foreign policy toward Latin America. Very few who have served as assistant
secretary of state for inter-American affairs, or as U.S. ambassadors in the re-
gion, have written solid accounts of their role in making and implementing U.S.
policy. And fifth, as external pressures on U.S. policymakers from such inter-
national organizations as the Organization of American States and the United
Nations have expanded with the post-Cold War era, the United States has not
been able to exercise the regional hegemony over Latin America and the Car-
ibbean that it once did. To understand U.S.-Latin American policymaking in
the 1990s requires a better understanding of the relationship between these mul-
tilateral agencies and U.S. policy toward Latin America and the Caribbean.
Thus, our goal in this volume is to answer two important questions concerning
U.S.-Latin American policymaking: (1) who makes U.S.-Latin American pol-
icy? and (2) how do these individuals and institutions (governmental and non-
governmental) interact to formulate and implement U.S. policy toward the
region?

I was encouraged to attempt this project by Mildred Vasan, political science
editor at Greenwood Press. Her enthusiasm and guidance were invaluable from
beginning to end. I am also indebted to a number of colleagues and a variety
of Washingtonians for their assistance at various stages of this project. Edward
Marasciulo had the most impact, providing me with a number of research ideas
and contacts within the Washington Latin American policymaking community
for which I am most grateful. At the Hispanic Division of the Library of Con-
gress, I was assisted by Cole Blasier, Dolores Martin, David Dressing, and
Everett Larson. Others in the Washington community who helped with the over-
all project and my own examination of nongovernmental interest groups include
Chuck Call, Isaac Cohen, Joe Eldridge, Richard E. Feinberg, Jo Marie Gries-
graber, Richard Nuccio, Howard Wiarda, Alex Wilde, and Larman Wilson. Mar-
tha Kumar and Jim Roberts--members of the Political Science Department at
Towson State University--offered their time to comment on several chapters or
to assist in the often difficult task of tracking down prospective contributors.
Through a Summer Research Stipend from the Faculty Development Committee
at Towson State University, I was able to hire Jeff Morrison, who applied his
skills at creating tables and charts along with valuable editorial comments on
the project. Carolyn Westbrook was cheerful and professional in helping to
prepare Tom Flannery's political cartoons for inclusion in this book. Pope At-
kins and Larman Wilson offered valuable assistance in launching the project
and keeping it alive when the prospects for completion looked bleak. At the
U.S. Naval Academy, the political scientist Stephen Frantzich shared some of
his vast knowledge of the inner workings of the U.S. government, and how to
access information on this subject, that helped to make this a better reference
book.

My efforts as general editor were fourfold: to make sure that each chapter
covered the most current and relevant literature on the subject, to organize the
literature in the most readable and interesting fashion possible, to reduce inter-

-x-