Parmi les noms des pétrographes polonais, connus dans le monde savant, celui de Joseph Morozewicz occupe une place d'honneur, Tout d'abord, il s'est rendu célèbre, aux années 1891—1895, surtout par ses études synthétiques sur les minéraux et les roches, tant au point de vue des méthodes appliquées, qu'à celui des résultats acquis. Le nom de J. Morozewicz figure également parmi ceux des savants polonais tels que A. Czekanowski, J. Czerski, K. Bohdanowicz, L. Jaczewski et d'autres, qui ont grandement contribué à l'enrichissement de la connaissance des minéraux, des roches et de la structure géologique des vastes étendues de l'empire de Russie. La Novaja Zemlja, l'Oural, les Steppes de Noghay, les Iles de Commandeur — voilà les terrains principaux des voyages et des travaux d'exploration de Morozewicz. Le bagage scientifique de J. Morozewicz est consigné dans la liste de ses ouvrages et articles publiés, placée à la fin du texte polonaisa que nous résumons ici. Jetons un coup d'oeil sur certains résultats de ses recherches. Les synthèses de minéraux, obtenues par J. Morozewicz dans les fourneaux de la verrerie de Targówek près Varsovie, étaient imposantes par l'échelle de grosseur des alliages ; certains de ceux-ci pesaient jusqu'à 50 kg, leur cristallisation durait parfois jusqu'à deux mois. Grâce à ces circonstances, J. Morozewicz obtenait des minéraux synthétiques en grandes quantités et en cristaux de grosseur suffisante (certains d'entre eux mesuraient plus de 1,5 mm de longueur) pour pouvoir les isoler facilement et les étudier avec les méthodes appliquées d'habitude aux roches, sans se borner seulement aux déterminations qualitatives. Les analyses chimiques des minéraux dégagés des alliages formaient la base des recherches sur l'influence de la température et de la composition du fondage, variées à dessein, sur le chimisme du processus de sa cristallisation. En dehors des procédés chimiques, les méthodes optico-microscopiques y furent largement appliquées. Quant à l'ordre de la cristallisation des minéraux du fondage, J. Morozewicz a fait une série d'observations, établissant que l'influence décisive sur la consécutivité de la cristallisation des minéraux du magma fut exercée par les rapports quantitatifs des éléments contenus dans le fondage et que, par conséquent, cette consécutivité n'est pas uniquement déterminée par le point de fusibilité des composants (comme l'admettaient F. Fouqué et M. Lévy) ou par le degré de basicité des silicates (selon l'opinion de H. Rosenbusch). Les résultats des synthèses de J. Morozewicz forment une des bases d'un courant nouveau dans l'étude de la pétrogenèse qui, grâce aux travaux de Vogt et, ensuite, des savants américains et autres, introduisit la pétrographie des roches éruptives dans sa période physicochimique. J. Morozewicz fut le premier à obtenir les basaltes synthétiques suivants: basaltes à néphéline, à haüyne, à melitite, ainsi que liparitev dans la masse vitreuse de laquelle on trouve de petits cristaux de quartz, de biotite et de sanidine. C'était la première synthèse pétrographique, où ces trois composants ont cristallisé ensemble. En outre, parmi les nombreuses synthèses de minéraux réalisées par J. Morozewicz, les suivantes méritent une attention spéciale: corindon, silimanite, cordiérite, enstatite, augite, haüyne et sodalite. Bien intéressante aussi est la synthèse du grenat de soude, obtenue dans un mélange isomorphe avec le grossulaire, que J. Morozewicz nomma lagoriolite en l'honneur de son maitre, le professeur A. Lagorio, minéralogue et pétrographe distingué. En 1896, J. Morozewicz prit pars à l'expédition scientifique à la Novaja Zemlja. Cette expédition, dirigée par T. Tchernicheff, le géologue russe bien connu, avait principalement pour bur de recueillir des specimens géologiques et paléontologiques dans la zone littorale le long du détroit de Matotchkin Char. C'était le premier grand voyage de J. Morozewicz, inaugurant le cycle de ses expéditions en Russie d'Europe et d'Asie. En 1897, J. Morozewicz, forcé par le gouvernement tsariste à quitter la Pologne, prit le poste de géologue du Comité Géologique de Saint-Pétersbourg qu'il occupa pendant sept ans c'est-à-dire jusqu'à 1904. L'Oural fut l'un des premiers terrains de recherches de J. Morozewicz en sa qualité de géologue d'Etat au service de la Russie. A ce terrain sont consacrés ses rapports sur les recherches le long du chemin de fer Ekaterinbourg-Tchélabinsk et ses études sur les gisements de magnétite dans la Mt. Magnitnaja. Le résultat de son voyage à l'Oural fut, entre autres, d'avoir distingué une roche, nouvelle dans le classement pétrographique, qu'il appela kyschtymite et qui représente un produit, inconnu jusqu'alors, de la cristallisation du magma saturé de l'oxyde d'aluminium; ses composants principaux sont: corindon, anortbdte, biotite; secondaires: spinelle, zircon, apatite. La kyschtymite fut de .même reproduite synthétiquement par Morozewicz. Un autre terrain des travaux étendus et bien fructueux de Morozewicz furent, aux années 1898—1901, les steppes de Noghay sur la Mer d'Azov. J. Morozewicz publia en 1929, sous le titre de «La Mariupolite et ses parents» (Travaux du Service Géologique de Pologne, vol. II, livr. 3), le travail le plus important parmi ceux qu'il a consacrés à ce terrain. Morozewicz introduisit dans la pétrographie la dénomination de «mariupoüte» en 1902, désignant par ce nom le chaînon extrême des syénites à néphéline, composé principalement d'albite, de néphéline et d'aegyrine, et dépourvu, dans son type pur, de feldspath potassique. Les recherches ultérieures ont amené J. Morozewicz à constater qu'il existe tout un groupe de roches