Suchergebnisse

The aim of this study is to discover the role played by regimes of exception (RoEs) in contemporary Bolivian politics. RoEs have been seldom studied by political scientists, despite constituting a key legacy of authoritarian regimes that have survived the transitions to democracy in Latin America. Focusing on the case of Bolivia, the research is based on relevant laws as well as 65 presidential decrees, which are analyzed with the method of content analysis. As a result of the analysis, we show that in Bolivia both the legal framework and political use of RoEs have moved on from a purely repressive mechanism to a more administrative one. The study has important implications for how RoEs are conceptualized from a theoretical point of view as well as for our understanding of the nature of emergency politics in fragile democracies in recent years.

El objetivo del artículo es descubrir el rol jugado por los regímenes de excepción en la política boliviana contemporánea. A pesar de constituir un legado clave de los regímenes autoritarios y sobrevivientes a las transiciones democráticas en América Latina, los Regímenes de Excepción han sido rara vez estudiados por los cientistas políticos. Centrándonos en el caso de Bolivia, la investigación se basa tanto en las leyes relevantes como en 65 decretos presidenciales, que son analizados mediante el método del análisis de contenido. Como resultado, se demuestra que para Bolivia, tanto el marco legal y el uso político de los Regímenes de Excepción se han transformado desde un mecanismo puramente represivo hacia uno más administrativo. El estudio contiene importantes implicancias sobre cómo los Regímenes de Excepción son conceptualizados desde un punto de vista teórico así como también para el entendimiento de la naturaleza de la política de emergencia de años recientes en democracias frágiles.

In May 2013, both China and the United States engaged in high-level travel diplomacy with selected states in the Caribbean and Latin America. Apart from bilateral trade agreements, China and the United States have shifted their engagement with the region toward high politics. China's increased interest in the Caribbean and Latin America has been deemed a threat to the United States in its "strategic backyard." However, the complexity of Beijing's relationships in the region warrants a more detailed analysis. After the 9/11 attacks and the US-led "war on terror" in other regions of the world, Latin America did not rank high on the US foreign policy agenda. But since China has become Latin America's second largest trading partner and has started to establish strategic partnerships in the region, the United States seems to have become more concerned about these developments. Latin America is employing a multiangular approach by strengthening its ties with both the United States and China as well as other extraregional partners. In part, this has forced the United States to adapt its strategy accordingly and to offer the region a new type of cooperative partnership. China's interest in the Caribbean and Latin America is still primarily driven by access to resources and markets. However, it has started to upgrade its cooperation with selected states in the region to include issues of high politics. It is building gateways to the region by identifying key players in the region's territorial subunits. Apart from bilateral relations, China has recently turned to regional organizations and institutions.

Starting from the key concept of geo-economics, this book investigates the new power politics and argues that the changing structural features of the contemporary international system are recasting the strategic imperatives of foreign policy practice.States increasingly practice power politics by economic means. Whether it is about Iran's nuclear programme or Russia's annexation of Crimea, Western states prefer economic sanctions to military force. Most rising powers have also become cunning agents of economic statecraft. China, for instance, is using finance, investment and trade as means to gain strategic influence and embed its global rise. Yet the way states use economic power to pursue strategic aims remains an understudied topic in International Political Economy and International Relations. The contributions to this volume assess geo-economics as a form of power politics. They show how power and security are no longer simply coupled to the physical control of territory by military means, but also to commanding and manipulating the economic binds that are decisive in today's globalised and highly interconnected world. Indeed, as the volume shows, the ability to wield economic power forms an essential means in the foreign policies of major powers. In so doing, the book challenges simplistic accounts of a return to traditional, military-driven geopolitics, while not succumbing to any unfounded idealism based on the supposedly stabilising effects of interdependence on international relations. As such, it advances our understanding of geo-economics as a strategic practice and as an innovative and timely analytical approach.This book will be of much interest to students of security studies, international political economy, foreign policy and International Relations in general