Gratitude and the Politics of Emotional Imperialism: Gift-Giving as Moral Debt in US–Cuba Relations

Abstract In 1902, Cuba gained formal sovereignty under a US protectorate that was institutionalized through the Platt Amendment. Why did Cuban leaders accept these constraints during the founding of the republic? Moving beyond power asymmetry accounts, this article argues that US authority was stabilized through a process of emotional imperialism. By presenting the 1898 intervention as an altruistic gift, US officials and allied public discourse transformed material leverage into a norm of political gratitude. Within this moral economy, the Platt Amendment was construed as a legitimate counter-gift, the expected reciprocal return for US benevolence. Cuban authorities were pressured to express gratitude, and resistance was stigmatized and punished with accusations of ingratitude. Methodologically, the article combines emotional discourse analysis with close readings of constitutional debates, treaties, official statements, and contemporary newspapers. The Cuban case illustrates how gratitude functions as a political technology that transforms coercion into reciprocity, thereby sustaining an informal empire under formal sovereignty.