Roosevelt argued that chronic wrongdoing or political incapacity could require United States intervention as an international police power. His stated purpose was to act before unpaid creditors prompted European coercion. The critical interpretation offered here sees that authority as treating Latin American states like protectorates whose external problems Washington would manage. Roosevelt described intervention as reluctant and exceptional, although the affected states had not jointly agreed to the claimed authority.
Chapter · 1:13:19-1:24:30
The Roosevelt Corollary asserted an international police power
Roosevelt recast hemispheric protection as a claimed American right to intervene before disorder or unpaid debts invited European action.