ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book examines foreign policies, international actors, and a number of issues. It articulates the broad changes in the international system and in the Latin American countries that have reshaped the region’s international relations. The book reviews the evolution of Latin America’s engagement in the world beginning in the 1960s, highlighting major transformations in the region, in the regional and international systems, and in the way that Latin America relates to foreign governmental and nongovernmental actors. It addresses domestic changes in Latin America as necessary to explain the region’s current international engagement. The book identifies the president as a key actor in foreign policy making. It illustrates empirically the applicability of the presidentialist approach even in a democratic context. The book argues that the United States had great influence on Latin America and established a regional system according to its interests.
