Showing papers in "Latin American Research Review in 2005"
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that presidential diplomacy is insufficient to account for the performance of MERCOSUR and show how institutional structures, shaped by the system of government of the member countries, have sustained presidential intervention and, hence, the process of regional integration.
Abstract: The relative success of the Southern Common Market (MERCOSUR) is a puzzle for most theories of regional integration. This is due to its having achieved remarkable progress in spite of lacking features such as significant levels of previous interdependence (demand factor) or major regional institutions (sup- ply factor). To account for this puzzle, it has been claimed that the operation of MERCOSUR rests on presidential diplomacy. Such a mechanism is understood as the resort to direct negotiations between the national presidents whenever a crucial decision has to be made or a critical conflict solved. This article argues that presidential diplomacy—understood as political, summit diplomacy as op- posed to institutionalized, professional diplomacy—is insufficient to account for the performance of MERCOSUR. Through the empirical analysis of three critical episodes, the article shows how institutional structures, shaped by the system of government of the member countries, have sustained presidential intervention and, hence, the process of regional integration.
144 citations
TL;DR: The authors reviewed the consequences of the paradigm shift in Latin American economic historiography from structuralism to the New Institutional Economics (NIE) and examined the latest long-range comparisons of productivity between the Latin American and U.S. economies, concluding that the relative economic stagnation of the past quarter century may not render structuralism entirely irrelevant.
Abstract: The following three articles, together with this brief introduction, review the consequences of the paradigm shift in Latin American economic historiography from structuralism to the New Institutional Economics (NIE). Joseph Love analyzes the basic tenets of structuralism, their connection to dependency, the influence of CEPAL on policymaking, and how a generation of historians utilized the methodologies of structuralism to research historical problems in Latin American development. John H. Coatsworth's contribution correlates the decline of the structuralist model to the rise of research interests in the role of institutions in economic history and examines the latest long-range comparisons of productivity between the Latin American and U.S. economies. Commenting on the recent research utilizing the NIE, Coatsworth agrees with Love that the relative economic stagnation of the past quarter century may not render structuralism entirely irrelevant. Sandra Kuntz Ficker summarizes the basic positions held by the structuralist and dependentista schools with respect to commercial policy and concludes with a discussion of how the NIE contributes to innovative research on Latin American foreign trade. These articles resulted from the authors' participation in a LARR-sponsored panel at the 2004 Latin American Studies Association Congress.
Los siguientes tres articulos, junto a esta breve introduccion, repasan las consecuencias que el cambio de paradigma del estructuralismo a la Nueva Economia Institucional (NEI) han producido en la historiografia economica de America Latina. Joseph Love analiza los principios basicos del estructuralismo, su conexion con la teoria de la dependencia, la influencia de la CEPAL en la toma de decisiones politicas y como una generacion de historiadores utilizo las metodologias del estructuralismo para indagar los problemas historicos del desarrollo latinoamericano. En su contribucion, John H. Coatsworth relaciona el declive del modelo estructuralista con el aumento del interes academico por el rol que las instituciones tuvieron en el desarrollo de la historia economica, y examina las mas recientes comparaciones de la productividad de largo plazo de las economias latino y norteamericanas. Coatsworth coincide con Love en su vision sobre los mas recientes analisis que emplean la perspectiva de la NEI, en cuanto a que el relativo estancamiento de la economia durante el ultimo cuarto de siglo no deja al estructuralismo en una posicion irrelevante. Sandra Kuntz Ficker resume las posturas de las escuelas estructuralista y dependentista con respecto a las politicas comerciales, y concluye con una discusion acerca de la innovacion que la NEI ha generado en la investigacion sobre el comercio internacional latinoamericano. Estos articulos se originaron en la participacion de estos autores en el foro organizado por LARR en el XXV Congreso Internacional de LASA de 2004.
116 citations
TL;DR: In contrast to the rich scholarship documenting the traumatic post-contact destruction of indigenous populations in the Latin American tropics, little is known about their contemporary population dynamics as discussed by the authors, and the relevance of indigenous societies' recovery to scholarship and praxis in the areas of health and education, cultural and political gains, and demographic theory.
Abstract: In contrast to the rich scholarship documenting the traumatic post- contact destruction of indigenous populations in the Latin American tropics, little is known about their contemporary population dynamics. What accounts for the "demographic turnaround" reported for some groups? How widespread is popu- lation recovery, and what are its implications for indigenous political resurgence? We address these questions by compiling recent (post-1980) demographic indica- tors for over one hundred lowland indigenous populations. Despite remarkable socioeconomic and cultural diversity among these groups, we find compelling evidence that they nevertheless share a common trajectory of very rapid growth over the past two decades, especially in contrast to non-indigenous populations. We briefly review the implications of their dramatic physical resurgence and show how closer attention to this phenomenon is overdue. We discuss the relevance of indigenous societies' recovery to scholarship and praxis in the areas of health and education, cultural and political gains, and demographic theory.
