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The first 'regular' transfer of power between two civilian governments in Pakistan manifested itself in the aftermath of the 2013 general elections. Many celebrated this shift as a positive sign of democratic consolidation. However, the appreciation of this allegedly 'new democratic wave' ignores the resilience of decade-old authoritarian, and anti-democratic patterns. The military still dominates all significant political decision-making processes. Furthermore, with the 21st constitutional amendment the soldiers were able to further entrench their formal role in the political-institutional setup. This seriously challenges the notions of civilian supremacy, which is unfortunate, since civilian control of the armed forces is a necessary constituent for democracy and democratic consolidation.

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In this article I attempt to present and discuss two different periods of the dissemination of psychoanalysis in Brazil, both in the professional milieu and among the lay public. The first period, in the early 20th century, concerns the reception of Freud's ideas in the two largest Brazilian cities - Rio and São Paulo. The second period consists of the last thirty years of the century and refers to the so-called "psychoanalytic boom" that took place during the darkest years of the military dictatorship, focusing on Rio of Janeiro, where the effects were more visible. I intend to examine and discuss the specific characteristics of these two periods of propagation, trying to understand the success of the psychoanalytic "cosmological view" in the context of the Brazilian learned middle classes. I conclude the article with a few reflections on the post-psychoanalytic period we are now living.

Although there exists a significant body of literature documenting the under-representation of black Cubans in the island's most important governing institutions throughout the forty-four years of Fidel Castro's rule, these analyses have emphasized limited access to political power as the sole factor responsible for this state of affairs. However, this comprehensive analysis contends that with the aging of the Cuban Revolution, other factors such as low holdover and high replacement rates for blacks during periodic reshuffling of the political elite have become crucial, albeit unacknowledged, explanatory variables for the paucity of blacks among the country's leadership. An important determinant for this pattern is the existence of inter- and intra-institutional stratification among blacks, the reasons for which remain unknown. Nonetheless, the presence of this factor increases the vulnerability of nonwhites as decisions are made about which individuals should be retained or replaced in key government institutions.

Bisherige Versuche, den in Relation zur wirtschaftlichen Macht Japans außergewöhnlich kleinen Verteidigungshaushaltmit Hilfe von Theorien der internationalen Beziehungen zu erklären, haben keine befriedigenden Ergebnisse gezeitigt. Nach Ansicht des Autors müssen dafür innenpolitische Faktoren herangezogen werden. Anhand des Prozesses, in dem der Nachkriegspremier Yoshida und seine Nachfolger eine minimalistische Verteidigungspolitik entwickelten, diskutiert Sun-Ki Chai die theoretischen Grundlagen dreier verschiedener Techniken der Institutionalisierung dieser Verteidigungspolitik: die Schaffung formaler Regeln und Institutionen wie Verfassungsbestimmungen; die Bekanntgabe informeller, aber politisch bindender Prinzipien, die den Rahmen des politischen Entscheidungsprozesses bilden; die Beeinflußung der öffentlichen Meinung. (SWP-Gtv)

Focuses on processes by which Japan's Defense Minister Yoshida Shigeru and his post-World War II successors enacted and entrenched a doctrine linked to minimal defense spending and dependence on the US. Techniques include formal rules and organizations, creating focal points for political bargaining, and influencing public ideology.

Japan's level of defense expenditure relative to the size of its economy has long been uniquely low among the major industrialized countries. As of 1995, Japan's expenditures stood at 0.96 percent of gross domestic product (GDP). Even adding to this the approximately 0.3 percent of GDP devoted to pensions for retired personnel, the level of spending is considerably less than that of major Western states such as the United States, United Kingdom, France, and Germany, as well as industrialized Asian states such as South Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia, and Singapore. Furthermore, these relative magnitudes have remained reasonably stable over the past few decades.