| This study analyzes the interpretation of United States hegemony in Latin America as developed by Soviet Latin Americanists. The analysis seeks to assess the Soviet view by examining its motivations, character, evolution, accuracy, and consequences.;The first chapter is an introductory discussion of major influences on the work of Soviet scholars--Marxist-Leninist doctrine and the Soviet system of state control of scholarship--and how these influences affected the work of Soviet Latin Americanists, in particular.;The second through fourth chapters address specific aspects of United States-Latin American relations: the Monroe Doctrine, the Inter-American System, and Latin American underdevelopment. Chapter two evaluates the Soviet representation of the Monroe Doctrine as the philosophical basis for the exercise of hegemony by examining Soviet positions on questions of the Doctrine's definition, authorship, motivation, specificity, and legal status.;The third chapter addresses the Soviet depiction of the Inter-American System as a mechanism through which the United States exercised its hegemony for the first six decades of this century. It examines the evolution of the System and the Soviet assertion that the United States imposed Pan Americanism in order to frustrate the development of autonomous Latin American cooperation.;Chapter four examines the Soviet arguments that Latin American underdevelopment is solely the result of the uninterrupted economic exploitation of the region and that the continuation of that exploitation was the object of United States hegemony. The chapter also reviews the Soviets' critiques of various Western theories of development, with emphasis on dependency theory, which most interests them.;The Soviet interpretation of hegemony is consistent with the Soviet Union's political interests in attenuating United States influence in Latin America. The interpretation is contrived to exploit residual anti-United States sentiment in Latin America by blaming capitalism, in general, and the United States, in particular, for all of the region's problems. |