106 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors use evidence from four Zapotec communities in rural Oaxaca to argue that communities can use the organizational capacity of traditional governance systems to access remittances from migrants for the benefit of the community as a whole.
Abstract: Researchers studying migration and development have argued over the potential that migration and associated remittances have to improve the economic and social conditions in origin communities. Past research on migration from indigenous communities in Oaxaca has similarly questioned the compatibility of traditional governance systems with high migration rates. We argue, using evidence from four Zapotec communities in rural Oaxaca, that communities can use the organizational capacity of traditional governance systems to access remittances from migrants for the benefit of the community as a whole. Communities can require payment from migrants in lieu of communal labor requirements (tequio) and may directly solicit remittances from migrants for community projects. The extent to which they enforce these requests depends on the existing organizational strength in the community. These findings imply that strong forms of community organization can make the difference between migration contributing to underdevelopment and migration contributing to development.
Especialistas sobre migracion y desarrollo han estudiado el potencial que la migracion y sus remesas asociadas brindan al mejoramiento de las condiciones sociales y politicas en las comunidades de origen. Asimismo, estudios previos sobre migracion de comunidades indigenas en Oaxaca han cuestionado la compatibilidad de sistemas tradicionales de gobierno y altas tasas de migracion. Sobre la base de evidencia de cuatro comunidades zapotecas en la zona rural de Oaxaca, sostenemos que las comunidades pueden utilizar la capacidad institucional de sistemas de gobierno tradicionales para acceder a remesas en favor de la comunidad en general. Las comunidades pueden exigir a los emigrantes pagos en lugar de participar en trabajos comunitarios obligatorios (tequio) y tambien pueden solicitar remesas a los emigrantes para proyectos comunitarios. El grado hasta el cual las comunidades exigen el cumplimiento de estos requisitos depende de la fuerza organizativa de la comunidad. Los resultados de esta investigacion implican que la solidez organizacional puede definir a la migracion como beneficiosa o perjudicial para el desarrollo comunitario.
74 citations
TL;DR: Structuralism's influence during the third quarter of the last century is admitted by friend and foe alike as mentioned in this paper, but their intent is not to determine whether structural analysis was "correct", but to examine some of the forms it took and show why they were important.
Abstract: America, or CEPAL2-still has any relevance is a legitimate one. In any event, structuralism's influence during the third quarter of the last century is admitted by friend and foe alike. My intent is not to determine whether structural analysis was "correct," but to examine some of the forms it took and show why they were important. These were structuralist approaches to import substitution, informality, and economic historiography. I further consider structuralism as a movement, and the reasons for its success and subsequent decline. The essay closes with a brief consideration of how structuralism survives today, given the vast changes in economic development theory over the last half century.3
71 citations
TL;DR: The authors examined the role of television exposure on vote choice in the 1989 election of Fernando Collor de Mello in Brazil, the 2000 election of Alberto Fujimori in Peru, and the 2001 election of Alejandro Toledo in Peru.
Abstract: Several Latin American countries have experienced the emergence of neopopulist politicians who eschew ties to traditional parties and orient their campaigns toward the atomized poor. This article examines the role of television in the electoral success of these politicians. Using survey data, I assess the impact of television exposure on vote choice in the 1989 election of Fernando Collor de Mello in Brazil, the 2000 election of Alberto Fujimori in Peru, and the 2001 election of Alejandro Toledo in Peru. These cases achieve variation on two predictors of media effects: the presence of a neopopulist outsider and biased television coverage of the campaign. Statistical analysis confirms our theoretical expectations of media effects in the first two elections (where coverage was biased) but not in the third. These findings suggest that bias is the more reliable predictor of television's impact on Latin American presidential elections, rather than the presence of a neopopulist candidate.
69 citations
TL;DR: The authors examines the origins of amendatory vetoes in Latin America and shows why presidents' ability to present a redrafted bill after congressional passage gives them considerable power to affect legislation, and highlights the positive agenda-setting power afforded to the president at the last stage of the lawmaking process.
Abstract: This paper examines the origins of amendatory vetoes in Latin America and shows why presidents' ability to present a redrafted bill after congressional passage gives them considerable power to affect legislation. The paper begins with a historical account that illustrates the workings of amendatory observations in nineteenth-century Latin America—the passage of the Electoral Law of 1874 in Chile. Next, it specifies the degree to which different constitutional procedures allow presidents to redraft legislation and shows why the power to introduce amendatory observations provides greater discretion than the power of the better- known block veto, regardless of override thresholds. Lastly, the paper traces the origins of amendatory observations back to the first wave of constitution writing that followed the wars of independence. Our findings challenge prior classifica- tions of veto powers in Latin America and highlight the positive agenda-setting power afforded to the president at the last stage of the lawmaking process.
61 citations
TL;DR: The persistence of an official discourse of mestizo nationalism in Nicaragua in spite of the adoption of multicultural citizenship rights for black and indigenous costenos in 1986 is analyzed in this article.
