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During the first decade of the 21st century, Latin America experienced an intense economic growth that increased access in the school system. In this context, the paper analyzes four different programs from Bolivia (Intercultural Community Indigenous Universities), Brazil (Quotas´ Law), Chile (Follow up and Effective Access to Higher Education Program) and Ecuador (Scholarship Program based on Quotas) aimed at improving the participation of marginalized students in the university from three different perspectives. First, conceptually, the paper analyzes the governance of these programs in terms of what are the institutional arrangements that define who is responsible for solving this source of inequality in higher education. Second, the study looks at the concepts of equality, fairness, merit, need and diversity behind the different initiatives presented, using the social justice debate. Thirdly, the paper uses the framework of analysis of different types of access programs to study the scope, components and arrangements of the policies. The results show a high level of heterogeneity in the characteristics and focuses of the programs, which allows to deepen the discussion on the role of access to higher education in the region.

This article introduces a special issue of EPAA/AAPE devoted to recent higher education reforms in Latin America. The last two decades have seen much policy development in higher education in the region, examined and discussed by scholars in each country, but dialog with the international literature on higher education reform, or an explicit comparative focus, have been mostly absent from these works. By way of presentation of the papers included in this issue, we first provide an overview of major policy changes in higher education in the Latin American region since the 1990s. We then turn to the six works in this special issue to describe the theories and methods supporting them. Next, we illustrate how general analytic categories can be derived from single or multi country case studies to illuminate themes capable of cutting across the particulars of national contexts, with their unique traditions, policy paths, and politics. Our three common threads are, first, the types of drivers for reform, that is, how policy change originates, either bottom-up from the institutions, or top-down from the government, and various possibilities in between. Second, understanding challenges to institutional autonomy in a continuum of intensity of state intended intervention in higher education. Third, explaining different levels of strain between public and private sectors in higher education based on conditions of competition for economic resources. While the papers in this special issue do not cover all countries, nor all issues on which policy has been crafted in the last two decades across the region, the collection of articles herein account for topics of enduring importance: faculty work in Ecuador, financial aid in Colombia, public policy decentralization in Argentina, quality assurance models in Colombia and Uruguay, the emerge of new institutions and universities in Argentina and Uruguay, and social justice, access, and inclusion in higher education, in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Ecuador. The articles presented in this special issue provide much insight onto higher education policy in Latin America and, additionally, offer ample opportunity to develop social science knowledge on the basis of strong comparative work.

Purpose: This paper aims to present an approach to achieve accessible and inclusive Virtual Education for all, but especially intended for students with disabilities. This work proposes main steps to take into consideration for stakeholders involved in the educational process related to an inclusive e-Learning. Design/methodology/approach: The paper pays particular regard to accessibility in Virtual Education. This work is based on the activities prepared from years 2012 to 2015 within the initiative called ESVI-AL. This initiative was carried out in conjunction with Latin American and European Universities; for this paper, experiences and best practices from the initiative were used to prepare the proposed approach. Findings: The aim of ESVI-AL initiative was to offer products that can help in the development of an accessible and inclusive e-Learning education. Among the main results were reports, case studies, practical guidelines, training courses and software to install virtual campuses with accessibility features. Social implications: Nowadays, few countries have laws promoting and enforcing accessibility for e-Education and e-Society. This work aims to sensitize educators from different countries and raise awareness on the importance of working together toward an inclusive society based on accessible e-Learning. Originality/value: Based on a literature review and ESVI-AL initiative results, a descriptive overview was prepared as a starting point for the four identified main actors of an educational project, namely, educators, technical staff, quality auditors and students, with special emphasis on students with disabilities.

The academic programs at the graduate level are increasingly interested about the enrollment management challenges in terms of international student mobility. Understanding fundamental enrollment concepts to attract international students provides the essential key to consider the competitive environment concerning university resources, academic program potential, complex cultural dynamics, and workplaces among others. Based on a six-year quantitative and descriptive statistical study, this paper addresses the trends of first-time graduate enrollment and patterns of international student mobility by faculty at the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez. Results revealed the sustained trend of graduate enrollment of international students mainly from South America, Central America, and the Caribbean among others. Moreover, the presence of international graduate students adds a dimension of diversity to UPRM between teaching and research undertakings that enhance the Colleges of Engineering, Arts and Sciences, Agricultural Sciences, and Business Administration. The international student mobility has a consistent tendency mainly in the Colleges of Engineering, Arts and Sciences, and Agricultural Sciences. This consistency resembles the quality and reputation recognized by educational institutions and organizational world rankings. In-depth, understanding the trends related to international graduate enrollment and mobility should be considered by institutional leaders and administrators at UPRM to make knowledgeable decisions and to effectively set priorities to recruit highly qualified international students.

