US Hegemony and the Americas: Power and Economic Statecraft in International Relations

248 Pages·2019·1.867 MB·English

by  Arturo Santa-Cruz

US Hegemony and the Americas
In this book, Arturo Santa-Cruz advances an understanding of power as a social
relationship and applies it consistently to the economic realm in United States
relations with other countries of the Western Hemisphere. Following the aca-
demic and popular debate on the ebb and flow of US hegemony, this work
centers the analysis in a critical case for the exercise of US power through its
economic statecraft: the Americas—its historical zone of influence. The ration-
ale for the regional focus is methodological: if it can be shown that Washington’s
sway has decreased in the area since the early 1970s, when the discussion about
this matter started, it can be safely assumed that the same has occurred in other
latitudes. The analysis focuses on three regions: North America, Central America
and South America. Since each region contains countries that have at times
maintained very different relationships with the United States, the findings con-
tribute to a better understanding of the practice of US power in the sub-region
in question, adding greater variability to the overall results.
US Hegemony and the Americas: Power and Economic Statecraft in International
Relations is an invaluable resource for students and scholars interested in
Latin American History and Politics, North American Regional Integration,
International Relations, Economic Statecraft, Political Economy and
Comparative Politics.
Arturo Santa-Cruz (PhD, Cornell University) is Professor at the Pacific
Rim Department and Director of the North American Studies Center, at the
University of Guadalajara, México. He is the author of Mexico–United States
Relations: The Semantics of Sovereignty (2012) and International Election Monitoring,
Sovereignty, and the Western Hemisphere Idea: The Emergence of an International
Norm (2005); he is co-author of América del Norte, Volume 1 in the series
“Historia de las relaciones internacionales de México, 1821–2010” (2011).
He is editor or co-editor of, among other works, Introducción a las Relaciones
Internacionales: América Latina y la Política Global (2013), The State and Security
in Mexico: Transformation and Crisis in Regional Perspective (2012), La Política Sin
Fronteras, O la Ubicuidad de lo Distintivo (2012), and El Constructivismo y las
Relaciones Internacionales (2009). He has contributed many book chapters, and
has published in specialized journals such as International Organization, Journal of
Latin American Studies, Estudios Internacionales and Foro Internacional.
“This carefully crafted and lucidly written book covers history (case studies of 1971–1989,
1990–2000, 2001–2016), theory (a discussion of hegemony, power and statecraft), and dif-
ferent facets of the Americas (case studies of Canada, México, Central America and South
America). A marvel of clear thought about history, theory and the Americas it is one of the
best works, probing the rise and falls of American power.”
—Peter J. Katzenstein, Walter S. Carpenter
Jr. Professor of International Studies,
Cornell University
“Arturo Santa-Cruz has written a definitive book on US hegemony in the Americas.
Perhaps for the first time, an analysis of the Western Hemisphere en masse has been situated
in the broader International Relations literature. Santa-Cruz walks us through four decades
beginning in 1971, all the while tackling big questions concerning power, hegemony and
political and economic statecraft. He argues that the nature of US hegemony in the Western
Hemisphere was based largely on economic statecraft and intact all the way up to the 2016
election of Donald Trump. Since 2016, Washington’s hostility toward the entire region and
its attempts to pose China as a threat to US hegemony in the Americas, could well turn out
to be a self-fulfilling prophecy. This sophisticated book offers a full explanation of how the
US got from here to there.”
—Carol Wise, School of International Relations,
University of Southern California
“Arturo Santa-Cruz’s book is a timely re-examination of the pivotal issues facing the
Americas. Moving beyond both simplistic notions of hegemony, as well as a narrow geo-
graphic ambit, Santa-Cruz combines sophisticated conceptualization with detailed case stud-
ies. His conclusions offer valuable insights about the trajectory of power, and the nature and
impact of shifts concerning US economic statecraft in the time of the Trump presidency.
The book deserves a wide readership among students and scholars both of comparative
regional orders and the Western Hemisphere more specially.”
—Andrew F. Cooper, Professor, the Balsillie School of International
Affairs and the Department of Political Science,
University of Waterloo
“Arturo Santa-Cruz explores whether the degree of US hegemony (or of asymmetric power)
is declining, increasing or holding steady with reference to specific countries and in Latin
America as a whole. Other discussions of this question are often ideological and/or polemic.
Santa-Cruz tackles the issue lucidly by clarifying concepts, reviewing and comparing data,
and taking into account variations among cases and over time.”
—Abraham F. Lowenthal, Professor Emeritus,
University of Southern California
US Hegemony and the Americas
Power and Economic Statecraft in
International Relations
Arturo Santa-Cruz
First published 2020
by Routledge
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and by Routledge
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Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2020 Taylor & Francis
The right of Arturo Santa-Cruz to be identified as author of this
work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and
78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical,
or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
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retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
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or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this title has been requested
ISBN: 978-0-8153-8109-9 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-8153-8110-5 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-351-21122-2 (ebk)
Typeset in Bembo
by Deanta Global Publishing Services, Chennai, India
To Brigit, Hannah, and Diego
Ten Pysk

Contents
List of Abbreviations viii
Introduction 1
1 Five Decades and Still Going: The Debate on the Decline of
US Hegemony 7
2 Hierarchy and Authority in Regional Orders: The Western
Hemisphere 28
3 On Power 52
4 Thick Economic Statecraft and the Political Economy
of US Power 66
5 United States’ Economic Statecraft toward Canada 102
6 United States’ Economic Statecraft toward México 127
7 United States’ Economic Statecraft toward Central America 157
8 United States’ Economic Statecraft toward South America 179
Conclusions 214
Index 231
Abbreviations
AIG American International Group
ALBA Bolivarian Alliance of the Americas
ATPA Andean Trade Preference Act
ATPDEA Andean Trade Promotion and Drug Eradication Act
BRIC Brazil, Russia, India, and China
CAFTA Central America Free Trade Agreement
CARICOM Caribbean Community
CBI Caribbean Basin Initiative
CBTPA Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership Act
CCCT Joint Commission for Trade and Transactions
CD Certificates of Deposit
CELAC Community of Latin American and Caribbean States
CIA Central Intelligence Agency
CUSFTA Canada–United States Free Trade Agreement
DFAIT Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade
DR-CAFTA Dominican Republic–Central America Free Trade
Agreement
EEC European Economic Community
EXIM BANK Export-Import Bank
FEP Foreign Economic Policy
FIRA Foreign Investment Review Agency
FMCSA Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
FMLN Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front
FRC Family Resemblence Concepts
FTA Free Trade Agreement
FTAA Free Trade Area of the Americas
G7 Group of Seven
GATT General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
GDP Gross Domestic Product
GSP Generalized System of Preferences
HLED High Level Economic Dialogue
HST Hegemonic Stability Theory
Abbreviations ix
IADC Inter-American Democratic Charter
IMF International Monetary Fund
IPE International Political Economy
IR International Relations
MFN Most Favored Nation
NAFA North American Framework Agreement
NAFTA North American Free Trade Agreement
NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organization
NEP National Energy Program
NORAD North American Aerospace Defense Command
OAS Organization of American States
PAN National Action Party
SPP Security and Prosperity Partnership
SRE Secretariat of Foreign Affairs
TPP Trans-Pacific Partnership
UN United Nations
USAID United States Agency for International Development
USSR Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
USTR United States Trade Representative
WB World Bank
WHI Western Hemisphere Idea
WTO World Trade Organization