Abstract: This article analyzes the persistence of an official discourse of mestizo nationalism in Nicaragua in spite of the adoption of multicultural citizenship rights for black and indigenous costenos in 1986. These reforms appeared to directly contradict key premises of previously dominant nationalist ideologies, particularly the idea that Nicaragua was a uniformly mestizo nation. Instead of a radical break with the past, however, what we find in contemporary Nicaragua is a continuous process of negotiation and contestation among three variants of official mestizo nationalism: vanguardismo, Sandinismo, and "mestizo multiculturalism" that emerged in the 1930s, 1960s, and 1990s respectively. This article traces the continuities among these disparate but intimately related accounts of national history and identity and the way they all operate to limit the political inclusion of black and indigenous costenos as such.
Este articulo analiza la persistencia de un nacionalismo oficial mestizo en Nicaragua a pesar de la adopcion de derechos ciudadanos multiculturales para costenos afro-descendientes e indigenas en 1986. Estas reformas constitucionales aparentan contradecir directamente premisas claves de ideologias nacionalistas previamente dominantes, en particular la idea de Nicaragua como una nacion uniformemente mestiza. Pero en vez de una radical ruptura con el pasado, este articulo argumenta que lo que se divisa actualmente en Nicaragua es un proceso constante de negociacion y contienda entre tres modalidades del nacionalismo oficial mestizo: el vanguardismo, Sandinismo, y lo que yo llamo "multiculturalismo mestizo" que surgieron en las decadas de 1930, 1960, y 1990 respectivamente. Este articulo traza las continuidades entre estos divergentes pero intimamente relacionados relatos sobre la identidad e historia nicaraguenses, y la manera en la cual todos funcionan para limitar la plena inclusion politica de costenos afro-descendientes e indigenas como tales.
57 citations
TL;DR: This paper attributed pre-revolutionary Cuba's rapid mortality decline to its health care system's accessibility to a large fraction of the poor and to features of the island's history, geography, labor union movement, and political system that contributed to this accessibility.
Abstract: Revolutionary Cuba since 1959 has outpaced most other Latin American countries at raising life expectancy and reducing infant mortality. Pre-revolutionary Cuba from 1900 to 1959 did even better, however, outperforming all other Latin American countries for which data are available. Pre-revolutionary Cuba became Latin America's unlikely champion of mortality decline despite experiencing slow economic growth and high income inequality, a record that is inconsistent with the "wealthier is healthier" interpretation of mortality reduction. It also achieved this distinction despite being ruled by governments that are sometimes portrayed as corrupt, personalistic, patronage-ridden, subordinate to U.S. business interests, and neglectful, at best, of the exploited and downtrodden. We attribute pre-revolutionary Cuba's rapid mortality decline to its health care system's accessibility to a large fraction of the poor and to features of the island's history, geography, labor union movement, and political system that contributed to this accessibility.
43 citations
TL;DR: This article used an interdisciplinary approach to present and analyze information on the smallest manifestations of popular culture in Latin American countries: postage stamps, which carried significant messages, including expressions of nationalism, politics, propaganda, and cultural identity.
Abstract: This article uses an interdisciplinary approach to present and analyze information on the smallest manifestations of popular culture in Latin American countries: postage stamps. The disciplines involved are semiotics (the linguistic study of signs), history, politics (internal and international), and popular culture. The project studies how these postage stamps carry significant messages, including expressions of nationalism, politics (national and international), propaganda, and cultural identity. The article begins with an overview of Latin American postage stamps, with an emphasis on internal and international politics. The latter category focuses on several cases of inter-country tension in which postage stamps have played a role.
Este articulo utiliza un enfoque interdisciplinario para presentar y analizar informacion sobre las manifestaciones mas pequenas de la cultura popular de los paises latinoamericanos: las estampillas de correo. Las disciplinas involucradas en dicho enfoque son la Semiotica (el estudio de los signos, sus relaciones y significado), la Historia, la Politica (nacional e internacional) y la cultura popular. El proyecto estudia como estas estampillas estan cargadas de mensajes significativos incluyendo expresiones de nacionalismo, propaganda politica (nacional e internacional) e identidad cultural. El articulo comienza con una revision de las estampillas latinoamericanas para luego establecer que ellas constituyen un valioso objeto de estudio bajo la rubrica de "cultura popular". Luego de presentar un marco semiotico para el estudio de las estampillas, el autor describe ejemplos especificos de estampillas latinoamericanas enfatizando especialmente las politicas nacionales e internacionales envueltas en el diseno de las estampillas. Esta ultima categoria se enfoca sobre varios casos de tension entre distintos paises en las que las estampillas han jugado un rol importante.
36 citations
TL;DR: This article used occupational data to measure gendered changes in Latin America's class structure over the last two decades of economic restructuring and adjustment and investigate the causes and consequences of these regional patterns.
