PS 1324 US-Latin American Relations (35684)
Spring 2008/9; T/TH 2:30-3:45 1500 Posvar Hall
Prof. Scott Morgenstern
(412)648-7288;
Office Hours 4807 Posvar Hall (or Panera’s in Squirrel Hill) Wednesday 1-3
This is a course in the political science of US-Latin American relations. As such, while we will review the history of events, we will seek a framework for understanding the US role in the Latin American region. The goal for the course is to use specific examples from historic and current events to critically evaluate the role of the U.S. within a conceptual context.
This course is organized chronologically, but we will use a consistent framework to discuss and evaluate the US actions. Key questions are whether the forces that have motivated US policy have changed, and whether these motivations are legitimate.
In this course students will be required to earn their credits through preparation of the reading material, consistent participation in the discussions, reports on current events, and a presentation of a research topic that will be the basis of a paper. There will also be a midterm and a final exam. If necessary to ensure that students keep up with the reading, we may add pop quizzes.
% of GradeParticipation including current events & daily questions / 10
Presentation / 15
Paper / 25
Midterm / 25
Final Exam / 25
Current events reports:
Each student will do one current events report. Students should plan a two-three minute presentation based on a news article (suggested sources include Foreign Affairs, The Economist, The NY Times, the Miami Herald) You can focus on economic issues, security issues, or politics. If you prefer to give a short report on a topical issue (such as an extension from the previous day’s class discussion or a short history of a topic we will not cover in class), rather than a current event, that would be fine. Students should post a short summary of their report on the course website, including information on the source of the article so that everyone can read the article. The report should provide a bit of background and suggest a discussion about the motivations and legitimacy of the U.S. actions. These will be graded on effort, (Ö-,Ö,Ö+).
Participation and questions:
Students are encouraged to participate in class discussions. Attendance, therefore, is important. As a check on attendance, students are required to turn in two typed questions about the readings for the day. I will try to use this in the discussion, and you are welcome to come and talk to me about them if they are not answered during the discussion.
Films:
We will watch a number of films for this class. Some of these will be shown in class, and some will be shown in the evening. If you cannot make the evening showings, please watch the films at the library media center. You are not required to attend the evening showings, but you are required to watch the films.
Papers and presentations:
During the first week of class each student will sign up to participate in a group presentation. I will meet with the groups one or two weeks ahead of time to help prepare the presentation. The presentations will all start with a list of theses that will be the basis of your papers. (If you have a strong desire to write about a different topic, please see me.) Papers should be argumentative, explanatory, or comparative, not simply descriptive. As a class we will discuss the theses and help to clarify, and discuss the type of evidence necessary to support your argument. It is also required that you come see me about your papers, bringing with you a statement of thesis and two academic sources. Papers are due about 10 days following the presentation (see schedule on the sign-up sheet). In addition to the theses that should be listed on the first slide of the presentation, the groups should identify at least two or three essay questions and several themes that would make good short-answer questions for an exam. These two requirements should force the students to stay on target and arouse interest from the rest of the audience.
As noted, papers are due about 10 days after the presentation. These papers, which will be based on your presentations, should be 6-8 pages long (double spaced; standard fonts and margins). Hints for writing a good research paper, requirements, and a grading rubric are available on the website. Key to the research is effort—a simple paper that downloads and paraphrases information from a website or two shows much less effort than significant library research. Papers must have at least two academic sources. If you are not sure if your sources meet this criterion, please ask.
Books and Articles
There are just two books to buy for the course and several articles will be available through e-journals, the web, or the Courseweb site. The syllabus lists some suggested readings that may be helpful for your papers. Books to buy are:
Smith, Peter. Talons of the Eagle, ˆ3rd ed.
Kinzer, Stephen. Overthrow
Theme 1: Framework for US-Latin American RelationsGoals: Identify factors that drive US policy. Debate evaluative criteria for U.S. policy including legitimacy. Identify 19th Century U.S. Policies and factors that motivated these policies. Evaluate U.S. decisions in Latin America policies within this historical context.
Tu 1/6 / Introduction
Th 1/8 / Framework for US-LA relations
· Characterization of US-LA relations historically and currently
Where, when and why has US policy been good, bad, or ugly?
