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The aim of this paper is to show —from a qualitative research carried out with the working children’s movement (NATS)— how the paradigm of child protagonism, perspective from which these organizations work, intervenes in the process of autonomy and empowering of NATS girls. From the analysis of the talks of ten working girls, three types of «power» have been identified, and these are executed in the core of the movement, contributing to their empowering and autonomy. They are «the power of words», «the power of organization» and «the power of tenderness». It is also the purpose of this paper to make visible the relationship between those «powers» and the claims for a number of rights which are infringed because of being women, girls and working.

This paper analyses the adoption of education policies in Central America and Panama during the 2010 decade in three areas: the increase in education expenditure, curricular reforms and teacher recruitment and evaluation rules. The paper argues that greater foreign direct investment and more international trade are associated with the adoption of these policies. This, in turn, relates to the incentives produced by varieties of capitalism within the region. It is hypothesised that conservative governments under systems with stronger executive powers, have a preference for policy reform in teacher recruitment and evaluation. Historical factors contribute to explain policy change in Costa Rica and the statu quo in Guatemala.

By focusing on the importance of social capital to development, this paper examines the role of the State and Public Policy in the creation of social capital. After a brief summary about social capital definitions, weakness and usefulness, its relevance to development and its problematic creation, the paper pays specific attention to the role of the State as a promoter of social capital. Second we bear out the empiric links between State performance and social capital in Latin America. Then, we use state’s efficacy indicators, variables traditionally associated with welfare stat (especially public spending and inequality) and interpersonal trust. We finish by pointing the previous findings and shedding light in order to continue the research about social capital reproduction.El presente trabajo se propone indagar en qué medida el Estado y las políticas públicas son capaces de potenciar la creación del capital social. Tras reseñar la importancia del capital social para el desarrollo, los debates en torno a su definición, sus debilidades y sus promesas, la primera parte de este artículo se centra en su problemática reproducción, prestando especial atención al papel del Estado y las políticas públicas como catalizadores o promotores del mismo. En vista a ello, la segunda parte del trabajo propone una modesta aproximación empírica a la correlación entre Estado y capital social en el contexto de América Latina. Se utilizan al efecto indicadores de desempeño/eficacia estatal, otros asociados al bienestar social (principalmente gasto público y desigualdad) y percepciones ciudadanas en referencia a la confianza interpersonal. Se concluye retomando los resultados del abordaje empírico y proponiendo futuras líneas de problematización en la materia.

One of the main areas of work in Comparative Politics and Political Theory has been the determination of the variables associated with the stability/instability of political systems in general, and democracy in particular. This paper focuses on one of these variables. One with newly acquired importance after the recent electoral successes by the left, but that nevertheless has not been in the spotlight of scholarly analysis: ideological polarization. Particularly, ideological polarization brought about by the attempt to pursue by the government a leftist political project. The main focus is on the ideological project pursued by the Venezuelan Bolivarian Government and its association with the political instability of 2002 and 2003. The paper considers this topic taken into account mainstream theoretical approaches on political stability, and the experience of previous Latin American leftist governments. The paper reaches the conclusion that in Latin America the attempt to implement a socialist program by a democratically elected government, if it is done without meaningful social and political negotiation, and with authoritarian overtones, is likely to lead to intense political instability and to the ultimate failure of the proposed social change. Los factores vinculados a la estabilidad o inestabilidad de los sistemas políticos y la democracia han sido una preocupación central de la política comparada y la teoría política. Este trabajo se centra en analizar un factor que adquiere nueva importancia dado el resurgimiento de la izquierda en América Latina, pero que no ha estado en el centro del debate académico sobre la estabilidad democrática: la polarización ideológica producida por el adelanto de un proyecto político de izquierda desde el gobierno. Su análisis se enmarca en los enfoques teóricos sobre la estabilidad de la democracia y los sistemas políticos. Dentro del contexto de los gobiernos de izquierda en América Latina, se analiza el proyecto ideológico adelantado por el movimiento bolivariano en Venezuela y su asociación con la inestabilidad política acaecida en este país durante 2002 y 2003. Se concluye que, dada la experiencia de América Latina, la aplicación de un proyecto de izquierda sin negociación social y con visos autoritarios, es un factor de inestabilidad política que tiende a hacer inviable el proyecto mismo de cambio social.

This paper extends the study of party organization and legislative voting to factionalize party systems. After developing a typology of factional types, it argues that hierarchically organized factions respond to a competing incentive system. Factions have interests that push them to work together for the good of the party, but at the same time, they have interests in distinguishing themselves for electoral purposes. Further, the electoral cycle drives the weights of these competing pressures, leading factional cooperation to break down as elections near. These patterns and incentives are particularly evident in Uruguay, and the paper uses roll-call data from that country's legislature to test the propositionsEl presente artículo aplica el estudio de la organización de partidos y el voto legislativo a sistemas de partidos con facciones. Tras desarrollar una clasificación de los diferentes tipos de facciones, se argumenta que las facciones jerárquicamente organizadas responden a un sistema competitivo de incentivos. Pese a que las facciones tienen intereses que las empujan a trabajar juntas por el bien del partido, al mismo tiempo, tienen interés en diferenciarse unas de otras por propósitos electorales. Además, el ciclo electoral dirige los pesos de estas presiones competitivas provocando la ruptura en la cooperación entre las facciones conforme se aproximan las elecciones. Estas pautas e incentivos son particularmente evidentes en el caso de Uruguay, por lo que el artículo utiliza datos del voto nominal del Legislativo del país para probar estos argumentos.

