This document provides an overview of Latin America's contributions to international relations theory and practice. It discusses how Latin American perspectives have sought to expand mainstream international relations beyond a Euro-American focus to incorporate regional contexts and non-Western voices. Key contributions discussed include dependency theory, theories of autonomy, and post-hegemonic regionalism. The document also examines Latin American norms related to sovereignty, non-intervention, and international law. It analyzes how Latin American agency and autonomy have operated within structural constraints posed by regional hegemony. Overall, the summary provides a high-level view of Latin America's diverse and evolving influences on global debates around development, foreign policy, and visions of the international order.

1. INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
OF LATIN AMERICA
Topic 6
Issues in Latin America’s International
Relations
Dr. Jacqueline LAGUARDIA MARTINEZ
Jacqueline.Laguardia-Martinez@sta.uwi.edu

4. Latin America’s relevance to IR

5. Latin America’s relevance to IR
• To expand IIR beyond narrow and Euro-American
centric framing of mainstream theories, methods
and empirical base.
• To allow dialogue across the North–South divide.
• To confront faux universalism and explores regional
and local contexts for theory construction and the
intersection between history and concepts.
• To consider new and multiple voices, experiences,
knowledge and perspectives beyond the
international system understood as an international
society of states (decolonial theory).
• To contribute to debates in the Global South about
how to gain leverage in global affairs and improving
insertion while retaining autonomy.
Peculiar Feature of LAC:
It is neither fully “Western”
nor “non-Western”
✓ What do we theorize on?
✓ How do we theorize?
✓ To whom we theorize?
✓ Why do we theorize?
Understanding of the
international system
rooted in hierarchy,
asymmetry and core–
periphery dynamics.

6. Latin America’s contributions to IR
Latin American visions and revisions
of the world order are relevant
beyond the realities of Latin America
itself.
(1) peace and security, as related to
international law and to international
institutions;
(2) international political economy,
development, and globalization;
(3) foreign policy formulations and
advocacy for regionalism and
multilateralism.
Latin American visions and revisions of
the world order evolve according key
changes affecting it.
1. European colonialism
2. U.S. hegemony in most of the 20th
century, including the Cold War period
of 1945–1989
3. Post–Cold War era and U.S. unipolar
moment of the 1990s
4. Decline of U.S. hegemony and
emergence of a multilateral order in
the 21st century

7. Latin America’s contributions to IR

9. Political Economy
and
Foreign Policy
• Developmentalism
(Modernization) and Economic
Structuralism
• Dependency Theory
• School of Autonomy
• Peripheral Realism
• Post-Hegemonic Regionalism
Latin American visions and revisions of the
world order evolve according key changes
affecting it.
1. European colonialism
2. U.S. hegemony in most of the 20th century,
particularly after WWII
3.Post–Cold War era and U.S.
unipolar moment of the 1990s
4.Decline of U.S. hegemony and
emergence of a multilateral
order in the 21st century

10. Political Economy

11. Prebisch–Singer hypothesis
• In two papers published in 1949, one by Hans
Singer, one by Raúl Prebisch, both authors
observe that the price of primary
commodities declines relative to the price of
manufactured goods over the long term,
which causes the terms of trade of primary-
product-based economies to deteriorate.
• Underdeveloped/developing countries
purchase fewer and fewer manufactured
goods from the developed countries in
exchange for a given quantity of their raw
materials exports.
Deterioration
in terms of
trade

12. Developmentalism / Economic Structuralism
• Developing countries exported primary commodities to the developed countries who
in turn manufactured (value added) products out of these commodities and sold them
back.
• Due to the declining terms of trade, LA countries should diversify their economies and
lessen their dependence on primary commodity exports by developing their industrial
sector.
• Proposed solution: Import Substitution by Industrialization (ISI) and regional
integration propelled by active LA state with economic and political autonomous
agendas.
• It emphasizes the importance of considering structural features in economic analysis.
• It recognized that economic inequality and distorted development was an inherent
structural feature of the global system exchange.
• The approach originated with the work of the Economic Commission for Latin America
(ECLA or CEPAL) and is primarily associated with its Raúl Prebisch and Celso Furtado.