In many countries, the advancement of hydropower resources has been hindered by economic factors and insufficient data on topography, streamflow, environmental sensitivity, power grid, and, most importantly, the location of potential hydropower sites. This challenge is particularly pronounced in certain African and Latin American river systems. Developing web-based maps of hydropower resources based on geographic information systems and advanced mapping technologies can facilitate the initial assessment of hydropower sites. This is especially relevant for developing sites in remote areas and data-scarce regions. The available geospatial datasets, remote sensing technologies, and advanced GIS modelling techniques can be used to identify potential hydropower sites and assess their preliminary characteristics. This paper reviews web-based hydropower atlases in African and Latin American countries. Their main features are represented and compared with the recently launched HYPOSO map viewer covering two African countries (Cameroon and Uganda) and three Latin American countries (Bolivia, Colombia, and Ecuador). This hydropower atlas consists of 20 spatial layers. Its particular focus is to present a geospatial dataset of new hydropower sites with concise information for potential investors. These so-called virtual hydropower atlases can be only one type of discovery at the early project stage, automatically identifying sites worthy of further investigation. A formal validation of the web-based atlases, including the HYPOSO hydropower atlas, is briefly considered. Creating open-access hydropower map viewers is anticipated to significantly enhance the hydropower development database in these nations, offering valuable insights for small and medium-scale projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Historically, Latin America has been a fertile ground for the emergence of populism. Scholars have identified several waves of populist governments flourishing in the region during the last century. The third wave began in the 2000s when leftist leaders came to power in some Latin American countries, a phenomenon called "the Pink Tide". Two of the most notable examples of populist governments in this wave were Evo Morales in Bolivia (2006-2019) and Rafael Correa in Ecuador (2007-2017). Both leaders promoted an anti-elitist rhetoric highlighting a confrontational divide between domestic elites (as perpetrators of injustices) and the people (as victims). This rhetoric also involved external actors. The relationship with the great powers was permeated by the populist discourse based on the logic of "them vs. us". In this context, the paper analyses the rhetoric of Evo Morales and Rafael Correa concerning the role of the European Union in their countries. Primary sources (speeches, press releases and official documents) are examined to understand the image built around the EU and to grasp how populist rhetoric portrayed the EU's role in areas such as trade and migration. The result is a complex assessment of the ideas about the EU disseminated by these leaders, examining how Morales's and Correa's rhetoric evolved over the years and identifying similarities and differences between their approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses bilingual education policy and reform in the context of indigenous languages of Peru, Ecuador, and Bolivia, exploring the ideological paradox inherent in transforming a standardizing education into a diversifying one and in constructing a multilingual, multicultural national identity. Data come from policy documents and practitioner narratives. Notes implications for educational practice in linguistically and culturally diverse classrooms. (Contains references.) (SM)

Copyright of Journal of Politics in Latin America is the property of Sage Publications Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Politica y Sociedad is the property of Universidad Complutense de Madrid and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Revista Mexicana de Ciencias Politicas y Sociales is the property of Revista Mexicana de Ciencias Politicas y Sociales and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Revista SAAP is the property of Sociedad Argentina de Analisis Politico and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Biodiversity conservation is a complex and transdisciplinary problem that requires engagement and cooperation among scientific, societal, economic, and political institutions. However, historical approaches have often failed to bring together and address the needs of all relevant stakeholders in decision‐making processes. The Tropical Andes, a biodiversity hotspot where conservation efforts often conflict with socioeconomic issues and policies that prioritize economic development, provides an ideal model to develop and implement more effective approaches. In this study, we present a co‐design approach that mainstreams and improves the flow of biodiversity information in the Tropical Andes, while creating tailored outputs that meet the needs of economic and societal stakeholders. We employed a consultative process that brought together biodiversity information users and producers at the local, national, and regional levels through a combination of surveys and workshops. This approach identified priority needs and limitations of the flow of biodiversity information in the region, which led to the co‐design of user‐relevant biodiversity indicators. By leveraging the existing capacities of biodiversity information users and producers, we were able to co‐design multiple biodiversity indicators and prioritize two for full implementation ensuring that the data was findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable based on the FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) principles. This approach helped address limitations that were identified in the stakeholder engagement process, including gaps in data availability and the need for more accessible biodiversity information. Additionally, capacity‐building workshops were incorporated for all producers of biodiversity information involved, which aimed to not only improve the current flow of biodiversity information in the region but also facilitate its future sustainability. Our approach can serve as a valuable blueprint for mainstreaming biodiversity information and making it more inclusive in the future, especially considering the diverse worldviews, values, and knowledge systems between science, policy, and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of food sovereignty has been enshrined in the constitutions of a number of countries around