Latin American politics

During the 1990s and 2000s, a policy known as Education with Community Participation (EDUCO) not only became the cornerstone of education reform in El Salvador but also became a global education policy, one which is known for decentralizing to rural families the responsibility for hiring and firing teachers. As is shown in this paper, its rise to fame was not only a product of the particular political-economic context in which it was borne, but was also a product of the impact evaluations produced by the World Bank, which served as the evidence base through which this and other international institutions could legitimately promote the neoliberal model of community involvement represented by EDUCO. Problematically, however, a reappraisal of these impact evaluations reveals, first, that their findings and conclusions around significant effects were not warranted and, second, that the entire impact evaluation enterprise is fundamentally flawed due to the financial-political-intellectual complex out of which these studies emerged and back into which they fed as they were used to advocate for market-oriented policy solutions around the world. Thus, in addition to explaining the reform dynamics that gave rise to EDUCO, this paper (a) systematically reviews the findings and limitations of each of the six impact studies that constitute the international knowledge base around this policy, (b) reconsiders what we can reasonably claim to know about EDUCO, (c) reflects on the national and international implications of the critical review presented here, and (d) remarks on the shortcomings of—and the alternatives to—impact evaluations as a
means to produce policy-relevant findings.

There are more types of borders today than ever before in history. Borders of all kinds define every aspect of social life in the twenty-first century. From the biometric data that divides the smallest aspects of our bodies to the aerial drones that patrol the immense expanse of our domestic and international airspace, we are defined by borders. They can no longer simply be understood as the geographical divisions between nation-states. Today, their form and function has become too complex, too hybrid. What we need now is a theory of the border that can make sense of this hybridity across multiple domains of social life.

Rather than viewing borders as the result or outcome of pre-established social entities like states, Thomas Nail reinterprets social history from the perspective of the continual and constitutive movement of the borders that organize and divide society in the first place. Societies and states are the products of bordering, Nail argues, not the other way around. Applying his original movement-oriented theoretical framework "kinopolitics" to several major historical border regimes (fences, walls, cells, and checkpoints), Theory of the Border pioneers a new methodology of "critical limology," that provides fresh tools for the analysis of contemporary border politics.

Article published by Tax Justice Network Blog april 10th 2017 in: https://www.taxjustice.net/2017/04/10/tax-haven-blacklisting-13-latin-american-countries/

As governments (slowly) get to grips with the fact that tax havens are inflicting great harm on economies and democracies across the globe, facilitating mega amounts of tax dodging, and vast movements of criminal money by way of the secrecy services some of them offer, the question of our times is how we deal with them. Attempts to create tax haven blacklists (in order to potentially implement sanctions for non-cooperative jurisdictions) have so far been farcical as we’ve noted many times, most recently commenting on the European Union’s current work compiling its own blacklist system, here and here. So far the criteria for inclusion in tax haven blacklists has been weak, such lists have been ineffective and it’s been far too easy for some of the world’s worst offenders to wriggle their way out of them, or simply be big and bad enough not to worry about being included in the first place – for example – Tax Haven USA. If the EU, or anyone else really wanted to do this properly, the work’s already been done for them – with the best objective ranking available – the Tax Justice Network’s Financial Secrecy Index.

Anyway, we were very interested to see that Brazil attempted to tackle Irish tax havenry in September 2016 by putting Ireland on its tax haven blacklist, effective more or less immediately.

Today we’re happy to share an article by Macroeconomics Professor Juan Valerdi[1] (of La Plata National University and El Salvador University) based on the conclusions of his research looking at the approaches of 13 Latin American governments to tackling tax havens. The full document is available here and was part of the campaign “Que las trasnacionales paguen lo justo”. The Spanish version of this article was published by ALAI Magazine earlier this month and is available here. (You can read the Professor’s blog here).
While this article looks at what’s happening in Latin America, the conclusions and recommendations represent an approach to solve what he refers to as the ‘Tax Haven Networks’ problem at a global level. His research focused on 13 Latin American countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, México, Nicaragua, Paraguay and Peru.

Six Latin Americanist scholars reflect on the ousters of presidents Manuel Zelaya, Fernando Lugo, and Dilma Rousseff—and the emergence of the “parliamentary” or “soft” coup as a new technique to thwart the consolidation of social and economic rights in the region.

EL 19 de abril de 2018, para sorpresa de todos, estallaron protestas impulsadas por miles de estudiantes que se manifestaban por una multitud de agravios acumulados. Las movilizaciones rápidamente se transformaron en un rechazo a la forma autoritaria, patrimonial y plutocrática de gobernar por parte de la pareja presidencial. El gobierno respondió con una desproporcionada represión.
La crisis fue inesperada, pero era previsible.

