Exiting the Whirlpool ─ U.S. Foreign Policy Toward Latin America and the Caribbean

In this second edition of Exiting the Whirlpool, Pastor explores the continuities and the changes in U.S. foreign policy toward Latin America under Presidents Carter, Reagan, Bush, and Clinton. Whereas many foreign policy volumes neglect the role of Congress, Pastor devotes an entire chapter to explaining how it has shaped policy. Next, he looks at the recurring challenges that have often pulled the United States into the destructive whirlpool?how the United States has tried but often failed to manage succession crises, pre-empt or undermine revolutionaries, promote or manipulate elections, and encourage or neglect the region’s economic development. Pastor offers a series of far-reaching policy recommendations for exiting the whirlpool and forging a hemispheric community of democracies within a free trade area. The first edition was widely acclaimed. The second is thoroughly updated, offering analyses and recommendations for addressing the contemporary democratic and security challenges facing the hemisphere.

Robert A. Pastor is the Vice President of International Affairs at American University. He has served as the Goodrich C. White Professor of Political Science at Emory University, and he is the former director of Latin American and Caribbean Affairs, National Security Council. Dr. Pastor was a Visiting Professor at Harvard University and from 1985-98, he was Fellow and Founding Director of the Latin American and Caribbean Program and the Democracy project at the Carter Center.