Abstract: Female participation in the Latin American paid labor force is increasing dramatically. Building upon Portes and Hoffman's (2003) model, we use occupational data to measure gendered changes in Latin America's class structure over the last two decades of economic restructuring and adjustment and to investigate the causes and consequences of these regional patterns. Our results suggest two important conclusions. First, economic adjustment and restructuring is increasing women's parity with men in terms of class position largely as a consequence of the deterioration of men's once-privileged location in the class structure. Second, recent economic adjustment and restructuring has altered power relations between social classes in Latin America in part because it has inspired both qualitative and quantitative changes in the gendered composition of Latin American labor. The number of women entering the work force, and the labor conditions suffered particularly by women workers, has resulted in both the literal and figurative "emasculation" of the Formal Proletariat. These preliminary findings make clear the explanatory benefits of including gender in analyses of changes in the Latin American class structure.
TL;DR: The authors explored the sources of Ecuador's boom in flower exports since the late 1980s and found that fresh cut flower exports rose from almost nothing to 9 percent of the country's non-petroleum export earnings.
Abstract: This article explores the sources of Ecuador's boom in flower exports since the late 1980s. In that boom, fresh cut flower exports rose from almost nothing to 9 percent of the country's nonpetroleum export earnings. This research addresses whether trade liberalization and macroeconomic reforms played a decisive role in stimulating the export boom or whether changes in the global flower market created Ecuador's comparative advantage in flower exports independent of the policy regime. The article surveys the many changes in economic policy toward agriculture in general, flower cultivation, nontraditional exports, international trade, and macroeconomic stability. Growth rates in traditional and nontraditional exports are examined to see if they correlate with changes in key policies. The article also examines how the restructuring of the global flower market affected Ecuador's floriculture industry.
Este articulo explora el origen del auge de la exportacion de flores del Ecuador desde los ultimos anos de la decada del 80. En este auge, las exportaciones de flores frescas crecieron hasta constituir un 9 por ciento de las ganancias de las exportaciones no petroleras. Esta investigacion se propone examinar si la liberalizacion del comercio y las reformas macroeconomicas jugaron un papel decisivo en el impulso del auge exportador, o si cambios en el mercado internacional de flores crearon la ventaja comparativa del Ecuador independientemente del regimen de las politicas economicas. Este articulo examina la gran cantidad de cambios en la politica economica hacia el sector agricultor en general, en el cultivo de las flores, en las exportaciones no tradicionales, en el comercio internacional y en la estabilidad macroeconomica. A su vez, se examina el ritmo de crecimiento de las exportaciones tradicionales y no tradicionales para determinar si ambos se correlacionan con los cambios en politicas claves. Por ultimo, este articulo tambien examina de que manera la reestructuracion del mercado internacional de flores afecto la industria de la floricultura ecuatoriana.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors identify significant variations in states' abilities to recover from crisis and link those variations in part to the country's uneven electoral transition to a multiparty democracy that coincided with the crisis.
Abstract: In an era when development processes seem best characterized by a continuing cycle of macroeconomic crisis and recovery, a critical question for students of the political economy of development concerns identifying the factors that facilitate recovery from economic shock. Recent work on this question has moved beyond a focus on specific macroeconomic policy adjustments toward analysis of the role political institutions play in shaping recovery processes. Applying this research to the experiences of Mexico's thirty-one states following the country's 1995 economic crisis, I identify significant variations in states' abilities to recover from crisis and link those variations in part to the country's uneven electoral transition to a multiparty democracy that coincided with the crisis. With more and more governmental activities increasingly being decentralized to lower levels of government, these findings provide an indication of the important role subnational variations in political environments can play in shaping the broader political and economic outcomes of Latin America's "dual transition."1 En tiempos en los cuales los procesos de desarrollo parecieran estar caracterizados principalmente por un ciclo continuo de crisis macroeconomica y de recuperacion, una pregunta critica surge para los estudiantes de economia politica del desarrollo: ?cuales son los factores que mejor le permiten a una economia recuperarse de un shock economico? Estudios recientes sobre este tema han desviado su atencion desde el estudio de politicas de ajuste macroeconomico hacia el analisis de los tipos de instituciones politicas que un pais posee para enfrentar las consecuencias sociales de una aguda depresion economica. Este articulo lleva esta investigacion mas alla, a traves de la evaluacion de las variaciones en las dimensiones institucionales y su impacto en los indices de recuperacion economica subnacional. Basandome en los procesos de recuperacion de los treinta y un estados de Mexico posteriores a
las crisis economica de 1995, identifico variaciones significativas que existen
en las diversas capacidades con las que los estados contaron para recuperarse de la crisis; y de este modo ofrezco apoyo preliminar para la tesis que propone que la recuperacion de una crisis economica esta en parte determinada por la capacidad que las instituciones politicas tienen para manejar los conflictos que surgen casi inevitablemente durante periodos de crisis.
TL;DR: Barreto and McCaffrey as mentioned in this paper described the politics of language on the island of Vieques and the U.S. NAVY in Vieques, PUERTO RICO.