apparentées à la mariupolite, fort singulières par leur composition minérale et par leur structure variable, .parfois très étrange. Ainsi, par exemple, il existe des variétés de mariupolite dans lesquelles on constate la présence, comme phénocristaux, des zircons et des magnétites fort bien formés. Les minéraux accessoires -des mariupolites sont parfois les sodalites et les cancrinites, ainsi que les lépidomélanes et les beckelites (silicate du calcium, abondant en terres rares du groupe de cérium, découvert et décrit par J. Morozewicz) et d'autres. La mariupolite à beckelite est, selon Morozewicz, la plus belle parmi les roches qu'il réussit à découvrir et à connaitre. J. Morozewicz en a extrait la beckelite en quantité suffisante pour faire des analyses et des déterminations; il établit aussi, d'après elle, une méthode spéciale pour dégager les terres rares des mariupolites et des roches apparentées. En dehors des mariupolites, J. Morozewicz étudia et décrivit d'autres groupes de roches, paraissant à proximité et comagmatiques avec elles, comme, par exemple,oe les foyaites, syénites alcalines, pyroxénites et d'autres. Des minéraux composant les foyaites et les syénites alcalines, ainsi que les pégmatites, associées aux mariupolites, Morozewicz isola deux variétés particulières d'amphiboles ferro-alcalines ; il donna à l'une d'elles le nom de taramite (tiré de celui du torrent Wali- Tarama) et à l'autre, moins ferreuse que la taramite, mais plus riche en silice, alcalis et fluoré, celui du fluotaramite. En 1903, Morozewicz dirigea, de la part du Comité Géologique de Saint-Pétersbourg, une expédition scientifique aux Iles de Commandeur (littoral nord-ouest du Pacifique). Les résultats de cette expédition, publiés en une série de communications et de mémoires de Morozewicz et de ses collaborateurs, furent ensuite réunis et édités sous une forme d'une belle monographie en langue polonaise (Komandory, Warszawa 1925). Le principal objectif de cette expédition fut l'examen du gisement de cuivre natif, existant dans ces Iles. Cette tache fut accomplie d'une façon approfondie et minutieuse d'après l'étude minéralogico-chimique et microscopique des roches composant les Iles. Les études de terrain et les études analytiques furent complétées par des travaux de laboratoire, ayant pour éut de reproduire synthétiquement le cuivre natif dans des conditions analogues à celles qui pouvaient exister au moment de la formation du gisement étudié par Morozewicz. Ces expériences qui reproduisaient dans une certaine mesure celles des savants américains M. N. Stokes et G. Fernekes, furent en même temps leur complément. Morozewicz démontra d'une manière peremptoire que les gisements du cuivre natif dans la paragenèse de la calcite, des zeolites et du quartz, tels que les gisements américains célebres de Lake Superior, Douglas County, Isle Royal et autres, avec ceux des Iles de Commandeur, se sont formés comme résultat du processus de sécrétion latérale et du dépôt du cuivre des solutions hydro-thermales sous l'influence de l'action réduisante des sels du fer et du cuivre dans un milieu basique. Il convient aussi de mentionner ici la zéolite nouvelle (Ca Al(2)Si(7)O(8) H(2)O), découverte et étudiée aux Iles de Commandeur par Morozewicz, qui lui a donné le nom de stellerite. Rapportées de cette expédition, les collections pétrographiques intéressantes (étudiées, ainsi que le cuivre natif et les minéraux qui l'accompagnent, à l'institut de Minéralogie et de Pétrographie de l'Université Jagellonienne à Cracovie) ont établi que les Iles de Commandeur appartiennent à la province pétrographique nord-américaine, bien que sous le rapport tectonique elles paraissent être liées au littoral asiatique du Pacifique. Les mérites de J. Morozewicz dans la pétrographie de la Pologne et des terrains limitrophes le distinguent parmi les autres pétrographes polonais. Les Monts de Tatra la Volhynie les abords de Pieniny, les Monts de Sainte-Croix, ce sont les terrains de ses recherches personnelles; les mêmes régions, et la Slovaquie en plus, sont ceux de recherches de ses élèves, inspirées par lui. La création d'un moderne Institut d'Université, consacré à la minéralogie et à la pétrographie, et la fondation d'une école pétrographique, la première en Pologne (1904—1918), ont animé et élevé à un niveau convenable notre mouvement scientifique dans ce domaine. Enfin, la préparation et la publication des manuels et de livres d'étude, pour la jeunesse polonaise étudiant les sciences de la Terre, c'était sa tâche résultant du sentiment civique, profondement ancré dans son âme, du devoir de fortifier la civilisation nationale à l'époque, quand le pays fut privé de son indépendance. C'est à lui, comme organisateur le plus éminent en Pologne des travaux scientifiques dans le domaine des sciences de la Terre, que l'ont a confié, au moment ou apparut la possibiüté d'améliorer la situation politique du pays, l'organisation de l'Académie des Mines à Cracovie et, ensuite, en Pologne enfin indépendante, celle de l'institut Géologique de Pologne à Varsovie. Les années 1919—1931 c'est la derniere période du travail scientifique et organisatrice de Morozewicz, qui, à son poste de créateur et de directeur de la principale institution géologique polonaise, en a jeté les fondations, réunit les travailleurs, mit en marche les ateliers scientifiques, représenta cette science et l'État polonais à l'étranger et, enfin, éleva pour l'institut Géologique de Pologne un édifice monumental, bien qu'il eut à vaincre sur son chemin d'immenses obstacles et difficultés. Józef Morozewicz mourut à Varsovie le 12 Juin 1941, dans la seconde année de l'occupation allemande.
