Suchergebnisse

This article explores the role of the Argentine and Brazilian parliaments during the formative years of Mercosur with the aim of assessing how the specific model of 'limited democracy' may have had an impact on the course and shape of Mercosur. Although that integration process was essentially a governmental exercise, with only a marginal role for congresses, this article argues that this does not constitute in itself either a violation of constitutional provisions in the member states or a geographical anomaly compared to other constitutional traditions or to incipient integration processes elsewhere. Yet, perhaps ironically, the conclusion suggests that democratic limitations have fostered, rather than hampered, integration in the Southern Cone of Latin America.

This essay analyzes crime policies enacted on behalf of, and often named for, particular victims of crime. This article argues that this naming reinforces a persistent and troubling image of the crime victim as young, white, female, and middle class. This image of victimization has so dominated and distorted discourse about crime in the United States that it is almost impossible to recognize and even harder to discuss how punishing these policies are not only for those accused and convicted of crime, but for most crime victims as well. As this essay argues, these crime victim policies often harm the very people they are supposed to protect.