RESUMEN: Este artículo muestra que las compañías petroleras internacionales han estado haciendo negocios en Venezuela durante más de cuatro quintas partes de casi un siglo de historia de la industria petrolera en este país (1917-2009). Muestra también que lo que ha cambiado para ellas a lo largo del tiempo es la manera de hacer negocios en la industria petrolera venezolana, valga decir, los términos y condiciones de acceso a las actividades de exploración y producción que les ha impuesto el propietario del recurso natural, relacionados particularmente con el reparto de la renta petrolera internacional. El artículo, dividido en cuatro secciones, es una síntesis de la historia del derecho de propiedad del subsuelo, de las compañías petroleras, del Estado y de la renta petrolera internacional en Venezuela desde 1920 hasta el presente. ABSTRACT: This paper shows that in almost a century of history of the Venezuelan oil industry (1917-2009), International Oil Companies (IOCs) have been doing business in this country for just more than fourth fifth of this period (74/92 years). It shows too that during that time, what has been changing in this country for the oil companies, IOCs or National Oil Companies (NOCs), is the way of doing business in the upstream of the oil industry: the terms and conditions of the owner of the underground property rights. Terms and conditions mean in this context how much of the oil generated rents in the underground public and national property rights goes to the pockets of the oil companies and government. This paper summarizes the history of the underground property rights, oil companies, the State, and rent in Venezuela from 1920 up to the present.

RESUMEN: El objetivo del presente documento es establecer los principales lineamientos conceptuales y metodológicos para llevar a cabo una investigación que dé cuenta de los niveles y modalidades de participación ciudadana. El mismo está basado en la experiencia de la construcción del Índice de Participación Ciudadana en América Latina en su edición del año 2005 impulsado por la Red Interamericana para la Democracia e implementado por la Fundación de Investigaciones Económicas y Sociales.ABSTRACT: The aim of this paper is to establish the main conceptual and methodological lines in order to carry out an investigation about levels and forms of citizen participation. This paper is the result of the formation of a Citizen Participation Index in Latin America in its 2005 edition. It was promoted by the Inter-American Network for Democracy and implemented by the Economic and Social Research Foundation.

RESUMEN: Uno de los aspectos menos estudiados de la cultura política del Brasil es su tasa extraordinariamente baja de confianza interpersonal. Después de revisar la literatura sobre confianza interpersonal, el presente artículo examina el nivel brasileño de confianza social en perspectiva regional y global. Analiza datos de sondeos recientes y demuestra que el mejor predictor de confianza es la educación, una área en que Brasil presenta un desarrollo inferior al de sus vecinos. El artículo también sugiere una agenda de investigación futura para estudiar este aspecto singular de la cultura política brasileña, dentro de la cual las variables de desigualdad social y de exposición a la televisión tendrían papeles importantes. Tal agenda de investigación es de gran consecuencia dado el papel importante de la confianza interpersonal, tanto para el desarrollo económico como para la consolidación democrática.ABSTRACT: One of the most understudied aspects of Brazilian political culture is the country’s extraordinarily low rates of interpersonal trust. After reviewing the literature on interpersonal trust, this paper provides regional and global perspective on Brazil’s level of social trust. It examines data from recent public opinion surveys in Brazil and demonstrates that the strongest predictor of trust is education, an area in which Brazil lags behind its neighbors. The paper also suggests a future research agenda for investigating this unique aspect of Brazilian political culture, in which the variables of inequality and television exposure would play important roles. Such a research agenda is critical given the important role played by trust in both economic development and democratic consolidation.

RESUMEN: El objetivo del presente trabajo es analizar cuáles fueron los temas de la discusión pública que predominaron en los medios de comunicación chilenos durante la campaña presidencial de fines de 2005, y cuáles fueron los temas con que los candidatos y el gobierno aparecieron posicionados en ellos. Utilizando el marco metodológico y conceptual de la teoría de la agenda setting se analizan las interrelaciones entre las agendas de estos tres actores con el objetivo de describir de qué manera se articuló la discusión pública. Se realizó un análisis de contenido cuantitativo de los dos principales diarios y de los noticieros centrales de tres canales nacionales. Los resultados muestran una pauta distinta para la televisión y la prensa escrita, siendo esta última la que está más cerca de los temas con los que los actores políticos aparecen en los medios. El estudio también revela que el entonces presidente Ricardo Lagos y sus voceros muestran en los medios agendas distintas. En cuanto a los candidatos, en un marco de grandes similitudes, tiende a darse un eje de discusión entre la candidata oficialista Michelle Bachelet, por un lado, y sus tres contendores, por otro, los que aparecen con discursos homogeneizados.ABSTRACT: The purpose of this paper is to show the public discussion topics that dominated the mass media during the last presidential election campaign in Chile in late 2005. It also intends to determine the topics for which the candidates and the government appeared in the media. Agenda-setting’s conceptual theory and methodological frame were employed to analyze the inter-relations among the agendas of these three public actors with the aim to describe how the public discussion was articulated. A quantitative content analysis was carried out on the two most influential newspapers and the three most important television newscasts. The results show a difference in television’s agenda compared with newspapers’. In fact, the papers’ agenda is closer to the topics, which the political actors appear in the media. The results also reveal that President Ricardo Lagos and his speakers appear with different agendas in the media. The candidates share many similarities, but while a discussion is evident between the government’s candidate Michelle Bachelet and her three contenders, the latter tend to appear in the media with a homogenous agenda.

