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COURSE SYLLABUS
POLI 235A/IRGN 490/Winter 2015
LATIN AMERICA IN THE CONTEMPORARY WORLD
Instructor: Peter H. Smith
Teaching Assistant: Sara Bivin
IR/PS Gardner RoomTuesday 6:00-8:50 p.m.
This course will explore Latin America’s changing position in the contemporary world arena. How have countries of the region (or groups of countries) responded to shifting balances of global power? Have they managed to take advantage of changing contexts? What results have they achieved?
Our first discussion will examine alternative conceptions of the international distribution of power. Subsequent sessions will focus on reciprocal economic and political relationships between selected nations--Brazil, Cuba, Mexico, Venezuela--and extra-hemispheric power centers (China, Russia, Europe, and Iran). Concluding sessions will deal with international organizations and the choice of institutional arenas.
There is no single text for this course. The reading list draws from many sources, among them Gian Luca Gardini and Peter Lambert, Latin American Foreign Policies: Between Ideology and Pragmatism (2011), hereinafter Gardini and Lambert, Foreign Policies; and Latin America and the Shifting Sands of Global Power, a special issue of the Journal of Iberian and Latin American Research (2013), hereinafter Shifting Sands. Thoughtful coverage of current international events can be found in The Economist. We also have an outstanding roster of guest speakers.
Requirements
Students will be required to submit two “IR/PS style” policy memos of three pages in length. The first will be due on Tuesday, February 17; the second is due on March 10.
All students must read “required” assignments prior to every class. They must also join study groups on weekly topics and analyze prevailing literature through “pro-and-con” debates on specific issues; for this they should digest “suggested” materials as well as other sources they might uncover on their own.
Grades will be based on the policy memos, debate performances,analyses of readings, and participation in classroom discussion.
A working command of Spanish or Portuguese would be helpful but is not required.
COURSE SCHEDULE
INTRODUCTION
Jan 06: Queries and Concepts
Required:
Gardini and Lambert, Foreign Policies,introduction and ch. 1
Peter H. Smith, “Global Scenarios and Bilateral Priorities” in Peter H. Smith and Andrew Selee, eds., Mexico and the United States: The Politics of Partnership (Boulder: Lynne Rienner, 2013), ch. 2
MoisésNaim, The End of Power, chs. 1, 6, and 7
Excerpts available on Google Books
Suggested:
Thomas E. Skidmore, Peter H. Smith, and James L. Green, Modern Latin America 8th edition (New York: Oxford University Press, 2014), chs. 15-16 (“Latin America in the World Arena”)
Jan 13: Sizing Up the Neighborhood
Guest Speaker: David Mares (UCSD)
Required:
Mares, “Intra-Latin American Relations: The Challenge of Promoting Cooperation While Defending Sovereignty”
[access may be limited to one user at a time; try again later if refused]
Peter H. Smith, Talons of the Eagle: Latin America, the United States, and the World, 4th edition (New York: Oxford University Press, 2013), chs. 9-12
Suggested:
Thomas Legler, “The Rise and Decline of the Summits of the Americas,” Shifting Sands, 179-193
LATIN AMERICAN FOREIGN POLICIES
Jan 20: Brazil--An Emerging Giant?
Guest Speaker: Riordan Roett (SAIS/Johns Hopkins)
Required:
Albert Fishlow, Starting Over: Brazil since 1985(Washington, DC: Brookings Institution,2011)
Larry Rohter, Brazil on the Rise (New York: Palgrave/Macmillan, 2010), ch. 9
Andrés Malamud, “A Leader without Followers? The Growing Divergence between the Regional and Global Performance of Brazilian Foreign Policy,” Latin American Politics and Society2011 (53, 3): 1–24
Suggested:
Brazil as an Economic Superpower? Understanding Brazil’s Changing Role in the Global Economy(Washington, DC: Brookings Institution, 2009)
Sean Burges, “Mistaking Brazil for a Middle Power,” Shifting Sands, 286-302
TulloVigevani and Marcelo Fernandes de Oliveira,“Brazilian Foreign Policy in the Cardoso Era: The Search for Autonomy through Integration,” Latin American Perspectives2007 (34, 5): 58–80.
