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Begin New Search Topic Civil Society Publishing Institution CONfines de Relaciones Internacionales y Ciencia Política

11. ¿Democracia por método o democracia por principio? Latinoamérica y su condicionado compromiso con la pluralid

Author:
Ulises Carrillo Cabrera and Gabriela López Gómez
Publication Date:
10-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
CONfines de Relaciones Internacionales y Ciencia Política
Abstract:
The process of democratic consolidation in Latin America may seem to be dominated by an utilitarian search of better governments and not by a real commitment to adopt democratic principles and values. This essay analyzes data from Latinobarometer for the last decade and finds evidence of a support for democracy that is associated with low inflation and strong GNP growth. Democracy is far from being the 'only game in town' and is under pressure to obtain specific policy outcomes. Partial evidence suggests that citizens tend to support regimes from the left when they realize that democracy is more a procedural system rather than a regime of effective redistribution of wealth and income.
Topic:
Civil Society, Democratization, and Politics
Political Geography:
Latin America

12. Constitución y democracia. ¿Límites y vínculos?

Author:
Adrián Rentería Díaz
Publication Date:
10-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
CONfines de Relaciones Internacionales y Ciencia Política
Abstract:
There has been a process of change in the notion of constitutionalism since the middle of the 20th century, setting itself apart from its previous conceptualization which was distinguished by its stiffness and the existence of an organ responsible of surveilling the supremacy of the Constitution above the law. Using this affirmation as a starting point, the author examines the ways in which the neo-constitutionalism and the 19th-century constitutionalism theorized the concepts of constitution and democracy. The aim of this analysis is to demonstrate that the concept of formal democracy -as a method to take public decisions on the basis of the majority principle- has exhausted its heuristic capacity in neo-constitutionalism. According to the author, the use of such concept generates an indissoluble tension between constitution and democracy. Thus, based on the work of Luigi Ferrajoli, the author proposes a radical review of the concept of democracy that incorporates substantial aspects and takes into account the reality of the current normative systems.
Topic:
Civil Society, Democratization, and Politics
Political Geography:
Latin America

13. Analysis of a publishing position: The case of Colombian president Alvaro Uribe re-election

Author:
Ana Cristina Vélez López
Publication Date:
04-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
CONfines de Relaciones Internacionales y Ciencia Política
Abstract:
This article is a descriptive and analytical text. The investigation of which the article is a product is about the presidential re-election in Colombia. That research began as an analysis of eighteen editorials published by the most important newspaper in Colombia: El Tiempo. The method of analysis was ACD (Critical Analysis of speech) by Teun A. Van Dijk. The investigation concluded that El Tiempo changed radically its position about the immediately presidential re-election because the editorial did not support it at the begging but at the end it supports the re-election with own name: Alvaro Uribe Velez.
Topic:
Civil Society, Development, and Politics
Political Geography:
Colombia and South America

14. The philosophy of subject and the sociology of knowledge in the theories of Jürgen Habermas and Niklas Luhmann

Author:
Monica Judith Sánchez Flores
Publication Date:
04-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
CONfines de Relaciones Internacionales y Ciencia Política
Abstract:
In this article I show that, in spite of essential differences between Habermas and Luhmann with respect to the philosophy of the subject, they both depend on the modern idea of the individual self to pose their theories of meaning (Habermas 1989 and 1990, Luhmann 1998). Habermas and Luhmann belong to divergent theoretical schools (critical and functionalist respectively) and yet they both use essential lessons about language from the German “sciences of the spirit” (Geisteswissenschaften); the phenomenological perspective and the sociology of knowledge. Even though their positions on the value of the modern individual self are opposed, the latter is an essential element in the theoretical perspectives of both sociologists: Habermas describes the individual subject as a linguistically competent, rational, and critical entity; while Luhmann rejects this anthropocentric conception outright and contemplates society as a set of systems oriented towards their own functionality. Luhmann produces a very useful sociological perspective, but rhetorically rejects the substantive aspect of the philosophy of the subject without recognizing that his perspective depends on the consciousness of the subject that he rejects at the same time. In the light of this dilemma I argue that it is necessary to remember essential lessons from Max Weber's methodology of the social sciences.
Topic:
Civil Society, Development, and Education
Political Geography:
Europe

15. In the multicultural edge: A linguistic political evaluation of the Mexican State around its indigenous communities

Author:
Roberto Morris Bermúdez
Publication Date:
04-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
CONfines de Relaciones Internacionales y Ciencia Política
Abstract:
The goal of this dissertation is to assess to what extent Mexican language policy towards indigenous minorities is congruent with the guidelines that multicultural, language policy and language planning theory prescribe. These theories were chosen because current legislation indicates that these are the ideals which Mexico, as a country, The aim of this research is to present a comparison of current Mexican multicultural language policies and how these diverge from multicultural theory, this in order to make inferences applicable to further developing multicultural language policies in Mexico.
Topic:
Civil Society, Demographics, and Government
Political Geography:
Central America and Mexico

