PREFACE
Latin-American countries and the United States. An attempt is made to discover to what extent existing governmental forms and processes are adapted to the conditions and needs of each particular country. The agreement or divergence—as the case may be—between the theory and practice of democratic institutions is pointed out, as are the frequent differences between the government as outlined in the formal Constitution and the government in operation. At the present time there exists no work in which the political institutions, and more specifically the government of the Latin-American states, are treated with equal fullness. Brief sections of the chapters are devoted to the physiography, population, and characteristic products of each country, while statistical summaries supply data on recent economic developments, particularly in the fields of transportation, trade, and commerce.
The concluding chapter consists of a somewhat detailed account of the international relations of the Latin-American states, with special reference to the development of the Monroe Doctrine, Pan-Americanism, and Latin America and the War.
This book has been prepared to meet the needs of college courses in the field of history or government, or in foreign trade courses of the schools of commerce, where an elementary knowledge of the historical background and the political systems, as well as the main features of commercial geography, are recognized as an essential basis.
The lists of selected readings are designed to be of service both to students and teachers and to the general reader. No attempt is made at completeness. Only such works as are readily available and have been found by actual experience to be satisfactory for classroom use and for general reference are included. For this reason comparatively few works in languages other than English are noted. At the same time the references are sufficiently extended to afford the individual instructor wide latitude in emphasizing either the historical or the governmental aspect of the subject as he may see fit. For the guidance primarily of the teacher and research student certain bibliographical suggestions are added which will enable them easily to get in touch
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