America's Backyard

Published December 9, 2024

The United States faces geopolitical threats and challenges from nations like China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran. Rather than confront these nations directly, the United States should look to President Reagan's Cold War playbook of active diplomatic, economic, and security partnerships with Latin American nations. To secure long-term regional stability and prosperity, the U.S. must abandon symbolic gestures and, instead, recommit to the principles of the Monroe Doctrine and return its attention to America’s own backyard.  

Joseph Ledford is a Hoover Fellow and the Assistant Director of the Hoover History Lab at the Hoover Institution, where he also serves as the Vice Chair of the Applied History Working Group.

Check out more from Joseph Ledford:

Read "Americas First: Reorienting US Foreign Policy" by Joseph Ledford from the Hoover Institution Press here.
Read "Vexed by Venezuela: the Maduro Problem" by Joseph Ledford via Defining Ideas here.
Read "Foreign Policy Starts in Your Own Neighborhood" by Joseph Ledford via Real Clear Defense here.
The opinions expressed in this video are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Hoover Institution or Stanford University. © 2024 by the Board of Trustees of Leland Stanford Junior University.