Abstract
Anti-Americanism has been part of Latin American societies for decades. It has to be understood as anti-hegemonic resistance, most vocally articulated at the popular level. The concept of the “backyard”, in which the US exercises its hegemony found its purest expression in the so-called Monroe Doctrine, while Latin American resistance can be attributed to the ideas established by Simón Bolívar. In this article, we analyze US-Venezuela relations in recent years, drawing on the two historical figures of Monroe and Bolívar symbolizing different understandings of the relationship at hand. In particular, we trace current patterns of antagonism and interdependence characterizing the relationship in view of governmental changes on both sides.
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Notes
- 1.
The following paragraphs draw on Muno and Brand (2014).
- 2.
Often, but not exclusively, a left-wing attitude, but occasionally also employed by nationalist and populist governments like Juan Perón in Argentina.
- 3.
Globally, the Chávez government also intensified its relations with a couple of key “states of concern”, from a US perspective, most notably China, Iran, Russia and Belarus.
- 4.
As no consensus could be reached on whether to select Venezuela or the U.S-chosen counter candidate Guatemala, both countries running for the seat in the end reached a compromise on fielding Panama.
- 5.
The following paragraphs draw on Muno and Briceño (2022).
- 6.
Naím and Toro (2018: 135–136) aptly call this an “ill-advised revenge fantasy”, which raised eyebrows in the hemisphere and particularly so in the neighboring countries, even among those allied with the US.
- 7.
The following paragraphs draw on Muno and Briceño (2022).
- 8.
- 9.
All in all, there are doubts on how close relations between Venezuela and China have grown over the last years, or whether we do not find a more cooled down Sino-Venezuelan relationship these days (cf. Myers, 2019).
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Brand, A., Muno, W. (2023). From Monroe to Bolívar and Back? US-Venezuela Relations. In: Latouche, M.A., Muno, W., Gericke, A. (eds) Venezuela – Dimensions of the Crisis. Contributions to Political Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-21889-7_9
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