International Council of Scientific Unions Science International Newsletter No. 64 April 1997 Code Number:NL97006 Sizes of Files: Text: 70.3K Graphics: No associated graphics files MEETING REPORT 72nd MEETING OF EXECUTIVE BOARD OF ICSU Julia Marton-Lefevre, Executive Director, ICSU The Executive Board (EB), elected at the time of the 25th General Assembly, held its first meeting in Paris in January. Board Members reviewed the measures being taken concerning each of the General Assembly resolutions, and agreed on the procedure to be adopted for responding to the report on the Assessment of ICSU. FIRST MEETING OF INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC ADVISORY BOARD (ISAB) OF LINESCO Julia Marton-Lefevre, Executive Director, ICSU ISAB, under the chairmanship of the President of ICSU, held its first meeting in Paris in January, immediately after the meeting of the Executive Board of ICSU. The terms of reference for ISAB are: to "assist UNESCO by advising on strategic issues of science and the substantive service science offers for development and the environment and provide scientific-based elements for decision-making". ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON THE ENVIRONMENT (ACE) Sophie Boyer King Environmental Sciences Officer The 12th meeting of ICSU's ACE, held in Paris in January, reviewed ICSU's involvement in various programmes dealing with the environment, including the three Global Observing Systems (climate, oceans, terrestrial - GCOS, GOOS, GTOS), the IGBP (International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme), the WCRP (World Climate Research Programme), IHDP (International Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change, DIVERSITAS (Programme on Biodiversity Science) and SCOPE (Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment). ACE continued to advise the Executive Board of ICSU about the membership of relevant environmental bodies. SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE IN CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE AND THE FORMER SOVIET UNION (COMSCEE) Christine Glenday, on detail to ICSU from the National Science Foundation, USA. The third meeting of COMSCEE was held at the ICSU Secretariat on January 27, 1997, under its new Chairman Dr. Jan Krzysztof Frackowiak, Undersecretary of State, and Secretary of the State Committee for Scientific Research in Poland (KBN). While acknowledging that the problems of science in Central and Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union (CEE/FSU) differ widely according to country, and that, furthermore, considerable progress has been made over the past five years, COMSCEE members identified several key problems which are still common at present in this region. GETTING TO KNOW CHILE'S ICSU NATIONAL COMMITTEE INCORPORATES SCIENCE TEACHERS AND SCIENCE JOURNALISTS J.E. Aliende, President, Chilean National Committee for ICSU The National Committee of Chile for ICSU gathers the Presidents of all major scientific societies and organizations of that country. This composition results in an organization which integrates the international linkages of the Chilean scientific community. In addition, however, the Chilean NCICSU constitutes a forum that discusses and acts on national issues of importance to scientific development in that country. During the 1993 ICSU General Assembly held in Santiago, delegates from other countries were able to witness the important studies that the Chilean Academy of Sciences and the National Committee for ICSU were able to put together about the state and future of science in Chile. INTERNATIONAL HUMAN DIMENSIONS PROGRAMME ON GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE (IHDP): NEW PERSPECTIVES FOR THE IHDP Udo Bunnagel, Programme Officer When Professor Eckart Ehlers, Chairman of the Scientific Committee of IHDP, opened the inauguration reception for the new IHDP Secretariat in Bonn on 31 January 1997, he told the story of the child IHDP. Born in 1990, an off-spring of the International Social Science Council (ISSC), it had to move from Barcelona to Geneva, and even experienced homelessness for some time. With the second parent, ICSU, joining ISSC as cosponsor in 1996, and with the new home under the roof of Bonn University, Professor Ehlers expressed his hope that the child IHDP has finally found a stable environment, enabling it to grow Up. SPOTLIGHTS ON SCIENCE CHEMRAWN : CHEMICAL RESEARCH APPLIED TO WORLD NEEDS A. Hayes, Chairman, CHEMRAWN The International Union for Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) has been active for over 75 years and is well known throughout the world for its work in setting internationally recognised and much needed standards for all manner of matters of concern to chemists everywhere. Examples are in the fields of atomic weights, gas coratants, and nomenclature. In addition, IUPAC has been the means whereby chemists have come together to work on various problems and also organise symposia, seminars, congresses, and assemblies - both on topics of general interest, as well as in specialist fields. It has an exemplary record of attempting to ensure that any bona fide scientist who wishes to attend such events is able to do so. The senior chemical community has recognised throughout the life of IUPAC the need for international cooperation and many of the past presidents of lUPAC have been holders of the Nobel prize as well as distinguished and senior members of industry. In the 1970's there was a growing appreciation of the need not only to address the purely scientific aspects of chemical topics on an international scale but to demonstrate that chemistry could - and should be applied to the solution of many of the problems which face mankind all over the world. Ideas were discussed and re-formulated, debated and finally expressed as the 'CHEMRAWN' Concept. MOONEY CALLS ON SCIENTISTS TO FIND HOW BIODIVERSITY PROTECTS ECOSYSTEMS H.A. Mooney When the Convention on Biological Diversity was signed by 159 governments in 1992, most observers saw it as a move to prevent the loss of various species - to ward off the disappearance of spotted owls from a forest, or the extinction of a plant that might contain some pharmaceutical miracle. Since then, a study commissioned by the International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU), the world academy of scientists, has shown a more compelling reason to protect biodiversity. Whenever a habitat loses enough of the richness and variation among its living species, the study found, the ecological systems that nurture life begin to falter. Ecologists do not yet know how many species - or which ones - must be saved to keep an ecosystem functioning. They do know this: When ecosystems falter, they stop providing essential natural services like pure water from mountain watersheds, abundant fisheries, soulsustaining landscapes. Damaged ecosystems also have global effects: plants, for example, play an important role in the atmosphere's carbon cycle and thus in climate fluctuations. HOUSE NEWS ICSU EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR TAKES ON NEW ASSIGNMENT Julia Marton-Lefevre As Members and friends of ICSU were informed in mid-February, Julia Marton-Lefevre will be on leave of absence from ICSU as of 1 September 1997, to become the first Executive Director of the programme set up by the Rockefeller Foundation known as LEAD (Leadership for Environment and Development) International. The International Secretariat for LEAD is based, for an initial period, in New York. The Executive Director informed the ICSU family in her February letter that her devotion to the mission of ICSU remains constant, and that this move is taken in the spirit of broadening her own expertise as well as hopefully enlarging ICSU's contacts. While on leave of absence, Julia Marton-Lefevre will continue to be involved in the major issues facing ICSU in the years ahead, and will also ensure that ICSU and LEAD, with facets in common, are able to undertake cooperative actions. Leadership for Environment and Development, or the LEAD Program, is a non-profit organization that seeks to bring together a generation of international leaders to carry forth a vision of sustainable development. The LEAD Program was established in direct response to the growing need for collaborative action in support of the world's natural and human resources. LEAD intends to inspire a course of development that is defined as environmentally responsible, culturally acceptable, economically viable and politically feasible. The LEAD Program trains mid-career professionals, called Associates, using a combination of interdisciplinary methods, interactive skills building and global networking. NEWS IN BRIEF AAAS AWARD FOR INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC COOPERATION The 1997 AAAS Award for International Scientific Cooperation is given to Philip W. Hemily for having made contributions to international scientific research and