Civilisation, Barbarism and the Making of Latin America’s Place in 19th-Century International Society

The present study revisits the position accorded to Latin American states in the conventional account of the expansion of international society. Drawing on English School theory and legal history, it develops a critique of the ‘standard of civilisation’, contending that the boundaries of international society were much more malleable and diffuse than the conventional narrative suggests. The argument is illustrated with reference to the historical experience of Latin American states: despite the profound impact that European colonisation had on the region, the marginalisation of Latin American states within international society was commonly framed in civilisational terms. Rather than taking their ‘western’ identity and thus membership for granted, the paper demonstrates the role that civilisational rhetoric played in the making of Latin America’s place in the heterarchical international order of the ‘long 19th century’. The article concludes by discussing some implications for theorising the evolution of international society.