Invited speakers:
Prof. Dr. Volker Depkat, University of Regensburg
Assoz. Prof. Dr. Joshua Parker, University of Salzburg
Organization and Moderation
Dr. Laurin Blecha, University of Salzburg
The speech of U.S. President James Monroe in December 1823 had long-term consequences on the relationship between the U.S. and the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean. One of the main points, for example, was the “irreversible independence of the states of America”, as Monroe emphasized, which should reject possible attempts to restore a colonial order by the European states. Consequently, the claim of a U.S. supremacy became a fundamental part of U.S. policies, especially towards the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century. Since then, the “right to intervene” in the Latin American states became a central part of the narratives and was an active policy of the “Eagle in the North”.
Accordingly, the U.S. consolidated its claim as hegemonic power in the region through, for example, economic policies, influencing the governments of Latin America and the Caribbean, or direct military interventions. Ultimately, this led, among other things, to anti-American sentiments and anti-imperialist reactions in the region, which often became the ideological basis of numerous liberation and guerrilla movements in the second part of the 20th century.
As a central issue of transatlantic foreign policy, the colloquium intends to shed light on the following questions: How does the Monroe Doctrine affect the relationship between the U.S. and the Latin American and Caribbean countries 200 years after its proclamation? What conceptual and ideological transformations did it undertake? What remains of it after the end of the Cold War and in the prospect of transnational and global developments at the beginning of the 21st century?