engineering development for over 50 years. He recognized the importance of science and technology policies as components of political, economic, education, employment, and trade policies. PUBLICATIONS NEWS IMMEDIATE PUBLICATION REQUIRES A NEW INFRASTRUCTURE Dong Geng & A.J. (Tom)van Loon The progress of science and the implementation of new technical developments are hampered by the time-lag between submission of a manuscript to a journal and delivery of the article to readers. This problem is generally recognized, but none of the solutions suggested has been found feasible. In our opinion, however, it is possible to publish refereed material with a time-lag of no more than 24 hours, through a completely new infrastructure. The approach that is proposed here would be expensive - but probably much less so than the direct and indirect costs for society of a long time-lag. OBITUARIES Baron Nicolet Valentin A. Koptyug FUTURE MEETINGS International Young Scientists Programme at the 17th International Congress of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology The International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (IUBMB) announces the sponsorship of a conference for young scientists to be held at Asilomar, Monterey, CA, USA, on 22-24 August, 1997 preceding the 17th International IUBMB Congress in San Francisco on 24-29 August, 1997. CALENDAR OF FORTHCOMING MEETINGS from 23 April 1997 - 19 July 1997 SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY FOR DEVELOPMENT 25th MEETING OF THE COSTED EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE IRBID/AMMAN FEBRUARY 25-27, 1997 Veena Ravichandran, Senior Scientific Officer, COSTED, Madras The Executive Committee (EXCOM) of COSTED held its 25th meeting during 25-27 February. A day prior to the EXCOM meeting, half- day parallel sessions on Strengthening Science in Africa and COSTED activities in the Arab region were organised so that EXCOM members could get an opportunity to participate in the regional plans. Strengthening Science in Africa COSTED Activities in the Arab Region EXCOM Meeting Nomenclature for COSTED-IBN: Brainstorming Session - The concept of networks in COSTED - The goals of COSTED - ICSU Assessment Report vis-avis COSTED
La presente investigación tiene por objetivo fundamental la restitución de una polémica teórico-política desarrollada en los albores de la organización constitucional argentina: aquélla entablada entre Juan Bautista Alberdi, principal inspirador teórico del texto constitucional a partir de sus Bases y puntos de partida para la organización política de la República Arjentina, derivadas de la ley que preside el desarrollo de la civilización en la América del Sud, y del tratado litoral del 4 de enero de 1831, y Mariano Fragueiro, primer Ministro de Hacienda de la Confederación Argentina en la era posrosista, autor de Cuestiones Argentinas e impulsor del Estatuto para la organización de la hacienda y el crédito público aprobado, en carácter de legislador ordinario, por el mismo Congreso General Constituyente que sancionara la Constitución de 1853. Se trata, como habremos de abordar con mayor detenimiento, de la primera gran polémica de interpretación en torno al texto constitucional argentino de 1853. Sus posiciones se encuentran ligadas por una serie de coincidencias: en primer lugar, ambos habían estado radicados en Chile a lo largo de la década previa a la sanción constitucional de 1853; en segundo lugar, los dos se cuentan entre las filas de los "hombres de Paraná", conjunto de políticos, publicistas e intelectuales agrupados en torno a Urquiza y al proyecto político de la Confederación Argentina, a la que permanecerían leales luego de la secesión de la Provincia de Buenos Aires; finalmente, ambos tienden a concordar en aspectos fundamentales del derecho público, en lo que habremos de denominar "federalismo centralizante". Sus propuestas, sin embargo, son sugestivamente divergentes en virtud de su diversa adscripción ideológica: mientras Alberdi llegará a ser tenido por padre putativo del liberalismo argentino, hacia 1850 Fragueiro se proclamará abiertamente socialista. Nuestra pregunta de investigación apunta a esclarecer cuáles son los fundamentos intelectuales de las posiciones políticas asumidas por Alberdi y Fragueiro en esta coyuntura crítica: en especial, nos proponemos restituir el modo en que los lenguajes políticos efectivamente disponibles de cara a la organización constitucional de la Confederación Argentina establecen las coordenadas de los respectivos diagnósticos en torno a las causas del conflicto político vernáculo, así como sus pronósticos respecto a las posibilidades de su superación. Nuestro modo de abordar esta polémica estará ordenado por una hermenéutica del momento constitucional que se centra en el estudio de las condiciones históricas de posibilidad que subyacen a las posiciones de nuestros protagonistas. Mediante una restitución del entramado de los lenguajes y tradiciones contextualmente disponibles -cuya reconstrucción remontamos a las postrimerías del ciclo revolucionario-, nos proponemos determinar las líneas de continuidad y de ruptura tradicional, así como las convergencias, distanciamientos, críticas e innovaciones respecto a sus fuentes intelectuales. De este modo, el trabajo hermenéutico sobre las historiografías política, conceptual e intelectual, así como la exégesis de fuentes primarias —tanto en el rol publicístico como en la escritura autobiográfica— son herramientas que, visibilizando la puesta en acción de lenguajes, conceptos y tradiciones políticas no siempre sistemáticamente compatibles, vehiculizan una lectura politológica dirigida a las cuestiones de la formación de un orden político, en la doble referencia a su pasado y a su proyección de futuro. Los resultados de la investigación pueden agruparse en dos grandes conjuntos. El primero, ligado a la crítica de las narrativas históricas dominantes por medio de la aplicación del arsenal de la nueva historia intelectual, remite al modo en que la primacía histórica de la figura alberdiana contribuiría a desdibujar los rasgos de una circunstancia política más rica en matices. En especial, identificamos el papel desempeñado por la autointerpretación ideológica retrospectiva realizada por Alberdi desde mediados de la década de 1840, por algunas contraposiciones políticas eminentes de la época —entre Buenos Aires y la Confederación en lo político, entre el federalismo estadounidense y el vernáculo en lo doctrinario, y entre Sarmiento y Alberdi en lo individual —, y por la política editorial de los sucesivos gobiernos nacionales hasta entrado el siglo XX, que se proyectan en diversas narrativas "mitológicas" en torno a la historia del pensamiento político argentino aún vigentes. Asimismo, la investigación nos ha permitido señalar la incidencia del escenario político-intelectual chileno de la década previa a la sanción constitucional, donde ambos protagonistas despliegan un rol publicístico en el que van delineándose progresivamente sus posturas. El segundo conjunto de resultados es producto de la historización de los lenguajes a los que ambos fueron permeables: junto a la relativización de la influencia del ejemplo estadounidense, habremos de destacar la casi excluyente incidencia de la literatura francesa posterior a la década de 1820. La investigación nos permitió advertir también que el campo de la reflexión económica se interseca con la filosofía de la historia: en especial, habremos de advertir el modo en que la interpretación de los acontecimientos europeos de 1848, a la luz de la secular querella malthusiana, impacta decisivamente en la formación político-intelectual de esta polémica. ; The fundamental aim of this thesis is the restitution of a theoretical-political polemic that arose at the dawn of the Argentine constitutional organization: the one settled between Juan Bautista Alberdi, main theoretical inspirer of the constitutional text in its Bases and starting points for the organization policy of the Arjentine Republic, derived from the law that presides over the development of civilization in South America, and from the coastal treaty of January 4, 1831, and Mariano Fragueiro, first finance minister of the Argentine Confederation in the post-Rosas era, author of Argentinian Issues and promoter of the Statute for the organization of the treasury and approved public credit, as an ordinary legislator, by the same General Constituent Congress that later sanctioned the Constitution of 1853. As we will address more thoroughly, this is the first great controversy of interpretation around the Argentinian constitution of 1853. Both positions share a series of coincidences: first, both had lived in Chile during the decade prior to the constitutional sanction of 1853; secondly, the two are counted among the ranks of the "men of Paraná", a group of politicians, publicists and intellectuals grouped around Urquiza and the political project of the Argentine Confederation, to which they