América Latina en el pensamiento internacional británico: el caso de James Bryce

Abstract

This article focuses on the reading of Latin America by British international thinkers during the first two decades of the 20th century. These thinkers distinguished between “advanced” and “backward” nations to explain which countries were to decide how to rule the world in economic, political, and cultural terms. Throughout this work, the lack of references to the Latin American region in the United Kingdom in the moment the basis for the discipline of International Relations was established shall be observed. It shall also be seen that in those debates the role Latin America could play in a new international order once the Great War finished was not considered. This contrasts with the fact that the region represented one third of the members of the League of Nations. Special attention will be put to the reading of Latin America by world historian, international thinker, and Liberal politician James Bryce, which can be found in his book South America: Observations and Impressions (1912).