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42. Justicia y decisión en el discurso presidencial argentino sobre la memoria (2003-2007)
- Author:
- Ana Soledad Montero
- Publication Date:
- 02-2008
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- CONfines de Relaciones Internacionales y Ciencia Política
- Abstract:
- The claim for “memory” and “justice” regarding the crimes of the last military dictatorship took a central place in the agenda of Argentina's former president N. Kirchner (2003 - 2007). The purpose of this work is to analyze the tensions and complexities entailed in any process of construction of a collective memory within democracy: What is the role of the authority and the political decision? How can we find common tolerance principles to establish the limits of the political community? Finally, we wonder about the theoretical and practical possibility of justice, tolerance and pluralism in democracy and, particularly, about the main challenges faced by the Argentinean democracy in order to become a consolidated political community.
- Topic:
- Civil Society, Democratization, Government, and Politics
- Political Geography:
- Argentina, South America, Latin America, Central America, and Spain
43. Bolivia: Rescuing the New Constitution and Democratic Stability -- Latin America Briefing N°18
- Publication Date:
- 06-2008
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- International Crisis Group
- Abstract:
- President Evo Morales's efforts to consolidate sweeping reforms on the basis of a controversial new constitution have steered Bolivia into a cul-de-sac. On 8 December 2007, his supporters in the Constituent Assembly (CA) provisionally passed the text by running roughshod over procedures and virtually excluding opposition delegates. Weak attempts to bridge the deepening divide have failed, increasing potential for a violent confrontation both sides still seem to wish to avoid. Openly defying Morales in May 2008, however, Santa Cruz massively approved the department's autonomy statutes by referendum. Two other eastern lowland departments followed suit, with the fourth expected to do so on 22 June. Morales is pushing for final adoption of the constitution by referendum and a popular vote of confidence. The Organization of American States (OAS), the European Union (EU) and several European countries, and the Group of Friends (Argentina, Brazil and Colombia) should provide good offices to help the government and opposition reach urgent agreement on a revised constitution that can keep the country together.
- Topic:
- Government, Political Economy, and Politics
- Political Geography:
- Latin America
44. Turning to the Left? Understanding Some Unexpected Events in Latin America
- Author:
- Carlos M. Vilas
- Publication Date:
- 01-2008
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- The Journal of Diplomacy and International Relations
- Institution:
- School of Diplomacy and International Relations, Seton Hall University
- Abstract:
- Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Uruguay and Venezuela are currently ruled by governments that are typically considered to be on the left of the political spectrum due to their progressive, reformist stances. Together, these states account for almost two thirds of Latin America's population and roughly half of its combined GDP. In the 2006 presidential election in Mexico, the candidate who shared the political views of the aforementioned states was defeated by less than percent in a contested turnout.
- Topic:
- Government
- Political Geography:
- Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Latin America, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Mexico, Chile, Ecuador, and Bolivia
45. Control y sanción: El financiamiento público a las Agrupaciones Políticas Nacionales en México (2000-2005)
- Author:
- Anselmo Flores Andrade
- Publication Date:
- 12-2008
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- CONfines de Relaciones Internacionales y Ciencia Política
- Abstract:
- Democracia y transparencia son una demanda cada vez más presente en nuestros sistemas políticos contemporáneos (Peschard, 2005; Rivera, 2005). Si bien el adjetivo democrático ha sido utilizado para legitimar el origen, actuación y acciones tanto de los funcionarios como de los órganos públicos, esto ya no es razón suficiente. Cada vez es más imperativo informar, justificar y transparentar la toma de decisiones; así mismo, las acciones emprendidas (Shedler, 2004); es decir, ejercer la rendición de cuentas. Esta tarea, es cada vez más necesaria en la relación dinero y política, pues dicha relación, en los últimas décadas, ha generando graves casos de corrupción que han influido en el descrédito de la política, en general, y de los partidos políticos, en particular. De hecho, los efectos negativos de esa relación han colocado el tema como uno de los centrales en la agenda política latinoamericana (Carrillo, Lujambio, Navarro y Zovatto, 2003; García, 2000; Griner y Zovatto, 2004). Especialmente, el financiamiento de los partidos políticos ha sido motivo de preocupación por lo que, en la última década, se introdujeron, en la mayoría de los códigos electorales del continente, normas y mecanismos tendientes a controlar e inhibir las acciones prohibidas por la ley (Zovatto, 2003). A pesar de ello, los escándalos políticos por el uso ilícito de dinero y tráfico de influencias en las campañas electorales continuaron.
- Topic:
- Democratization, Government, and Political Economy
- Political Geography:
- Latin America
46. Una alternativa de participación política. Las Redes Ciudadanas del PRD en Nuevo León
- Author:
- Angélica Hernández Ramírez
- Publication Date:
- 09-2008
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- CONfines de Relaciones Internacionales y Ciencia Política
- Abstract:
- La política ha cobrado un significado negativo ante los ojos de buena parte de la ciudadanía, quien, lejos de desear participar en ella, permanece lo más alejada posible. Ante esta situación, los partidos políticos y algunos sectores de la sociedad han comenzado a buscar medios alternativos de participación política. Uno de ellos está formado por las redes ciudadanas que podrían facilitar una participación directa mayor que la de los propios partidos, y que podrían constituir, en ocasiones, grandes masas de individuos dispuestos a integrarse en el sistema político.