· Factors driving US-Latin American Relations
What are/have been the main motivations of US policy?
Are those factors enduring—or have they changed over time?
Interests in the US vs. interests of the US
· Define political science vs history view of approach to US-LA relations.
International relations vs comparative politics frameworks
· Realism vs Normative/Idealism (“should do”) bases of policy
· The View from Latin America (Galeano)
Who has benefited in Latin America from US policies?
Is the US damned if it does and damned if it does not?
· Introduction of theme of legitimacy
What would make US policy legitimate?
Does legitimacy relate to US interests or must it also consider implications for Latin America?
We would probably agree that extreme means do not justify limited ends; At what point do ends justify means?
Reading;
Kirkpatrick: Dictatorships and Double Standards
http://www.commentarymagazine.com/cm/main/viewArticle.html?id=6189
Galeano, Open Veins of Latin America Introduction, pp. 11-20
Schoultz Preface and Ch 1;
Smith, Introduction pp. 1-10
Recommended:
Peter Hakim. “Is Washington Losing Latin America?” Foreign Affairs, Jan-Feb 2006 v85 i1 p39
Tu 1/13
Th 1/15 / Monroe doctrine, Manifest Destiny, & US Imperialism
Daily Themes and Questions:
· Development of US as imperial power
· Soft vs Hard Power
· Identify the influence of ideology driving US doctrines and justifications for policy/intervention in the 1800s.
· What were the domestic and international political pressures influencing policymakers of the early days of the United States?
· Are the ideologies that drove US policy makers different today in comparison with those of the early 19th century? If so, what drives policy today? Is policy simply driven by pragmatism or is there still an overriding ideology?
· The Walker Affair (see film: Walker V-7315)
· Example of US-Mexican War; a showcase of imperialism
Reading:
Smith Chs 1, 2
Meyer Sherman and Deeds Course on Mexican History, pp. 323-341
Recommended reading:
Schoultz Chs 2, 3, 5
Smith Ch 2
Grandin: Empire’s Workshop
Recommended Film: US Mexican War
Tu 1/20
Th 1/22 / Spanish American War; Platt Amendment
· Identify War of 1898 as setting up US as dominant player in Latin America (if not the world)
What motivated the US actions in the Caribbean?
How did the international context help the US to win War of 1898?
How did 1898 change the world?
· Recognize enduring role of Cuba in US-LA relations
In terms of US motivations and strategies, is Cuba just another Latin American country—or do other factors influence US decisions? Or, what makes Cuba unique?
· Identify Platt Amendment as foundational document showing US imperial perspective or demands for overarching influence;
Were there serious economic or security concerns with Cuba or simply US imperialism?
· How did Latin America respond to the US imperialism?
Reading:
Smith Ch. 4
Recommended reading
Schoultz Ch. 8
Film: In class Spanish-American War
Theme 2: Economics & Security: The 20th Century Through the Cold War
Goals: Identify critical events in the first half of the 20th Century. Evaluate goals of the US and their impact on Latin America. Query whether US actions were justified. Evaluate whether Cold War threats were real, imagined, or contrived in order to justify and legitimate US policy during that period. Evaluate whether and how US intervention changed the course of domestic politics and economics in Chile and Central America. Answer whether these countries would have gone Communist without US intervention and evaluate the costs (economic and social) for the US intervention.
Tu 1/27 / Dollar Diplomacy, the Kemmerer Missions; & The Good Neighbor Policy
· What were the goals of dollar diplomacy?
· How did dollar diplomacy differ from gunboat diplomacy?
· Good Neighbors
o What led to the good neighbor policy? How and why was there a change in policy?
o How did LA benefit from the change?
o How/why did it end or what were the long-term impacts?
o How did it differ from Dollar Diplomacy
· Did LA benefit from Dollar Diplomacy—or the money lent in the 1970s? Could the funds have been managed in a more favorable manner?
Reading:
Smith Ch 3
Rec:
Schoultz Chs. 9, 10
Group Presentation 1
Th 1/29 / Panama Canal; Nationalization of Mexico’s oil industry, & Nicaragua
· The Canal
o Was another system possible to develop the Panama Canal?
o How did the canal serve Latin American interests? How have the Panamania people benefited from the canal?
o What were the different perspectives on the canal in the United States?
o Can there be a case made for the importance of “benevolent supervision” of the canal?
o Can the case be made for the “benevolent supervision” of the canal?
