Latin America Confronts the United States: Asymmetry and Influence, by Tom Long
| Author | Oliver Stuenkel |
| Published date | 01 December 2016 |
| Date | 01 December 2016 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/0020702016688402 |
| Subject Matter | Book Reviews |
In terms of domestic politics, Tehran sought nuclear proliferation as a means to
deal with declining support for the regime and for the Islamic revolution. Thus, the
domestic politics component gives greater insight into why Tehran will not easily
give up its nuclear program – the survival of the regime is dependent on it.
The publication date of A Time to Attack might explain Kroenig’s particularly
hawkish and realist stand and his lack of faith in diplomacy. Kroenig’s book was
published in May 2014, and thus two important events could not be included in his
argument. First, in September 2013, Hasan Rouhani was elected as president of
Iran – a somewhat moderate and pro-Western politician, particularly when com-
pared with his predecessor. When Kroenig was working on the book, the political
environment and diplomatic track were bleak, a context that provides explains his
policy prescription for dealing with the Iranian nuclear crisis. Second, Iran and the
P5+1 were in the midst of negotiations and the initial stage of drafting the Joint
Comprehensive Plan of Action. If these two factors had been taken into account,
the diplomacy option may have appeared to have a better chance than the more
militaristic one reluctantly supported in the book.
Tom Long
Latin America Confronts the United States: Asymmetry and Influence
Cambridge & New York: Cambridge University Press, 2015. 274 pp., USD$99.99 (cloth)
ISBN: 9781107121249
Reviewed by: Oliver Stuenkel, Fundac¸a
˜o Getulio Vargas, Brazil
The history of US–Latin American relations is, above all, shaped by the vast power
asymmetry between the two, US-American dominance over its weaker neighbours
in the South, and attempts by Latin American leaders to reduce the influence of the
‘‘Colossus of the North’’. Indeed, in International Relations theory, large states are
seen as decisive, while small and weak states are vulnerable and usually enjoy only
limited autonomy. Most traditional analyses of the topic – ranging from
Uruguayan writer Eduardo Galeano’s famous text The Open Veins of Latin
America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent (1971), and American scholar
Lars Schoultz’s Beneath the United States: A History of U.S. Policy toward Latin
America (1998), to the works of Brazilian political scientist Moniz Bandeira – use
this framework and generally identify attempts by the United States to dominate
or weaken Latin America, framing the latter as an object or victim.
In a new book on the subject, Tom Long questions this traditional approach,
examining how Latin American leaders have been able to overcome power asym-
metries to influence US foreign policy. Latin America Confronts the United States
explores a series of moments in post-Second World War inter-American relations –
foreign economic policy before the Alliance for Progress, the negotiation of the
Panama Canal Treaties, the NAFTA agreement, and the growth of counter-nar-
cotics strategies in Plan Colombia – to show how Latin American leaders influ-
enced Washington’s behaviour.
Book Reviews 665
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