the world without any clear consensus around what state-sponsored ‘food sovereignty’ might entail. At the forefront of this movement are the countries of the so-called ‘pink tide’ of Latin America – chiefly Venezuela, Ecuador and Bolivia. This paper examines how state commitments to food sovereignty have been put into practice in these three countries, asking if and how efforts by the state contribute to significant transformation or if they simply serve the political purposes of elites. Understanding the state as a complex arena of class struggle, we suggest that state efforts around food sovereignty open up new political spaces in an ongoing struggle around control over food systems at different scales. Embedded in food sovereignty is a contradictory notion of sovereignty, requiring simultaneously a strong developmentalist state and the redistribution of power to facilitate direct control over food systems in ways that may threaten the state. State-society relations, particularly across scales, are therefore a central problematic of food sovereignty projects. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In the mid-twentieth century, nation-building projects arose in Bolivia and Ecuador based on the concept of "miscegenation." This paper studies how such projects articulated nationalist visions of indigenous race. In both cases the aim was to include the indigenous peoples within the nation, conceived as a peasant and mestizo amalgam. However, the implemented policies of agrarian reform, generated trials with paradoxical consequences. Instead of transforming indigenous peoples into mestizo peasants, they made possible the affirmation of their ethnic identity, their self-organization and participation in the national political arena. In this article, I first analyze the political process by comparing the ideals of mestizo nationhood in Bolivia and Ecuador. Then, I examine the land reform and its unintended effects as well as the origins of indigenous movements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A methodology to assess food, energy, and water security is proposed. • The approach links availability and accessibility on a sub-national scale in Peru, Ecuador, and Bolivia. • The approach can be used to assess multiple development priorities simultaneously. • Application of this method can be at multiple spatial scales and institutional levels. • The results are relevant for the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals. The food-energy-water (FEW) nexus has emerged over the past decade to build understanding around interlinked resources as a tool for achieving sustainable development. Various frameworks developed to implement nexus thinking however, do not always consider both access and availability of resources in a security perspective. Moreover, indices that calculate FEW measures on a national scale may not adequately describe regional variation within a country. To further understanding of these coupled natural resources and tools for development, this paper presents an approach to quantify FEW security and highlights cases in Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia where national statistics leave out important regional variation. The outcome is an integrated approach to quantify security measures that can be implemented at multiple spatial scales and institutional levels. This approach can not only provide insight into FEW security in Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia but can also be an effective tool for assessing multiple development priorities simultaneously throughout the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper examines contemporary struggles over hydrocarbon governance in Ecuador and Bolivia. Our comparative analysis illustrates the ways that petro-capitalism, nationalist ideologies, popular movements and place conjoin in the governance of oil and natural gas. In the case of Ecuador, state employees drew on their labor relations and political training to oppose the government’s efforts to privatize the state oil company. In Bolivia, urban popular movements opposed the privatization of the hydrocarbons industry and its domination by foreign firms. In both cases, hydrocarbons struggles involved the production of imaginative geographies of the nation and it hydrocarbon resources, which in turn drew on historical memories of nationhood. Whereas neoliberal political and economic restructuring sought to re-organize national hydrocarbons companies, redraw concessions, and draft new resource extraction laws, hydrocarbon movements aimed to counter these processes by re-centering hydrocarbon governance within a populist vision of the nation-state. In contrast to analyses of resource conflict in the environmental security and resource curse literatures, the cases of Ecuador and Bolivia demonstrate that such struggles cannot be reduced to models of opportunity structure, war profiteering, or resource scarcity (or abundance). Rather, these cases show that political economy and cultural politics are inseparable in the context of resource conflicts, which involve struggles over the meanings of development, citizenship and the nation itself. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Copyright of Analisis Politico is the property of Universidad Nacional de Colombia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In 2019, the International Labour Organization (ILO), celebrated its 100th anniversary and 30 years since it in 1989 adopted the Convention Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries, C169. C169 lays the foundation for a model for a relationship among indigenous peoples and the nation-state in which they live. It defines territorial areas of indigenous peoples and gives them the right to be heard before governments implement measures. C169 is a central instrument in the progress of acknowledging indigenous rights and including them in national laws. The first country to ratify C169 was Norway, followed by Bolivia and Ecuador. These countries have implemented C169 in their legislation. The high-income country Norway and the Andean countries are distinct in many ways. Sámi and the Indigenous peoples of the Amazon still have shared experiences with the nation-state and rights to land and water. With relevant examples from Bolivia, Ecuador and Norway, the article will examine the significance of C169 when the interests of indigenous peoples are conflicting with the nation-state's interests. It will look into the role of the conventions when conflicts arise. What challenges do nation-states meet in the obligation to secure indigenous peoples' right to live a good life enjoying substantive freedoms as is the main focus in the capability approach? