Greg Grandin on the Monroe Doctrine and US Foreign Policy in Latin America

The Evolution of the Monroe Doctrine

• 📜 The Monroe Doctrine, initially a few paragraphs in a 1823 State of the Union address, was not ratified by Congress or courts and only gained status as a "doctrine" decades later.
• 💡 It was written by John Quincy Adams and contained contradictory elements: warning Europe against recolonization while also gesturing towards shared ideals with Latin American republics.
• 🌍 Initially, Latin American nations viewed it favorably as support for their anti-colonialism, particularly the part warning Europe against reconquest.

Shifting Interpretations and US Assertions

• 📈 Over time, the doctrine was reinterpreted and expanded, notably by Grover Cleveland who declared US absolute sovereignty over the Western Hemisphere.
• 🚨 Theodore Roosevelt's "corallary" in 1904 introduced the concept of "international police power" to suppress "chronic wrongdoing" in Latin America, often provoked by US private interests.
• 🔄 In contrast, FDR in 1933 renounced the right of intervention and recognized the absolute sovereignty of Latin American nations, fostering goodwill and strengthening the US position for WWII.

International Law and Power Dynamics

• ⚖️ International law is viewed as a moral venue for fighting over normative principles, rather than an absolute system of justice; powerful nations often set exceptions.
• 🤝 While international law doesn't exist in a void, it creates norms and principles that nations can argue over, providing recourse for weaker nations.
• 💰 The implementation of law is often subordinated to social power, as seen in the Drago Doctrine's principle against using coercion to collect debt, which the US supported to keep European powers out of its sphere.

Trumpism and the "Donroe Doctrine"

• 🎯 Trump's foreign policy, particularly regarding Venezuela, is seen as a return to Latin America during a period of US global power recession, but with a "pure Trumpism" approach.
• 🗣️ The "Donroe Doctrine" reflects Trump's focus on his own ideas and a theatrical spectacle, with shifting justifications like oil, immigration, and drugs.
• 🏛️ Unlike FDR or Reagan, Trump isn't trying to build a governing coalition or a new worldview; his approach is characterized by demanding tribute and turning nations into vassal states, reflecting the moral emptiness of his movement.

Precedents and Uncharted Territory

• 🇺🇸 Precedents for direct intervention to capture leaders exist, such as Manuel Noriega in Panama (1989) and the ousting of Jean-Bertrand Aristide in Haiti (2005).
• 🚢 What is unprecedented is the idea of accepting "oil tribute" from Venezuela and unilateral US projections of power like sanctions, without international consensus.
• 🗺️ The current approach lacks a clear plan, oscillating between imagining a tribute system and planning for direct political transition, reflecting a lack of pretense and a focus on unilateral US power projection.