Britain and the Growth of Us Hegemony in Twentieth-Century Latin America: Competition, Cooperation and Coexistence

ISBN-13: 9783030483203 / Angielski / Twarda / 2020 / 318 str.

Mills, Thomas C.

Opis

"The editors have assembled an outstanding group of scholars who show through the use of a wide range of sources that Great Britain clung tenaciously to its previously privileged position [in Latin America] for longer than widely assumed. A very welcome addition to our understanding of Latin American external relations and British foreign policy towards the region in the 20th century."- Victor Bulmer-Thomas , Honorary Professor, Institute of the Americas, University College London "This collection of finely-crafted, archive-based essays illuminates a still neglected area of scholarship - Britain's role in Latin America during the twentieth century as officials, businessmen and politicians struggled to maintain a presence in the face of looming US hegemony. Convincing evidence and sharp analysis show that the transition from UK to US pre-eminence in Latin America was neither unchallenged nor inevitable." - Colin M. Lewis, Professor Emeritus of Latin American Economic History, LSE, UK This edited collection examines the relations between the United States and Great Britain in Latin America in the twentieth century. While popular descriptions of Latin America as the 'backyard' of the US tend to give the impression of American influence as all-pervasive, this book instead shows how the US has always had to take account of rival forces when seeking to achieve its foreign policy goals in the region. Having dominated Latin America's external connections from the time of independence in the early nineteenth century, British influence remained significant throughout this period. Covering a range of countries and sub-regions throughout Latin America, the chapters explore three principal questions: How did Anglo-American relations feature in the international politics of Latin America during the period? How much did Britain's continuing political and economic interests in Latin America support or constrain US policies towards the region? What role did Latin America play in the broader bilateral relationship between the US and Britain in the twentieth century? Adopting a thematic approach, the volume focuses on the central topics that defined Latin America's engagement with the wider world throughout the twentieth century.

Spis treści

1. Introduction- Thomas C. Mills and Rory M. Miller

Part I: War and Conflict

2. Rival, Ally, Or Subordinate? Anglo-American Relations in Latin America During the First World War- Phillip Dehne

3. British Policy Towards Latin America During World War II: Resisting The (Pan-) American Century- Thomas C. Mills

4. Anglo-American Relations and Venezuelan Oil, 1939-1945- Mark Seddon,

Part II: Trade And Commerce

5. The D’abernon Trade Mission to South America, 1929: Context and Reappraisal- Gaynor Johnson

6. The Roca-Runciman Treaty of 1933: Defending Which British Interests?- David Rock

7. Economic Nationalism and British Investments in Post-War Latin America, 1945-1970- Rory M. Miller

8. International Cooperation During the Cold War: British Interest in Chile's Early Nuclear History, 1955-1970- James Lockhart

Part III: Revolution and Political Change

9. The Failed Search for an Entente Cordiale: The Epilogue of the Anglo-Brazilian Relationship in the mid-1940s- Alexandre Moreli

10. The Limits of Anglo-American Cooperation in Cuba, 1945-1959- Christopher Hull

11. Britain, The United States, and the Bolivian National Revolution, 1952-1956- Olivia Saunders

12. Was Cheddi Jagan a Latin American? Competing Anglo-American Perceptions of British Guiana- Stephen G. Rabe

13. Epilogue: The United States and Britain in Latin America After the Cold War- James Dunkerley

O autorze

Thomas C. Mills is Lecturer in Diplomatic and International History and Deputy Director of the Centre for War and Diplomacy at Lancaster University. His previous publications include Post-War Planning on the Periphery: Anglo-American Economic Diplomacy in South America, 1939-1945 (Edinburgh University Press, 2012), and "British foreign policy towards Latin America in the twenty-first century: assessing the “Canning Agenda” (International Affairs, 2018).

Rory M. Miller was Reader in International Business History at the University of Liverpool Management School until his retirement in 2017, and previously Director of the Institute of Latin American Studies there. His publications include Britain and Latin America in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries (London: Longman, 1993), and Empresas británicas, economía y política en el Perú, 1850-1934 (Lima: Instituto de Estudios Peruanos, 2011).

Blurb

“The editors have assembled an outstanding group of scholars in this very welcome addition to our understanding of Latin American external relations and British foreign policy towards the region in the 20th century.”

— Victor Bulmer-Thomas, Honorary Professor, Institute of the Americas, University College London & Former Director, Chatham House

“This is an important and timely book, reappraising the UK’s role in Latin America in the 20th century. What emerges is far more interesting than the usual narrative  of linear UK decline in the face of growing US predominance.”

— Peter Collecott, CMG, UK Ambassador to Brazil, 2004–2008

This book explores the role of Great Britain in twentieth-century Latin America, a period dominated by the growing political and economic influence of the United States. Focusing on three broad themes—war and conflict; commercial and business rivalries; and responses to economic nationalism, revolution, and political change—the individual chapters cover a number of countries and issues from 1914 to 1970, stressing the reluctance with which Britain ceded hegemony in the region. An epilogue focuses on Anglo-American relations and concerns in Latin America in the more recent past. The chapters, all written by leading scholars on their particular subjects, are based on original research in a wide variety of archives, going beyond the standard Foreign Office and State Department sources to which most earlier scholars were confined.