Suchergebnisse

In the early 1960s, Franco's Spain began to experience a rapid process of economic growth, which was encouraged by US diplomacy as it would underpin the stability required by the US defence program in the country. However, American officials felt that such an accelerated economic development should be orderly since chaotic modernization might spark social turmoil that would compromise the US geo-strategic objectives in Spain. The article unravels the US public diplomacy programs to steer Spanish society along with a stable development path based on US-inspired capitalism and alliance with the Western bloc. It examines the cultural, educational, and informational means employed by the US government in a bid to channel the socio-economic upheaval occurring in Spain in a direction that was compatible with US security interests. We also argue that modernization theory provided the ideological and intellectual framework for US persuasion efforts to harness Spain's socio-economic ferment. Nevertheless, the 'development model' promoted by the dictatorship generated inequalities and conflicts that fuelled anti-American sentiment among sectors of Spanish society called to play a role in the future post-Franco transition.

The British have been one of the least studied cases in the growing literature on the international dimensions of regime change in Portugal. This article is an analysis of the Labour government's foreign policy towards Portugal from April 1974 to November 1975. What was the British contribution to maintaining the international status quo, to stabilizing the deep political crisis in Portugal, and to the anchoring of the country in the Western bloc? To answer these questions, this article examines Britain's role in channeling the Portuguese revolution in a liberal and Western direction that coincided with British geopolitical and economic interests.

AbstractThe United States' support for the Franco dictatorship, along with British dominion over Gibraltar, caused an increasing sense of frustration towards the United States and United Kingdom amongst broad sectors of the Spanish public during the 1960s and 1970s. Growing resentment towards the Anglo-American presence in Spain threatened to jeopardise the geopolitical objectives of these two governments given the strategic importance of the Iberian Peninsula in the Cold War. Both the Americans and the British identified the promotion of the English language as a cultural tool to develop empathy amongst those Spaniards who would drive forward the eventual transition to a post-Franco era. This 'soft power' strategy fit perfectly with the pro-modernisation efforts taking place in several parts of the world. English teaching did not serve as a magic potion, however. Cultural seduction was not a cure-all to right the wrongs inflicted by the Anglo-American geostrategic priorities. This article explores the benefits and limitations of English language promotion in Franco's Spain and reflects on the ability of 'soft power' to influence what was a rather hostile hard-power context.

Since the early 1960's, American and British diplomatic services have become interested in the problem of who would succeed Franco. The United States and Great Britain sought to influence a future regime change, which was to be moderate and favorable to their interests in Spain. But this required that both countries improve the image that Spanish public opinion held about their respective societies. To accomplish that goal, several public diplomacy initiatives were launched –the teaching of English had a leading role– that were designed to attract specific cultural sectors of Spanish society. This article analyzes the outreach of English teaching programs implemented by the governments of Washington and London, with support from philanthropic foundations and other private institutions during the last decades of Franco's Spain. The purpose of these programs was to promote the modernization of Spanish socio-economic and educational structures; and, consequently, to foster a climate of cultural affinity with the middle classes and Spanish elites in the face of an eventual replacement of the Franco dictatorship for a democratic regime. ; Desde principios de los años sesenta los servicios diplomáticos de los Estados Unidos y Gran Bretaña comenzaron a interesarse por el problema de la sucesión de Franco. Americanos y británicos pretendían influir en un futuro cambio de régimen moderado y favorable a sus intereses en España. Pero para ello era necesario que ambos mejorasen la imagen que la opinión pública española tenía de sus respectivos países. Bajo este empeño pusieron en marcha diversas iniciativas de diplomacia pública, entre las que la enseñanza del inglés ocupó un papel principal, encaminadas a seducir culturalmente a determinados sectores de la sociedad española. Este artículo analiza los programas de difusión de la lengua inglesa desplegados por los gobiernos de Washington y Londres, con el apoyo de fundaciones filantrópicas y otras instituciones privadas, en la España del segundo franquismo. El fin de dichos programas fue el de fomentar la modernización de las estructuras socio-económicas y educativas del país y, en consecuencia, de crear un clima de afinidad cultural con las clases medias y las élites españolas de cara a la eventual sustitución del régimen una vez desaparecido el dictador.

In the 1960s and 1970s, the educational systems in Spain and Latin America underwent comprehensive and ambitious reforms that took place amid a "revolution of expectations" arising from decolonization, global student protests, and the antagonism between capitalist and communist models of development. Deploying new archival research and innovative perspectives, the contributions to this volume examine the influence of transnational forces during the cultural Cold War. They shed new light on the roles played by the United States, non-state actors, international organizations and theories of modernization and human capital in educational reform efforts in the developing Hispanic world