Objectives

The course aims at studying the formation and evolution of the Argentinean and Latin American societies through a comparative approach since the Crisis of Independence up to the present; analyzing the confluence of the complex ethnic and cultural components of the regional societies; and comparing the different institutional evolution of the regional societies throughout the period.

In addition, the course aims at studying some of the most influential personalities in the social and political thought of the continent; analyzing typical Latin American institutions, like caudillismo; comparing the development of democracy in the different countries throughout the second half of the twentieth-century; and locating the contents of the course within the frame of world history.

The weekly classes will be complemented by occasional lectures by-and meetings with-outsatnding scholars and influential local leaders.

Evaluation

It is based on a written, mid-term exam and an analytic paper as well as in-class participation and attendance. Promotion of the course is based on a comprehensive oral examination at the end of the course.

Syllabus

Unit 1: The Crisis of Independence and the formation of the new republics (1800-1870)
Crisis of the Spanish Colonial Empire within the period of the Great Revolutions. The Spanish heritage and other influences on the emerging systems. The emergence of new regional political units. The increasing British influence. The civil wars: regional differences, ethnic groups and the formation of a new society. The caudillos. The Monroe Doctrine. The United Provinces of Río de la Plata, the Brazilian Empire and the Paraguayan autonomous project.

Unit 2: The neocolonial order, 1870-1930
Integration to the international system, modernization and the formation of the the new elites. The oligarchic republics. Stability and unstability in the different regional societies. European immigration, new ideologies and a modern identity. Emerging social actors and political parties in the modern Latin American society. The process of democratization. The relationship with United States of America: Panamericanism, intervention and anti-Imperialism. The new Argentina and Republican Brazil. México: form Porfiriato to the Revolution. Cuba, Nicaragua and Panamá.

Unit 3: Crisis and transformation, 1930-1960
The impact of the international cyclical crises. The process of imports substitution. Nationalism against foreign economic and political intervention. The emergence of Populism. The emergence of organized labor and the middle classes. Peronismo in Argentina, Varguismo in Brazil, Ibañismo in Chile and the dynamics of Revolutionary México. The short life of the Good Neighbor Policy. World War II and the Cold War.

Unit 4: Latin America during the Cold War, 1945-1989
The impact of bipolarity. The expansion of imports substitution and a new middle class. Revolution or Reform? The limits to the transformation of the continent. The Doctrine of National Security: military intevention and movements of resistance. Collective security: OEA and TIAR. American intervention as a component of the continental political system. The 1980s: recovery of democracy under external endebtment. Revolution in Cuba and Chile. War and peace in Central America: Guatemala and Nicaragua. Growth and unstability in Argentina and Brazil. Drugs as a new economy: Perú and Colombia.

Unit 5: Toward a new identity within globalization, 1989-2000
The end of bipolarity in Latin America. Globalization and structural transformation. The new power relations in the emerging democracies. Trade, commercial integration and the discussion on the viability of the Latin American republics: MERCOSUR and NAFTA. The new Latin American agenda: ecology, regional migration, narcotraffic and money laundering, social polarization and exclusion. Argentina, México and Brazil. Colombia and Chile. Cuba.

Bibliography

Thomas Skidmore and Peter Smith, A Contemporary History of Latin America
John Charles Chasteen and Joseph S. Tulchin (eds.), Problems in Modern Latin American History: A Reader (Wimington: Scholarly Resources, 1994)

Additional Bibliography

Demetrio Boesner, Relaciones Internacionales de América Latina (Caracas: Nueva Sociedad, 1987)
Fernando Enrique Cardoso y Enzo Faletto, Dependency and Development in Latin America Berkely: University of California Press, 1979)
Tulio Halperín Donghi, Contemporary History of Latin America
John Lynch (ed.), The Spanish American Revolutions (New York: Norton, 1986)
Rubinstein, Juan C. (compilador), El Estado Periférico Latinoamericano (Buenos Aires: Eudeba, 1988)
Lester D. Langley, America and the Americas: The United States in the Western Hemisphere (Athens: The University of Georgia Press, 1989)

Class Schedule

Week 1
Unit 1/ The Crisis of Independence, 1800-1825
Argentina and the Brazilian Empire

Week 2
Unit 2/ The Formation of the New Republics, 1825-1870
Argentina and the Paraguayan autonomous project.

Week 3
Unit 3/ The Neocolonial Order, 1870-1910
Argentina and Porfirian México

Week 4
Unit 3/ The Neocolonial Order, 1870-1910
Cuban Independence and the Creation of Panamá

Week 5
Unit 4/ Crisis and transformation in the period of the World Wars, 1910-1945
Revolutionary México

Week 6
Unit 4/ Crisis and transformation in the period of the World Wars, 1910-1945
Argentina and Chile

Week 7
Unit 4/ Crisis and transformation in the period of the World Wars, 1910-1945
Guatemala and Bolivia

Week 8
Unit 4/ Crisis and transformation in the period of the World Wars, 1910-1945
Latin America and the Second World War
Evaluation I: Bibliographical Report due

Week 9
Unit 5/ Latin America during the Cold War, 1945-1989
Argentina and Brazil

Week 10
Unit 5/ Latin America during the Cold War, 1945-1989
Cuba

Week 11
Unit 5/ Latin America during the Cold War, 1945-1989
Chile and Perú

Week 12
Unit 5/ Latin America during the Cold War, 1945-1989
Nicaragua, Guatemala and Colombia

Week 13
Unit 5/ Latin America during the Cold War, 1945-1989
Peace and war in Central America

Week 14
Unit 6/ Toward a new identity within globalization, 1989-2000
Processes of integration: MERCOSUR, Argentina and Brazil. NAFTA and México

Week 15
Unit 6/ Toward a new identity within globalization, 1989-2000
Processes of disintegration: Colombia
Evaluation II: Analytical Paper due.

Week 16:
Conclusions