16. E-Activism: New Media and Political Participation in Europe

Author:
Óscar García Luengo
Publication Date:
12-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
CONfines de Relaciones Internacionales y Ciencia Política
Abstract:
The demonstrations in Spain on March 13th, 2004 following the terrorist attacks in Madrid present an interesting challenge for political communication research. For the first time in the history of Spain, people employed communication technologies in order to create the dynamics of peaceful civil disobedience. Research on political communication has traditionally paid attention to the classic outlets in order to analyze the impact of media exposure on political affectation. Taking the cited framework as the main reference, this article compares the connection between political activism and the consumption of new and old media in European countries. Analyzing the use of these technologies is important because research on political communication has traditionally only focused on the classic media techniques to analyze the impact of media exposure on political disaffection. Therefore, using the March 13th demonstrations, this article compares the connection between political activism and the consumption of new and old media in European countries.
Topic:
Civil Society, Politics, and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
Europe and Spain

17. "We exist, but we are not seen..." Collective Action and Non-governmental Organizations: the demands of sexual minorities

Author:
Bertha Alicia Bermúdez Tapia
Publication Date:
08-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
CONfines de Relaciones Internacionales y Ciencia Política
Abstract:
This article presents the results of a study about the ways of social mobilization held by the sexual minorities of the gay-lesbian community in Monterrey, México. Some indicators related to the genesis and development of the collective action process are examined, having as a staring point the analysis of certain situations experienced by this community. Making an emphasis on the gay-lesbian community demands and the strategies driven to funnel them, as well as on the simultaneity of the process by which collective action and identity are shaped.
Topic:
Civil Society, Gender Issues, Human Rights, and Non-Governmental Organization

18. What if different and opposing views of sociology were complementary to each other?: Reflections on the development of the knowledge of collective life

Author:
Pierre Tripier
Publication Date:
09-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
CONfines de Relaciones Internacionales y Ciencia Política
Abstract:
Sociology was born at a time when the Newtonian paradigm was introduced as the hegemonic scientific model. However, this model was not sufficient to understand complex and unstable situations. The model was a unitary explanatory system that not only considered time and space as absolute, but is also drew sociology away from medicine, history, geography and the art of governing. With sociology, these disciplines could have been better understood. That is, when the Newtonian paradigm was discussed from the point of view of thermodynamics, quantum physics, and restricted relativity, other perspectives –dialogic and interactionists- could have conquered legitimate positions in the social sciences so as to compete with these deterministic points of view. Today, a third phase of evolution in physics and biology has allowed for non-contradictory stands in their different perspectives primarily because of the division of work and the awareness of their complementary elements. This question is could this also occuir in sociology?
Topic:
Civil Society, Development, and Science and Technology

19. The Narratives of the Detained-Disappeared (Or the Problems of Representation Facing Social Catastrophes)

Author:
Gabriel Gatti
Publication Date:
08-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
CONfines de Relaciones Internacionales y Ciencia Política
Abstract:
The text proposes the concept of the detained-disappeared as the point from which to analyze social management strategies of a high-caliber theoretical problem in the context of contemporary social sciences, the crisis of representation. To analyze these strategies, this work starts by narrowly defining the concept of the detained-disappeared, thereby suggesting that this is a catastrophe for identity and for language. After considering the social and historical context of the the Latin-American southern hemisphere, the author explains and examines the two forms of narrative that explain how the concept and its consequences have been managed. These forms of narrative are the transitional narrative of the invisible and the highly complex narrative of the void.
Topic:
Civil Society, Development, and Human Rights
Political Geography:
Latin America and Central America

20. ¡Bárbaros en Delfos! Geopolitical knowledge and International Relations before the 21st Century

Author:
Filibi López and Mariano Ferrero
Publication Date:
05-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
CONfines de Relaciones Internacionales y Ciencia Política
Abstract:
The purpose of this article is to examine the connection between knowledge and power as well as scientific knowledge and politics. We use a sociology of knowledge perspective that provides a framework for the social and geopolitical situated nature of social science researchers and their academic communities. We will make sense of how the evolution of International Relations' (IR) knowledge production is tightly linked to the development of the international political context. From this point of view, American post-war hegemony came hand in hand with the Realist monopoly of the IR discipline. By the same token, the ongoing decentering process of academic spaces and theoretical approaches expresses the new world political landscape after the Pax Americana/Cold War era.
Topic:
International Relations, Civil Society, Politics, and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
America