13. Dependency Theory
• Dependence describes a situation in which the economy of certain countries is conditioned by
the development and expansion of another country’s economy.
• To understand Latin America from its role in the world economy as provider of raw materials
and market for high value-added goods (history of exploitation from international capitals). The
current situation of Latin America is the consequences of centuries-long participation in the
process of world capitalist development.
• Latin American economies were born from and for trade, ancillary to the European
metropolitan economies.
• Development and underdevelopment constitute the two sides of the same coin: capitalism.
The periphery is underdeveloped because of the development of the center.
• Modernization, Industrialization, Urbanization do not lead to Development. They produce a
“mockery” of developed societies while perpetuating underdevelopment and leading to a
pathological form of modernization.
• LA dependency is perpetuated by U.S. influence, the role of the international financial
institutions, and the transnational presence of multinational corporations for the region’s
economics and politics. ISI policies are not enough.

14. Foreign Policy

15. logic of autonomy
• It emerged at the end of the 19th
century, gained strength during the East–
West conflict, lost relative importance
and underwent modifications in the
1990s, and remerged as of the beginning
of the 21st century.
• It has commanded the strongest support
and has achieved the greatest
legitimacy.
• It is more akin to the identity of the
majority of the Latin American political
and social forces.
logic of acquiescence
• It originates in Latin America’s
subordinate condition within the
international system and in the fact that
the countries belong to the U.S. area of
influence.
• In this case, that condition is consented
and assimilated either implicitly or
explicitly.

16. logic of autonomy
strategic options
Peripheral soft balancing: The use of international institutions
and legal and diplomatic instruments to frustrate or restrain the
abusive use of power and the aggressive actions of the great
powers.
Diversification: To multiply external ties with the aim of
counteracting and compensating dependency of a powerful
counterpart with great abundance of resources and influence-
exerting capacity.
Hiding: The resistance to assume commitments of a military
nature, to take part in war alliances or participate in foreign
conflicts or extra-regional diplomatic disputes that might
generate high costs or involvement in international affairs
considered to be alien to the national interests.
Collective unity: To enhance integration, cooperation, and
agreement among the countries with the aim of joining forces and
strengthening individual and collective negotiation capacity.
logic of acquiescence
strategic options
1. The acceptance of the
international status quo.
2. Agreement in principle with
U.S. vital strategic.
3. Interests both in the global
and the continental ambit.
4. Non-adherence to regional
integration plans that might
affect the close bond with
Washington.

17. Logic of autonomy: End of the 19th century - 1930s
Soft balancing to safeguard external sovereignty and the legal equality of states in the presence of the
threats of intervention by the great powers and of the armed actions by the United States (doctrine and
multilateral diplomacy in defence of the principle of non intervention).
• Calvo Doctrine (1868)
• Drago Doctrine (1902)
• Tobar Doctrine (1907)
• Carranza Doctrine (1917)
• Estrada Doctrine (1930)
• Pan-American Conferences
• League of Nations
• Permanent Commission of Jurisconsults (1906)
• Permanent Court of International Justice (1921)
Diversification: It was conditioned and restrained by Latin America’s mode of insertion in the
international economy (foreign relations were focused on the US and Europe, mainly on UK, Germany,
France, and the PB).
Hiding: Neutrality and the promotion of peace.

