JOSÉ BATLLE Y ORDÓÑEZ: LIBERAL REFORMS IN URUGUAY AND THE ATTITUDE OF GREAT POWERS (1903-1915)
The article is devoted to the large-scale liberal reforms of the outstanding politician of Latin America, President of Uruguay (1903-1907, 1911-1915), José Batlle y Ordóñez. Thanks to his activities the country went out of the series of crises and bloody civil conflicts and turned into "the first welfare state in Latin America", according to most historians of the continent. The article examines the nature of reforms, ideology of «batllismo», political legacy of the Uruguayan President, and the reaction to his reforms from the political elite of Great Britain and the United States.