The fate of freedom elsewhere human rights and US Cold War policy toward Argentina
The fate of freedom elsewhere: human rights and US Cold War policy toward Argentina

During the first quarter-century of the Cold War, upholding human rights was rarely a priority in U.S. policy toward Latin America. Seeking to protect U.S. national security, American policymakers quietly cultivated relations with politically ambitious Latin American militaries—a strategy clearly ev...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Schmidli, William Michael 1979- (Author)
Format: Electronic eBook
Language:English
Published: Ithaca, NY [u.a.] Cornell Univ. Press 2013
Subjects:
Geschichte 1950-1988
Menschenrecht
Politik
Human rights > Government policy > United States
Human rights > Argentina
Außenpolitik
Argentinien
USA
Online Access:DE-1043
DE-1046
DE-858
DE-859
DE-860
DE-188
DE-473
DE-739
Volltext
Summary:During the first quarter-century of the Cold War, upholding human rights was rarely a priority in U.S. policy toward Latin America. Seeking to protect U.S. national security, American policymakers quietly cultivated relations with politically ambitious Latin American militaries—a strategy clearly evident in the Ford administration’s tacit support of state-sanctioned terror in Argentina following the 1976 military coup d’état. By the mid-1970s, however, the blossoming human rights movement in the United States posed a serious threat to the maintenance of close U.S. ties to anticommunist, right-wing military regimes.The competition between cold warriors and human rights advocates culminated in a fierce struggle to define U.S. policy during the Jimmy Carter presidency. In The Fate of Freedom Elsewhere, William Michael Schmidli argues that Argentina emerged as the defining test case of Carter’s promise to bring human rights to the center of his administration’s foreign policy. Entering the Oval Office at the height of the kidnapping, torture, and murder of tens of thousands of Argentines by the military government, Carter set out to dramatically shift U.S. policy from subtle support to public condemnation of human rights violation. But could the administration elicit human rights improvements in the face of a zealous military dictatorship, rising Cold War tension, and domestic political opposition? By grappling with the disparate actors engaged in the struggle over human rights, including civil rights activists, second-wave feminists, chicano/a activists, religious progressives, members of the New Right, conservative cold warriors, and business leaders, Schmidli utilizes unique interviews with U.S. and Argentine actors as well as newly declassified archives to offer a telling analysis of the rise, efficacy, and limits of human rights in shaping U.S. foreign policy in the Cold War
Physical Description:1 Online-Ressource (XIV, 256 S.)
ISBN:9780801469626
DOI:10.7591/9780801469626

There is no print copy available.

Interlibrary loan Place Request Caution: Not in THWS collection! Get full text

Similar Items