The ‘Americas’ in the History of International Relations

Abstract Since the Americas joined the international order as an independent locale in the nineteenth century, the concept has been defined by three paradoxes. First, the Americas constitute a regional system that has facilitated both the hegemonic aspirations of its most powerful member (the United States) and anti-hegemonic challenges by the rest. Second, they are home to the world’s oldest international system, yet they are also the world region most identified with modernity. A tension between tradition and modernity thus distinguishes pan-Americanism. Finally, the identification of the Americas with modernity has spurred state and non-state actors to globalize pan-American principles. These three paradoxes guide the following overview of how the Americas evolved as a regional system from the Age of Revolution to the present. Such an approach seeks to overcome the Manichean view marking much of the scholarship on inter-American relations while making the Americas more integral to international history.