18. • Juan Carlos Puig in Argentina and of Helio Jaguaribe in Brazil.
• Since Latin America has had a relatively minor place in the
design of global governance and international order, to enhance
the autonomy of Latin American states it is key to diversifying
alliances in terms of foreign policy, promoting region-building,
and enhancing attempts to reshape the rules of the
international regimes (norm entrepreneurship).
• Regional integration is key to advance autonomy as a way for LA
to disengage from the hegemon and/or soft-balance it, moving
from a Pan-American paradigm to a Latin American (or
Bolivarian) one.
• Recent formulations: Autonomy can no longer be defined in
terms of exercising power and influence; rather, it should be
defined by the degree of participation in international
organizations, regimes, and other institutions (Russell and
Tokatlian 2010).
International order
1. Supreme rule makers
2. Subaltern rule
makers
3. Takers
The Autonomy Approach: the 1970 - 1980s

19. Peripheral Realism (Realismo Periférico): the 1990s
• Approach to IR theory developed mainly in Buenos Aires.
• Recognition of the consequences of relevant extreme asymmetry between
States. There is an interstate order with written and unwritten rules where
powerful states have a much more important role than weaker ones in
establishing these rules.
• Generalized acceptance of the U.S. hegemony since no alternative option
seemed to be available considering the costs to LA countries of systematic
political confrontations with the US (isolation and conflict).
• The notion of interest defined in terms of economic development, not in
terms of power. The world is not anarchical but hierarchical.
• Autonomy is not a prerequisite for economic development. It is a “burden”.
• Latin American countries are “peripheral states” whose economies are
deeply affected by cycles of expansion and contraction of the world economy
without sharing significantly in their generation and whose position in the
interstate system is such that they play a modest role in the establishment of
the written rules of the system and practically no role in the establishment of
its unwritten statutes (Escudé, pp. 45).
Interstate order
1. Rule makers
2. Rule takers
3. Rebel states

20. • During the transition from the 19th to the 20th century, LA countries adopted the
norm of universal participation in regional organizations and integration, which
later became an international norm.
• “Post-hegemonic” because it departs from the idea of continental integration
based on the economic liberalization supported since the 19th century (“post-
trade” or “post-liberal” regionalism).
• It reflects different socio-economic conditions, values and ideological positions.
It emphasizes cooperation and complementarity (South-South cooperation).
• Multilateral schemes that reject or simply do not contemplate the idea of
cooperation based on economic liberalization (ALBA, UNASUR, CELAC) and
others that, on the contrary, strongly support this concept (Pacific Alliance).
Post-hegemonic Regionalism

21. • Searching for economic growth and national development out of the
Washington Consensus formula: no fundamental gains in competitiveness
through liberalizing regional markets.
• Clear ideological dimension (the countering of the effects of neoliberal
globalization and Western influence, particularly the United States).
• Two “comebacks“”: State as a main player and a Development Agenda (social
goals under progressive governments during the pink tide.
• Weak participation of other state and social actors. Institutional interaction
channels do not facilitate the systematic incorporation of points of view of the
civil society (business, unions, nongovernmental organizations [NGOs], social
movements, etc.)
• Not a strong institutional structure (Presidents are main figures).
Post-hegemonic Regionalism

22. Security and International Law
• To prioritize international law and institutions to preserve LA sovereignty from
foreign intervention in contexts of economic constraints, social inequality and
political instability.
• Norm entrepreneurship: (Political) values and traditions norms are part of the
Western civilization.
• Advocacy for the peaceful settlement of territorial disputes: The principle of
Uti possidetis since 1810.
• Advocacy for the principle of non-intervention: Calvo Doctrine of 1896, Drago
Doctrine of 1902 and the Estrada Doctrine of 1930.
• Advocacy for the principle of equality of states.
• Advocacy for non-nuclear proliferation: Treaty of Tlatelolco in 1967.
• LAC declared as a Zone of Peace by CELAC since 2014.

