Final Exam, HIST 4520
Fall, 2012

Scope of the Exam:

Lectures - This exam covers all of the lectures after the Mexican Revolution. That includes:

• The Guatemalan Revolution - Part I
• The Guatemalan Revolution - Part II
• The Bolivian Revolution
• The Cuban Revolution
• Liberation Theology
• The Nicaraguan Revolution
• 20th Century Reform Movements
• Military Dictatorship and the Dirty Wars I
• Military Dictatorship and the Dirty Wars II
• Military Dictatorship and the Dirty Wars III
• The Rise of the New Left

Readings:

• Eakin, The History of Latin America, chps. 19-24
• Chasteen and Wood. Problems in Modern Latin American History (various readings)

Instructions:

This is a take home final. You will write two essays from the essay questions listed below. Note: Two of the questions have a version A and a Version B. You can only do one version of each of these questions. For all essays, I will assume you have done the appropriate reading. If you make use of any source other than the three above or my lecture notes, please give appropriate citations. Plagiarism will not be tolerates - no cutting and pasting off the internet!

Be sure to include in your exam an e-mail address or phone number where I can contact you.

Due date and submission:

This is due on Friday, December 14. You can submit by e-mail to tcorse@tnstate.edu or bring it to my office. You may also leave it my mailbox in the HGPS office.

Essay list. Choose two. you may do only one version of the two questions that have versions.

1.      Revolutions question:

Version A: Compare the Nicaraguan, Cuban, and Bolivian revolutions. To what extent were the causes and goals of these revolutions similar? What differences can you find in their causes and goals?

Version B: Compare the Nicaraguan, Cuban, and Bolivian revolutions. To what extent can they be considered “success” or “failures”? Support your answer with concrete examples.

2. How did the Cold War shape U.S. foreign policy in Latin America after World War II? Discuss the United States’ relationship with at least two countries in your response.
3. What is liberation theology? How did it develop, and why is it revolutionary? Give concrete examples from at least two countries in discussing its revolutionary implications.

4.      Why did so many reform movements emerge in Latin America in the middle part of the 1900s? What were their common characteristics? What factors tended to foster success, and what factors tended to limit success? (In other words why and how did they succeed or fail?)

5.      Using Guatemala as an example, discuss the impact of the Cold War and National Security Doctrine governments on people living under them. This question is open-ended, and you can approach from any number of directions. I will not mark you down for failure to focus on any particular thing, but will grade you on your development of the themes that you choose. I will assume for this essay that you have read Silence on the Mountain.

6. National Security Doctrine question:

Version A: Discuss the importance of silence, of hiding the truth about repression, in countries ruled by National Security Doctrine governments. Why was silence so important to these governments? Who benefited from silence and who suffered? How did people struggle again silence? Give concrete examples from at least two countries in your response.

Version B: Discuss the roots of National Security Doctrine, including the relationship between the Cold War Ethos and National Security Doctrine. Why did these governments feel justified in repressing and killing their citizens?

7. Describe the New Left in Latin America (and here I am talking about the leftist and left-leaning governments that began to appear first with Chavez in Venezuela in 1998). What do they tell us about the state of democracy in Latin America and its long-term prospect?