Perspectives on Culture

Chapter 1 North-South Relations and the Semantics of Latin American Modernity

Jochen Kleinschmidt

Abstract

Latin America's participation in global governance structures should be conceived of as taking place in the wider panorama of North-South relations.They are inherently unequal and take place in a context of meaning pre-established by processes of colonization.This does not mean,however,that Latin American states should be obser-ved as merely passive or repressed actors in world politics.Regarding Western modernity,Latin America has generated its proprietary sema-ntics.The late Venezuelan intellectual José Manuel Briceño Guerrero described these semantics as consisting of three separate and often conflicting forms—one of universalist rationality,another of colonial hierarchy,and finally one of furious resistance.In this chapter,this concept is related to cultural theories of state behavior in International Relations and used to explain some of the more unconventional dynamics of the international engagement of Latin American states,which will also have an impact on their disposition towards the provision of global public goods.