Empire and Dissent

Fred Rosen

Description

Since the early nineteenth century, the United States has repeatedly intervened in the affairs of Latin American nations to pursue its own interests and to "protect" those countries from other imperial powers or from internal "threats." The resentment and opposition generated by the encroachment of U.S. power has been evident in the recurrent attempts of Latin American nations to pull away from U.S. dominance and in the frequent appearance of popular discontent and unrest directed against imperialist U.S. policies. In Empire and Dissent, senior Latin Americanists explore the interplay between various dimensions of imperial power and the resulting dissent and resistance.Several essays provide historical perspective on contemporary U.S.-hemispheric relations. These include an analysis of the nature and dynamics of imperial domination, an assessment of financial relations between the United States and Latin America since the end of World War II, an account of Native American resistance to colonialism, and a consideration of the British government's decision to abolish slavery in its colonies. Other essays focus on present-day conflicts in the Americas, highlighting various modes of domination and dissent, resistance and accommodation. Examining southern Mexico's Zapatista movement, one contributor discusses dissent in the era of globalization. Other contributors investigate the surprisingly conventional economic policies of Brazil's president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva; Argentina's recovery from its massive 2001 debt default; the role of coca markets in the election of Bolivia's first indigenous president, Evo Morales; and the possibilities for extensive social change in Venezuela. A readers' guide offers a timeline of key events from 1823 through 2007, along with a list of important individuals, institutions, and places.Contributors: Daniel A. Cieza, Gregory Evans Dowd, Steve Ellner, Neil Harvey, Alan Knight, Carlos Marichal, John Richard Oldfield, Silvia Rivera, Fred Rosen, Jeffrey W. Rubin

Sujets

• USA
• International relations
• 20th century
• Latin America
• États-Unis

Informations

• Publié par: Duke University Press
• Date de parution: 29 septembre 2008
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780822381440
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

E M P I R Ea n d D I S S E N T

a m e r i c a n e n c o u n t e r s / g l o b a l i n t e r a c t i o n s A series edited by Gilbert M. Joseph and Emily S. Rosenberg

This series aims to stimulate critical perspectives and fresh interpretive frame works for scholarship on the history of the imposing global presence of the United States. Its primary concerns include the deployment and contestation of power, the construction and deconstruction of cultural and political borders, the fluid mean ings of intercultural encounters, and the complex interplay between the global and the local. American Encounters seeks to strengthen dialogue and collaboration between historians of U.S. international relations and area studies specialists. The series encourages scholarship based on multiarchival historical research. At the same time, it supports a recognition of the representational character of all stories about the past and promotes critical inquiry into issues of subjectivity and narrative. In the process, American Encounters strives to understand the context in which meanings related to nations, cultures, and political economy are continu ally produced, challenged, and reshaped.

A project organized by the Social Science Research Council

E M P I R E

a n d D I S S E N T

t h e u n i t e d s t a t e s a n d l a t i n a m e r i c a

Duke University Press

Edited by Fred Rosen

 Durham and London2 0 0 8

©2008Duke University Press

All rights reserved

Printed in the United States of America on acidfree paper¥

Designed by Heather Hensley

Typeset in Linotype Sabon by Achorn International

Library of Congress CataloginginPublication data appear

on the last printed page of this book.

C O N T E N T S

Acknowledgments

A Reader’s Guide

Introduction Fred Rosen1

vii

ix

Part I. Empire in the Americas: Historical Reflections

1.U.S. Imperialism/Hegemony and Latin American Resistance Alan Knight23

2.“We Are Heirsapparent to the Romans”: Imperial Myths and Indigenous Status Gregory Evans Dowd53

3.Slavery, Abolition, and Empire John Richard Oldfield74

4.The Finances of Hegemony in Latin America: Debt Negotiations and the Role of the U.S. Government,1945–2005 Carlos Marichal90

Part II. Empire and Resistance in the Twentyfirst Century

5.Beyond Hegemony: Zapatismo, Empire, and Dissent Neil Harvey117

vic o n t e n t s

6.Colonialism and Ethnic Resistance in Bolivia: A View from the Coca Markets Silvia Rivera Cusicanqui137

7.High Stakes in Brazil: Can Democracy Take on Empire? Jeffrey W. Rubin162

8.From Menem to Kirchner: National Autonomy and Social Movements in Argentina Daniel A. Cieza188

