Latin America and the Idea of Peace

Abstract

Latin America has played a pioneering role in the development of international mechanisms devoted to promoting peace such as arbitration, the legal settlement of international disputes, the codification of international law, and projects for international organization in both regional and hemispheric scales from the late nineteenth century until the 1930s. Specific principles designed to safeguard the region from foreign imperial and colonial interventions, notably the Roman principle of uti possidetis juris and the US Monroe Doctrine, emerged from the aftermath of independence from Spanish rule and thus could be traced back to the early nineteenth century. This chapter explores the evolution of the idea of peace in Latin America, focusing on both ideas and practices devoted to the promotion of peace in the region, as well as the intellectual contributions of Latin American jurists, statesmen, and diplomats. It also touches on the hegemonic role of the United States in the construction of a regional tradition along with continental institutions.