Abstract: FOREIGN IN A DOMESTIC SENSE: PUERTO RICO, AMERICAN EXPANSION AND THE CONSTITUTION. Edited by Christina Duffy Burnett and Burke Marshall. (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2001. Pp. xv+422. $79.95 cloth, $25.95 paper.) ISLANDS OF RESISTANCE: PUERTO RICO, VIEQUES AND U.S. POLICY. By Mario Murillo. (New York: Seven Stories Press, 2001. Pp. 90. $9.95 paper.) MILITARY POWER AND POPULAR PROTEST: THE U.S. NAVY IN VIEQUES, PUERTO RICO. By Katherine T. McCaffrey. (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2002. Pp. xvii+218. $60.00 cloth, $22.00 paper.) THE POLITICS OF LANGUAGE IN PUERTO RICO. By Amilcar Antonio Barreto. (Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2001. Pp. xiv+221. $55.00 cloth.) PUERTO RICANS IN THE UNITED STATES. By Maria E. Perez y Gonzalez. (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2000. Pp. xii+186. $45.00 cloth.) THE PUERTO RICAN NATION ON THE MOVE: IDENTITIES ON THE ISLAND
TL;DR: This article studied the evolution of literacy in Latin America and the Caribbean from 1900 to 1950 and developed a methodology to overcome the lack of census data for half of the countries in the region for 1900, as well as lack of comparability of the existing census data.
Abstract: This article studies the evolution of literacy in Latin America and the Caribbean from 1900 to 1950 A methodology is developed to overcome the lack of census data for half of the countries in the region for 1900, as well as the lack of comparability of the existing census data Combining census data and literacy data gathered from marriage registrations, military recruits, crime statistics, and urban censuses, adult literacy estimates for twenty-two countries of the region are provided for 1900, which offer a new and more complete portrait of human capital formation from 1900 to 1950 There are wide variations across the region in literacy rates in 1900, as well as in the increase of literacy from 1900 to 1950, the latter being associated with variations in the expansion of primary education enrollment in different Latin American countries However, countries also differ in their success in transforming school enrollment into adult literacy, which is partly associated with the prevalence of Amerindian populations
TL;DR: This article reviewed the consequences of the paradigm shift in Latin American economic historiography from structuralism to the New Institutional Economics (NIE) and examined the latest long-range comparisons of productivity between the Latin American and U.S. economies, concluding that the relative economic stagnation of the past quarter century may not render structuralism entirely irrelevant.
Abstract: The following three articles, together with this brief introduction, review the consequences of the paradigm shift in Latin American economic historiography from structuralism to the New Institutional Economics (NIE). Joseph Love analyzes the basic tenets of structuralism, their connection to dependency, the influence of CEPAL on policymaking, and how a generation of historians utilized the methodologies of structuralism to research historical problems in Latin American development. John H. Coatsworth's contribution correlates the decline of the structuralist model to the rise of research interests in the role of institutions in economic history and examines the latest long-range comparisons of productivity between the Latin American and U.S. economies. Commenting on the recent research utilizing the NIE, Coatsworth agrees with Love that the relative economic stagnation of the past quarter century may not render structuralism entirely irrelevant. Sandra Kuntz Ficker summarizes the basic positions held by the structuralist and dependentista schools with respect to commercial policy and concludes with a discussion of how the NIE contributes to innovative research on Latin American foreign trade. These articles resulted from the authors' participation in a LARR-sponsored panel at the 2004 Latin American Studies Association Congress.
Los siguientes tres articulos, junto a esta breve introduccion, repasan las consecuencias que el cambio de paradigma del estructuralismo a la Nueva Economia Institucional (NEI) han producido en la historiografia economica de America Latina. Joseph Love analiza los principios basicos del estructuralismo, su conexion con la teoria de la dependencia, la influencia de la CEPAL en la toma de decisiones politicas y como una generacion de historiadores utilizo las metodologias del estructuralismo para indagar los problemas historicos del desarrollo latinoamericano. En su contribucion, John H. Coatsworth relaciona el declive del modelo estructuralista con el aumento del interes academico por el rol que las instituciones tuvieron en el desarrollo de la historia economica, y examina las mas recientes comparaciones de la productividad de largo plazo de las economias latino y norteamericanas. Coatsworth coincide con Love en su vision sobre los mas recientes analisis que emplean la perspectiva de la NEI, en cuanto a que el relativo estancamiento de la economia durante el ultimo cuarto de siglo no deja al estructuralismo en una posicion irrelevante. Sandra Kuntz Ficker resume las posturas de las escuelas estructuralista y dependentista con respecto a las politicas comerciales, y concluye con una discusion acerca de la innovacion que la NEI ha generado en la investigacion sobre el comercio internacional latinoamericano. Estos articulos se originaron en la participacion de estos autores en el foro organizado por LARR en el XXV Congreso Internacional de LASA de 2004.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that the electoral system's coalition-inducing tendencies are actually quite context dependent, and that subtle contextual variations cause theorized outcomes not to occur, arguing that we should not be surprised when subtle context variations cause theoreticalized outcomes to not occur.