9.The Hugo Chávez Phenomenon: Antiimperialism from Above or Radical Democracy from Below? Steve Ellner205

Bibliography

Contributors

Index

253

229

251

A C K N O W L E D G M E N T S

This volume originated in a project called “Responding to Hegemony: The

Dynamics of Social Movements,” sponsored by the Program on Global Se curity and Cooperation (gsc) of the Social Science Research Council, with funding from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. The project consisted of two international workshops and the publi cations they generated. I am grateful to John Tirman and Itty Abraham, the coordinators of those workshops, for conceptualizing and giving mo mentum to the project, which has culminated in this collection of essays. I would also like to thank Professors Eric Hershberg and Gilbert Joseph for their helpful suggestions regarding the organization of the workshops and of this volume; Valerie Millholland, the Duke University Press editor who very helpfully guided the manuscript through the acquisition and edito rial stages of publication; and the two anonymous readers whose helpful, critical suggestions have been incorporated into the final versions of these essays and (to the best of my ability) into the structure of the volume. Because the discussions herein cover so much historical ground and as sume some previous knowledge of the topics at hand, Alan Knight gra ciously agreed to draw up a timeline of key events, a list of key individuals, and a list of key institutions, events, and places, all of which are included in “A Reader’s Guide,” which appears after these acknowledgments. While I contributed some items to the timeline and the lists, the comprehensive historical memory required to compile the reader’s guide belongs to Knight. I am grateful for his extra effort to make the volume more accessible to the nonspecialist reader.

These chapters have appeared in several stages: they were originally drafted as workshop presentations; some were then edited or rewritten as short articles in either the gsc Quarterly(winter–spring2005) or the nacla Report on the Americas(September–October2005); and all were then ex panded into the chapterlength essays included in this volume. The first workshop, “Empire and Dissent: Reflecting on History,” was held in Paris,15–16June2004, and explored several case histories of em pire and resistance, focusing, in the words of the initial workshop prospec tus, on “the current ‘unipolar’ moment, set in the background of the past and propelled into informed speculation about the future.” Two of this book’s chapters—Gregory Evans Dowd’s description of Native American resistance to the imperial expansion of the eighteenthcentury North Amer ican colonies and John Oldfield’s discussion of the dissent and resistance engendered by the British Empire’s transatlantic slave trade—are drawn from the Paris workshop. The analytical framework constructed in the Paris workshop informed the design of the second workshop, which was held in Cuernavaca, Mexico, 4–6March2005, and called “Empire and Dissent: U.S. Hegemony in Latin America.” In the Cuernavaca workshop, from which this volume’s remain ing chapters are drawn, participants discussed the concept of “empire,” its relevance to both the current and the historical relationship between the United States and the rest of the Western Hemisphere, and the relationship between the exercise of U.S. power and the various forms of dissent it has generated. While I cannot speak for individual contributors, I think it is fair to say that this volume as a whole greatly benefited from the creative, scholarly interactions that took place at both workshops. I therefore extend thanks to all the workshop participants whose work only indirectly appears on these pages.

viiia c k n o w l e d g m e n t s

A R E A D E R ’ S G U I D E

Timeline of Key Events 1823 President James Monroe proclaims the Monroe Doctrine, which rejects European intervention and imperialism in the Americas. 1833 British occupation of the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas). 1846–1848 U.S.Mexican War: the United States invades and defeats Mexico. 1848 The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ends the U.S.Mexican War; Mexico cedes half its territory to the United States.

1850

1882 1895

1895 1898

1899–1902 1901

ClaytonBulwer Treaty: an AngloAmerican agreement for a pro

jected isthmian canal.

British occupation of Egypt.

Venezuela–British Guyana border dispute: the United States sup

ports Venezuela, invoking the Monroe Doctrine.

The second Cuban insurrection against Spain begins.

SpanishAmerican War: the United States defeats Spain at sea,

invades Cuba, and seizes Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines.

U.S. military occupation of Cuba.

The new Cuban Constitution incorporates the Platt Amendment,

granting the United States the right to intervene in the island;

HayPauncefote Treaty: an AngloAmerican agreement ceding

the United States primary control of an isthmian canal, thus

abrogating the ClaytonBulwer Treaty of1850.