América Latina: ¿clase media de las naciones?

va:riati'Ons in p'Ower has been the c'OIlapse -'Of the 'Old Eur'Opean Er.npire and the relative p'Olitical shrinkage 'Of Eur'Ope as a glDbal fDrce. BDth the First WDr1d Df the West and the SecDnd World 'Of the S'Ovi,et Bl'Oc ev'Olvoo cDmpIex hegemonic relatiDnships. With EurDpe sha:ttered by the war, and seemingly vulnerable to desperate id,eDIDgical sDlutiDns, the United States embarked Dn a major econDmic prDgram Df Irec'OnstructiDn f'Or Europe. In the devastation Df the war, EurDpe definitely had surplus need of the United Stat'es and was experiencing deficit control 'Over its Dwn destíny. On june 5, 1947, the Second Se– cretary 'Of State, George C. Marshall,in an address at Harvard Univer– sity, proposed a plan Df American aid tD help EurDpean l'ehabilítatiDn and l'ecDvery. The Unit>ed States s·eemed almost fright'ened by the gap in pDwer between itself and EurDpean cDuntries; but it was even -mDre afnaid Df the implicatiDns Df that gap fDr the survival Df liberal de~ ffiOcracy in Europe. The aid that Marshall prDposed included the condition that Éuropean states should act tDgrether in estimating the¡;r need and in planning their l 'ehabilit.at: i'On. Sixteen Eur'Opean states (later jDined by the Federal Republic of GeDmany) set tD w'Ork tD draw up an in– v,entory Df requirements and resources. They then applied tD the Uni– t:ed States fDr I'Oans and gifts Df Dver 21 bíllion dDHalr's fDr the periDd 1948-52. The stage was s·et fDr Dne kind of macrDdependency, thDugh the Marsha:ll Plan itself seemed in part tD r,educe Europe.an depen– dency Dn the United Stat,es by enabling EurDpe tD r,ecDver frDm its Dwn devastatiDn. An'Other f'Orm Df macr'O:-dependency came with the establishment Df the N'Orth At.lantic Organizati'On wíthin a yealr 'Of the launching the EurDpean RecDvery Program under the ·M,arshall Plan. On april 4, 1949, Belgium, Cana,da, Denmark, France, Great Brita:in, laeland, Italy, LuxembDurg, The Netherlands, NDrway, P'Ortugal, ·and the Uni– ted Stares signed a treaty in WashingtDn, D. C. for cO'llective s'eeurity. The ,aIlianae was 'later jDined by Turkey and Greece, and the Federal Republic 'Of Germany. The American nuclear pDwer umbrella prDvi- ded patriarchal prDt,ecti'On fDr the West,ern Wcirld a whDle. - The third aspect 'Of ma(J!o~dependency invO'lved relations between the Unit-ed States and Japan fDllDwing the American DceupatiDn 'Of Japan. The 'Original security treaty between Japan and the United States was signre.d, with the peace pact, in 1951, and was designed f'Or what Article 1 described as "the maintenance Df internati'Onal peacc and security in the Far East". The 'Original version was even more blatently basoo 'On dependent relati'Onships, fDr it provided nD pl'ÍDr consultati'On with Japan ShDUld American fDrceS bas'ed in Japan be used Dn military assignrments Dutsi·de the cDuntry. The treaty has since been mDdified -t'O reduce the mDlle blatent olIspects Df macrD-dependen-