- Topic:
- Civil Society, Democratization, Government, and Politics
- Political Geography:
- Latin America
47. Understanding the Politics of Latin America's Plural Lefts (Chávez/Lula): Social Democracy, Populism, And Convergence on the Path to a Post-Neoliberal World
- Author:
- John D. French
- Publication Date:
- 12-2008
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Kellogg Institute for International Studies
- Abstract:
- The division of Latin America's contemporary left into the “populist” or “social democratic” originated as a disciplinary move by neoliberals. Such dichotomous categorizations derive from an impoverished notion of the political in which a positivist sphere of exalted expertise and enlightenment, based on reason, rationality, and objectivity, is juxtaposed against a lesser sphere of emotion, passion, and personalism. This underlying dualism, which derives from liberalism, permeates academic disciplines and crosses lines of ideology while tracking established markers of hierarchical distinction in a region profoundly divided along multiple lines of race, class, and cultural capital. Politics is better understood as embodied work, done with words, based on real and imagined relationships between flesh-and-blood humans as they are inserted into a larger cultural and symbolic universe.
- Topic:
- Democratization, Government, Imperialism, and Politics
- Political Geography:
- Latin America
48. Drugs, Civil War, and the Conditional Impact of the Economy on Democracy
- Author:
- Michael Coppedge, Angel Alvarez, and Lucas González
- Publication Date:
- 10-2007
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Kellogg Institute for International Studies
- Abstract:
- Theorizing about the influence of modernization on democracy is once again in vogue. Nevertheless, this theme faces an important obstacle: the leverage of modernization hypotheses is generally modest. Key modernization variables, especially per capita GDP, almost always explain part of the variance in democracy, but rarely more than half. Also, as one can see in certain Latin American cases, economic growth sometimes has a negative impact on democracy. This paper argues that the impact of economic growth varies from country to country for systematic, not random, reasons. Using Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM) in a cross-regional sample of 108 countries from 1978 to 1999, the paper shows that it is crucial to distinguish between the short- term effect of per capita GDP growth within each country and the cross-national effect of long-term growth. A distinct causal mechanism is at work at each level of analysis. More precisely, the paper identifies four factors that condition the impact of economic growth on democracy: the existing political regime, the democratic experience of each country, the frequency of civil war, and the importance of drug trafficking in the domestic economy. Although other factors probably also condition the effect of the economy on democracy and democratization, the model used in this paper explains 82 percent of the variance in the sample, which is substantially greater than what is typically found in other studies of democratization. Consequently, this paper shows that it is necessary to continue to refine hypotheses about the conditional effect of the economy in order to improve conventional explanations of variation in levels of democracy, whether within one country or in comparative perspective.
- Topic:
- Economics, Government, and War on Drugs
- Political Geography:
- Latin America
49. The Quality of Democracy in Latin America: Another View
- Author:
- Daniel H. Levine and Jose E. Molina
- Publication Date:
- 11-2007
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Kellogg Institute for International Studies
- Abstract:
- Studies of democracy in Latin America have gone beyond attention to transitions and consolidation to a concern with developing reliable comparative assessments of the quality of democracy. This requires conceptualization of democracy in multi-dimensional terms; quality of democracy is a continuum that varies along a range of related dimensions: electoral decision, participation, responsiveness, accountability, and sovereignty. Working with these dimensions, an index of quality of democracy in Latin America is developed that provides for comparison between countries and for a richer analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the quality of democracy within each country. Appropriate data include expert assessments, aggregate statistics, and opinion surveys.
- Topic:
- Government
- Political Geography:
- Latin America
50. Latin America and the Catholic Church: Points of Convergence and Divergence (encontros e desencontros) 1960–2005
- Author:
- Luiz Alberto Gómez de Souza
- Publication Date:
- 02-2007
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Kellogg Institute for International Studies
- Abstract:
- The author aims at uncovering points of convergence and divergence in the relationship between the Catholic Church and society. He begins by analyzing the challenges facing the Church in modern times, using the case of the United States and the traditional political relationship between Church and State in Latin America until the rise of the social-Christian options in the 1960s. He then describes Vatican II, which opened the Church to the influences of modern times. Subsequently, the author explains what he calls the “glorious period” of the Latin American Church, from the conference of bishops in Medellin (1968) to the meeting in Puebla (1979), with the Church's critique of “social sin,” its option for the poor, and liberation theology. Concurrently, the author shows the contradictory effects of the military regimes in the region. Looking at the relationship between Christians and politics, he analyzes in particular the case of Brazil, later expanding his analysis to Latin America and the world. The author then addresses social participation and politics in ecclesiastical practices and the slow building of democracy in the region, offering methodological criticisms of some static and nonhistorical analyses. He delineates how democracy has challenged the Church and, looking ahead, explores the present dynamism of society, especially the virtuosity of social movements and ecclesiastical communities when facing future transformation. The author ends by describing the current situation in Latin America, highlighting the pressing need for the Church to face issues that are presently frozen (such as sexuality, celibacy, and women as priests), in the hopes of a possible Council process in the future.
- Topic:
- Civil Society, Government, and Religion
- Political Geography:
- United States, Brazil, South America, and Latin America