Latin America is in the last years a region who is receiving more and more global attention both on the economic and political side. During the last 30 years the region has gone through several changes allowing the Latin American countries to maintain a fast and stable economic and democratic growth which has attracted the interest of the two main economic powers, the United States and the People's Republic of China. Since the Monroe Doctrine, the United States has significantly contributed to shaping policy in Latin America. However, given the recent changes in the international system since the end of the Cold War, the U.S. influence has decreased probably as never before. This has allowed other international powers, precisely China, to enter the region and gain important economic and political partners. Given China's need for commodities, energy and the need for new markets for their high amounts of manufactures, Latin America has gone off very well in increasing its economical ties with China. However, it must not be forgotten that the United States still plays an important role in the region. The aim of this thesis is to compare the current foreign policies of the United States and the China towards Latin America, of where is the arm of the United States important, and where the Chinese one is.

<p> This doctoral dissertation investigates how the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV, or North Vietnam), under the leadership of President Ho Chi Minh, created a "diplomatic front" to implement "people's diplomacy." The main focus is on the period from 1965-1972 when the DRV needed these strategies to win worldwide support and sympathy for the Vietnamese Revolution. The diplomatic front consisted of Vietnamese writers, cartoonists, workers, women, students, artistic performers, filmmakers, architects, medical doctors and nurses, academics, lawyers, and sportspersons. Research in Vietnamese, American, and Canadian archives reveals that the front forged important links with antiwar activists abroad, thus lending greater credibility to their efforts to portray North Vietnam in a positive light. People's diplomacy made it difficult for the United States to prolong the war because the North Vietnamese, together with the peace movment abroad, brought popular pressure on U.S. President Lyndon Johnson to end the war. People's diplomacy was much more effective than traditional DRV diplomacy in gaining the support and sympathy of Westerners who were averse to communism. People's diplomacy damaged the reputation of the United States by exposing U.S. war crimes and casting North Vietnam as a victim of American imperialism. As a result, many of America's Western allies did not send troops or provide aid to South Vietnam. People's diplomacy also helped North Vietnam gain crucial economic, military, and diplomatic support from the Soviet Union, China, Eastern Europe, Cuba and North Korea.</p> / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

本研究は、冷戦期と黒人公民権運動期という二重の文脈が交差するなかで、中国系アメリカ人の運動に作用した多様なダイナミズムを歴史的に解明することであった。これにより、従来のような「同化」と「モデル・マイノリティ」の視点から語られがちであった中国系アメリカ人という歴史観とは異なる視座から、当時の中国系アメリカ人の歴史を捉えることを試みた。さらに、チャイナタウン内で発行されていた中国語新聞と中国共産党の資料の分析により、中国共産主義が中国系の左派活動家を通して、いかにアメリカ合衆国の黒人公民権運動に影響を与えたかとのことも検証した。 / This dissertation provides an overview of Chinese American activism during the Cold War-Civil Rights Movement period. At the same time, it re-examines the history of Chinese Americans from the perspective of Chinese American activism. By employing a transnational approach to Chinese American activism and carefully analyzing various primary resources, this project attempts to clarify the dynamic process through which Chinese American activist movements changed from engaging in spheres of transnational Chinese struggles to fighting for justice and the interests of their own community in the United States, and finally to becoming an integral part of the Asian American Movement. / 博士(アメリカ研究) / Doctor of Philosophy in American Studies / 同志社大学 / Doshisha University