Abstract

This special issue considers how different models of political and economic development interacted with one another in a time of modernization. Scholars have often focused on the Cold War era and have adopted national or inter-State perspectives. The essays published here embrace a different periodization that does not consider 1945 as a real watershed either in the scientific discourse or in the political practices of the US. They highlight the role played by non-State actors and focus on the complex transnational web of political, diplomatic, and cultural relations, in an era that was marked by profound changes in global relations. Finally, they emphasize the peculiarities of both the US initiatives in the Latin American region and their reception.