· Nationalization of Mexican Oil
o What were the US options? Why didn’t the US respond with more force?
· Nicaragua
o What led the US to its stance regarding Sandino and the Somoza regime? What justified the expense of sending 5,000 troops to a Central American country in 1926?
Reading:
Schoultz Chs. 9
Continue Smith Ch. 3
Kinzer, Ch. 3
Group Presentation 2
Theme 3: WWII & Early Cold War. Guatemala, Bay of Pigs and Cuban Missile Crisis
Goals: Identify Cold War Interventions and evaluate whether security concerns were sufficient to justify US actions.
Tu 2/3 / Framework of Cold War
· Realism of Cold War Threats
How many U.S. interests have to be threatened to justify a US intervention?
What is a threat? Tax policy? Nationalization with compensation? Revolution?
Did US policy legitimately change with the security threats of the Cold War—or did the cold War just give the US a new justification for its intervention?
Reading:
Smith Talons Chs 5-6
Kinzer Overthrow Ch. 5 (on JF. Dulles and Iran)
Recommended Films:
The Silence of Neto (Pitt V-8250)
The fog of war: eleven lessons from the life of Robert S. McNamara
Th 2/5 / Cold War Interventions: Guatemala (1954), Cuba (Batista through the Bay of Pigs; 1961) Chile (1973)
· Was Arbenz a communist? If so, was he a threat to the US?
· Do Bananas qualify as a strategic industry? If US firms were harvesting oil instead of bananas, would you consider US actions in Guatemala more legitimate?
· What led to Cuba’s relation with the USSR and henceforth the missile crisis?
· Did the Cold War justify/legitimate the Bay of Pigs invasion?
· Why did Kennedy fail to give the full support to the invasionary force?
· Were the invaders mercenaries or patriots?
· Was Cuba a threat to the US before the missile crisis?
· Without US support, would a coup have occurred in Chile? Was US action justifiable based on business interests in Chile (see Missing)?
· ** Why theses cases? Why not Peru? **
Reading
Quesier Morales, Waltraud “Responding to Bolivian Democracy: Avoiding the Mistakes of Early US-Cuban Policy,” Military Review, July-August, 2006
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0PBZ/is_4_86/ai_n26968779/pg_1?tag=artBody;col1
Kinzer Overthrow Chs 6, 8, 9
Rec
Schoultz Ch 17
Recommended Films:
Missing
Devils don't dream! (@ Greensburg Campus)
Group Presentation 3
Tu 2/10 / No Class:
Film 13 Days showing during the week in the evening
Th 2/12 / Cold War Attempts at Positive Relations: Kennedy’s Alliance for Progress, and Carter’s Human Rights Focus
· Importance of US intervention
· What motivated Kennedy’s policy?
· Why was the policy so much less effective than the Marshall Plan?
· Why did the policy end?
· Why did the US switch to covert intervention from its more overt use of force prior to the Cold War?
· How did democrats and republicans differ in their responses to insurgent movements?
· Is Carter’s “softness” to blame for the rise in insurgencies?
· What explains Carter’s varying policy around Latin America?
Reading:
Smith Ch 7
Rec:
Schoultz Chs . 18, 19
Recommended Films:
The International Court of Justice and the Nicaraguan case
Group presentations 4
Tu 2/17 / The Reagan Years and Iran Contra
· Was the US justified, given the Cold War, for intervention in Chile or Nicaragua?
· Did Reagan have other alternatives than dealing with Iran given the hostage crisis?
· How did the government generate support for the war & deal with domestic opposition?
Readings
The Iran-Contra Puzzle pp. 3-53
Kinzer Ch. 10
Smith Ch 7
Raymont, Troubled Neighbors Ch. 11 “The Reagan Era”
Sikkink Mixed Signals: US Human Rights and Latin America, Ch. 7 “The Reagan Administration”
Kirkpatrick, Dictatorship and Double Standards (Review)
Film clip in class from The Secret Government V-442 (Storage)
Group presentations 5
Th 2/19 / Summary and Midterm Review: Short and Long term Costs and Benefits of US Intervention during Cold War