Studying U.S.-Latin American Relations

I have a new book chapter out on studying U.S.-Latin American relations, arguing that we need to focus more on the Latin America side.

Gregory Weeks, “Latin America and the United States.” In Julie Cupples, Marcela Palomino-Schalscha, and Manuel Prieto (eds). The Routledge Handbook of Latin American Development (Routledge: New York): 168-178.

It's timely since I have been making the same points with regard to how we view the Venezuelan crisis.

Especially in a (mostly) democratic era in Latin America, where so many resources are now publicly available, researchers should maintain and even expand having the Latin American perspective front and center. In large part, this will entail increased use of sources from individual countries, both primary and secondary. Yet especially for U.S. researchers, it requires shedding a long-held belief that U.S. power is overwhelming to the point of losing sight of Latin American agency.

The U.S. is obviously a powerful actor that influences events on the ground, but too easily that slides into assumptions that the U.S. is driving everything.