would remain loyal after the secession of the Province of Buenos Aires; finally, both tend to agree on fundamental aspects of public law, on what we shall call "centralizing federalism". Their proposals, however, are suggestively different by virtue of their ideological ascription: while Alberdi will come to be regarded as the putative father of Argentine liberalism, by 1850 Fragueiro will proclaim himself openly socialist. Our research question aims to clarify the intellectual foundations of the political positions assumed by Alberdi and Fragueiro at this critical juncture: in particular, we intend to restore the way in which the political languages actually available in view of the constitutional organization of the Confederation Argentina establish the coordinates of their respective diagnoses about the causes of the vernacular political conflict, as well as their predictions regarding the possibilities of their overcoming. Our approach to this controversy is guided by a hermeneutic of the constitutional moment that focuses on the study of the historical conditions of possibility that underlie the positions of our protagonists. Through a restitution of the framework of the contextually available languages and traditions -whose reconstruction goes back to the end of the revolutionary cycle-, we seek to determine the lines of continuity and traditional rupture, as well as the convergences, differences, criticisms and innovations with respect to their intellectual sources. In this way, the hermeneutical work on political, conceptual and intellectual historiography, as well as the exegesis of primary sources -both their public and autobiographical writings- are tools that, making visible the putting into action of languages, concepts and political traditions that are not always systematically compatible, convey a political reading aimed at the questions of the formation of a political order, in the double reference to their past and their projection to the future. The results of the investigation can be gathered into two large groups. The first, linked to the criticism of dominant historical narratives through the application of the critical arsenal of the new intellectual history, refers to the way in which the historical primacy of the figure of Alberdi would contribute to blurring the features of a political circumstance richer in nuances. In particular, we identify the role played by the retrospective ideological self-interpretation carried out by Alberdi since the mid-1840s, by some eminent political oppositions of the time –between Buenos Aires and the Confederacy on the political aspect, between American federalism and the vernacular in the doctrinaire one, and between Sarmiento and Alberdi individually - and the editorial policy of successive national governments until the twentieth century, present in various "mythological" narratives around the history of Argentine political thought still in force. Likewise, the research has allowed us to point out the impact of the Chilean political-intellectual scenario of the decade prior to the constitutional sanction, in which both protagonists took on a publicity role in which their positions are progressively delineated. The second set of results is the product of the historicization of the languages to which both were permeable: next to the relativization of the influence of the American example, we will highlight the almost exclusive incidence of French literature after the 1820s. Research allowed us to see how the field of economic reflection intersects with the philosophy of history: in particular, we will emphasize how the interpretation of the European events of 1848, in light of the secular Malthusian quarrel, has a decisive impact on the political-intellectual formation of this controversy. ; Fil: Wieczorek, Tomás. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Sociales. Instituto de Investigaciones "Gino Germani"; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina
This paper examines the effect of finance on long-term economic growth using Bayesian model averaging to address model uncertainty in cross-country growth regressions. The literature largely focuses on financial indicators that assess the financial depth of banks and stock markets. These indicators are examined jointly with newly developed indicators that assess the stability and efficiency of financial markets. Once the finance-growth regressions are subjected to model uncertainty,the results suggest that commonly used indicators of financial development are not robustly related to long-term growth. However, the findings from the global sample indicate that one newly developed indicator -- the efficiency of financial intermediaries -- is robustly related to long-term growth.
The Tanzanian economy has grown at an average annual rate of around 6-7 percent for more than a decade. The rate of inflation has declined since January 2016, although it trended upwards in thepreceding few months due to increases in domestic food prices and the lagged impacts of the sharp depreciation of the Tanzanian Shilling during the first half of 2015. However, the Shilling stabilized in the second half of 2015, with the real exchange rate now close to the equilibrium level. The current account deficit has also improved, standing at around 8.7 percent of GDP in 2014/15. The level of aid inflows declined during 2014/15, although this was offset by increases in FDI and external non-concessional borrowing, maintaining the overall balance of payments in a stable position. Tanzania's infrastructure and social services deficits are already massive and projected to increase into the future. Traditional financing instruments are clearly insufficient to bridge the profound gap between existing public resources and financing requirements. By leveraging synergy between the public and private sectors, PPPs can mobilize additional sources of finance to fund the development of vitally needed infrastructure; to deliver on budget and on time to a greater extent than in the case of publicly financed projects; and to deliver higher quality services than in the case of publicly managed projects. Tanzania's own policy documents identify PPP as a key instrument to attract new investment and to deliver infrastructure more efficiently.
This paper builds on recent research examining the impact of finance on growth, looking at the effect of the financial system on volatility in gross domestic product per capita and consumption per capita growth. It also examines the impact of credit on the composition of growth. The findings show that financial development smooths growth in gross domestic product and consumption per capita, but only up to a point. At high levels of credit, further credit is positively associated with volatility even after controlling for the quality of institutions and periods of financial crises. In large financial systems, finance may not help individuals smooth consumption volatility. The threshold at which finance's effect may be volatility enhancing may be lower than previously thought. In terms of the impact on growth, total credit (and credit to firms) has a nonlinear relationship, with rising credit supporting higher growth up to a point, beyond which the additional impact of finance on growth is negative. This can be explained by finance flowing into less productive activities (or drawing other resources into less productive activities). In addition, household credit is negatively related to manufacturing sector growth, although credit to firms has a positive relationship to manufacturing growth. This may be explained by the fact that much of household credit is used to finance the consumption (including imports) of goods and services broadly (not just manufacturing sector goods) or investment in housing.
This paper focuses on the impact of disasters on public expenditures, and how this impact might be valued. The impact may involve changes in the composition of spending, concurrently and over time. It may also involve changes in the level of spending and the profile of this over time. In the latter case, the associated financing must also be taken into account. The changes of interest are those that would take place under a given sovereign disaster risk financing and insurance strategy, as opposed to what would take place otherwise. The paper concludes with some suggestions toward an operational framework for addressing these questions.
Defining appropriate institutional and financing arrangements is crucial to achieve sustainable social protection in Myanmar. This will require setting up overarching coordination mechanisms, with strong political leadership at the union level complemented by a more prominent role for region/state governments and local-level structures in social protection programming, financing, and delivery. This will lead to an effective and sustainable social protection system that addresses local priorities and increases accountability to citizens.
