From issue 59 of New Socialist Magazine
US foreign policy strategies in Latin America
By Ruth Blakely
Since World War II, US foreign policy in the global South, and particularly Latin America, has been shaped by the will to ensure that the US maintains its dominant position and that it protects and promotes the interests of US capitalist elites. In this sense US foreign policy has been characterised by continuities, despite claims at the end of the Cold War that the US was entering a new era in its foreign relations. Despite these continuities in US foreign policy, the strategies for achieving these objectives have shifted. At times the dominant strategy has been coercive, and at others it has involved securing popular endorsement for efforts to establish a particular model of democracy in the South that lends itself to US interests. I outline here the shifting strategies of US foreign policy in Latin America since World War II.
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