"Proposes an analytical foundation for national security that challenges long-held assumptions or outdated suppositions about foreign affairs. Presents case studies of American foreign policy toward developing countries, efforts at state building, and nations growing in importance. Concludes...

In this book, Lars Schoultz explores the culture of "improvement" that defines the attitudes and values shaping all United States policies towards Latin America in the past and present. Schoultz's aim is to find the sources of this political and intellectual culture which has informed our...