Jan 27: Venezuela--After Chávez, What?
Guest Speaker: Javier Corrales (Amherst College)
Required:
Javier Corrales and Michael Penrose, Dragon in the Tropics: Hugo Chávez and the Political Economy of Revolution in Venezuela (Washington DC: Brookings Institution, 2011)
Javier Corrales, “Using Social Power to Balance Soft Power: Venezuela’s Foreign Policy,” The Washington Quarterly 2009 (32, 4): 97–114
Diana Raby, “Venezuelan Foreign Policy under Chávez, 1999-2010: The Pragmatic Success of Revolutionary Ideology?” in Gardini and Lambert, Foreign Policies, ch. 9
Suggested:
Ralph S. Clem and Anthony P. Maingot, eds.,Venezuela’s Petro-Diplomacy: Hugo Chávez’s Foreign Policy (Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2011)
Luis Fernando Angosto-Ferrández, ed.,Democracy, Revolution and Geopolitics in Latin America: Venezuela and the International Politics of Discontent (New York: Routledge, 2013)
Feb 03: Mexico--Jockeying for Position
Guest Speakers: Rafael Fernández de Castro (ITAM) and Arturo Sarukhan (WWICS)
Required:
Ana Covarrubias, “Mexico’s Foreign Policy under the PartidoAcciónNacional: Promoting Democracy, Human Rights, and Interests,” in Gardini and Lambert, Foreign Policies, ch. 12
Lorenzo Meyer, “La desvanecidaruta de la ambiciónnacional: La tensiónhistórica entre el proyectonacionalmexicano y suentornointernacional,” in Blanca Torres and Gustavo Vega, eds., Relacionesinternacionales (México: El Colegio de México, 2010)
[Volume 12 of this set]
Suggested:
Smith and Selee, eds., Mexico and the United States: The Politics of Partnership (Boulder: Lynne Rienner, 2013)
Ana Covarrubias, “Cuba and Haiti in Mexico’s Foreign Policy,” International Journal2006 (61, 3): 661–76
HumbertoGarza Elizondo, Jorge A. Schiavon, and Rafael Velázquez Flores, ed. Paradigmasy paradojas de la política exterior de México: 2000-2006 (México: El Colegio de México, 2010)
AlexandraDélano,“From Limited to Active Engagement: Mexico’s Emigration Policies from a Foreign Policy Perspective (2000–2006),” International Migration Review 2009 (43, 4): 764–814
Feb 10: Cuba—What Now?
Guest Speakers: H. Michael Erisman (Indiana State University) and Richard Feinberg (IR/PS)
Required:
Catherine Krull, ed., Cuba in a Global Context: International Relations, Internationalism, and Transnationalism (2014)
[access may be limited to one user at a time]
AntoniKapcia, “Defying Expectations: The External Profile and Activism of the Cuban Revolution,” in Gardini and Lambert, Foreign Policies, ch. 10
Richard Feinberg, “Reaching Out: Cuba’s New Economy and the International Response” (2011)
Carlos AlzugarayTreto, “Los fundamentos de la política exterior de Cuba, 2001-2011”
Suggested:
H. Michael Erisman, Cuba’s Foreign Relations in a Post-Soviet World (Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2000)
H. Michael Erisman and John M. Kirk, eds. Redefining Cuban Foreign Policy: The Impact of the “Special Period” (Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2006)
For newspaper coverage see <nytimes.com/cubastart>
MAJOR POWER CENTERS
Feb 17: The European Union
Required:
Lorena Ruano, ed.,The Europeanization of National Foreign Policies towards Latin America (2013)
[access may be limited to one user at a time]
JosepBorrell, “Europa, América Latina, y la regionalización del mundo,” Universidad de Alcalá de Henares (2013)
Suggested:
Wolf Grabendorff and ReimundSeidelmann, eds., Relations between the European Union and Latin America (2005)
Marcela Szymanski and Michael E. Smith, “Coherence and Conditionality in European Foreign Policy: Negotiating the EU–Mexico Global Agreement,” Journal of Common Market Studies2005 (43, 1): 171–92
DOI: 10.1111/j.0021-9886.2005.00551.x
EnriquetaSerrano Caballero, Pasado, presenteyfuturo de la cooperación de la Unión Europeahacia México (2000-2006). (San Luis Potosí: El Colegio de San Luis, 2008)
Feb 24: What Does China Really Want?