Arqueológicamente se diagnostica las luchas indígenas por el territorio en el sur del Tolima; genealógicamente, se analizan formas de resistencia emergentes, especialmente, del «Gran Resguardo de Ortega y Chaparral», como prácticas y formas discursivas fundadas en reivindicaciones de Manuel Quintín Lame, que propiciaron la conformación de un movimiento social. Como metodologías, la arqueología describe y muestra lo efectivamente dicho por Quintín Lame y sus difusores; la genealogía permite análisis críticos, alternativos –no autorizados, ilegítimos– de múltiples fuerzas que atraviesan y tensionan los discursos, para visibilizar aquello que tendenciosamente se procura que no sea visto, por los implicados en el hecho. Palabras clave. prácticas y formas discursivas; movimiento social de resistencia; territorialidades indígenas; fuerzas que tensionan discursos.

Las elecciones regionales y locales celebradas el 27 de octubre de 2019 dieron cuenta de una nueva distribución del poder político territorial, marcada por la derrota del uribismo, la persistencia de las fuerzas tradicionales y el triunfo de dirigentes alternativos en las grandes ciudades del país que respaldan el proceso de paz.

Ponencia en  Seminario Memoria, conflicto y coexistencia: Interculturalidad y descolonization en América Latina y el mundo, Santiago, Chile, 16 diciembre, 2015.

Aunque la Guerra del Pacifico terminó en 1883, Bolivianos, Peruanos, y Chilenos siguen disputando las fronteras trazadas en su final. Mientras retos se disputan en el Corte Internacional de Justicia en La Haya, los comentarios del publico y los discursos sobre estas fronteras y su significado suceden en diversas esferas públicas. Estas esferas públicas y media han cambiado radicalmente en los 132 años desde cuando se establecieron las fronteras, y hoy en día las redes sociales es un sitio clave donde Bolivianos y Chilenos de la región norte expresan las memorias (colectivamente imaginado) de formaciones políticas del pasado y sus sentimientos personales sobre el disputo en el contexto de la política actual. Esta presentación analiza texto y los memes que combinan imagines con texto posteados en Facebook por Chilenos del norte y Bolivianos, junto con los comentarios de sus amigos y conocidos. Mientras Bolivianos apelan a un sentimiento de soberanía histórica, y los Chilenos se burlan de la falta de mar de Bolivia como indicador de subdesarrollo, ambos grupos usan el humor para abordar el tema, a menudo en formas despolitizado. Considerando las redes sociales como un sitio clave donde se expresa la memoria, a pesar del reciente desarrollo de este medio, también la presentación abre conversaciones sobre como perdura la memoria mientras los portajes en donde está expresada siempre cambian, y el uso de humor en memorias de conflictos como una manera para despolitizar los temas profundamente divisivas.

How do populists conduct foreign policy? Extant literature on populism focuses mainly on domestic patterns, and until recently the foreign dimension of populism has been largely overlooked. This paper aims to fill theoretical and empirical lacunae by mapping patterns of change and continuity in the formulation of geopolitical and economic international policy among Latin-American populist governments. Striving to conduct a systematic comparative analysis, this paper explores three waves of populist foreign policies in Latin America (classic, neoliberal, and progressive). While it is difficult to highlight a unified phenomenon, the findings reveal that several ‘unifying’ elements indeed exist: these are manifest in the tendency of such governments to jointly (re)construct transnational solidarities for legitimation purposes and to adopt economic foreign policies with a pragmatic bent. Moreover, in opposition to the two first waves of populist governments, the most recent wave has embraced personalist styles, emotional public diplomacy, and clientelist techniques with support networks abroad, thus actively projecting the domestic patterns of populism to the regional and global levels in an attempt to leverage both domestic and international legitimacy. This study offers critical lessons for IR scholarship's increasing engagement with populism, contributing to the lively debate regarding the rise of populist trends across the globe.

