. . . this ground-breaking study by Jon Kofas . . . provides an insightful analysis of the American aid program that determined the political and economic configuration of postwar Greece. Kofa's analysis, however, is equally significant for United States history because it was on Greek soil that American counterinsurgency, pacification, and containment tactics were evolved, tested, and later applied elsewhere in the Third World.

Those who seek meaningful reappraisal rather than beguiling rationalization might well begin with this study, solidly grounded on all available sources. It...

Focusing on Chile and Colombia during the 1950s and 1960s, Kofas examines the impact of IMF, World Bank, and U.S. foreign policy on the economies and social and political institutions of Latin America. Far from fostering democracy and social justice, foreign loans and aid were major impediments to these ideals. Symptomatic of systematic underdevelopment, cyclical Third World foreign borrowing and debt crises have been responsible for maintaining the debtor nations integrated into the global market economy, perpetuating their dependency, and maintaining low living standards. Comparing...

The record shows that the United States often acts as if it has license to disregard the sovereign rights of other peoples and nations. Kofas argues the United States has used Greece as a means of satisfying its own interests for the past half-century, and that Greece has suffered mightily at the hands of its protector. The United States has deemed this strategically situated nation too important to its own geopolitical ambitions to allow it to realize the democratic freedoms so often espoused.

Because of U.S. pressure, Greeks have been subjected to authoritarian regimes and have...