23. Uti Possidetis
• Following LA independence since the 19th
century, the principle has been used to
establish the borders of the new states by
maintaining the limits of the old colonial
territories from which they emerged.
• The principle has played a key role in the
peaceful settlement of territorial disputes
and conflicts.
• It relates to the norm of territorial
integrity, according to which force should
not be used to alter interstate boundaries.
Treaty of
Tlatelolco in 1967
• It established the first nuclear-
free zone in the world.
• It set a precedent for other
regions.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v
=r9SrKJQzzW8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v
=TLLGOUBvmvc

24. LA contributions to International Law
• Calvo Doctrine of 1896: Elaborated by the Argentine diplomat and legal scholar Carlos Calvo. It
established that foreigners who held property in LA states and who had claims against the
governments of such states should apply to the courts within such nations for redress instead
of seeking diplomatic intervention. Nations are not entitled to use armed force to collect debts
owed them by other nations.
• Drago Doctrine of 1902: Elaborated by Argentine foreign minister Luis María Drago, it
expanded on the Calvo Doctrine by specifying that public indebtment cannot occasion armed
intervention nor even the actual occupation of the territory of LA nations even if nations are
legally bound to pay its debts. It rejected the right of military intervention or occupation of a
country for the purpose of collecting debts. In response, the Roosevelt Corollary was issued by
the United States in 1904.
• Estrada Doctrine of 1930: Elaborated by Mexican foreign minister Genaro Estrada. It declared
that governments should not judge foreign governments or changes in government of other
states, as such an action would imply a breach of state sovereignty because such an action
imply a breach to their sovereignty. The doctrine defends the principles of non-intervention,
peaceful resolution of disputes and self-determination of all nations.

25. LA agency in International Relations (Schulz , 2022)
• Latin America is more than the example of how great powers (Europe and the US) carve out
colonial spaces and spheres of influence in their “backyards”.
• Regional hegemony has curtailed Latin America’s room to maneuver but LA has showed the
possibility for agency of non-hegemonic states : they cannot fundamentally change the “rules of
the game” but must and can operate within the limits set by structural constraints.
• Non-hegemonic agency assumes that international order does not merely reflect the interests of
the most powerful states but that peripheral actors can shape the “rule of the game”.
• Agency and autonomy are not synonyms.
• Agency refers to the ability to act purposively upon and eventually transform social environment.
• Autonomy is “the maximum capacity of choice that one can have, taking into account objective
real world constraints.” (Puig, 1980).
• A minimum degree of autonomy, especially the ability to form alliances, is necessary to exert some
agency in foreign policy decision-making. Having agency justify the possibility for non-hegemonic
states to choose between foreign policy strategies: Balancing or bandwagoning.
• Relational autonomy is defined as “a country’s capacity and willingness, in conjunction with
others, to make decisions of its own free will and to face situations and processes arising both
within and beyond its borders” (Russell and Tokatlian 2003).

26. World Order
Scenarios
according to IR
(Kacowicz and
Wajner, 2022)

28. Latin American social sciences, praxis and thought
Liberation Theology
Dependency
Theory
Popular
Education

29. Liberation theology
• 1968, Medellín, Colombia. II Conferencia General del Episcopado Latinoamericano.
• 1979, Puebla, Mexico. III Conferencia General del Episcopado Latinoamericano.
• Foundational book appeared in 1971 (Gustavo Gutierrez).
• Social and political movement that interprets the gospel of Jesus Christ through the
experiences of oppressed poor people. Being a Christian means to be in the side of the
poor. Whether there is oppression, it must be liberation.
• The church had to embrace a more socially oriented mission (praxis)
• Social activism in favor of the poor and for the political liberation for oppressed
peoples.
• It has explicit concerns for economic justice, poverty and human rights.
• It explores the relationship between Christian theology (especially Roman Catholicism)
and political activism.
• It advocates for social changes and political action.

