Latin America Confronts the United States

Tom Long is a lecturer at the University of Reading. He has been a visiting professor in International Relations at the Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas in Mexico City and previously taught at American University's School of International Service, where he completed his Ph.D. His research focuses on dynamics of asymmetry in international relations, particularly foreign policies of Latin American states vis-a-vis the United States. His work has been published in International Security, Diplomatic History, and Latin American Research Review, and has won prizes from the International Studies Association's Diplomatic Studies Section and the Middle Atlantic Council of Latin American Studies.

• 1. Asymmetry, influence, and US-Latin American relations; 2. Operação Pan-Americana: fighting poverty and fighting Communism; 3. Completing the nation: Omar Torrijos and the long quest for the Panama Canal; 4. A recalculation of interests: NAFTA and Mexican foreign policy; 5. An urgent opportunity: the birth of Plan Colombia; 6. Conclusions; References.

'With compelling evidence and theoretical clarity, Long offers a much needed reinterpretation of inter-American relations, suggesting that Latin American countries, whether large or small, have agency - when armed with ideas, leadership, and clever strategies - and that they can effectively penetrate the decentralized, fragmented US foreign policy process to influence outcomes and advance their national interests.' Richard Feinberg, University of California, San Diego