Pan American visions

Woodrow Wilson's Pan Americanism -- what contemporary social scientists would call "regional integration" -- formalized in its day the efforts of the United States to manage the affairs of the Western hemisphere. Proponents have viewed it as an expression of partnership, critics as a means of American exploitation; and even today neither statesman nor scholars can agree on whether such a policy can succeed. The author's study traces Wilson's efforts to develop and act upon a Pan American vision to reform and regulate the conduct of international relations in Latin America.