For more than a decade, Africa has enjoyed a mineral boom. is the growth mostly happening in isolated places, sectors and periods? The approach adopted in this study is two-pronged. First, through case studies, including the results of fieldwork, mining's impacts are examined in a country-specific context for each of three countries, Ghana, Mali, and Tanzania; and second, a statistical analysis is used to test whether the indicators of welfare improve with proximity to a mine.
Bhutan's hydropower generation potential raises the prospect of tremendous development opportunities for the country: fast increasing export revenue, sustained economic growth, and rapid poverty reduction. Driven by developments in the hydropower sector, the country has grown at an average rate of 7 percent per year over the last decade, while poverty has declined remarkably fast. But hydropower development also creates significant challenges as follows: (i) macroeconomic instability; (ii) lack of self-reliance; and (iii) few private sector jobs. This policy note assesses the opportunities and challenges associated with hydropower development. It informs a possible strategy supportive of macroeconomic stability, fiscal self-reliance and private sector development. And it argues that fundamental changes in public finance, amounting to a paradigm shift, are central to the implementation of such strategy.
A synchronous growth slowdown has been underway in emerging markets (EM) since 2010. Growth in these countries is now markedly slower than, not just the pre‐crisis average, but also the long‐term average. As a group, EM growth eased from 7.6 percent in 2010 to 4.5 percent in 2014, and is projected to slow further to below 4 percent in 2015. This moderation has affected all regions (except South Asia) and is the most severe in Latin America and the Caribbean. The deceleration is highly synchronous across countries, especially among large EM. By 2015, China, Russia, and South Africa had all experienced three consecutive years of slower growth. The EM‐AE growth differential has narrowed to two percentage points in 2015, well below the 2003‐08 average of 4.8 percentage points and near the long‐term average differential of 1990‐2008. The recent slowdown in EM has been a source of a lively debate, as evident from the quotations at the beginning of this note. Some economists paint a bleak picture for the future of EM and argue that the impressive growth performance of EM prior to the crisis was driven by temporary commodity booms and rapid debt accumulation, and will not be sustained. Others emphasize that a wide range of cyclical and structural factors are driving the slowdown: weakening macroeconomic fundamentals after the crisis; prospective tightening in financial conditions; resurfacing of deep‐rooted governance problems in EM; and difficulty adjusting to disruptive technological changes. Still others highlight differences across EM and claim that some of them are in a better position to weather the slowdown and will likely register strong growth in the future. This policy research note seeks to help move the debate forward by examining the main features, drivers, and implications of the recent EM slowdown and provides a comprehensive analysis of available policy options to counteract it.
This paper analyzes the legal and actual gaps in working conditions and returns between permanent and temporary contracts, with a focus on civil law contracts, which are at the center of the debate on widening labor market duality in Poland. We find that net employment creation in recent years occurred largely through involuntary temporary contracts, especially among the low-skilled and young people. Even accounting for workers heterogeneity, we find a persistent wage gap between permanent and temporary contracts, and limited mobility across contract typologies. Insights from qualitative evidence suggest that narrowing duality without hurting the most vulnerable workers will require a reduction in administrative burdens and implicit costs associated with permanent labor contracts, while eliminating firms' incentives to strictly prefer temporary contracts.
This report presents an analysis of the Early Childhood Development (ECD) subsector, including programs and policies that affect young children in the Republic of Kiribati. This was a collaborative effort between UNICEF and the World Bank Group; it combines the World Bank Group's Systems Approach for Better Education Results SABER-ECD framework, which includes analysis of early learningand child p, health, nutrition, and social rotection policies and interventions in Kiribati, along with regional and international comparisons, as well as the regionally developed UNICEF National Situational Analysis ECD, which takes a greater in-depth look at the following system components, which have been highlighted by the Pacific Region as priority components for quality Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) implementation: policy, legislation, and governance; human resources; curriculum, child assessment, and environment; performance monitoring and assessment; and community partnerships. In 2008, the Ministry of Education (MOE) drafted the Kiribati Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) Policy, which was formally endorsed by Cabinet in 2010. The ECCE policy, targeting ages three to five, calls ECCE a "national responsibility" with a mission "to culturally nurture young children in a loving and caring environment to enhance through interactive play the fullest potential of their physical, intellectual, social, emotional and spiritual growth in line with trends and development". This country report presents a framework to benchmark Kiribati's ECD system; each of the nine policy levers and five system components are examined in detail, and policy options to strengthen ECD are offered. This report is intended to serve as a first step for decision making within the government of Kiribati to improve the ECD system. Now that some areas in need of policy attention have been identified, the country can move forward in prioritizing policy options to promote healthy and robust development for all children during their early years.
