The Monroe doctrine: meanings and implications.
Presidential Studies Quarterly › Vol. 36 Nbr. 1, March 2006
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The Monroe doctrine: meanings and implications.
The Monroe Doctrine as articulated before the U.S. Congress in 1823 established a rhetorical style associated many years later with similar pronouncements during the Cold War and after. Typically couched in the language of idealism and high principle, such affirmations of presidential purpose often purported to advance the cause of humankind, or at least a substantial portion thereof, by upholding values such as freedom, democracy, and peace. Such language sometimes served as a cover for less ennobling purposes connected with the defense of strategic and economic interests and usually contained some kind of threat to take countermeasures if other nations went beyond what the United States regarded as the appropriate bounds. The Monroe Doctrine also instituted a pattern by affirming defensive objectives.
Over the years, James Monroe's doctrine took on various meanings and implications, depending upon shifting policies and preferences, but nevertheless consistently served as a mainstay in the articulation of U.S. goals and purposes in the Western Hemisphere. Three stood out among them. Policy makers wanted to keep out the Europeans, to safeguard order and stability in areas of special concern, and to ensure open access to markets and resources. To be sure, the means of implementation varied from time to time, but the pursuit of these objectives remained much the same. Underlying them, another constant projected a sense of racist condescension. Usually viewed as unruly children in need of discipline and direction, according to a prevailing assumption among U.S. policy makers, Latin Americans could not function without paternalistic oversight and supervision. The Monroe Doctrine emerged in response to the exigencies of European politics at the end of the Napoleonic Wars. In efforts to put the world back together again, the Great Powers, that is, the Austrians, Prussians, Russians, and British, under the terms of the Treaty of Paris in 1815 formed the Q...See the full content of this document
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