Dr Radek Buben Held a Lecture on Latin America and the Donroe Doctrine at the Diplomatic Academy
The deputy of the CoRe’s Research Project 9 (Conflict and International Relations) and an academic of the Faculty of Arts, Charles University, presented his paper as part of the CoRe project at the conference of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic on 6 March 2026. The relationship between Latin American countries and the United States is currently one of the most pressing issues in the international political landscape. Current events intersect with both economic-political and socio-cultural themes.
The first part of the presentation addressed the precedents of the current situation in inter-American relations, particularly the role played by the Monroe Doctrine in its emergence. It examined the current situation of President Donald Trump and how he interprets the Monroe Doctrine in comparison to Presidents James Monroe and Theodore Roosevelt.
The lecture also examined who Trump’s continental allies and opponents are. Linked to this is the debate over whether the USA is engaging in neoliberal interventionism or imperialism. Another significant economic issue is the question of rare earth metals, which Venezuela and Cuba possess and which are increasingly important on global markets. To some extent, this is also linked to the EU’s agreement with the Mercosur member states as a response to tariff chaos. The final topic was the Brazilian elections as a potential key factor in further continental developments.
The Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic is an independent, state-funded organization whose mission is to provide training for the ministry’s staff and to prepare candidates for selection processes for positions in European Union institutions and other diplomatic fields.
PhDr. Radek Buben, Ph.D., is the director of the Centre for Ibero-American Studies at the Faculty of Arts, Charles University, where he focuses on the latest political and economic developments in Latin America and its contemporary history. He is the Deputy of the CoRe’s Research Project 9, Conflict and International Relations, which analyses conflicts in world regions. In the past, he was also the Head of the Department of Political Science at the Faculty of Arts, Charles University, and is involved in developing an innovative approach to area studies at the faculty. He served as a visiting research fellow at Queen Mary University of London. His research focuses primarily on the transformation of political regimes, the institutional development of states, and the dynamics of democratization and autocratisation. He is the author of articles and book chapters on politics in Central America, Venezuela, and Bolivia.