Abstract: While there is much disagreement concerning the political effects of Chile's two-member district binominal election system, most agree that it provides strong incentives for the formation and maintenance of coalitions. This article takes on these assumptions, contending that the electoral system's coalition-inducing tendencies are actually quite context dependent. Focusing primarily on the governing Concertacion coalition and relying on analyses of relative levels of electoral support among parties, a "reward" insurance policy for electoral losers, and the timing and sequencing of elections, this article outlines the conditions under which the coalition-enhancing tendencies of the electoral system are at their strongest and their weakest. It finds that these variables align to provide a less than propitious environment for the maintenance of the Concertacion coalition in the lead up to the 2005 elections. In theoretical terms, the article challenges direct and mechanistic connections between electoral formulae and party outcomes, arguing that we should not be surprised when subtle contextual variations cause theorized outcomes not to occur. These findings contribute to an emerging consensus that many of the theorized rules on the connection between electoral and party systems are more complex and context dependent than is usually supposed and should be applied with greater caution.
Mientras los efectos politicos del sistema electoral binominal chileno (de dos escanos por distrito) han sido arduamente debatidos, la mayoria concuerda en que este provee fuertes incentivos para la formacion y el mantenimiento de coaliciones. Este articulo parte de estos supuestos argumentando que las tendencias de coalicion inducidas por dicho sistema electoral son, en realidad, altamente dependientes del contexto. Centrandose principalmente en la Concertacion (coalicion gobernante) y basandose en analisis sobre valores relativos de apoyo electoral entre partidos, en una poliza de seguro en forma de "recompensa" para los perdedores electorales, y por ultimo, en la sincronizacion y secuenciacion de las elecciones, este articulo esboza las condiciones bajo las cuales las tendencias hacia el mejoramiento de la coalicion en el sistema electoral se hallan en su punto mas fuerte y mas debil. El articulo encuentra que estas variables se alinean para proveer un ambiente menos que propicio para el mantenimiento de la Concertacion en el poder hasta las elecciones del 2005. En terminos teoricos, el articulo desafia asociaciones directas y mecanicas entre formulas electorales y resultados partidarios, argumentando que no debemos sorprendernos cuando minimas variaciones contextuales desafian las predicciones teoricas. Estos resultados se suman al consenso emergente que sostiene que ciertas reglas teoricas sobre la conexion entre sistemas electorales y de partidos son mas complejas y dependientes del contexto que lo usualmente reconocido, y por lo tanto, deben ser aplicadas con mas cuidado.
TL;DR: SOCIAL PANORAMA OF LATIN AMERICA: 1999-2000 as discussed by the authors, by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), 1999, 2000.
Abstract: SOCIAL PANORAMA OF LATIN AMERICA: 1999–2000. By Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). (Santiago: United Nations Publications, November 2000. Pp. 312. N.p.) PORTRAIT OF THE POOR: AN ASSETS-BASED APPROACH. Edited by Orazio Attanasio and Miguel Székely. (Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001. Pp. 266. $24.95 paper.) NEW MARKETS, NEW OPPORTUNITIES? ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL MOBILITY IN A CHANGING WORLD. Edited by Nancy Birdsall and Carol Graham (Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 2000. Pp. 331. $24.95 paper.) RURAL POVERTY IN LATIN AMERICA. Edited by Ramón López and Alberto Valdés. (New York: St. Martin’s Press. 2000. Pp. 343. $72.00 cloth.) POBREZA, DESIGUALDAD Y POLÍTICA SOCIAL EN AMÉRICA LATINA. Edited by Dionisio Borda and Fernando Masi. (Coral Gables, FL: North-South Center Press, University of Miami, 2001. Pp. 448. N.p.)
TL;DR: In this paper, Palerm Viqueira and Martinez Saldafa discuss the importance of water rights and empowerment in women's and men's water management in Latin America, and present a survey of women and water managers.
Abstract: ANTOLOGfA SOBRE PEQUENO RIEGO, VOLUMEN II: ORGANIZACIONES AUTOGESTIVAS. Edited by Jacinta Palerm Viqueira and Tomas Martinez Saldafa. (Mexico D.E: Plaza y Valdes, 2000. Pp. 469. $15.00 paper.) WATER RIGHTS AND EMPOWERMENT. Edited by Rutgerd Boelens and Paul Hoogendam (Assen: The Netherlands: Koninklijke Van Gorcum BV, 2002. Pp. 255. a25.00 cloth.) WOMEN AND WATER MANAGEMENT: THE LATIN AMERICAN EXPERI-
TL;DR: The Rothschild Archive is an important resource for an understanding of this aspect of Brazilian economic and political history, as well as the history of British informal imperialism and emerging patterns of globalization as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: N. M. Rothschild & Sons (NMR), the banking house which the Frankfurt-born Nathan Mayer Rothschild (1777-1836) began operating from New Court in London in 1809 and which is continued to this day by his descendants, has a long history of involvement in Brazil. Extensive documentation of this history is preserved in The Rothschild Archive in London, where material up to 1930 is available for consultation. The firm's initial business with Brazil was in merchant banking activities and bullion dealing, but in 1855 it became the Brazilian government's financial agent in London and went on to handle the government's borrowing in the London capital markets and to be closely concerned with the country's fiscal, commercial, and exchange rate policy. With the bank at the heart of the development of Brazilian public finance, The Rothschild Archive is an important resource for an understanding of this aspect of Brazilian economic and political history, as well as the history of British informal imperialism and emerging patterns of globalization.
