Suchergebnisse

In approaching the paradigm of democracy, Latin America shows signs of both democratic & nondemocratic behavior. Democracy is an activity that yields qualities like equality, liberty, & constitutionality, but Latin Americans have not been able to reach the point where democracy is that stable yet flexible mode of its political organization, even with formal democratic institutions. Democracy's elements are transitive & complex, as shown by a historical review of the evolution of democracy. To reach the democratic paradigm, Latin America needs to achieve a relative unity, to integrate democracy in its evolution & traditions, & to view democracy as a popular, not antinational, paradigm. Adapted from the source document.

This article describes the progressive institutionalization of the political relationship between these two regions, which is an indication of both the increasing importance of Latin America on the international arena & the consolidation of the European Union as a single international actor. There is a chronological outline based on the various generations of agreements between both parties, as well as a brief synthesis of the key principles of the common vision & planning of the European Union in reference to Latin America as an actor. The relationship shows the road to the strategic association between both regions. 25 References. Adapted from the source document.

Addresses poverty in contemporary Latin America as a vision rather than a concept, arguing that income distribution policies need to restructure their evaluation & treatment according to socioeconomic challenges. It is contended that the prevailing sociopolitical perspective toward poverty is inverted in terms of causality, leading to the public's inverted assumption that poor education produces poor income accessibility & that an incapacity to economically organize impedes income production among the poor. A basic income program providing subsistence salaries for infants & seniors is proposed, one that sees adequate income as a solution to procuring good education & efficient economic organization for poor sectors. The primary objectives of a basic income or citizen income program must be (1) the establishment of full social equality, (2) the dignified evaluation & treatment of individuals, & (3) economic practicality. Adapted from the source document.

The economic impact of foreign aid flows to Latin America (from 1974 to 1993) is examined empirically. Regressions are run to determine whether aid is invested or consumed & whether the consumption of foreign aid is reflected in indicators of human development (infant mortality, secondary school enrollment, & life expectancy). However, no relationship is found between aid & improvements in human capital indicators. It is concluded that if continued aid to Latin America is to have a measurable economic impact a policy of selectivity (in the disbursement of aid) should be adopted. The merits of such a policy were recently acknowledged by the World Bank. 6 Tables, 3 Figures, 1 Appendix, 21 References. Adapted from the source document.

Latin America has been a world pioneer of neoliberal, structural reform of social security pensions ('privatisation'). This article focuses on the diverse political economy circumstances that enabled such reform, analysing why policy makers have chosen such a costly strategy and how they have managed to implement it. First, in nine countries with diverse regimes (authoritarian and democratic) it examines the internal political process that led to the adoption of reform. There tends to be an inverse relationship between the degree of democratisation and that of privatisation, but the political regime alone cannot fully explain the reform outcomes in all cases. To expand the search for explanatory variables, other key factors that might have influenced the reform design are studied, among them relevant political actors (driving and opposing forces), existing institutional arrangements, legal constraints, internal and external economics and policy legacy.

Examines the potential for social revolution in Latin America, an area that has achieved market democracies dominated by capitalist rule & impacted by globalization. Capitalist restructuring has bypassed legislative bodies, & democracy is exhibited only in periodic elections. Under the Washington Consensus, representative democracies have achieved wealth & power for the ruling classes, while further impoverishing the rest of the population. Failure to set limits on the devastating effects of capital accumulation has sparked massive protests across Latin American from an array of social movements & NGOs working for environmental, identity, human rights or cultural causes. However, revolution is considered outmoded, & access to information technology & mobilization at the global level have brought unpredictable policy outcomes. The best hope for social justice lies in working for social reforms within the representative democracies to confront the negative outcomes of capitalist globalization. 36 References. L. A. Hoffman

The author argues that current social violence & lack of stability in Latin America, & especially in South America, is the result of both matters of security arising from drug trafficking or the post-Cold War environment & the limited development of citizen representation, the persistence of a political culture that personalizes power, exclusion, & marked inequality in the distribution of wealth. This instability & violence does not follow a regional pattern; it is more intense in certain cases & subregions, as it is the result of typically local political, social, & institutional variables. Notwithstanding, the reaction of many governments has been to favor an approach that emphasizes security in its analytical framework & actions when dealing with this problem, yet this may well make matters worse. Finally, the analysis of political processes, which are relevant in explaining the roots of the problem here discussed, raises questions regarding the application of international restrictive measures to countries experiencing crisis & instability; conflict scenarios are also described. 3 Tables. Adapted from the source document.

Discusses the relationship between American labor unions such as the National Labor Committee (NLC) & the AFL-CIO & the Cold War anticommunist foreign policy in the 1980s. The Reagan administration considered the Nicaraguan revolution & the Salvadoran guerrilla war as products of Soviet & Cuban intervention & as threats to US authority; the AFL-CIO held a similar view toward this Central American crisis. However, many US unions such as the NLC disagreed with Reagan's Central America policies. The article outlines the history of the NLC & its influence on Cold War foreign policy. It is concluded that the NLC was a key component in the US Central America peace movement, a contributor to criticism of US & AFL-CIO foreign policies, a developer of a strong liberal labor coalition in America, & a part of an ongoing conflict between liberal & conservative wings of labor leadership. J. Moses

Arguments about whether the concept of "diaspora" can legitimately be extended to describe the situation of homosexuals as a persecuted minority group are weighed, focusing on the notion of exile & whether, in the case of gays, it matters if it is self-imposed. In Latin America, it is contended that homosexuals have a long history of forced flight & exile as a result of persecution & oppression solely on the basis of their sexual orientation. The centrality of the experience of exile to the Latin American homoerotic experience is demonstrated here in an overview of seven prominent novelists who encompass this theme in their work (often because they have experienced exile as homosexuals themselves): Hector Bianciotti, Reinaldo Arenas, Daniel Torres, Luis Rafael Sanchez, Virgilio Pinera, Fernando Vallejo, & Jaime Bayly. 41 References. K. Hyatt Stewart

The purpose of this article is to show and explore some basic aspects of the situation in which Indigenous and Afro-descendant peoples live in Latin America and the Caribbean. Factors such as racism and discrimination will be analysed in an effort to interpret the causes that have resulted in millions of people in the region, from a variety of ethnic and racial origins, living in poverty and marginalization. It is suggested that the way to deal with this problem is to transform systems of exclusion and discrimination (which are cultural, economic, legal and political in nature) at the root by designing strategies ranging from formal recognition of identities and collective rights to public policy-making, stronger regional and international cooperation programmes and far-reaching reform of the State. (CEPAL Rev/DÜI)