RESUMEN: El objetivo de este trabajo es presentar algunos de los posibles riesgos que se pueden dar de involución en el proceso de democratización del sector defensa en América Latina. Hay dos factores a través de los que se puede medir el grado de avance de la democracia: el tipo de institucionalidad del sector en relación al control político, y la participación de civiles en los Ministerios de Defensa; y el espectro de misiones que cubren las Fuerzas Armadas. En este trabajo se señala que se ha producido un retroceso en éstos en los últimos tiempos. Se han detenido las políticas que insistían en la participación de civiles en los ministerios, y se ha bendecido el regreso a antiguas formas de participación militar en asuntos internos al reconocerse por la Organización de Estados Americanos (OEA) en el 2003 el carácter multidimensional de las amenazas a la seguridad.ABSTRACT: The purpose of this paper is to present some of the risks that could interrupt the democratization process of defense sector in Latin America. Two fundamental aspects measure the democracy consolidation: the institutionalization of the political control, and the civilian participation in the Defense Ministries; and the missions that the Armed Forces have to do. Some first conclusions from the paper suggest that the situation worsened lately. The policies that insisted in civilian participation in the ministries are stopped, and the Organization of American States (OAS) in 2003 has permitted in some degree that the military assume old military roles in intern affairs, when they recognized the multidimensionality of security threats.

RESUMEN: En el presente trabajo se evalúan para el año 2000, con base en datos provenientes de encuestas nacionales, las tendencias históricas que se han reportado sobre la actitud democrática de los venezolanos en relación a características sociodemográficas, políticas e ideológicas. Al respecto se concluye que no hay diferenciaciones en la preferencia democrática con base en esas características. También se analiza la consistencia de la actitud democrática, en especial con respecto a las valoraciones de tener un gobierno militar y un líder fuerte. En estos aspectos se obtienen incongruencias que contrastan con el alto nivel de aceptación que tiene la democracia en el país. Tal cosa permite establecer que existen para el año 2000 predisposiciones autoritarias que, de estimularse, podrían reducir en el tiempo el valor que la democracia ha tenido para los venezolanos.ABSTRACT: This paper evaluates the historical tendencies that have been reported about the attitudes of Venezuelans towards democracy. These attitudes are analyzed taken into account socio-demographic, political and ideological characteristics of Venezuelan. The analysis is done using survey data from national polls. The paper reaches the conclusion that in Venezuela there are not significant differences regarding the attitude towards democracy on the basis of socio-demographic, political or ideological variables. The paper also consider the level of coherence in the attitude towards democracy, using as control variables questions related to the support for a military government, and the support for a strong authoritarian leader. The paper found that there is a significant level of incoherence in the support for democracy among Venezuelan. A sizeable sector declares a preference for democracy on one hand, and for an authoritarian leader or a military government on the other. This is interpreted as meaning that by the year 2000, Venezuelan hold authoritarian predispositions that, if encouraged, could diminish over time the value that democracy has had for Venezuelans.

RESUMEN: El objetivo de este trabajo es presentar algunos de los posibles riesgos que se pueden dar de involución en el proceso de democratización del sector defensa en América Latina. Hay dos factores a través de los que se puede medir el grado de avance de la democracia: el tipo de institucionalidad del sector en relación al control político, y la participación de civiles en los Ministerios de Defensa; y el espectro de misiones que cubren las Fuerzas Armadas. En este trabajo se señala que se ha producido un retroceso en éstos en los últimos tiempos. Se han detenido las políticas que insistían en la participación de civiles en los ministerios, y se ha bendecido el regreso a antiguas formas de participación militar en asuntos internos al reconocerse por la Organización de Estados Americanos (OEA) en el 2003 el carácter multidimensional de las amenazas a la seguridad.ABSTRACT: The purpose of this paper is to present some of the risks that could interrupt the democratization process of defense sector in Latin America. Two fundamental aspects measure the democracy consolidation: the institutionalization of the political control, and the civilian participation in the Defense Ministries; and the missions that the Armed Forces have to do. Some first conclusions from the paper suggest that the situation worsened lately. The policies that insisted in civilian participation in the ministries are stopped, and the Organization of American States (OAS) in 2003 has permitted in some degree that the military assume old military roles in intern affairs, when they recognized the multidimensionality of security threats.

