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‘A Desire so Close to the Hearts of all Latin Americans’: Utopian Ideals and Imperfections Behind Latin America's Nuclear Weapon Free Zone
Author(s) -
MUSTO RYAN A.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
bulletin of latin american research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.24
H-Index - 33
eISSN - 1470-9856
pISSN - 0261-3050
DOI - 10.1111/blar.12557
Subject(s) - latin americans , geopolitics , prosperity , nuclear weapon , political science , compromise , sociology , political economy , economic history , law , history , politics
In April 1969, Latin America implemented the first nuclear weapon free zone ( NWFZ ) in an inhabited region of the world. This article explores the creation of Latin America's NWFZ as a utopian impulse. It argues that various Latin American states used the utopian ideals of security, sovereignty, and socio‐economic prosperity to propel the region's denuclearisation forward. Those implementing these utopian ideals had to define the meaning of Latin America, nuclear weapons under a non‐proliferation agreement, and the denuclearisation of an inhabited region. The result was compromise forged from a collision of utopian ideals and dystopian geopolitics.