Latin Americanists who focus their attention on the field of international relations have long had available to them a continuing stream of books and articles on U.S.–Latin American relations. Much less common, however, have been studies of Latin America’s international relations with other countries of the world. Edy Kaufman, Yoram Shapira, and Joel Barromi, authors of Israel–Latin American Relations, have produced a comprehensive and detailed analysis of their subject.
This volume is unusually well organized for a three-author effort. The study covers the period from 1948 to 1973 by first surveying the major developments in Israeli–Latin American relations, then analyzing the factors which influence foreign policy decision-making, and finally evaluating the outcome of the decisions made. The authors consider both the external factors (such as trade relations, military cooperation, propaganda) and the internal factors (such as the role of the Church, the military, trade unions, and Jewish groups) in the formulation of Latin America’s policies toward Israel and the Middle East conflict.
Rather than taking a country-by-country approach, the authors deal with Latin America as a whole, stressing major similarities in foreign policy, while highlighting marked differences. For example, they frequently take note of the anti-Israeli position held by Cuba and do a good job of explaining the reasons for this stance within the context of Cuban–Soviet relations.
The study is well-grounded in a variety of sources, including interviews with diplomats and other government officials, press clippings, and unclassified government documents. The book contains nearly fifty tables which provide quantitative support for many of the generalizations that are drawn.
For students of foreign policy the extensive analysis of United Nations’ roll call votes will be of interest. The analysis presented in this volume parallels that found in many other studies of this subject. The conclusions drawn are not novel, and the methodology is not highly sophisticated, but the analysis is essential to the volume because so much of the Middle East drama has been played out in the halls of the United Nations.
The authors make a number of references to the greater success that Israel has had in its relations with Latin America than it has had with Africa. All of the Latin America data which would be needed for a comparative case study are presented in this book. One would hope that the authors will pursue such a comparative treatment. Moreover, it would be of considerable interest to have a post-1973 October War update. The increasing pressure that oil-poor Latin American countries must feel from Arab quarters has probably had a significant impact on Israeli–Latin American relations.
While the book does cover a subject which has rarely been researched before, it would not be appropriate to state that it has filled a gap merely in the literature on Latin America. Rather, this book is of much greater utility and interest to the Middle East specialist. The international relations specialist will find useful data on the variables which enter into Latin American foreign policy-making vis à vis the Middle East conflict. Selected chapters would be of interest to advanced undergraduate or graduate courses, but the assignment of the entire volume would present too much detail for most students.