The main argument of this paper is that the heterogeneity of the institutional framework that prevails in Latin America’s electoral field (Carroll y Shugart, 2005), also reproduces itself in the parliamentary one. This is proved by the morphologic profile of each Congress’ commission system and the place that the law assigns to the system. While some legislative frameworks clearly intend to delegate to parties the decisions entrusted to this bodies; in other cases, this takes place in a less important way. In the cases formally related with a party logic, on the other hand, diverse delegation schemes are encouraged. In this article we analyze the institutional framework of the commission systems of the low chamber in: Argentina; Bolivia; Brazil; Colombia; Chile; Mexico; Paraguay; Dominican Republic and Uruguay. In this sense, this work examines the importance given to their job and some aspects of its morphology that affect the structure of incentives that narrows the development of the legislative process. We also analyze the procedures used by each Congress to solve its problems of collective action. Lastly, some ideas for the elaboration of a future taxonomy on the relationship between parties and permanent commissions in the region are presented.RESUMEN: El principal argumento de este escrito es que la heterogeneidad de los diseños institucionales que prima en el campo electoral en América Latina (Carroll y Shugart, 2005) también se reproduce en el parlamentario. El perfil morfológico del sistema de comisiones propio de cada Congreso y el lugar que la ley les asigna en el proceso legislativo son prueba evidente de ello. Mientras el marco normativo de algunas legislaturas no deja lugar a dudas en cuanto a la intención de delegar en los partidos las decisiones encomendadas a estos cuerpos; en otros casos, ello ocurre en menor medida. En los casos formalmente ceñidos a una lógica de partido, por otra parte, se alientan esquemas de delegación de corte muy diverso. En este escrito se revisa el acomodo institucional del sistema de comisiones de la Cámara Baja en: Argentina; Bolivia; Brasil; Colombia; Chile; México; Paraguay; República Dominicana y Uruguay. En este sentido, el estudio examina tanto la importancia concedida a su trabajo, como algunos aspectos de su morfología que afectan la estructura de incentivos que acota el desarrollo del proceso legislativo. Asimismo, se analizan los procedimientos utilizados en cada Congreso para enfrentar los problemas de acción colectiva. Por último, se presentan algunas ideas para la elaboración de una futura taxonomía sobre la relación que guardan en la región los partidos y las comisiones permanentes del Congreso.ABSTRACT: The main argument of this paper is that the heterogeneity of the institutional framework that prevails in Latin America’s electoral field (Carroll y Shugart, 2005), also reproduces itself in the parliamentary one. This is proved by the morphologic profile of each Congress’ commission system and the place that the law assigns to the system. While some legislative frameworks clearly intend to delegate to parties the decisions entrusted to this bodies; in other cases, this takes place in a less important way. In the cases formally related with a party logic, on the other hand, diverse delegation schemes are encouraged. In this article we analyze the institutional framework of the commission systems of the low chamber in: Argentina; Bolivia; Brazil; Colombia; Chile; Mexico; Paraguay; Dominican Republic and Uruguay. In this sense, this work examines the importance given to their job and some aspects of its morphology that affect the structure of incentives that narrows the development of the legislative process. We also analyze the procedures used by each Congress to solve its problems of collective action. Lastly, some ideas for the elaboration of a future taxonomy on the relationship between parties and permanent commissions in the region are presented.

While they do not constitute a major influx in economic terms, since 2000 Venezuelans have been one of the largest groups of foreign students in Spain. However, after the worsening of the Venezuelan political and economic crisis, these influxes have changed qualitatively and quantitatively. As such, although they constitute the largest group among asylum seekers in Spain, students are decreasing. This paper addresses the consequences of the Venezuelan conflict on this qualified migrant group

Violence and insecurity in Latin America is a claim for the commissioning of «mano dura» policies. Despite its popularity, those policies have shown low effectiveness. In fact, they are usually the path to the breakdown of the Rule of Law and to the repression of vulnerable groups. Actually, those groups are doubly victimized by one hand because of their difficult socio-economic condition and by the other hand because of violent government action. This paper, analyses four cases, in four Latin American countries: Brazil, México, Colombia and Guatemala through the lenses of «violent pluralism» approach. The objective is to provide evidence for a theoretical approach based on the relationship between state and violence versus those approaches that consider violence as a malfunction of state.

This paper is the result of the dialogue among current legislation in Argentina, Chile and Spain regarding the adoptees’ access to their origin and the chance of contact as a guarantee of their right to identity. It offers a comparative and theoretical analysis focused on historical, legal and psychosocial aspects in order to find convergences and divergences between these countries.

In this paper we introductorily explore the Chilean parliamentary elections which, together with the presidential ones, took place in November 2017. To do so, we have employed the Chilean post-election questionnaire of the Comparative National Elections Project (CNEP), carried out by the Universidad Diego Portales (UDP). After reviewing the circumstances under which the elections took place, we have analysed the profiles of the voters de Chile Vamos (CV), Fuerza de Mayoría (FM), and Frente Amplio (FA), as well as those of non voters. Finally, we have estimated a multinomial logit model.

This article argues that transnational socio-legal mobilization for human rights in socio-environmental extractive conflicts is a strategic collective action in constant growth and expansion in Latin America. This mobilization reveals the human rights appropriations as a tool for self-advocacy, by broad social groups in defense of a healthy environment. The paper analyzes empirically the regional trend to the transnational socio-legal mobilization in the inter-American system, presenting actors, strategies, effects, differences by country and paradigmatic cases.

The paper explores different strategic levels of global escalation of conflicts in resistance to mining. The aim is to answer how do local communities make decisions regarding changes in scale at the international level, while considering the institutional options available at the national level. Based on two cases of resistance to gold mining –Tambogrande in Peru and Pascua Lama in Chile–, this study explains how local actors combine different levels of global and national escalation, taking into acount the characteristics of national environmental institutions.

This paper, using the framework provided by studies on transnationalism and political representation, analyzes the institutional mechanisms that 22 states of Latin America and the Caribbean have designed to formally incorporate emigrants into their political process –reserved seats in their legislative chambers and advisory boards–. This analysis reveals that almost half of the states included in the sample do have a mechanism of institutional representation for emigrants.

The purpose of this paper is, on the one hand, to verify that the entry of Peru to the Non-Aligned Movement meant the emergence of a new paradigm in foreign policy not only in that country but in Latin America as a whole; on the other hand, to establish that behind the new policy existed an ideological discourse (appropriated and reworked), the third worldism, which provided a solid base to government targets.

