ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author suggests that several overlapping contexts for the study of revolutionary Nicaragua's foreign policy. A redefinition of their interests in a post-hemispheric security era has led Latin American states generally to employ tactics that both reflect and accelerate a waning of US political hegemony in the region. The literature on Latin American development and foreign policies suggests important departures for a study of Nicaraguan foreign policy, for example, highlighting major determinants of and constraints on policy in small and traditionally dependent states. The fields of Latin American and comparative foreign policy, moreover, yield broad theoretical guidance for a consideration of revolutionary Nicaragua's foreign policy even if few other small, dependent states overtly pursue all-encompassing structural change. While there is little agreement in the theoretical literature about how or whether dependence can be reversed, most states are clear about the immediate causes and effects of underdevelopment and dependence in their economies.
