The Obama Doctrine and Cuba

Yesterday's news that the Obama administration ended the "wet foot, dry foot" immigration policy coincided nicely with the publication of an academic article I wrote for a special issue of The Latin Americanist. Go check them all out.

My contribution is here.

This paper challenges the assumption about U.S. loss of influence in Latin America, arguing that it ignores soft power and the concrete advances it fostered. The Obama administration represented a policy shift that, though gradual, has paved the way to achieve stated policy goals. Using the case of Cuba, it will argue that the United States is increasingly its influence in ways that are typically not taken into consideration. Even the single case of Cuba has regional implications.

This argument won't surprise readers of this blog.