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Many countries with scheduled elections this year face a difficult choice in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic: how to balance public health considerations with holding a free and fair election. Learn more from NDI Senior Associate and Director of Electoral Programs Pat Merloe and Program Director Julia Brothers as they talk about democratic back-sliding during this crisis, electoral integrity, and ways civil society organizations can still make a difference. Find us on: SoundCloud | Apple Podcasts | Spotify | RSS | Google Play Pat Merlow: In the public health crisis, especially where governments are weak or people are suspicious of governments, trusted voices are really important to get out accurate information. Julia Brothers: Hello, this is Julia Brothers. I'm the Program Director for Elections at the National Democratic Institute. Welcome to Dem Works. JB: Around the world, the COVID-19 pandemic is sewing insecurity among the public, which can be exploited by authoritarians to consolidate power in sideline democratic institutions. It also poses severe technical, political, and social threats to elections themselves. In many countries, the effects of the virus may strain citizen relationships with government and elected [inaudible] officials, intensify political tensions and the potentials for violence, disenfranchise voters and increase conditions for democratic backsliding. Today I'm joined by Pat Merlow, senior associate and director of electoral programs at NDI. Welcome to the podcast, Pat. Thank you for being here. Pat Merlow: Hi, Julia. JB: So the COVID-19 crisis is causing enormous challenges for every country, including those with scheduled elections this year. What are the biggest concerns deciding whether to hold or postpone elections? PM: Elections must be held in ways that safeguard public health and in ways that ensure genuine opportunities for the electorate to vote. Universal and equal suffrage, which is in every modern constitution, means inclusion, not exclusion. So we have to also hold elections in ways where the political parties and the candidates have a fair chance to compete for votes without a playing field that's being manipulated or intentionally or unintentionally tilted in one party's favor. So striking a proper democratic balance of public safety and credible election processes is different and really difficult in every country. Depends a lot on the level of economic and technological development in the country on the nature of social cohesion versus divisions in the country and political polarization. So in many countries where NDI works, the concern is whether authoritarians will rush through elections with undue public health risks in order to gain an electoral advantage or to postpone elections under conditions that advantage their attempts to gain and maintain more power. A second troubling circumstance in countries that are unstable or prone to various kinds of violence, where constrains of the public health crisis can be used by malign actors to flood the population with this information... I mean we're hearing this term infodemic; also hate speech and other means to scapegoat religious or ethnic minorities, LGBTQ people or women in order to gain political advantage. That's not all the countries where NDI works, but even those are neither authoritarian nor fragile states, the COVID-19 crisis is still posing gigantic challenges both on the public health and to electoral integrity. JB: Right. I mean these factors present themselves as challenges to electoral integrity, not just where there might be bad faith actors that are trying to utilize this crisis to consolidate power, but also just in addressing basic issues related to how to make sure that you're maximizing participation during a public health crisis. What are some of the factors that these countries would need to think about in terms of actually implementing elections either during a public health crisis or immediately after. PM: There really are a number of factors that have to be considered. So the first thing that comes to everybody's mind of course is what do you do? Can people actually go to polling places or should they be under some sort of the shelter in place lockdown-like circumstances. That doesn't just affect whether to vote. That really has to do with whether you can register to vote safely or not. In countries where there are not a high level of electronic engagement where the digital divide falls really widely across broad swipes of the population, gathering those people into places to register to vote or to vote is really the only means of doing it. So the question of a postponement becomes really an operative question. Then we're concerned with what are the conditions for the postponement and how does that interrelate with the declarations of states of emergency, whether they're being done properly with the kinds of constraints on limitations on powers or whether they're being done in ways that usurp power. JB: Yeah. I think one of the major concerns, especially thinking about citizens being able to participate in the process, is that during a pandemic, if voters are concerned about going out to vote, chances are that that's not going to be an equal distribution among the population, where there are a vulnerable populations that will be more impacted. You'll see disproportionate levels of low turnout among certain communities like senior citizens or persons with disabilities or women who disproportionately have the burden of childcare and are in a situation where you don't have options for even temporary childcare because of social distancing regulations. Well, this seems like a good place to take a short break. For more than 35 years, NDI has been honored to work with courageous and committed pro-democracy activists and leaders around the world to help countries develop the institution's practices and skills necessary for democracy success. Welcome back. JB: So we talked a bit about the postponements that we're seeing around the world in terms of electoral timelines. Are election observers relevant during electoral delays, especially if there's restrictions on movement in the population if they're under some form of shelter in place or lockdown. PM: Yeah. So Julie, you mentioned that NDI works in more than 70 countries and in fact, working with nonpartisan citizen groups and coalitions and various organizations is one of the hallmarks of NDI's work over more than 35 years now and certainly the 25 years where I've been involved. There's a network of citizen election observers, there are nine of them in various regions of the world and they're amalgamated in more than 250 organizations from 90 countries. Those organizations have been sharing best practices and ideas about what can be done. So let me just quickly mention a couple of them. There are four areas where they have been able to focus. One are ways to assist; that is, to assist public health agencies and the electoral authorities to bring about safe elections and fair elections. The second is ways to address authoritarian opportunism and how states of emergency and various conditions are being used by those who would usurp the citizens of power. The third are ways to address disinformation, hate speech and attempts at hyperpolarization that influence and create unfair conditions for elections. The fourth way is to address, as you mentioned earlier, examples of where a health crisis can lead to disenfranchisement or further tilt the playing field so that it's an unfair circumstance. JB: Yeah, I mean you mentioned especially tracking the authoritarian leaders who are potentially taking advantage of the health crisis to grab power and subvert democracy and in some unstable countries, this can threaten heightened instability. What can election servers be doing to address that or what are they currently doing to address that? PM: The most important thing is citizen election observers in all kinds of countries have been time tested and over the series of elections cycles two, three, even four in many countries, they've built national networks and they've established themselves as trusted voices. In a public health crisis, especially where governments are weak or people are suspicious of government, trusted voices are really important to get out accurate information from the health authorities, accurate information from the electoral authorities about what to do, where to do things and so on. Also, they have networks that can collect information; even during lockdowns. You and I were in a conversation with one of the partner organizations with whom we work in Sri Lanka just last week. The head of that organization is working on a civil society task force. That task force is considering how to gain access to women's shelters, to older people's homes, to places where there's foster children's care, drug treatment centers, and so on because these are vulnerable populations that are being hit hard by the crisis. One of the things that he pointed out in our conversation is that the government is taking advantage of the postponement of the election for electoral advantage by handing out dry goods to citizens and even medical supplies through the political party rather than as an impartial governmental service to the people. So the question that he posed was, even during lockdown, is there a way that our network of over 1,000 people could begin to document this and report it so that we can lift up to the public the nature of this problem that's coming about and see if we can't get some accountability and get them to cut back. So even during a lockdown, it's possible for the citizen observer groups to do things that are extraordinarily relevant. JB: Yeah, I mean it seems like there are certainly opportunities for electoral observers to be monitoring the kinds of things that they would normally be looking at in a pre-election period when their elections are delayed... Issues related to is the government still helping to create conditions for a credible and competitive process in the midst of a public health emergency. Are conditions being put in place to ensure that marginalized populations are not sidelined from the process. But it also kind of expands it a little bit too in that there are these potentially other issues that that groups may consider looking at. Like you mentioned, how health resources are being distributed and what kinds of policy changes are being made and how were those being made? What's the decision-making process around things like delaying the elections, around emergency voting procedures? Are they inclusive? Are all the parties being brought in to them? Is civil society be brought into these discussions and taking a look at some of these new conditions that observers may otherwise not necessarily be monitoring in a pre-election period. I think the other issue here is there are constraints here in terms of potentially