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Foreign Policy Theory in Menem's Argentina. By CARLOS ESCUDE. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 1997. Notes. Index. ix, i66 pp. Cloth, $49.95.
In his first English-language book, Carlos Escude seeks to accomplish two grand tasks. First, he aims to demonstrate that mainstream Anglo-American theories of international relations are essentially flawed and that the uncritical adoption of these theories in developing countries has translated into foreign policies that have negatively affected their citizens' welfare. Second, building on a "citizen-centric" critique of those theories,
Escude attempts to develop an alternative theory, attuned to the reality of "peripheral" countries, which takes into account both the weakness and the vulnerability of these countries in the international arena. This model, which he calls "peripheral realism;' is based on the premise that "the principal function of a peripheral state's foreign policy is to facilitate [economic]...