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51. 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

52. Constitutional Article 59 and 20th Century Mexican Authoritarianism: An Explanatory Explicative Synthesis

Author:
José Ramón López Rubí Calderón
Publication Date:
06-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
CONfines de Relaciones Internacionales y Ciencia Política
Abstract:
If the principal components of Mexico's 20th century authoritarianism were a strong president and a hegemonic party loyal.to it, we need to ask: What were the causes of the creation of the binomial system that was in fact successfully supported and articulated. From the perspective of neoinstitutionalism, this text explores not only the causal connections between the implementation and the workings of no-reelection in the federal Congress, but also the creation and persistence of the authoritarian regime. In fact, such an institution (institutional rule) contributed to the concentration of power in one single party that then contributed to the concentration of power in one single figure, the president.
Topic:
Development, Government, and Politics
Political Geography:
Mexico

53. Legislative Performance and party difference in Mexico: the Chamber of Deputies, 2000-2003

Author:
Everado Rodrigo Daz Gmez
Publication Date:
05-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
CONfines de Relaciones Internacionales y Ciencia Política
Abstract:
El artículo muestra los resultados de una investigación sobre el desempeño legislativo y la disciplina partidista en la Cámara de Diputados mexicana, durante la 58 Legislatura (2000-2003). El trabajo pone a prueba cuatro hipótesis provenientes de la bibliografía sobre gobierno sin mayoría en el caso mexicano. En particular, busca mostrar que, contrario a lo que se piensa comúnmente, las instituciones políticas mexicanas, y en especial el Congreso, no están en un estado de “parálisis” o crisis.
Topic:
Development, Government, and Politics
Political Geography:
Central America and Mexico

54. ¡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

55. Organizational blindness: a methodological approximation of the functioning of organizations

Author:
Delphine Mercier
Publication Date:
12-2005
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
CONfines de Relaciones Internacionales y Ciencia Política
Abstract:
This article analyzes organizational phenomena using the perspective of sociological theory, and in particular interactionist sociology. I demonstrate that traditional analysis in terms of power, professional culture, or autonomy regulation does not reveal the complexity of the dynamic of the interactions of an organizational structure. I construct an interpretative and methodological framework towards understanding the causes of organizational blindness and some possible resolutions. This argument is illustrated through the analysis of a case study that departs from the definition created by the organization's actors.
Topic:
Civil Society, Development, and Politics

56. Radical conclusion and conflict in the formation of the people's populism

Author:
Sebastián Barros
Publication Date:
12-2005
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
CONfines de Relaciones Internacionales y Ciencia Política
Abstract:
This article reviews the concept of populism as presented by Ernesto Laclau. I argue that Laclau's definition needs to clarify the reference to “the excluded” in order to isolate the specificity of populism. By bringing into the discussion an argument about the conflictive nature of politics, I contend that populism can be defined as the moment of the eruption of the excluded. In other words, the idea of radical inclusion means that populist discourse provokes the transformation of the institutional order.
Topic:
Civil Society, Development, Government, and Politics

57. Elections in Mexico: restrictions, fraud, and conflicts

Author:
José María Infante
Publication Date:
12-2005
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
CONfines de Relaciones Internacionales y Ciencia Política
Abstract:
The development of electoral processes in modern democracies has a long history of reconstructions that slowly lifted restrictive conditions. This development has not been without conflicts and many obstacles have had to be overcome to establish citizens' confidence in voting. In the case of Mexico, electoral transformation experienced many difficulties, and combined with the strong presence of the state machinery elections were unreliable until the end of the 20th century. Therefore, despite advances, there are still many problems with the electoral process. This article provides a summary of the principal electoral issues in the past decade in an attempt to unravel the causes.
Topic:
Civil Society, Democratization, Development, and Government
Political Geography:
Mexico

58. Chilean Foreign Policy: Exceptionality or Continuity? A review of "profound forces" and tendencies

Author:
María Elena Lorenzini and Myriam Colacrai
Publication Date:
12-2005
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
CONfines de Relaciones Internacionales y Ciencia Política
Abstract:
The purpose of this article is to explore how identity and profound forces shape the foreign policy of states. The author discusses how traditional Chilean foreign policy actions reveal its identity while also taking into account new external policy trends that seemingly operate within the construction of a new identity. With respect to profound forces, the article examines the following: institutional stability and democratic processes ( Pinochet's dictatorship is an exception here), presidentialism, territorial factors and regional balance, and the civic-pragmatic style of its diplomacy.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Development, and Government
Political Geography:
South America

59. Latin American Religious Responses to Socio-cultural changes of Globalization

Author:
Alice Hamui Sutton
Publication Date:
12-2005
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
CONfines de Relaciones Internacionales y Ciencia Política
Abstract:
At the beginning of this third millennium, we are witnessing the end of an era marked by the hegemony of European Christianity and the globalization of a deterritorialized and decentered Christianity. Evangelical Pentecostalism and the Catholic Charismatic Renovation Movement are examples of this type of individual salvation spiritualism in Latin America. This article illustrates how these movements base their success on their ritual pragmatism with regard to personal crisis situations and the image of a near and accessible God. Moreover, the success of these movements is because of the adjustment to new conditions of the global market, the adaptation to the new processes of citizenship typical of modern democracies, and the satisfaction of spiritual and affective needs in a context of intense shifts trying to create new identities to reestablish the social framework of society.
Topic:
Civil Society, Government, and Religion
Political Geography:
Europe, South America, and Latin America

60. (In)accessibility of the knowledge society: a critical reading of the production of modern sociology

Author:
Daniel Muriel
Publication Date:
12-2005
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
CONfines de Relaciones Internacionales y Ciencia Política
Abstract:
The purpose of this article is to develop an approximation of the concept of a society of knowledge while trying to avoid the risks that this implies when using a modernist perspective of sociology. The author reviews the different major phases of change described by modern sociologists since the second half of the 20th century. The article provides a critical review of modern sociological thought in relation to a plausible formulation of a knowledgable society as a conceptual tool that helps us to understand certain contemporary problems.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Civil Society, Development, and Education