O objetivo geral desta pesquisa foi o de compreender de que forma as manifestações das chamadas democracias iliberais, conforme definições do cientista político Yascha Mounk, ocorrem dentro do contexto latino-americano, considerando o uso de uma essencialização do povo por parte de líderes que passam a se portar como “porta-vozes do povo”, em um discurso que utiliza do argumento da maioria para pôr em risco instituições democráticas e direitos individuais. Para isso, no primeiro capítulo deste trabalho, levou-se em conta as tensões da relação entre democracia e liberalismo para expor os sintomas e as características das democracias iliberais catalogadas ao redor do globo, com ênfase ao uso da noção majoritária de democracia e da essencialização dos povos. Disso, constatou-se que estes governos em geral se fundam em um intento de simplificar a cada vez maior complexificação do mundo e, mais, buscam mascarar antinomias que remontam à emergência e sedimentação do constitucionalismo dito democrático, que por anos se acreditou representar o fim da história. Frente a este cenário, no segundo capítulo, intentou-se realizar o movimento oposto: complexificar a democracia, por meio da análise da construção histórica do “povo” na América, bem como a revisão da terminologia “soberania popular”. No terceiro capítulo, tais considerações foram postas sob uma perspectiva prática, utilizando, para isso, as mais recentes e marcantes situações que se enquadram, consoante o recorte proposto nesta pesquisa, como manifestações desse discurso iliberal, levando em conta todas as singularidades da América Latina e suas frágeis estruturas democráticas. Por fim, apresentou-se, em conclusão, uma proposta de alternativa a este cenário fundada nas considerações elencadas por Roberto Gargarella, Carlos Santiago Nino e Herrera Flores para uma ideia de democracia que leve em conta a soberania e a pluralidade dos povos.

This paper analyzes the historic 2013 trial against former dictator General (r) Jose Efrain Rios Montt. Rios Montt was found guilty of genocide and crimes against humanity, but a controversial decision by the Constitutional Court annulled part of the proceedings, thereby vacating the verdict. The author was a trial observer at the Rios Montt proceedings, and drawing on her ethnographic research and interviews with relevant parties to the trial, argues that despite the verdict's undoing, the case remains significant historically and politically for Guatemala, and has lasting lessons for theoreticians and practitioners of transitional justice.

This book presents the contemporary history and dynamics of Mexican midwifery - professional, (post)modern or autonomous, traditional and Indigenous - as profoundly political and embedded in differing societal stratifications.

By situated politics, the authors refer to various networks, spaces and territories, which are also constructed by the midwives. By politically situated, the authors refer to various intersections, unsettled relations and contexts in which Mexican midwives are positioned. Examining Mexican midwiferies in depth, the volume sharpens the focus on the worlds in which midwives are profoundly immersed as agents in generating and participating in movements, alliances, health professions, communities, homes, territories and knowledges. The chapters provide a complex panorama of midwives in Mexico with an array of insights into their professional and political autonomy, (post)coloniality, body-territoriality, the challenges of defining midwifery, and above all, into the ways in which contemporary Mexican midwiferies relate to a complex set of human rights.

The book will be of interest to a range of scholars from anthropology, sociology, politics, global health, gender studies, development studies, and Latin American studies, as well as to midwives and other professionals involved in childbirth policy and practice.

Несмотря на отдельные успехи в борьбе с незаконной наркоторговлей, ситуация в Латинской Америке остается сложной и противоречивой, наркомания и незаконная наркоторговля в целом сохраняют свои позиции, что объясняет, как поиск новых путей противостояния наркомафии, так и настоятельную необходимость международного сотрудничества в этой важной области. Автор прослеживает изменения в подходах латиноамериканских правительств, к проблемам борьбы с незаконным оборотом наркотических средств и их прекурсоров в контексте острых социально-политических проблем региона.
Ключевые слова: Латинская Америка, наркотик, наркосиндикат, прекурсор, наркоторговля, наркополитика

Despite separate successes in combating drug-trafficking, the situation in Latin America remains difficult and inconsistent. The drug abuse and drug-trafficking as a whole keep the positions that explains, both search of new ways of counteraction to a drug mafia, and an imperative need of the international cooperation in this important area. The author traces changes in approaches of the Latin American governments to problems of struggle against illegal circulation of narcotics and their precursors in a context of sharp sociopolitical problems of the region.
Key Words: Latin America, drug, narcotic, drug ring, precursor, drug-trafficking, narcopolitics.

This chapter comes from a recent book published in 2020. Editors: Ian Liebenberg, Dirk Kruijt and Shrikant Paranjpe. Title: Defence Diplomacy and National Security Strategy: Views from the Global South. Stellenbosch: Sun Press. ISBN Numbers:978-1-928480-54-9. The chapter deals with the defence diplomacy of South Africa in Africa. This edited work deals with defence diplomacy and national security strategies from the Global South such as Brazil, Chile, Columbia, Cuba, Venezuela, South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe,  China and India.

Este artículo reexamina la idea de Lijphart (1997) de que el voto obligatorio sea un instrumento efectivo para reducir la desigualdad del ingreso con un diseño de investigación cuasi experimental basado en la técnica de matching. Los resultados muestran que el voto obligatorio no tiene un impacto significativo sobre las políticas redistributivas. En base a la experiencia de América Latina, donde predomina el voto obligatorio junto a alta desigualdad de ingresos, el artículo sostiene que el problema empírico del argumento lijphartiano se encuentra en el supuesto implícito de la existencia de un vínculo programático entre políticos y electores. Se sugiere como hipótesis alternativa que la combinación de alta participación electoral y alta desigualdad puede deberse a la prevalencia de un vínculo clientelar, frecuente en democracias con instituciones débiles.