This paper discusses the relationship between international organizations and national governments, highlighting the influence of the former in decision-making on policies to combat poverty in Latin America and the Caribbean from the 1990’s, especially Conditional Cash Transfer policies. The research methodology is qualitative, with support of spatial analysis resources and quantitative techniques to categorize information of interest.

This paper lies within the Latin America democratization studies, emphasizing the activity of politicians and political parties as transnational actors and considering the interconnection between different levels (local, national and international) was one of the main resour­ces for politicians in democratization contexts. Through them, they built personal relationships networks in a transnational level as a decisive strategy to accumulate power, prestige and other resources. Socialist International missions will be addressed as an example of political action, little considered by specialized literature but very influential at that time.

This paper analyses crime in Santiago de Chile over the last decade. Firstly, we perform a descriptive analysis and then we present an empirical analysis in which murders and robberies are explained taking into account several socioeconomic variables. Murders are mainly committed by men in the most densely populated municipalities and in those with more people without basic education completed. On the contrary, the vast majority of robberies occur in rich municipalities, where the increased police presence is not enough to compensate the effect of structural variables such as income inequality.

This paper addresses legislative cooperation networks in the provincial legislatures of Río Negro and Santa Fe in Argentina during the 1995-2007. The low density and reduced connectivity of the cooperation networks confirms that establishing ties is not a stable process, but rather it occurs dynamically at specific points in time in order to push through legislation.

Petrobras, since before its inception, has always been embroiled in controversies of all kinds. These controversies are directly related to the fight that has been carried out and continues still, between laissez-faire and state intervention. The challenge of this paper is to demonstrate, from a historical perspective, how Petrobras and the Brazilian oil sector have been developed in Brazil during this period.

The cities of Porto Alegre and Rosario have been pioneers in implementing citizen participation policies, Participatory Budgeting (pb) being the most symbolic. The aim of this paper is to examine how pb has influenced on the reaffirmation of new centralities and on the bolstering of peripheries of those two cities (1989-2012), analyzing its contribution in terms of social cohesion, through the inclusion of popular sectors.

After 24 years of constitutional rule in Brazil, what can be learned about the interaction between pressure groups and the Brazilian Federal Supreme Court (fsc)? Which are the political actors who achieve the best results? What issues are judged more by the fsc? Does the fsc favor a specific topic or decisions are made regarding the plaintiff over the subject matter? If it were the case, who and what are the privileged ones by its decisions? This article analyzes the interaction between civil society and the Judiciary, based on observation of the use of Direct Unconstitutional Action (duas). The paper also assesses the industrial lawsuits, filed in stf jurisdiction by the National Industry Union (cni) and argues that: (1) the powerful groups received most success when proposing duas; (2) while there was a low probability of success, the groups gained benefits from bringing the conflict of interest to Supreme Court; and (3) the judicialization of pressure groups’ interests is a complementary and coordinated strategy with groups advocacy in the legislative arena.

The questions that motivate this paper are two: why the countries of the region have adopted this practice and others do not? What explains the absence of international monitoring procedure in the current Brazilian democracy? Our hypothesis is that the higher the quality of democratic competition, ie, greater transparency of rules, legitimacy of parties, politicians and the opposition, and increased adherence and satisfaction of society with the democratic regime, the lower the incidence of international election observation. This is because in those most critical to the functioning of democratic institutions countries, higher incidence of international observation should exist, which could contribute to a balance between the competitors.

Despite the growing interest in electoral observation in Latin America, the region of greatest development activity in recent years (Cuéllar and Thompson 2008; Pinilla 2008), we still lack of a consistent conceptual discussion about what we mean when we say «electoral observation». Further on, in the same direction, it is well known that the countries of the region call that activity in many different ways, so this has a great impact on the way we carry research on the subject. This paper reviews specifi cases of observations and discusses the most used conceptualizations on electoral observation in Latin America (Boneo, Carrillo and Valverde 2007; Thompson 2008; Muñoz-Pogossian 2013). Finally, it presents a definition that includes each of its basic elements and, at the same time, avoids «concept stretching» to allow deeper knowledge on the subject (Sartori 1984).

This paper addresses the organized occupation of unused urban areas, mostly public, in the city of Rio de Janeiro and adjacencies, between the early 1980s and mid-1990s. These occupations, of strong political character, sought to build popular neighborhoods, outside of the State housing programs, developing urban projects, ordering the land’s subdivision and registering its users. Two case studies were selected: the Parque Esperança Community and the Getúlio Cabral Village.

The aim of this paper is to analyze the diversity of social norms involves in housing occupation from an ethographic perspective. Since the occupation of abandoned property is a common practice among people of low income especially in central and southern neighborhoods of Buenos Aires, the article focuses and discuss the scope of the concept of informal market through the study of the governing economic exchange in those residentials areas.

Why do democracies survive or break down? In this paper, it returns to this classic question with an empirical focus on Latin America from 1945 to 2005. The argument deviates from the quantitative literature and a good part of the qualitative literature on democratic survival and breakdown. It is argued that structural variables such as the level of development and inequalities have not shaped prospects for democratic survival in Latin America. Nor, contrary to findings in some of the literature, has economic performance affected the survival of competitive regimes. Instead, it is focused on the regional political environment and on actors’ normative preferences about democracy and dictatorship and their policy radicalism or moderation. It is argued that 1) a higher level of development did not increase the likelihood of democratic survival in Latin America over this long time; 2) if actors have a normative preference for democracy, it is more likely to survive; and 3) policy moderation facilitates democratic survival.

