Suchergebnisse

THE RECENT HISTORICAL EXPERIENCE OF THE NICARAGUAN, SALVADORAN, AND BRAZILIAN POPULAR STRUGGLES ARE EXAMINED. THE AUTHOR EMPHASIZES THE IMPORTANT ROLE PLAYED IN THESE STRUGGLES BY SPIRITUAL EMPOWERMENT AND THE EMERGENCE OF A LIBERATION THEOLOGY. THAT THE USE OF MARXIST SOCIAL ANALYSIS BY THIS RADICAL CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY IS NOT SURPRISING, IS ARGUED, GIVEN THE ACCURACY WITH WHICH IT DESCRIBES THE REAL-LIFE EXPERIENCE OF LATIN AMERICANS.

SPAIN ASSERTED ITS PRESENCE IN AMERICA THROUGH AN ARRAY OF INSTITUTIONS. TRADITIONAL HISTORIOGRAPHY STUDIED THESE IN DETAIL, DESCRIBING COLONIAL POLICY AND AMERICAN RESPONSES IN TERMS OF OFFICIALS, TRIBUNALS, AND LAWS. THE AGENCIES OF EMPIRE WERE TANGIBLE ACHIEVEMENTS AND EVIDENCE OF THE HIGH QUALITY OF SPANISH ADMINISTRATION. BETWEEN CROWN AND SUBJECT THERE WERE SOME 20 MAJOR INSTITUTIONS, WHILE COLONIAL OFFICIALS NUMBERED IN THE THOUSANDS.

THE AUTHOR OFFERS SOME GENERALIZATIONS ABOUT MEXICAN HISTORY IN THE NATIONAL PERIOD, STRESSING BOTH BROAD PATTERNS OF SOCIO-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND SPECIFIC POLITICO-CULTURAL FACTORS. HIS PURPOSE IS TO EXPLAIN THE DISTINCTIVENESS, AS WELL AS THE COMMONALITY, OF MEXICO'S HISTORY COMPARED TO THE HISTORY OF LATIN AMERICA, IN GENERAL, DURING THE NATIONAL PERIOD.

Five hundred years after its conquest and colonization, Latin America, according to the author, faces a unique and unrepeatable situation, a fork in the road presenting polar choices: either the consolidation of an enduring dependency, or the beginning of a second emancipation. He points out the divide-and-conquer tactics that undermined the single great nation envisaged by Bolivar and considers possibilities of integration to restore Latin America's unity

THE AUTHOR REVIEWS SOME OF THE THEORETICAL, METHODOLOGICAL, AND POLITICAL PROBLEMS ENTAILED BY THE USE OF THE LABELS--ASIANS, BLACKS, AND HISPANICS. THE MAIN FOCUS IS THE OBJECTIVE IMPLICATIONS OF THE HISPANIC LABLE FOR LATIN AMERICANS WHO IMMIGRATE TO OR VISIT THE UNITED STATES. IT IS HER CONTENTION THAT THIS LABEL HAS NEGATIVE SOCIAL AND POLITICAL CONNOTATIONS THAT ARE IMPORTANT FOR AN ASSESSMENT OF THE SOCIAL, POLITICAL, AND SCIENTIFIC USEFULNESS OF THIS AND OTHER RACIAL LABELS FOR CLASSIFYING THE U.S. POPULATION.

THE EVOLUTION OF ETHNIC LABELS IN THE MEXICAN-AMERICAN GROUP IS TRACED AND THE THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK THAT GUIDES THIS EXPLORATORY STUDY IS PRESENTED. THE AUTHOR EXPLORES THE ROLE OF ONE POTENTIAL SOURCE OF INTERNAL SUPPORT FOR THE TERM: ETHNIC POLITICAL ELITES. HIS FINDINGS FROM INTERVIEWS RAISE QUESTIONS ABOUT THE IN-GROUP SOURCES OF POPULARIZATION OF THE HISPANIC LABEL, THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ELITES' WITHIN IDENTITY AND THAT OF THE LARGER GROUP THAT THEY PRESUME TO REPRESENT, AND THE ROLE OF ETHNIC ELITES VIS-A-VIS THE ORGANIZATION AND INSTITUTIONS OF THE DOMINANT SOCIETY.

The author examines the ecological crisis created by capitalist development in Central America from a Marxist perspective. He analyzes the role of US imperialism and argues that the social and ecological marginalization of the peasants has provided the supplies of highly exploitable semiproletarian workers for the capitalist export sector. He explores the thesis that survival strategies adopted by the peasantry in response to the impoverishment have resulted in the widespread degradation and collapse of the ecological conditions necessary for the reproduction of semiproletarian labour-power

The CCAD establishes a regional cooperation regime for the optimal and rational use of the area's natural resources, the contamination control and the re-establishment of the environmental balance in order to guarantee a better quality of life for the population of Central America.

Effects of economic development on the environment and health in Central America, Mexico, and Brazil; 5 articles. Topics include tropical deforestation and land degradation, women in popular movements, and sustainable development.

Changes in Soviet policies, US-Soviet summitry, & the dismantling of the iron curtain in Eastern Europe have dramatically altered the way Americans view the USSR. These changes are reflected in numerous survey measures repeated during the past decade which show that Americans' attitudes toward the USSR have changed from deep pessimism & hostility in the early 1980s, in the aftermath of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, to one of cautious optimism entering the 1990s. Most Americans, at this writing, see US-Soviet relations greatly improved, & the USSR, under Mikhail Gorbachev, no longer striving for global domination. At the same time, however, the USSR is still widely seen as a formidable rival for influence in various parts of the Third World. This mix of perceptions has resulted in the public's preference for a cautious, dual approach toward the USSR -- showing receptivity to genuine Soviet conciliatory moves, but also keeping up our guard. 1 Figure, 1 Appendix. AA

Reasons for renewed regionalism in trade relations in the Western Hemisphere. Some emphasis on President Bush's Enterprise for the Americas Initiative.

Questions likely effectiveness of the US-Latin American initiative if unequal income distribution continues; compares conditions during the 1960s and 1970s with the 1980s.

Factors affecting foreign relations; Canadian policy with regard to the Organization of American States, Central America, Cuba, and free trade with the US and Mexico; conference paper.

The issue of the distribution of income is once again emerging as a critical component in the debates regarding Latin America's development path in the 1990s and as a factor underlying the proposed Enterprise of the Americas Initiative. After reviewing some of the hypotheses and recent findings from the research on income distribution in Latin America, the author contrasts the conditions of the growth decades of the 1960s and 1970s with the "lost decade" of the 1980s. He inquires what has been learned and what has been neglected during those years