In the years following World War II, the United States and other countries of the Western Hemisphere recognized their common interest in preserving their boundaries and providing, to a degree at least, a common defense against foreign incursions. Particularly with the emergence of the United Nations after the war, there was a growing awareness of the need to maintain alliances within the world community and especially within one's own sphere of influence. To that end, a series of alliances were formalized across the Americas, in part as an anticommunist measure. These included the Act of Chapultepec (a preliminary “framework” agreement, really), the Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance, and the Pact of Bogota (designed to settle disputes within the alliance). As useful as these measures were, not every nation in the Americas sought to participate in them, of course, and even those that did sometimes harbored reservations or ended up taking contrary courses of action in the years to come. Nevertheless, these treaties served to represent the workings of postwar diplomatic efforts on behalf of hemispheric neighbors.
In the years following World War II, the United States and other countries of the Western Hemisphere recognized their common interest in preserving their boundaries and providing, to a degree at least, a common defense against foreign incursions. Particularly with the emergence of the United Nations after the war, there was a growing awareness of the need to maintain alliances within the world community and especially within one's own sphere of influence. To that end, a series of alliances were formalized across the Americas, in part as an anticommunist measure. These included the Act of Chapultepec (a preliminary “framework” agreement, really), the Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance, and the Pact of Bogota (designed to settle disputes within the alliance). As useful as these measures were, not every nation in the Americas sought to participate in them, of course, and even those that did sometimes harbored reservations or ended up taking contrary courses of action in the years to come. Nevertheless, these treaties served to represent the workings of postwar diplomatic efforts on behalf of hemispheric neighbors.