This paper aims at analyzing the impacts of China’s rise on Latin American countries. The literature on the topic has stressed the emergence of an asymmetrical pattern of relationship, where the region would be trapped in a less dynamic status of producer and exporter of raw materials. We focus on identifying the post-global financial crisis trends, providing fresh evidence concerning the characteristics of Sino-Latin American economic relationships, emphasizing the Brazilian experience. Ours results suggest that, particularly in the Brazilian case, there is evidence of the emergence of an increasingly regressive pattern of production and trade specialization.

This paper aims to explore empirically the potential influence presidential electoral campaigns may exert on the process of voting decision making. Four dimensions of this problem are analysed: 1. the communicational resources of a campaign that result most effective, 2. if the voters perceive the differential media exposure received by each of the candidates, 3. in case they do, if that perception has an impact on the positive image of the candidates and 4. the capacity of campaigns to operate changes on the voting decision. The obtained data indicate that in the memory they build of campaigns, the subjects recognize the predominance of television messages, perceive the differential media exposure of candidates, that this perception does not necessarily mean they have a positive image of those who received more media exposure, and that they point out the potential of the campaign to change their initial voting decision.

This paper analyzes the dynamics underlying constitutional reform in Mexico, its implications on the country’s legal and institutional framework, on the organization of national elections and on the conditions of political competition during the past thirty-five years. After this historical overview, the article focuses on proposals which might be considered for a new electoral reform prior to the start of the 2014-2015 federal electoral process.

El artículo realiza un breve análisis sobre la dinámica de la reforma constitucional en México, sus implicaciones sobre el andamiaje normativo e institucional del país y aquellas que transformaron la organización de las elecciones federales, así como las condiciones de competencia política durante los últimos treinta y cinco años. Después de este recorrido histórico, el artículo aborda las preguntas que podrían ser consideradas dentro de una eventual reforma electoral previa al inicio del proceso electoral federal 2014-2015.This paper analyzes the dynamics underlying constitutional reform in Mexico, its implications on the country’s legal and institutional framework, on the organization of national elections and on the conditions of political competition during the past thirty-five years. After this historical overview, the article focuses on proposals which might be considered for a new electoral reform prior to the start of the 2014-2015 federal electoral process.

This paper explains why the Argentine and Chilean presidents believe important to face the political past of their countries; or in other words, why no president resists the temptation to interfere in the issue of public policies of the memory through different strategies with different political costs. In that sense, we try to explain what factors mainly affect the decision of the Argentine and Chilean presidents when they adopting public policies of memory. Following the analysis made by means of logistic regressions, it is estimated that the ideology of the leaders, affect on the repair policies. In justice policies, the analysis shows that these are particularly conducive in times of critical juncture. And in the symbolic policies, anniversaries are not so decisive as might be expected.El presente trabajo explica por qué los presidentes argentinos y chilenos creen importante seguir afrontando el pasado político de sus países; o dicho en otras palabras, por qué ningún mandatario se resiste a la tentación de injerir en el tema de las políticas públicas de la memoria a través de distintas estrategias con costos políticos variables. En ese sentido, se intenta explicar qué factores inciden con mayor fuerza en la toma de decisiones de los presidentes argentinos y chilenos a la hora de aprobar políticas públicas hacia el pasado. A raíz del análisis efectuado por medio de regresiones logísticas, se estima que en cuanto a las políticas de reparación, la ideología de los mandatarios importa, aunque no sean precisamente los gobernantes más a la izquierda del espectro los que se distingan en la aprobación de estas medidas. En las políticas de justicia, el análisis arroja que éstas son particularmente propicias en momentos de coyuntura crítica. Y en cuanto a las políticas simbólicas, los aniversarios no son tan decisivos como se pudiera esperar.

Direct forms of confrontation represent one of the main features of the social conflict in Argentina in the xxI century. Particularly, the hostile outbursts have constituted a dynamic that is present throughout the decade. The public system of railway transportation of passengers in the metropolitan area of Buenos Aires was one of the social spaces with the most recurrence of this kind of collective action. Between 2003 and 2009 a cycle of hostile outbursts took place, in which groups of passengers attacked goods and employees of the concessionary enterprise –and in some cases security forces involved– showing its social dissatisfaction with the quality of service. In this paper, we expose a hypothetical frame in order to explain these events while promoting a conceptual debate about this kind of action.Las formas directas de confrontación representan una de las características salientes de la conflictividad social en la Argentina del siglo XXI. En particular, los estallidos de hostilidad constituyen una dinámica presente a lo largo de toda la década. El transporte ferroviario de pasajeros del área metropolitana de Buenos Aires se erigió en uno de los espacios sociales con gran recurrencia de este tipo de acciones. Entre 2003 y 2009 se desarrollaron una serie de estallidos en los cuales grupos de pasajeros atacaban bienes y trabajadores de las empresas prestatarias –y en ocasiones a las fuerzas de seguridad que intervenían– con el objeto de expresar su disconformidad con la forma de prestación del servicio. En este artículo exponemos los resultados de nuestra investigación sobre dichos episodios, presentando un marco hipotético-conceptual que da cuenta de los mismos y promueve en simultáneo un debate conceptual sobre esta forma de acción directa.

