Somoza Falling

Somoza Falling
Author: Anthony Lake
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Total Pages: 338
Release: 1989
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9780395419830

Using the fall of the Central American dictator Somoza as a case study, a Carter administration insider tells how foreign policy really gets made.

Falling Friends

Falling Friends
Author: Martin Staniland
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 223
Release: 2019-04-08
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0429722664

For U.S. policymakers, the collapse of governments headed by "good friends of the United States" has been, over the past thirty years, a repeated cause of alarm and embarrassment. Such crises of succession have implications not only for U.S. foreign policy but also for recent and forthcoming changes in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. Martin Staniland draws together extended case studies illustrating regime change and shows how each crisis resembles the others in its phases of development—from the status quo to the "attack" phase and, ultimately, to negotiating the succession. In the process, students get to know the history, culture, and personalities involved from Batista and Eisenhower to Marcos and the Reagan administration. As in every volume in the Case Studies in International Affairs series, this volume opens with an introduction that taps into current theoretical debates in international relations while giving students a framework for understanding and comparing the cases that follow. Individual introductions to each case place the study in context, and discussion questions and exercises are strategically interjected throughout to encourage students to explore the issues and to assess the choices facing policymakers.

Our Own Backyard

Our Own Backyard
Author: William M. LeoGrande
Publisher: Univ of North Carolina Press
Total Pages: 790
Release: 2009-11-18
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0807898805

In this remarkable and engaging book, William LeoGrande offers the first comprehensive history of U.S. foreign policy toward Central America in the waning years of the Cold War. From the overthrow of the Somoza dynasty in Nicaragua and the outbreak of El Salvador's civil war in the late 1970s to the final regional peace settlements negotiated a decade later, he chronicles the dramatic struggles--in Washington and Central America--that shaped the region's destiny. For good or ill, LeoGrande argues, Central America's fate hinged on decisions that were subject to intense struggles among, and within, Congress, the CIA, the Pentagon, the State Department, and the White House--decisions over which Central Americans themselves had little influence. Like the domestic turmoil unleashed by Vietnam, he says, the struggle over Central America was so divisive that it damaged the fabric of democratic politics at home. It inflamed the tug-of-war between Congress and the executive branch over control of foreign policy and ultimately led to the Iran-contra affair, the nation's most serious political crisis since Watergate.

Washington, Somoza and the Sandinistas

Washington, Somoza and the Sandinistas
Author: Morris H. Morley
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 784
Release: 2002-08-08
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9780521523356

Based on personal interviews and declassified US government documents, this book, first published in 1994, studies US policy toward Nicaragua during the Nixon, Ford, and Carter presidencies.

U.S. Presidents and Latin American Interventions

U.S. Presidents and Latin American Interventions
Author: Michael Grow
Publisher:
Total Pages: 288
Release: 2008
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN:

Reveals how Cold War U.S. presidents intervened in Latin America not, as the official argument stated, to protect economic interests or war off perceived national security threats, but rather as a way of responding to questions about strength and credibility both globally and at home.

Just Politics

Just Politics
Author: C. William Walldorf, Jr.
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Total Pages: 242
Release: 2011-01-15
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0801459923

Many foreign policy analysts assume that elite policymakers in liberal democracies consistently ignore humanitarian norms when these norms interfere with commercial and strategic interests. Today's endorsement by Western governments of repressive regimes in countries from Kazakhstan to Pakistan and Saudi Arabia in the name of fighting terror only reinforces this opinion. In Just Politics, C. William Walldorf Jr. challenges this conventional wisdom, arguing that human rights concerns have often led democratic great powers to sever vital strategic partnerships even when it has not been in their interest to do so.Walldorf sets out his case in detailed studies of British alliance relationships with the Ottoman Empire and Portugal in the nineteenth century and of U.S. partnerships with numerous countries—ranging from South Africa, Turkey, Greece and El Salvador to Nicaragua, Chile, and Argentina—during the Cold War. He finds that illiberal behavior by partner states, varying degrees of pressure by nonstate actors, and legislative activism account for the decisions by democracies to terminate strategic partnerships for human rights reasons.To demonstrate the central influence of humanitarian considerations and domestic politics in the most vital of strategic moments of great-power foreign policy, Walldorf argues that Western governments can and must integrate human rights into their foreign policies. Failure to take humanitarian concerns into account, he contends, will only damage their long-term strategic objectives.

