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Although many international relations (IR) theory and international political economy textbooks consistently reference dependency theory, it is commonly considered a passé , outdated, or defunct theoretical approach. This paper challenges conventional wisdom, stressing the continued relevance of dependency as an analytical approach. Overall, it argues that Dependency theory represents a successful effort at decentering IR. To do so, it first discusses decentering as an effort to challenge and engage core concepts in IR to transform the "universal" understandings of global politics. In this sense, Dependency theory decentered IR by introducing an understanding of the world in which Western and non-Western spaces are mutually constitutive, highlighting the role of non-core contexts in creating and maintaining the status quo of the universal. Second, the paper analyzes the influence of Dependency theory in modern discourses of political economy like the resource curse, globalization, Post-Colonialism, and Post-Developmentalism. These parallelisms show Dependency's effectiveness at decentering IR and transforming the way the discipline studies non-core spaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper generates a framework to understand Latin American foreign relations through the use of Foreign Policy Analysis (FPA) role theory. The use of roles to describe and analyze regional interstate relations has previously been found in the literature on Latin America, but these studies have not taken advantage of the full range of concepts and theoretical implications associated with role theory to analyze the region. The paper develops a typology of states with associated national role conceptions (NRCs) and generates expectations for the sources of those NRCs, as well as elements of the role enactment and role location processes for Latin American states. The paper then illustrates the framework's applicability through a brief analysis of the role location process for Venezuela during the Presidency of Hugo Chávez. The analysis of NRCs selected by the leader of Venezuela, and their reception by role partners and the audience of interested states during the role location process demonstrates the fruitfulness of role theory for understanding Latin American regional relations. The analysis also suggests some modifications for FPA role theory itself as a result of the Venezuelan case. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To what extent is International Relations (IR) a globalized discipline? We investigate the geographic diversity of authorship in seventeen IR journals from Africa, East Asia, Europe, Latin America, North America, and the United Kingdom. Biographical records were collected for the authors of 2,362 articles published between 2011 and 2015. To interpret the data, we discuss how publishing patterns are driven by author incentives (supply) in tandem with editorial preferences and strategies (demand). Our main findings are twofold. First, global IR is fragmented and provincial. All journals frequently publish works by authors located in their own region—but the size of these local clusters varies. Geographic diversity is highest in what we identify as the "goldilocks zone" of international publishing: English-language journals that are globally visible but not so competitive that North American authors crowd out other contributions. Second, IR is being globalized through researcher mobility. Many scholars have moved to pursue their doctoral education and then publish as expats, returnees, or part of the diaspora. They are joined by academic tourists publishing in regions to which they have no obvious ties. IR journals thus feature more diverse backgrounds than it may seem at first sight, but many of these authors were educated in North America, the United Kingdom, and Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Why do governments send their soldiers abroad for military training? Governments frequently expose their troops to training offered by other countries, although this may undermine military control and even lead to coups. Focusing on the demand side of security assistance, I argue that governments accept these costs to achieve diplomatic and military goals. Governments first send some soldiers abroad to substantiate their cooperation with the host country. Once this diplomatic commitment is made, governments increase training rates to counter threats using military skills unavailable at home. I test both arguments by studying training patterns at the most notorious US training facility: the School of the Americas. Using original data based on more than 60,700 course attendance records between 1946 and 2004, I find support for the proposed diplomatic and military logics of foreign training. Governments were more likely to send soldiers to the school after they had aligned their foreign policy with that of the United States, and only increased training in response to insurgent attacks. The findings demonstrate why and when governments are willing to cede significant parts of their political power to foreign-trained soldiers and other states. This has important implications for understanding military effectiveness and security cooperation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent debates about challenges to the liberal international order (LIO) have led International Relations (IR) scholars, both those critical and supportive of the concept, to examine its origins and effects. While this work has shed new light on the evolution of international order, there has been a surprising absence: Latin America. I explore the theoretical consequences of this empirical gap for IR's understanding of the liberal international order. After assessing the literature's treatment of Latin American and the LIO, I offer a macro-historical sketch of the region's role in the order's critical junctures. The LIO has shaped Latin America, and Latin America has shaped the LIO—but not always in the ways supporters or critics might expect. The region's sovereignty and statehood evolved alongside the LIO—with international experiences very different from those of areas colonized during the LIO's expansion—and, in turn, Latin American engagement shaped the practices of Great Powers through international law and organization, cooperation and resistance. Despite its participation in the LIO's founding moments, Latin America was often accorded second-class treatment and benefits for the region have often been narrow. The experience of Latin American states over two centuries—independent but often internationally unequal—highlights the consequences of partial inclusion or marginalization from the LIO. Deeper study of Latin America's history with the LIO casts light on the ways in which non-Great Powers outside the order's core shaped, and were shaped by, the elements of the evolving order. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In November 2010, the then British Foreign Secretary William Hague delivered Canning House's annual lecture on the topic of Britain's relations with Latin America. In launching the so-called 'Canning Agenda', Hague pledged to 'halt the decline in Britain's diplomatic presence in Latin America'. 'It is now time', Hague went on, 'for an advance to begin'. This article represents the first scholarly analysis of this policy. In particular, it assesses British efforts to enhance its economic ties with the countries of Latin America; the status granted to Latin America in Britain's strategic world-view in the post-Brexit era; the impact on Britain of other external powers in the region; and the political relationships between Britain and the countries of Latin America. The article draws on interviews with the key policy-makers involved in the Canning Agenda, including William Hague, Sir Hugo Swire, Jeremy Browne, and several other officials and diplomats from Britain and throughout Latin America. It concludes that while an identifiable effort to enhance Britain's economic and political standing in Latin America is discernible since 2010, major impediments to achieving this goal persist across the range of areas explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China has over the last two decades been committed to creating a strategic partnership with Latin American states by persistently extending its economic and political involvement in the continent. China's efforts in this regard reflect not only its desire to intensify its economic cooperation and political relations with nations in Latin America, but also its strategic goals of creating its own sphere of influence in the region and enhancing its 'hard' and 'soft' power in order to elevate China's status at the systemic level. With access to Latin American markets, resources and investment destinations, China may sustain its economic and social progress that bases its long cherished dream of restoring its past glory of fuqiang (wealth and power) and rise as a global power capable of reshaping the current world system. The enormous economic benefits deriving from their economic cooperation and trade may persuade Latin American nations to accept the basic premise of China's economic strategy: that China's rise is not a threat, but an opportunity to gain wealth and prosperity. This will help China gain more 'soft' power in and leverage over its economic partners in Latin America, and thereby help it to rise in the global power hierarchy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article looks at Brazil-U.S. relations, focusing on the strengthening of the relationship over the past ten years in the context of Brazil's growing international prominence. The author notes that under certain international relations theories, the U.S., as the most powerful country in the Western Hemisphere, would be unlikely to develop closer relations with a rising power in the region such as Brazil, and presents a case for why the U.S.-Brazil partnership has grown. He draws a comparison to U.S.-British relations around the turn of the 20th century. Topics include policy areas of agreement and disagreement between the two countries, the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) commercial treaty, and left-leaning regimes and international relations within Latin America.

The article looks at Latin American responses to the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, with a particular focus on national politics and international relations. According to the author, Latin American governments and citizens attempted to use the crisis to alter U.S. policy towards Cuba and towards their own countries. The author notes that responses to the crisis varied considerably from country to country despite the unified appearance presented by a 1962 emergency resolution of the Council of the Organization of American States (OAS). It is suggested that Latin American responses to the crisis illustrate the Cold War political dynamics of the region. Topics discussed include nationalism, pan-Latin Americanism, imperialism, and insurgency.