The purpose of This paper is to analyze, after giving a synthetic reconstruction of The Stroessner’s regime, The complex dynamics of transitional justice in Paraguay. Special attention is devoted to The discovery in 1992 of The Archivos del Terror (The Horror Files) and The establishment and operation of The Commission for Truth and justice That was created in October 2003 by President Nicanor Duarte Frutos. It also reflects about The reactions of politicians and The judiciary to The recommendations and remedial measures suggested by The final report of The Commission.El propósito del artículo es analizar, después de haber ofrecido una reconstrucción sintética del régimen de Stroessner, las complejas dinámicas de la justicia de transición en Paraguay. Especial atención se dedica al descubrimiento, en 1992, de los «Archivos del Terror» y a la constitución y funcionamiento de la Comisión de Verdad y justicia creada, en octubre 2003, por el presidente de la República, Nicanor Duarte Frutos. También se reflexiona sobre las reacciones de los políticos y del Poder Judicial a las recomendaciones y medidas de reparación sugeridas del informe final de dicha Comisión.

The 1992 Constitution recognizes the existence of people prior to the formation of the Paraguayan State and in that sense it gives them certain rights that protect their territory, identity and culture. This declaration of purpose constitutes a break with the previous model of dominant and exclusionary state policies toward indigenous peoples. However, the rights of indigenous peoples continue without respected, in spite of the space won in terms of social and political organizations, the struggle continues in this constant «search of the land without evil». This paper aims to describe the current situation of indigenous peoples from an analysis of access to public services, economic status, employability, employment discrimination and public policy. It also attempts to explain the factors that have influenced in the lack of consolidation of the indigenous movement in Paraguay.La Constitución Nacional de 1992 reconoce la existencia de pueblos anteriores a la conformación del Estado paraguayo y, en ese sentido, les otorga una serie de derechos que protegen sus territorios, identidad y cultura. Esta declaración de intenciones constituye un quiebre con respecto al modelo anterior de políticas estatales dominantes y excluyentes hacia los pueblos indígenas. No obstante, los derechos de los pueblos indígenas siguen sin respetarse, y a pesar de los espacios ganados en cuanto a organizaciones sociales y políticas, la lucha continúa en esa búsqueda constante de la tierra sin mal. Este trabajo busca describir la situación actual de los pueblos indígenas a partir de un análisis del acceso a los servicios públicos, la situación económica, la empleabilidad, la discriminación laboral y las políticas públicas. Asimismo, intenta explicar los factores que han influido en la escasa consolidación del movimiento indígena en Paraguay.

This paper aims to identify weaknesses and mutations of the transition project started in Paraguay with the military coup of 1989 and also identify those elements that over twenty years allowed the continuity of the structures and practices originating in the authoritarian regime. That victory and the advent of the Patriotic Alliance for Change (APC) in 2008 meant a break with the foundations of the transition and altered the course of the political process transforming the strategic areas of dispute and incorporating new issues and actors. This description is intended to affirm that the political process of Paraguay is a case that demonstrates how the constitutional changes, the introduction of new institutions and unusual punishment of democratic content standards do not automatically lead to the transition from an authoritarian to a democratic and advent of consolidation.Este trabajo pretende identificar las debilidades y mutaciones del proyecto de transición iniciado en el Paraguay con el golpe militar de 1989, así como también señalar aquellos elementos que a lo largo de veinte años permitieron la continuidad de las estructuras y las prácticas autoritarias originadas en la dictadura. Que la victoria y el advenimiento del gobierno de la Alianza Patriótica para el Cambio (APC) en el 2008 significan una ruptura con las bases de la transición y alteraron el rumbo del proceso político transformando los espacios estratégicos de disputa e incorporando nuevas temáticas y actores. Esta descripción pretende afirmar que el proceso político del Paraguay es un caso que demuestra como los cambios constitucionales, la implantación de nuevas instituciones y sanción de singulares normas de contenido democrático no implican automáticamente el fin de la transición de un régimen autoritario hacia otro democrático y el advenimiento de su consolidación.

This paper analyzes the explanatory factors of the outcome of the legislative and municipal elections of 2010 in Dominican Republic and the recent transformation experienced by the Dominican party system from a tripartism to a plural bipartism.. The leadership of President Fernández, its image, popularity, and pragmatism, are the key factors in the electoral success of the PLD, favored by endemic factionalism into the PRD and the progressive collapse of the PRSC as well. In this context, the PLD consolidated its electoral dominance thanks to the support of minority parties and will control the Legislative branch for the next six years.Este artículo analiza las claves explicativas de los resultados de las elecciones legislativas y municipales de 2010 en República Dominicana así como de la reciente transformación que ha experimentado el sistema de partidos dominicano, del tripartidismo al bipartidismo plural. El liderazgo del presidente Leonel Fernández, su imagen, popularidad y pragmatismo son la clave del éxito electoral del PLD, favorecido también por el faccionalismo endémico del PRD y la descomposición progresiva del PRSC. En esta contienda, el PLD consolida su dominio electoral gracias al apoyo de los partidos minoritarios y se asegura el control del Legislativo durante los próximos seis años.

This paper draws on the experience of the Brazilian Workers’ Party (PT), during periods of opposition and incumbency, to develop a theoretical approach to the use of Courts by political actors. I argue that the use of Courts by political parties is an outcome of their relations with executive incumbents, the institutional architecture of the judiciary, and a strategic evaluation of the different judicial mechanisms that are available to them.Este artículo examina la experiencia del Partido de los Trabajadores (PT), tanto durante periodos en que actuaba como fuerza política opositora como cuando ejercía el poder, para desarrollar un enfoque teórico sobre el uso que los actores políticos hacen de las Cortes. Sostengo que la manera en que los partidos usan las Cortes es el resultado de sus relaciones con el poder ejecutivo, con la arquitectura institucional del poder judicial y con la evaluación estratégica de los diferentes mecanismos judiciales que le sean disponibles.

