INAF-445 International Relations: US-Spain

León, Pablo

Spain seemed to miss all the major events that are traditionally used to illustrate the historical process by which the United States determined modern Western European history: the two world wars, the return of liberal democracy in 1945, the Marshall Plan, and the first stages of U.S.-backed continental integration. And yet, the encounter between the two countries in the 20th Century was not peripheral at all. Like its continental neighbors, Spain welcomed American corporations and investments between 1900 and 1930, greeted an increasing number of American tourists and Hollywood movies since the 1910s, and saluted U.S. economic and technical aid, troops, propagandists, Presidents and “business schools” during the Cold War. It later became one of the best examples of the limits of Americanization as well as of the pervasiveness (and consequences) of anti-American feelings in post 1989 Europe. The purpose of this course is to understand the particular nature as well as the history of these developments. Special emphasis will be put on the role of stereotypes in shaping both countries’ perceptions of and approaches to each other in the larger context of transatlantic relations and exchanges.
The course will follow a chronological structure in order to stress the relevance of historical context. The first part will lead us through the “normality” of the first decades of the 20th Century to 1947, when the United States finally decided to initiate a diplomatic rapprochement to the dictatorial regime established in Madrid as a consequence of the Spanish Civil War. The second period will cover the encounter during the Franco dictatorship, when the economic and cultural influence of the United States seemed to increase as rapidly as the Spanish society transformed, and the anti-Franco, anti-American, and pro-European opinions identified with each other. The third part will deal with the reassessment of bilateral relations and perceptions starting with the return of democracy to Spain and ending with the fallout that followed the pullout of Spanish troops from Iraq in 2004.

Credits: 3

Prerequisites: None

Other academic years
There is information about this course number in other academic years:

• 2007-2008 Fall and Spring
• 2009-2010 Fall and Spring
• 2010-2011 Fall and Spring
• 2011-2012 Fall and Spring
• 2012-2013 Fall and Spring

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