being able to deploy a bunch observers out into the field to collect information if you're in a lockdown situation. So it's been interesting talking with groups to see how they're thinking creatively about how they can collect some of this information remotely. What kind of data exists that you can collect whether it's open data sources from the government looking at budgets, looking at how budgets are changing and how resources are moving. You mentioned looking at disinformation, being able to monitor social media and seeing what data could be collected from that. It's been interesting to see how citizen election observers around the world are getting creative and still doing their jobs while being sometimes trapped at home. PM: Absolutely. You mentioned the disinformation... One of the things that we've been seeing is that in Russia for example, they have been making use of the COVID crisis to begin to track people even more carefully to introduce facial recognition technologies and cameras. The term that's been throwing around is cybergulags being created there. With China's facial recognition technologies and the way that's been used to suppress the weaker minorities, China has been introducing that working with governments and other places in the world to try to get that into voter registration so that you have biometric voter registration data that includes facial recognition technology. So in this era, getting access to government decision making, getting access even to the health data and disaggregated by gender, by vulnerable groups and so on is part of the work that election observers normally do. Demanding open electoral data can lead easily to the same kinds of advocacy around open health data. One of the other things I thought that you've touched on that's interesting is the states of emergencies and the relationships between that and postponement. There's more than 45 countries at this point that have postponed elections at the national and sub-national level. Not all of them are problematic by any means, but in a lot of countries, there have been extended states of emergency without any end date. The postponements have no end date on them. One of the things that election observers can do is to join with... And many of them are human rights organizations and bringing about the rules that have been established in the international arena for limiting the duration of states of emergencies, that the measures that are taken have to be proportionate to the nature of the threat to the nation to bring those issues up and do advocacy around them and to help those of us in the international arena be aware of where these problems are in various countries. JB: With that, I think we'll take a quick break. We'll be back after this quick message. One of the things that Secretary Albright has said is that it's absolutely essential for young people to understand that they must participate and that they are the energy behind democracy. You can hear more from other democracy heroes by listening to our Dem Works podcast. It is available on iTunes and SoundCloud. So before the break, we were talking about the role that citizen election monitors are playing in the COVID-19 crisis and its impact on electoral integrity. Are there other considerations that citizen election groups should be thinking about in the need for electoral integrity in their countries? I'm thinking especially related to how groups can make sure that their observers are safe while also being able to collect information and an advocate for critical processes and good governance. PM: That's really a critical question, Julia. A good example that comes to mind is in Mali, which has had very few reported cases of COVID-19, there was a parliamentary election just two weeks ago. The government, for national security reasons, has had to postpone those elections for almost two years and they were really in a phase of saying we need to push it ahead. In fact, there had not been a reported COVID-19 death until just a few hours before the election date. So it went forward and the citizen observers with which NDI has been working in that country in the weeks leading up to that advocated that the polling stations had to have masks for the staff; had to have gloves; had to have hand sanitizers or hand washing stations because hand sanitizer is hard to get in a lot of places in Mali. They made sure that their observers had those materials themselves. I think 1,500 observers went out to polling stations across the country. In their own headquarters and gathering data, there was social distancing that took place and they did a lot of checking in with their observers about how they were doing, how they were feeling over the course of the day. So one thing that the citizen observers can do is to join with organizations that are health advocates for those places where either voter registration is about to take place or voting is about to take place to ensure that the conditions minimize the risk. We just saw this over this past weekend in the elections that were held in South Korea. Whether or not you might think that the election should go forward, there was a country where there's a lot of public confidence in what the government has been doing and in the integrity of the election authorities and voter turnout was not terribly affected by this. So there is something that can be done immediately and as you have mentioned, there are numerous things that can be looked at by citizen observers without ever really leaving their homes or their headquarters. One of those, as you mentioned, is disinformation. Our partners in Georgia, for example, have uncovered a link between Russian propaganda, which has gone up around disinformation around COVID-19 and linking it to destabilizing public trust in Georgia's government. There's a really interesting report that they came out with just last week on that front. So how does COVID-19 and elections interface is something that can be explored in a number of dimensions. JB: We've talked mostly about the work of nonpartisan civil society organizations and their own countries that are confronting this challenge. Is there a role for international election observers on terms of electoral oversight during a public crisis, especially knowing that they will have some of the same if not even more constraints than citizen election monitors? PM: It's a very difficult role at the moment for international election observers. We've been in touch with our colleagues at the African Union and the European Union, at the United Nations and Organization of American States and so on. Many of them have been bringing teams home from countries. Some of them have been postponing or canceling sending teams out. At the same time, there are a number of things that international observers can do. As you mentioned, you can look at things from a distance. You can review the legal framework, which is part of what every international election observation and citizen observers do. You can compare what has been done over the past few cycles of elections, where recommendations have been made, whether those recommendations were acted upon or whether you find the same problem repeating in the next report and prioritize the issues that you might look to and even be able to inform diplomats and others about things that they should be raising with government. You can look at disinformation and other information disorder, hate speech and so on, from afar. Certainly you can tune in with what the critical people inside a country who are working on these issues have been doing. You can conduct some long distance interviews with key people in the citizen groups and in the election authorities and the political leaders to learn their opinions about what the state of play is in the country and their concerns going forward. But when it comes time to put people on the ground, we have to look at travel restrictions. We have to look at countries where foreigners have been seen as people who bring in COVID-19 and there's been violence against them; so security of observers is important. And the numbers of people who may go or where they may be deployed depending upon hotspots in the country and so on. So this is something that over the course of this year will be a challenge. And the next thing will be a challenge for international election observers is that as so many elections are being postponed, they're being postponed probably towards the end of this year or the beginning of next year, which already has many scheduled elections. So there may be an overwhelming demand for which the supply of financial and human resources runs short. JB: It does seem like at this point, especially knowing that international election observers in a lot of the places just can't deploy right now, one of the roles to play here is really trying to raise the voices of the citizen groups on the ground that are able to actually do some on the ground observation. Also keeping in mind, especially for the places we're concerned about authoritarian overreach, thinking about how we can use some of these international mechanisms to push back on democratic backsliding and mitigate tensions in places where it could potentially be a bit more unstable with the current situation. PM: You're right. That's the contribution that the international community can do, too... To really amplify the voices of the citizenry and to augment their efforts to bring about respect for civil and political rights. When you have a network of thousands of citizens who have taken the time and the effort to go out of their homes, into the street, to look at what the nature of the threats of violence or vote buying or intimidation to document how these things of disproportionally driven women or restricted women's political and electoral participation, would they have taken the time to go into polling stations, sometimes under threat or coercion? These people have become a solid core of citizen empowerment in so many countries around the world, and each of those citizens, of course, is using WhatsApp and other ways of talking and they're influencers within a country. They can gather information, they can give accurate information out, but as they report up through their networks, if there's good collaboration between the reputable citizen groups and the credible international election observers and the international community more broadly, we can use that cooperation that we've been working on over the years to try to bring attention, even when it's hard to shine a light directly on problems in countries that are being affected by this crisis and facing political challenges and stress. JB: Well, thank you again, Pat, for joining us. I think this has been a particularly relevant discussion. I'd also like to say thank you to our listeners. To learn more about NDI or to listen to other Dem Works podcasts, please visit our website@www.ndi.org PM: Thank you, Julia and thank you to the listeners.