This paper addresses a core puzzle: why is continued citizen mobilization accompanied by growing disempowerment of those same citizens? Why do movements fail, leaders burn out and members disperse, and what are the implications of this organizational failure for demo¬cratic representation? Our consideration of the issues is rooted in a close examination of urban movements, mobilization, empowerment and disempowerment in the recent experience of Venezuela and Perú. The puzzle that concerns us is of course not limited to these two countries: it is common to all the Andean republics, and in different ways, to much recent experience of urban mobilization in Latin America and beyond. After a brief account of urban citizen move¬ments and politics in our two cases, we outline general reflections on the nature of empowerment and disempowerment, on the peculiar combination of strengths and weaknesses that mark many contemporary movements. A close examination of types of movements and their links with poli¬tical parties and protest follows. The character of city life is important here. We close with analysis of recent waves of urban mobilization in Perú (that sparked the ouster of president Alberto Fujimori) and in Venezuela (both for and against president Hugo Chávez Frías), and with reflections on the likely future of empowerment and disempowerment for urban citizens and the implications of this perspective for democratic representationEste artículo plantea un puzzle principal: ¿por qué la movilización ciudadana continuada viene acompañada de un crecimiento del desempoderamiento de estos mismos ciudadanos? ¿Por qué los movimientos fracasan, los líderes se desgastan y los miembros se dispersan, y cuáles son las implicaciones del fracaso organizativo para la representación democrática? Nuestra consideración del asunto encuentra sus raíces en un profundo análisis de los movimientos urbanos, de la movilización, del empoderamiento y del desempoderamiento en la experiencia reciente de Venezuela y Perú. Después de una breve explicación de los movimientos ciudadanos urbanos y de la política en nuestros dos casos, concretaremos unas reflexiones generales sobre la naturaleza de ese proceso, y sobre la peculiar combinación de fortalezas y fragilidades que determinan muchos movimientos contemporáneos. Seguiremos con un examen de los tipos de movimientos y de sus vínculos con los partidos políticos y las protestas. Las características de la vida urbana son muy importantes en este contexto. Concluiremos con el análisis de las recientes oleadas de movilizaciones urbanas en Perú (que provocaron la salida del presidente Alberto Fujimori) y en Venezuela (ambas a favor y en contra del presidente Hugo Chávez Frías), y con algunas reflexiones sobre el futuro más probable del empoderamiento y desempoderamiento de los ciudadanos urbanos y sobre las implicaciones de esta perspectiva para la representación democrática.

In this paper, we analyze the relationship between modernization and demo¬cracy for one region of the world, Latin America from 1945 to 1996, on the basis of quantitative data. We make three arguments. First, we show that the level of development had a modest impact on the likelihood of democracy in Latin America for the 1945-1996 period. Democracy in Latin America has survived in the face of a low level of development, and it has faltered des pite moderately high per capita income. Second, we show that per capita income is a markedly worse predictor of democracy in Latin America than in the entire world or in other countries in the same income range. To account for this pattern we identify a distinctive, non-linear functional shape for this relationship in Latin America. Third, we address some potential explanations for this Latin American exceptionalism. No existing structural explanation suffices; this issue merits further exploration in future research.En este artículo analizamos la relación que existe entre el grado de modernización y la democracia en una región concreta del mundo, América Latina entre 1945 y 1996, apoyándonos en datos cuantitativos. Los argumentos que defendemos son tres. En primer lugar, mostramos cómo el nivel de desarrollo ha tenido una influencia relativamente débil en la probabilidad de que surgieran regímenes democráticos en América Latina durante el período 1945-1996. La democracia en América Latina ha sobrevivido en un contexto de escaso desarrollo pero también ha colapsado a pesar de unos niveles de renta per cápita relativamente altos. En segundo lugar, demostramos que, en América Latina, la renta per cápita permite predecir la democracia en menor medida que en el resto del mundo e incluso que en otros países con niveles de renta similares. Para entender las peculiaridades de esta relación en América Latina identificamos una función no lineal cuya forma se ajusta específicamente a esta región. En tercer lugar, consideramos una serie de posibles explicaciones a este excepcionalismo latinoamericano. Ninguna de las explicaciones estructurales ofrecidas hasta el momento resulta satisfactoria por lo que creemos que este tema merece ser estudiado en mayor profundidad en futuras investigaciones.

The article examines the scope and depth of the changes in Brazil since the 1980s, when the transition to democracy and the implementation of market reforms came to the forefront of the public agenda. Through a comparison between the 1980s and 1990s, the article examines developments in the economic order and social structure of Brazil with particular emphasis on political and institutional changes. With this aim, the paper looks specifically at the style of public management, the nature of the decision-making process, and the channels of statesociety interaction as well as the mechanisms for access to the decision-making centres. Finally, the article assesses the changes and relative importance of strategic actors in the new capitalist order.

The article is the explanation of the recent experience of the Legislative Assembly of the Republic of Panama, which prepared a proposal for the complete change of the constitutional frame of that country. The article offers a complete description of the initiative, including the name of the politicians between its promoters, as well as the staff of specialists and the members of the civil society that introduce their comments during the public consultation of the project. However, an important part of the paper explains the content of the project, contrasting it with the constitutional law of Panama, as well with other salient aspects of other initiatives of reform from other sources and in other periods.