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Nicaraguan households in villages, where local elites monopolize the aid interface, are more likely to be left out from all aid. Even if village members succeed in creating political change, this does not necessarily make the situation of those excluded better. As a result, aid donors are encouraged to become more committed choosing community representatives.

"Will President Ortega live up to his democratic discourse, or will the state become a hybrid regime, combining procedural elements of democracy with deep wells of authoritarianism?"

This article analyzes the strategic deployment of rights and citizenship discourses by a Nicaraguan women's organization (MEC) and the struggle that this group has faced in reconciling the use of these discourses with its aim of bringing about changes in the conditions faced by women workers in the Free Trade Zone (FTZ). Contestations regarding notions of citizenship are explored, and I discuss Nicaraguan state agents' and (to a lesser degree) maquila factory owners' use of notions of citizenship, and how they both coincide and conflict with neoliberal social and economic projects. The case of this Nicaraguan organization's discursive engagement with state actors sheds light on the question: How do ideologies linked to transnational social movements filter into regional and national discourses and become transformed by local actors? In addition, this case has important implications for the larger issue of changing state sovereignty within a global context. A contextualized approach to the strategic use of (human) rights and citizenship calls attention to the complex and situationally specific dilemmas and opportunities involved in adapting this 'frame' to work for oppositional objectives. Furthermore, viewing rights and citizenship as always situational calls us to move away from narrow conceptualizations of structural transformation to a more complex and nuanced vision.

As foreign reporters descended upon Managua during the runup to last fall's presidential election between Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega and ex-Contra Enrique Bolanos, their favorite question was: "Has Daniel Ortega [...]

This article examines Nicaragua's transition from the revolutionary Sandinista period to the neoliberal era with a focus on the working class and urban poor. The author, analyzing narratives and the discourses of body and gender in relation to the economy and nation, argues the working class and poor have a strong notion of the integrity of their bodies and view violence, environmental destruction, and sexual policies as the government trying to control their physical being.

The FSLN party Congress exposed the tensions between the "old guard" and those sectors who believe that the party's future depends on its ability to adapt to changing political circumstances. [...]

Most Latin American governments acknowledge the need for substantial judicial reform. This article focuses on three problems in the implementation of justice during the 1990s. The three case studies touch on four countries -- Ecuador, Nicaragua, Mexico and the United States, although the same or similar problems can be found throughout the hemisphere.

Clerical elites have been observed to consistently render active support to civil liberties in contrast to the mass public who failed to concretely apply general democratic rules. In Nicaragua, for instance, clerical elites have played a significant role in the nation's transition to democracy by monitoring the protection of various constitutional processes and individual liberties and actively participating in the negotiation of armed conflicts.