Guest Speaker: Weiyi Shi (IR/PS)
Required:
Jorge I. Dominguez, “China’s Relations with Latin America:Shared Gains, Asymmetric Hopes”
Kevin P. Gallagher, “Capitalizing on the China Cycle: Time is Running Out for Latin America”
R. Evan Ellis, “The United States, Latin America and China: A ‘Triangular Relationship’”?
Richard Feinberg, “China, Latin America, and the United States: Congruent Interests or Tectonic Turbulence?” Latin American Research Review2011 (46, 2): 215–24
Suggested:
Frank O. Mora, “Sino-Latin American Relations: Sources and Consequences, 1977–1997,” Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs1999 (41, 2): 91–116
Riordan Roett and Guadalupe Paz, eds., China’s Expansion into the Western Hemisphere: Implications for Latin America and the United States(Washington, DC: Brookings Institution, 2008)
Robert Evan Ellis, China in Latin America: The Whats and Wherefores (Boulder, Colorado: Lynne Rienner, 2009)
China’s and India’s Challenge to Latin America: Opportunity or Threat?(Washington, DC: The World Bank, 2009)
Cesar Ross, “Japanese Foreign Policy towards Latin America and the Caribbean: Between Cooperation and Business,” Atenea2012 (505): 185–217.
Peter H. Smith, Kotaro Horisaka and Shoji Nishijima, eds.,East Asia and Latin America: The Unlikely Alliance (Boulder: Westview, 2003)
Mar 03: International Organizations—UN, WTO, OAS
Required:
Gardini and Lambert, Foreign Policies, ch. 13
Arturo C. Sotomayor Velázquez, “Different Paths and Divergent Policies in the UN Security System: Brazil and Mexico in Comparative Perspective,” International Peacekeeping2009 (16, 3): 364–78
Patricia Grey Rich, ed., Latin America: Its Future in the Global Economy (New York: Palgrave/Macmillan, 2002), chs. 1-2 and 9
Arturo C. Sotomayor Velázquez and Gustavo Vega Cánovas, El mundodesde México: Ensayos de políticainternacional (México: El Colegio de México, 2008), tercera parte (“México en la ONU”)
MónicaHerz, The Organization of American States: Global Governance Away from the Media(2011), selected chapters
Mar 10: Rogues and Other Contenders
Required:
Mark Katz, “The Putin-Chávez Partnership,” Problems of Post-Communism2006 (53, 4): 3–9
Cynthia Arnson ed., Iran in Latin America: Threat or “Axis of Annoyance”? (Washington DC: Woodrow Wilson Center, 2010)
Michael Dodson and ManochehrDorraj, “Populism and Foreign Policy in Venezuela and Iran,” Whitehead Journal of Diplomacy and International Relations2008 (9, 71)
Suggested:
Dmitri Trenin, “Russia Redefines Itself and Its Relations with the West,” Washington Quarterly2007 (30, 2): 95–105
Andrés Malamud, “Argentine Foreign Policy under the Kirchners: Ideological, Pragmatic, or Simply Peronist?” in Gardini and Lambert, Foreign Policies, ch. 5
Roberto Russell and Juan Gabriel Tokotlian, “Implications of the Global and Regional Changes for Argentina’s Foreign Relations,” Shifting Sands, 251-267