Latin American social movements are reinventing emancipatory politics, in which those invisibilised and excluded by capitalist-coloniality are emerging as the emancipatory subjects of our times. Rather than a method of learning, pedagogy is understood as a radical educational project of subaltern transformation and politics. Emancipatory ped-agogical praxis occurs in multiple spatialities and embraces multiple knowledges and subaltern subjects. These knowing-subjects become creators of political agency, movement practices and imaginaries, and collective self-liberation. I develop my analysis with reference to movement educators who I work with in the Brazilian Movimento sem Terra (Landless Workers Movement, MST) and Colombian Escuela Política de Mujeres Pazífica (Political School of Pacifist Women, Escuela). Latin American social movements are reinventing emancipatory politics, in which those invisibilised and excluded by capitalist-coloniality are emerging as the emancipatory subjects of our times. These new political subjects develop social relations which disrupt the power of capital in their everyday lives through practices which reconnect people and communities with their creative capacities and each other. In this article I conceptualise and reflect on the role of the pedagogical. This is not understood as a method of learning but rather as a political-pedagogical project of subaltern struggle in which practices of learning and unlearning are embedded (Motta and Esteves, 2014). The pedagogical in this sense cannot be confined to the narrow limits of hegemonic understandings of education which alienates and separates the body from the mind, the classroom from the community, and the knower from the known (Motta and Cole, 2014). Rather, emancipatory pedagogical praxis occurs in multiple spatialities, embraces multiple knowledges and subaltern subjects, and these knowing-subjects become creators of political agency, generating movement practices and imaginaries, and promoting collective self-liberation. The emancipatory pedagogical practices of social movements involve the creation of embodied peopled memories, the (re)covery and (re)invention of subaltern philosophies and theorisations through embracing multiple literacies, and an epistemological privi-leging of those on the margins. These philosophical and epistemological commitments are embodied in informal learning in the everyday life of a movement. They include the unlearning of the oppressor's logics as they interpolate our subjectivities and social

En las últimas décadas en América Latina se ha vivido un proceso de giro a la izquierda, y parece que ahora estuviera confirmándose un giro a la derecha en la región. No obstante, el análisis de dichos giros se ha centrado sobre todo en las presidencias, obviando la situación de los legislativos. En este artículo se atiende al supuesto giro a la izquierda en los parlamentos latinoamericanos, con el propósito de identificar cuándo se dio ese giro, si es que efectivamente llegó a tener lugar en toda la región. Lo anterior se realiza a través del análisis de las actitudes y preferencias de los legisladores en los últimos veinte años de cambio político.

The following essay provides a detailed history of Brazil's development narrative from 1930 to the present with Rostow's five stages of economic growth as its framework. It aims to demonstrate how Brazil's emphasis on high-mass consumption and global influence is similar to and different from the United States.

In 1872, José Hernández published an epic poem, Martín Fierro, the eponymous story of an outlaw Argentine gaucho, or cowboy. The text was canonized over the years, seen as a special window into the nineteenth-century national soul of Argentina. In form and content, Gabriela Cabezón Cámara’s short novel, Las aventuras de la China Iron – originally published in 2017, translated into English in 2019, and shortlisted for the International Booker Prize the same year – is a radically subversive encounter with Martín Fierro. Cabezón, born in Buenos Aires in 1968, has several acclaimed novels under her belt, and was a founding member of the feminist collective Ni Una Menos.

This text politicizes unlearning processes in #shitholes presented in the format of an unconventional syllabus. My proposed questions to readers in light of the Trumpism era are: How are they made? Who has created them? Do you know where they are located? If you looked at a map, can you point them out? What are they? When do they appear?

Durante más de una década, un país tan extenso y complejo como México, “tan lejos de Dios y tan cerca de los Estados Unidos”, se ha enfrentado a múltiples dificultades y retos en la esfera política, social y económica. El libro analiza la realidad política y social mexicana desde inicios del siglo XXI hasta hoy, un periodo que coincide con las dos presidencias “panistas”, la de Vicente Fox (2001-2006) y la de Felipe Calderón (2007-2012), y en el que no parece que el país haya avanzado por un camino de mayor estabilidad, crecimiento o satisfacción ciudadana. Este estudio profundo de la dinámica política mexicana en un contexto pluralista evalúa dos sexenios de gobiernos que impulsaron políticas que fracasaron a la hora de situar a México en la senda del desarrollo y la equidad social.