Encyclopedia of U.S. - Latin American Relations

Encyclopedia of U.S. - Latin American Relations
Author: Thomas Leonard
Publisher: CQ Press
Total Pages: 1154
Release: 2012-01-31
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1608717925

No previous work has covered the web of important players, places, and events that have shaped the history of the United States’ relations with its neighbors to the south. From the Monroe Doctrine through today’s tensions with Latin America’s new leftist governments, this history is rich in case studies of diplomatic, economic, and military cooperation and contentiousness. Encyclopedia of U.S.-Latin American Relations is a comprehensive, three-volume, A-to-Z reference featuring more than 800 entries detailing the political, economic, and military interconnections between the United States and the countries of Latin America, including Mexico and the nations in Central America, the Caribbean, and South America. Entries cover: Each country and its relationship with the United States Key politicians, diplomats, and revolutionaries in each country Wars, conflicts, and other events Policies and treaties Organizations central to the political and diplomatic history of the western hemisphere Key topics covered include: Coups and terrorist organizations U.S. military interventions in the Caribbean Mexican-American War The Cold War, communism, and dictators The war on drugs in Latin America Panama Canal Embargo on Cuba Pan-Americanism and Inter-American conferences The role of commodities like coffee, bananas, copper, and oil "Big Stick" and Good Neighbor policies Impact of religion in U.S.-Latin American relations Neoliberal economic development model U.S. Presidents from John Quincy Adams to Barack Obama Latin American leaders from Simon Bolivar to Hugo Chavez With expansive coverage of more than 200 years of important and fascinating events, this new work will serve as an important addition to the collections of academic, public, and school libraries serving students and researchers interested in U.S. history and diplomacy, Latin American studies, international relations, and current events.

The Cold War [5 volumes]

The Cold War [5 volumes]
Author: Spencer C. Tucker
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Total Pages: 4179
Release: 2020-10-27
Genre: History
ISBN:

This sweeping reference work covers every aspect of the Cold War, from its ignition in the ashes of World War II, through the Berlin Wall and the Cuban Missile Crisis, to the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. The Cold War superpower face-off between the Soviet Union and the United States dominated international affairs in the second half of the 20th century and still reverberates around the world today. This comprehensive and insightful multivolume set provides authoritative entries on all aspects of this world-changing event, including wars, new military technologies, diplomatic initiatives, espionage activities, important individuals and organizations, economic developments, societal and cultural events, and more. This expansive coverage provides readers with the necessary context to understand the many facets of this complex conflict. The work begins with a preface and introduction and then offers illuminating introductory essays on the origins and course of the Cold War, which are followed by some 1,500 entries on key individuals, wars, battles, weapons systems, diplomacy, politics, economics, and art and culture. Each entry has cross-references and a list of books for further reading. The text includes more than 100 key primary source documents, a detailed chronology, a glossary, and a selective bibliography. Numerous illustrations and maps are inset throughout to provide additional context to the material.

Working in the World

Working in the World
Author: Robert A. Strong
Publisher: LSU Press
Total Pages: 316
Release: 2000-01-01
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9780807124451

In nine detailed case studies based on interviews with participants and on recently released documents in the Carter presidential library, Robert Strong carefully examines how the thirty-ninth president of the United States addressed and accomplished the work of foreign policy during his term. Working in the World effectively argues for substantial reevaluation of the conventional wisdom about Carter’s weak foreign policy performance and questions how we should formulate our earliest appraisals of presidential success in the conduct of foreign affairs.

At the Fall of Somoza

At the Fall of Somoza
Author: Lawrence Pezzullo
Publisher:
Total Pages: 338
Release: 1993
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN:

Ambassador Pezzullo concludes by asking: Why was a great superpower so deeply involved in a poor, tiny country of two and a half million people? Why - given that involvement - was the United States so ineffectual in gaining a peaceful settlement to Nicaragua's brutal civil war? Lawrence and Ralph Pezzullo provide a rare glimpse into the push-and-pull of U.S. foreign policy making in a cold war atmosphere.