. Unlike most volumes on US-Latin American relations, the book develops its argument in an interdisciplinary manner, bringing together different approaches from disciplines including international relations, global and diplomatic history, human rights studies, and cultural and intellectual history. Cooperation And Hegemony In U.s.-latin American Relations : An Introduction / Juan Pablo Scarfi And Andrew Tillman -- Another American Social Science : International Relations In The Western Hemisphere / Charles Jones -- Commonality, Specificity And Difference : Histories And Historiography Of The Americas / Tanya Harmer -- The 'vanguard Of Pan-americanism' : Chile And Inter-american Multilateralism In The Early 20th Century / Mark Jeffrey Petersen -- Hemisphere, Region And Nation: Spatial Conceptions In U.s. Hispanic American History / Ricardo D. Salvatore -- Pan-american Legal Designs : The Rise And Decline Of American International Law In The Western Hemisphere, 1911-1933 / Juan Pablo Scarfi -- The Inter-american Human Rights System And U.s.-latin American Relations / Par Engstrom. Edited By Juan Pablo Scarfi And Andrew Reid R. Tillman. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Front Matter....Pages i-ix Cooperation and Hegemony in US-Latin American Relations....Pages 1-30 Front Matter....Pages 31-31 Another American Social Science....Pages 33-70 Commonality, Specificity, and Difference....Pages 71-108 Front Matter....Pages 109-109 The “Vanguard of Pan-Americanism”....Pages 111-137 Hemisphere, Region, and Nation....Pages 139-168 Front Matter....Pages 169-169 Pan-American Legal Designs....Pages 171-208 The Inter-American Human Rights System and US-Latin American Relations....Pages 209-247 Back Matter....Pages 249-260 This book reconsiders the so-called Western Hemisphere idea, showing that it can be conceived as an illuminating and flexible conceptual framework through which we can gain new and enriching insights into the history and politics of US-Latin American relations