Multilateralism as Interventionism. United States and the Society of Nations in Latin America (1930-1946)

Abstract

This article analyzes a dynamic of the United States’ interventions in Latin America, that hasn’t sufficiently attracted the attention of historians. In the 1930’s and 1940’s, when Europe was descending into a new military conflict, certain United States government and business sectors attempted to articulate a new relationship with the nations of the continent, based on a proposal of multilateralism that had been set up within the Society of Nations (SN). These Americans attempted to establish a dynamic of triangular relations with the governments of Latin America and the technical organisms of the SN. As the article will demonstrate in the case of the Society of Nations’ Fiscal Committee, thanks to this, Latin-Americans were capable of influencing the type of policies that were to come out of this triangular relationship. The importance of this history is no small matter. The triangular relationship between the United States, Latin America and the SN served as a base for the reconstruction of global governance headed by the United States after the war.