Cold Warriors: advancing the Library modernizing model in Latin America

Abstract

After War World II, modernization theories became fashionable as American business, political, and cultural elites, exercising unprecedented influence throughout the world, once again came to believe in the positivist notions of progress and civilization. The "modern" model rapidly gained wide support in both advanced capitalist and developing countries; and soon it was trumpeted as the best solution for less developed nations. Many of the initiatives undertaken and ideas tested in previous decades concerning cultural development culminated with the actions and programs taken on behalf of Latin Americans under the mantle of the Point IV Program and the Alliance for Progress. The challenge was how to translate that model into a different reality. It did not completely work there, and in failing to do so, it diminished the effectiveness of many initiatives carried out under the auspices of Inter-American relations.