N. M. Rothschild (NMR) e uma instituicao bancaria fundada em New Court, Londres no ano de 1809 pelo alemao Nathan Mayer Rothschild, natural de Frankfurt (1777-1836), e que, ate hoje, continua funcionando sob a direcao dos seus herdeiros. A empresa tem uma longa historia de atividades no Brasil e uma extensa documentacao desta historia esta preservada no Arquivo Rothschild em Londres, cujo acervo datado ate 1930 esta disponivel para sua consulta. As primeiras atividades da empresa com o Brasil foram a transacao bancaria e o comercio de ouro e prata em barra. Entretanto, em 1855 a empresa tornou-se agente financeiro do governo brasileiro em Londres e comecou a
administrar os emprestimos do governo nos principais mercados de Londres e a interessar-se mais profundamente pela politica do pais em relacao as tarifas fiscais, comerciais e de cambio. Este sistema bancario representa o coracao do desenvolvimento financeiro publico brasileiro, o que torna o Arquivo Rothschild um recurso fundamental para a compreensao deste aspecto economico e politico da historia do Brasil bem como para a historia do imperialismo britânico informal e os padroes emergentes da globalizacao.
TL;DR: In this article, Gerlach and Maybury-Lewis present a history of the state of Costa Rica in the late 20th century, focusing on the struggle for social rights in Latin America.
Abstract: STRUGGLES FOR SOCIAL RIGHTS IN LATIN AMERICA. Edited by Susan Eva Eckstein and Timothy P. Wickham-Crowley. (New York: Routledge, 2003. Pp. 346. $24.95 paper.) INDIANS, OIL, AND POLITICS: A RECENT HISTORY OF ECUADOR. By Allen Gerlach. (Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, 2003. Pp. 286. $65.00 cloth, $23.95 paper.) THE POLITICS OF ETHNICITY: INDIGENOUS PEOPLES IN LATIN AMERICAN STATES. Edited by David Maybury-Lewis. (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University; David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies, 2002. Pp. 386. $24.95 paper.) FROM PEASANT STRUGGLES TO INDIAN RESISTANCE: THE ECUADORIAN ANDES IN THE LATE TWENTIETH CENTURY. By Amalia Pallares. (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2002. Pp. 272. $44.95 cloth.) INDIGENOUS MOVEMENTS, SELF-REPRESENTATION, AND THE STATE IN LATIN AMERICA. Edited by Kay B. Warren and Jean E. Jackson. (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2002. Pp. 294. $50.00 cloth, $22.95 paper.)
TL;DR: The khipu (knotted string recording device) is one of the most enigmatic and recondite artifacts originating in the Pre-Columbian Andes and it is not available for purchase for the collector nor do local artisans reproduce legitimate Khipu for the craft trade in Peru and Bolivia as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: The khipu (knotted string recording device) is one of the most enigmatic and recondite artifacts originating in the Pre-Columbian Andes.1 Because of its rarity-there are approximately 600 known specimens, mostly Inka, dispersed in museum and private collections and held in community custody or laboratory storage2-the khipu remains unfamiliar to the general public. Veritable khipu are, to my knowledge, not available for purchase for the collector nor do local artisans reproduce legitimate khipu for the craft trade in Peru and Bolivia. A glance at the cover photographs of Signs of the Inka Khipu and Inca Myths (a museum specimen of a khipu and a llama offertory figurine, respectively), illustrates the challenge of reproduction in the one and the relative feasibility of replication in the other. While the style of
TL;DR: BERNARDINO DE SAHAGÚN: THE CONSCIENCE OF BRAZIL: LEADING THE ATTACK AGAINST VARGAS (1930-1945).
Abstract: BERNARDINO DE SAHAGÚN: FIRST ANTHROPOLOGIST. By Miguel LeónPortilla. Translated by Mauricio J. Mixco. (Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 2002. Pp. 324. $29.95 cloth.) SOBRAL PINTO, “THE CONSCIENCE OF BRAZIL”: LEADING THE ATTACK AGAINST VARGAS (1930–1945). By John W. F. Dulles. (Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 2002. Pp. 413. $60.00 cloth.) PORFIRIO DÍAZ. By Paul Garner. (Edinburgh Gate, UK: Pearson Education Limited, 2001. Pp. 269. $13.95 paper.) ANDRÉS BELLO: SCHOLARSHIP AND NATION-BUILDING IN NINETEENTH-CENTURY LATIN AMERICA. By Iván Jaksić. . (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2001. $55.00 cloth.) FRANCISCO DE MIRANDA: A TRANSATLANTIC LIFE IN THE AGE OF REVOLUTION. By Karen Racine. (Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, 2003. Pp. 336. $65.00 cloth, $19.95 paper.)
TL;DR: The revisionist approach was pioneered by Latin American,especially Brazilian,social scientists at mid-century as discussed by the authors and has been widely used in the field of race and class in Latin America.
