Lars Schoultz

The role of human rights in United States policy toward Latin America is the subject of this study. It covers the early sixties to 1980, a period when humanitarian values came to play an important role in determining United States foreign policy. The author is concerned both with explaining why these values came to impinge on government decision making and how internal bureaucratic processes affected the specific content of United States policy.Originally published in 1981.The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Lars Schoultz offers a comprehensive chronicle of U.S. policy toward the Cuban Revolution. Using a rich array of documents and firsthand interviews with U.S. and Cuban officials, he tells the story of the attempts and failures of ten U.S. administrations to end the Cuban Revolution. He concludes that despite the overwhelming advantage in size and power that the United States enjoys over its neighbor, the Cubans' historical insistence on their right to self-determination has been a constant thorn in the side of American administrations, influenced both U.S. domestic politics and foreign policy on a much larger stage, and resulted in a freeze in diplomatic relations of unprecedented longevity.

For over a century, the United States has sought to improve the behavior of the peoples of Latin America. Perceiving their neighbors to the south as underdeveloped and unable to govern themselves, U.S. policymakers have promoted everything from representative democracy and economic development to oral hygiene. Whatever the problem, a bureaucratic culture in Washington D.C. is committed to finding solutions that will uplift Latin Americans.The United States’ paternalistic role as improver of nations began in the Progressive Era, Lars Schoultz shows, when an altruistic belief in bettering others gained currency. During the Cold War, institutions were established to turn that belief into concrete commitments designed to shore up national security against the threat of communism. Many of these institutions, such as the Agency for International Development and the National Endowment for Democracy, live on in the contemporary uplift industry. Through exponential expansion, they now employ tens of thousands of government workers and outsource to private contractors the job of improving peoples around the globe.But is improvement a progressive impulse to help others, or a realpolitik pursuit of a superpower’s interests? In Their Own Best Interest wrestles with this tension between helping the less fortunate and demanding payback in the form of subordination. In the twenty-first century, Schoultz writes, the uplift industry is embedded deeply in our foreign policy, extending well beyond relations with Latin America, and the consequences are troubling. Many Latin Americans now You have a habit of giving―we have a habit of receiving.

"Schoultz has written much the most interesting interpretation of U.S. policy toward Latin America that I have ever read.... It should be read by everyone seriously concerned about U.S. foreign policy. Written in a style that makes it fully accessible, the book will appeal to both the specialist and the layperson.... The author examines the beliefs that have underlain U.S. policy toward Latin America, concentrating on the obsession with security that has figured so strongly in that policy. The result is superb-political analysis, but also military analysis, at its best." -Richard H. Ullman, Princeton University In Washington and in local communities throughout the United States a sense of confrontation on U.S. policy toward Latin America is reaching dramatic proportions. Congress is bitterly divided, executive deliberations are plagued by bureaucratic guerrilla warfare, and interest groups vigorously mobilize support at the grass-roots level, a tactic previously unknown in the long history of inter-American relations. Lars Schoultz here proposes a way for all those interested in U.S. foreign policy to appreciate fully the terms of the present debate. To understand U.S. policy in Latin America, he contends, one must critically examine the deeply held beliefs of U.S. policy makers about what Latin America means to U.S. national security. Does Latin American instability result from Communist adventurism, as most policy makers thought during the years immediately following World War II? And does this instability radically threaten U.S. national security interests? What dangers are posed to the U. S. by Soviet bases in Latin America, particularly in Central America? Based on interviews with 290 policy makers in a variety of positions, this frank but objective book traces the acrimonious nature of the current discussion to a lack of consensus on these basic questions. Lars Schoultz is Professor of Political Science and Director of the Institute of Latin American Studies at the University of North Carolina.

Lars Schoultz proposes a way for all those interested in U.S. foreign policy fully to appreciate the terms of the present debate. To understand U.S. policy in Latin America, he contends, one must critically examine the deeply held beliefs of U.S. policy makers about what Latin America means to U.S. national security.Originally published in 1987.The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Schoultz examines the fundamental political cleavage between classical liberalism and the populist Peronist political movements in Argentina, identifying the socioeconomic structural features that led to this division and focusing on changes in social class composition that accompanied major demographic shifts and alterations in economic activity. He dominated the electoral process that liberals are able to control public policy only through ties to the military.Originally published in 1983.A UNC Press Enduring Edition -- UNC Press Enduring Editions use the latest in digital technology to make available again books from our distinguished backlist that were previously out of print. These editions are published unaltered from the original, and are presented in affordable paperback formats, bringing readers both historical and cultural value.

Winner of the William M. LeoGrande PrizeFor over a century, the United States has sought to improve the behavior of the peoples of Latin America. Perceiving their neighbors to the south as underdeveloped and unable to govern themselves, U.S. policy makers have promoted everything from representative democracy and economic development to oral hygiene. But is improvement a progressive impulse to help others, or realpolitik in pursuit of a superpower’s interests?“In this subtle and searing critique of U.S. efforts to ‘uplift’ Latin America, Lars Schoultz challenges us to question the fundamental tenets of the development industry that became entrenched in the U.S. foreign policy bureaucracy over the last century.”—Piero Gleijeses, author of Visions of Freedom“In this masterful work, Lars Schoultz provides a companion and follow-up to his classic Beneath the United States…A necessary and rewarding read for scholars and students of U.S. foreign policy and inter-American relations.”—Renata Keller, The Americas

Analisa a política externa e o discurso dos Estados Unidos em direçøo à América Latina, mostrando sua vinculaçøo com a política interna e a segurança nacional do país. O autor é professor de Ciência Política na Universidade da Carolina do Norte.