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The analysis compares Ecuador's Punto de Vista and Bolivia's Aqui as counter-hegemonic, cultural forces within their respective settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Los preámbulos son introducciones cortas que manifiestan, en términos generales, el propósito y contexto de una constitución. Su contenido presenta una gran variedad de temas que reflejan el momento histórico y la ideología que dio origen al marco legal de un país. En este artículo utilizamos el análisis crítico del discurso para examinar los preámbulos de las constituciones de Bolivia y Ecuador y planteamos que ambos son ejemplos claros de pensamiento decolonial. Nos hemos centrado en tres aspectos del pensamiento decolonial: biocentrismo, plurinacionalismo y visibilidad del género social. Este artículo también muestra que la traducción inglesa de estos preámbulos falla en transmitir su propuesta epistemológica. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Four Andean countries of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru introduced national health-focused conditional cash transfer (CCT) programs in the 2000s. This study probes whether policymakers in these countries targeted CCT programs to subregions with the highest prevalence of ill-health or those with the lowest socioeconomic status (SES) to evaluate the equity of geographic targeting and means-testing, as well as the potential role of normative frames, bounded rationality, and clientelism as explanatory mechanisms for inequities in social spending. Methods: The distribution of vaccination coverage, underweight, stunting, and child deaths is established both within and between subnational regions and SES quintiles from 1998 to 2012 using every available nationally representative household survey. The equity of CCT program targeting and strength of association with subregional SES and health outcomes are measured using generalized entropy index decomposition and meta-regression. Finally, simple predictive models for CCT targeting are created using lagged subregional SES, health outcomes, and concentration indices. Results: Bolivia and Peru both effectively targeted at-risk subregions, but subregions in Peru with no CCT program coverage result in higher mistargeting rates for the country as a whole. Only Bolivia failed to attain CCT coverage concentration indices that are at least as large as the health inequalities they are targeting. Despite this insufficient progressivity, Bolivia has the most efficient subregional targeting, while the lowest rates of mistargeting for child deaths are found in Colombia and Ecuador. Finally, the simple predictive model performs as well or better than observed CCT coverage distribution for every country, year, and outcome. Conclusions: Both Peru and Ecuador have targeted programs to their poorest populations effectively, demonstrating that this is possible with both universal and geographic targeting. No clear evidence of clientelism was found, while the dominant normative frame underlying CCT program targeting decisions appears to be the relative SES of subregions, rather than absolute SES, prevalence of health outcomes, or health inequalities. To reduce the inequitable impacts of bounded rationality, policymakers can use simple predictive models to target CCT coverage effectively and without leaving behind the most vulnerable populations that happen to live in more affluent subregions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Acta Pediatrica de Mexico is the property of Instituto Nacional de Pediatria (INP) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

A new genus and species of Philopotamidae (Philopotaminae), Aymaradella boliviana, is described from the Bolivian Andes of South America. The new genus differs from other Philopotaminae by the loss of 2A vein in the hind wing and, in the male genitalia, the synscleritous tergum and sternum of segment VIII, and the elongate sclerotized dorsal processes of segment VIII. The first record of Hydrobiosella (Philopotaminae) in the New World is also provided with a new species from the Andes of Ecuador, Hydrobiosella andina. In addition, a new species of the Neotropical genus Chimarrhodella (Chimarrinae), Chimarrhodella choco, is described from the Choco-Andean region of Ecuador, and Chimarrhodella peruviana (Ross) is recorded from Ecuador for the first time. Lastly, Wormaldia imbrialis (Philopotaminae), new species, is described, also from the Ecuadorian Choco. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Iberoamericana de Estudios de Desarrollo is the property of Revista Iberoamericana de Estudios de Desarrollo and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The recent political, economic and social histories of Bolivia and Ecuador point to a broader, post-neoliberal trend emerging in Latin America. Presidents Evo Morales and Rafael Correa have closely followed the basic model of twenty-first-century socialism as an alternative to free market capitalism. In theory, both leaders have successfully re-founded their countries with new constitutions that encompass the interests of all sectors of society. In practice, however, we argue that a volatile economic climate, poorly implemented reforms, increased opposition, and low political tolerance all indicate limitations to the viability of twenty-first-century socialism as a post-neoliberal development model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To predict the electoral fate of the new cohort of indigenous-based political parties in Latin America, and the impacts on their respective party systems, we need to understand their prospects for consolidation. The central task of this article is to determine whether indigenous peoples’ parties are developing solid party roots in society or if they are merely benefiting from a protest vote against the system. The study of political party consolidation requires an examination of local level successes and failures. Based on a quantitative analysis of municipal election results in Ecuador (1996—2004) and Bolivia (1999—2004), the author finds mixed support for indigenous party consolidation. Clearly, the governing indigenous-based Movement Toward Socialism (MAS) party in Bolivia has solidified its base of support. Ecuador’s indigenous-based Pachakutik (MUPP) party, however, has lost its support at the national level, though it continues to make impressive gains at the local level. As such, it represents a case of incomplete consolidation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]