30. Participatory Action Research (PAR) (Querejazu and Tickner, 2022)
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhIlgSpVk78
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UEzfP7ysa8
• Liberation theology, pedagogy and methodology
• Liberation theology proposed a distinct way of doing theology. Instead of a top-down process of
scripture reading, theological reflection was considered to begin from the bottom-up and in
conversation with the lives of ordinary people.
• The centrality of praxis to liberation theology translated into a “see–judge–act” strategy is also present
in liberation pedagogy. It consists of “seeing” the situation of the oppressed based upon existing
knowledge about poverty and inequality, and their own lived experience; “judging” this experience from
within scripture; and “acting” to remediate the situation. Freire developed a “pedagogy of the
oppressed” that begins with the assumption that marginalized social groups are not “objects” to be
acted upon but rather “subjects” with the ability to under-stand and transform their surroundings.
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyZEJHcY6q8
• Has been adopted by international agencies involved in activities related to development, lending and
structural adjustment, and is now part of the existing canon for developing cooperation policies.
• To include marginalized groups and social movements for envisioning new approaches to international
relations.

31. Indigenous and Afro-descendent thought (Querejazu and Tickner, 2022)
• To fight colonial erasure.
• Marginal, silenced, oppressed and invisible subjects are considered legitimate actors or
sources of knowledge.
• New ways of being in and with the world that lend themselves to unfamiliar forms of
knowing, oftentimes grounded in lived experience, corporality and feeling.
• LA indigenous and Afro-descendant communities have been neglected in terms of formal
rights, recognition, dignity and justice, and they have also been denied the possibility to exist
on their own terms.
• Struggles of oppressed peoples may also be ontological in nature, in that they transcend
correcting poverty and inequality, gaining political recognition or cultural acknowledgment,
or achieving state inclusion, and touch upon the right to other forms of existence.
• In contrast to Western philosophies, LA indigenous and Afro-descendant communities
understand connectivity, correspondence and interdependence as fundamental features of
their existence: everything is related. Nothing exists on its own as units or essences, but
instead as the result of constant processes of interaction and change.

32. Indigenous and Afro-descendent thought (Querejazu and Tickner, 2022)
• Humans are no different or better than other beings, as their existence too is rooted in
relations, which explains why LA indigenous and Afro-descendant communities attribute the
same qualities to natural and spiritual beings as those possessed by humans, including the
capacity to have a spirit, will and political interests. Rivers, mountains, animals and natural
forces may all become actors in sociopolitical life, underscoring a more “cosmic” approach to
international relations that potentially also includes magic, spirits and rituals.
• Spirituality should be understood as much more than an institutionalized religious practice, or
a set of religious beliefs. It entails connectivity with the cosmos and is an integral part of
everyday life within relational forms of being. When the will of beings such as the departed, or
mountains, lakes and rivers is ignored, it is quite likely that life will become unbalanced, and
chaos and misfortune will ensue.
• Ancestrality embodies one of the most important sets of relations for indigenous and Afro-
descendent communities with past, present and future lineages and heritages. Ancestral
symbols and rituals have thus articulated and embodied distinct meanings such as freedom in
colonial life, equality in republican times and recognition within multicultural national contexts.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abeVKB3O53s

33. Indigenous and Afro-descendent thought (Querejazu and Tickner, 2022)
• Territoriality: Communal links to the land are fundamental to being. territory is not just a site of
material sustenance to be possessed and exploited, but, more crucially, it is a source of spirituality,
ancestrality and cosmic balance
• Land-based struggles throughout LA challenge traditional categories of space and territory:
Zapatistas in Mexico, the Mapuches in Argentina and Chile, or the Movimiento Sin Tierra in Brazil.
• Impacts on governance: the Zapatistas’ caracoles, small community governance structures.
• Impacts on sovereignty: The political experience of LA indigenous and Afro-descendant
communities preexists the state and so becomes a positionality from which to contest hegemonic
conceptions. recognition of nature’s right to be respected integrally, and in decisions to grant rivers
political personhood, as has occurred with the Atrato river in Colombia.
• Bolivia has adopted the Law of the Rights of Mother Earth in December 2010. It is considered to be
the first national environmental law, other than Ecuador's 2008 constitutional provision, to
recognize the rights of a natural entity. It allow for citizens to sue individuals and groups as part of
"Mother Earth" in response to real and alleged infringements of its integrity.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JrAbmueSws