| This study asserts that domestic values inform U.S. policy in Latin America and the Caribbean. Two normative processes enable the United States Congress to translate these values into policy and promote democracy and human rights in the Western Hemisphere. First, legislators imbue or are influenced by domestic values and, second, they use the legislative process to render them into policy. The thesis is operationalized through an evaluation of the foreign aid contract in El Salvador, Haiti and Peru, where Congress uses the legislative process to create guidelines for countries seeking U.S. assistance. Findings indicate that whether U.S interests were provoked through the security threat of communism or drugs, or the humanitarian issue of immigration or racial equality, Congress often demonstrated the normative will and the political capacity to harness legislative and non-legislative mechanisms that aimed to integrate the values of democracy and human rights into policy. This interaction between values, Congress and U.S. policy highlights the significant role of Congress in U.S. policy in the region. The focus on agency, values and the various informants in policy decisions introduces an eclectic approach to the theoretical evaluation of U.S. policy in the Western Hemisphere. |
