Peter H. Smiths Talons of the Eagle - Book Report/Review Example

The United States' policy towards Latin America was, most evidently, influenced by the international norm and, accordingly, it established its imperial domination over countries within this continent. The United States, as Smith explains, was primarily motivated by economic imperatives and, within the context of the stated, effectively created a commercial empire. It did not, however, present it as such and, instead, sought to legitimize its "hegemonic pretensions" (p. 39) by arguing that it was spreading democracy.

This argument, however, did very little to conceal its true intent as it engaged in the Spanish-American War, imposed its near-total influence upon Venezuela or seized Panama.The second major period is the Cold War period. Within the context of a bipolar world in which the United States and the Soviet Union engaged in a bitter ideological conflict, international relations were influenced by the imperatives of acquiring satellite states and of halting the spread of Soviet influence. Latin America acquired unique significance to the United States during this period.

The reason is that its proximity to continental North America meant that if the Soviet Union gained influence there, that influenced would be a direct threat to the US' immediate national security, not to mention national interests. Cuba's alliance with the Soviet Union and its embrace of communists was a blow to the US and to prevent other countries from following suit, the United States engaged in active intervention in domestic affairs. An example would be the situation in the Dominican Republic in 1961.

According to Smith, President Kennedy assessed the situation in the following terms, "There are three possibilities in descending order of preference: a decent democratic regime, a continuation of the Trujillo regime, or a Castro regime. We ought to aim at the first but we cannot renounce the second until we are sure we can avoid the third" (p. 142). This quote quite effectively summarises the nature of the US' foreign policy towards Latin America during the time.The third and final period is the post-Cold War period which we are currently living through.

This period is characterized by the emergence of the United States' "hegemony by default" (pp. 6-7). Characterized by multilateral political and economic treaties which have, quite effectively, given the US' increased control over the affairs of Latin America, there is no longer any strategy by which Latin American states can "avoid(ed) or evade(d)" the US' dominance (p. 324). In other words, US foreign policy is more interventionist than ever before but it has acquired a cloak of legitimacy through multinational economic and political treaties.

In the final analysis, Smith offers his readers a solid understanding of the nature of US foreign policy towards Latin America. By tracing the history of this relationship and dividing it into three main time-periods, he gives his readers a clear understanding of the roots of the current US-Latin American relations.