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Despite the central role of cultural distances in social sciences, literature is surprisingly scarce in quantitatively measuring and graphically representing this concept in Latin America. This study addresses this issue calculating a cultural distance index using the nine cultural dimensions measured by House et al. (2004) for ten Latin American countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico and Venezuela. Also, this study graphically presents the cultural distances calculated. The relevance of this study is the ability to incorporate cultural indicators that allow comparing the current situation and prospects in Latin America. In order to illustrate the implications of this study, the case of cultural distances of Mexico with other nine Latin American countries is analyzed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay provides a model to analyze the development of political science in Latin America along the last sixty years. It identifies some of the theoretical disciplines, such as law and sociology, which set it in motion at the beginning, but at the same time they hindered its development as an independent science until recent decades in which political approaches predominate. Likewise, this essay shows the structural conditions of its development through the illustration of several variables, such as the proliferation of academic programs, political science scholar associations and academic production in journals, in order to evaluate the degree of institutionalization of political science in Latin America thus far. It concludes that political science in Latin America has accomplished its autonomy as an independent science, but it shows great diversity across the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]