Abstract: 1. The author thanks Roger Kittleson for comments on an earlier draft. Deep gratitude is also owed to Karin Rosemblatt, both for comments on this particular essay and for insights provided in an ongoing dialogue on the subject of race in Latin America. 2. The revisionist approach was pioneered by Latin American,especially Brazilian,social scientists at mid-century. See for example: Florestan Fernandes, The Negro in Brazilian Society (New York: Columbia University Press, 1969); Florestan Fernandes and Roger Bastide, Brancos e negros em Sao Paulo (Sao Paulo: Editora Nacional, 1959); Magnus Morner, ed. Race and Class in Latin America (New York and London: Columbia University Press, 1970). One might also include Tomas Robaina Fernandez, El negro en Cuba, 1902-1958: Apuntes para la historia de la lucha contra la discriminacion racial (Havana: Editorial de Ciencias Sociales, 1990). Some of the best and most influential examples of revisionist work by scholars based in the United States are: George Reid Andrews, The Afro-Argentines of Buenos
TL;DR: The Breakdown of DEMOCRACY in Latin America as discussed by the authors, by Charles D. Kenney et al. (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2003. Pp. 288.
Abstract: THE BREAKDOWN OF DEMOCRACY. By Nancy Bermeo. (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2003. Pp. 288. $19.95 paper.) FUJIMORI'S COUP AND THE BREAKDOWN OF DEMOCRACY IN LATIN AMERICA. By Charles D. Kenney. (Notre Dame, IN: Notre Dame University Press, 2004. Pp. 379. $30.00 paper.) DEMOCRACY IN LATIN AMERICA. By George Philip. (Cambridge, UK: Polity, 2003. $62.95 cloth, $27.95 paper.) INCOMPLETE DEMOCRACY: POLITICAL DEMOCRATIZATION IN CHILE
TL;DR: A short history of Argentina can be found in this paper, where Auyero et al. describe the origins of the ARGENTINE RADICAL PARTY in the 1890s.
Abstract: BETWEEN REVOLUTION AND THE BALLOT BOX: THE ORIGINS OF THE ARGENTINE RADICAL PARTY IN THE 1890S. By Paula Alonso. (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2000. Pp. 242. $52.95 cloth.) POOR PEOPLE’S POLITICS: PERONIST SURVIVAL NETWORKS AND THE LEGACY OF EVITA. By Javier Auyero. (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2000. Pp. 271. $54.95 cloth, $18.95 paper.) CONTENTIOUS LIVES: TWO ARGENTINE WOMEN, TWO PROTESTS, AND THE QUEST FOR RECOGNITION. By Javier Auyero. (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2002. Pp. 248. $18.95 paper.) PATRIOTAS, COSMOPOLITAS Y NACIONALISTAS: LA CONSTRUCCIÓN DE LA NACIONALIDAD ARGENTINA A FINES DEL SIGLO XIX. By Lilia Ana Bertoni. (Buenos Aires: Fondo de Cultura Económica de Argentina, 2001. Pp. 319. N.p.) THE LANDOWNERS OF THE ARGENTINE PAMPAS: A SOCIAL AND POLITICAL HISTORY, 1860–1945. By Roy Hora. (Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2001. Pp. 264. $70.00 cloth.) ARGENTINA: A SHORT HISTORY. By Colin M. Lewis. (Oxford, UK: One World Publications, 2002. N.p.) WORKERS OR CITIZENS: DEMOCRACY AND IDENTITY IN ROSARIO, ARGENTINA (1912–1930). By Matthew B. Karush. (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2002. Pp.272. N.p.) A HISTORY OF ARGENTINA IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY. By Luis Alberto Romero. Translated by James P. Brennan. (University Park: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 2002. Pp. 349. $60.00 cloth, $22.50 paper.)
TL;DR: In 2002, teachers, artists, students and other community members sketched and painted the history of their town and people; the result stands as a testament to Mayan resistance.
Abstract: After traversing the twenty-kilometer road that leads from the Pan American highway up into the central highland town of San Juan Comalapa in Guatemala, one of the first breaks from the verdant scenery is a mural painted on the cemetery walls. In 2002, teachers, artists, students and other community members sketched and painted the history of their town and people; the result stands as a testament to Mayan resistance. For the recent past, it depicts Guatemala's civil war, the poverty
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a history of the American colony in Mexico City, 1876-1992, including the famous "Archeteach of empire" James G. Blaine.
Abstract: NIAL FROM MONROE TO CLINTON. By Martin Sicker. (Westport, CT: Praeger, 2002. Pp. 200. $81.95 cloth.) JAMES G. BLAINE: ARCHITECT OF EMPIRE. By Edward P. Crapol. (Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, 2002. Pp. 157. $65.00 cloth, $19.95 paper.) JAMES G. BLAINE AND LATIN AMERICA. By David Healy. (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2001. Pp. 296. $39.95 cloth.) INTEGRAL OUTSIDERS: THE AMERICAN COLONY IN MEXICO CITY, 1876-