The Process of Constitution Making in Latin America

1960 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Russell H. Fitzgibbon
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Political Life ◽  
The Political ◽  
The World ◽  
Constitution Making

Latin America as an area would yield to few if any other regions of the world in its devotion to what it considers the constitutional process and, indeed, the supremacy of constitutions in establishing and ordering the political life of the several states. If the mere number of excursions into the practical exercise of constitution-making were to be considered significant—which it probably is at most only in a limited way—it might lead to the conclusion that the Latins were affected by some form of legpmania. A compilation of Latin America constitutions published a little more than a decade ago indicated that as of the beginning of 1948 the twenty states had written a total of 200 basic laws since their respective achievements of independence. Several additional ones have since been drafted.

Princes and Parliaments in the Arab World

2004 ◽  
Vol 58 (3) ◽  
pp. 367-384 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Herb
Keyword(s):  
Arab World ◽  
Authoritarian Regimes ◽  
Political Life ◽  
The Political ◽  
The World

Several Arab monarchies have held reasonably free elections to parliaments, though all remain authoritarian. This article compares the Arab monarchies with parliaments in other parts of the world, including both those that became democracies, and those that did not. From this I derive a set of prerequisites, potential pitfalls, and expected stages in the monarchical path toward democracy. This helps us to understand not only the democratic potential of the parliamentary experiments in the Arab monarchies, but also the role these parliaments play in the political life of these authoritarian regimes.

scholarly journals PRAISE OF THE CONVERT: BELIEVE AND BELONG FROM THE CATHOLICITY OF LATIN AMERICA

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 327-339
Author(s):  
Felipe Gaytán Alcalá
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Public Space ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Political Life ◽  
Religious Groups ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World ◽  
The Church

Latin America was considered for many years the main bastion of Catholicism in the world by the number of parishioners and the influence of the church in the social and political life of the región, but in recent times there has been a decrease in the catholicity index. This paper explores three variables that have modified the identity of Catholicism in Latin American countries. The first one refers to the conversion processes that have expanded the presence of Christian denominations, by analyzing the reasons that revolve around the sense of belonging that these communities offer and that prop up their expansion and growth. The second variable accounts for those Catholics who still belong to the Catholic Church but who in their practices and beliefs have incorporated other magical or esoteric scheme in the form of religious syncretisms, modifying their sense of being Catholics in the world. The third factor has a political reference and has to do with the concept of laicism, a concept that sets its objective, not only in the separation of the State from the Church, but for historical reasons in catholicity restraint in the public space which has led to the confinement of the Catholic to the private, leaving other religious groups to occupy that space.

Plato

Classics ◽  
2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luc Brisson ◽  
Richard Dufour
Keyword(s):  
Political Life ◽  
The Political ◽  
Military Force ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Political Role ◽  
Material Growth ◽  
The World ◽  
Principal Points ◽  
The Republic ◽  
Intellectual Knowledge

Born at Athens in a family of noble descent, Plato (b. c. 428–427– d. c. 348–347 bce) naturally sought throughout his life to play a political role as councilor or legislator, not only at Athens but also abroad, especially in Sicily. A writer and philosopher, Plato was above all a citizen who, as is attested by the ten books of the Republic and the twelve books of the Laws (which constitute almost half of his work), wished to reform the political life of his city by assigning power not to wealth or to military force, but to knowledge. Against the traditional vision of culture in his time, essentially transmitted by poetry, Plato proposed a new system of education based on knowledge, in which mathematics plays an important role, and which culminates in the contemplation of true realities and of the Good. Plato’s life is therefore inseparable from his thought. Fairly early, a dogmatism (the term being taken in the minimal sense of the exposition of a doctrine) developed, with the appearance of a doctrine whose principal points became more specific over time. This doctrine is characterized by a twofold reversal. First, the world of things perceived by the senses is a mere image of a set of intelligible forms that represent true reality, for they possess the principle of their existence within themselves. Second, human beings cannot be reduced to their bodies, for their true identity coincides instead with an incorporeal entity, the soul, that accounts for all motion, both material (growth, locomotion, etc.) and spiritual (feelings, sense perceptions, intellectual knowledge, and so on).

Crime Victimization and Political Participation

2012 ◽  
Vol 106 (3) ◽  
pp. 570-587 ◽  
Author(s):  
REGINA BATESON
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Political Participation ◽  
Survey Data ◽  
Civil Wars ◽  
Exposure To Violence ◽  
Crime Victims ◽  
Political Life ◽  
Crime Victimization ◽  
Violent Crimes ◽  
The World

Crime victimization is an important cause of political participation. Analysis of survey data from five continents shows that individuals who report recent crime victimization participate in politics more than comparable nonvictims. Rather than becoming withdrawn or disempowered, crime victims tend to become more engaged in civic and political life. The effect of crime victimization is roughly equivalent to an additional five to ten years of education, meaning that crime victimization ranks among the most influential predictors of political participation. Prior research has shown that exposure to violence during some civil wars can result in increased political participation, but this article demonstrates that the effect of victimization extends to peacetime, to nonviolent as well as violent crimes, and across most of the world. At the same time, however, crime victimization is sometimes associated with dissatisfaction with democracy and support for authoritarianism, vigilantism, and harsh policing tactics, especially in Latin America.

scholarly journals Multiple Sources of Protest Movements in Latin America

2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 92-109
Author(s):  
E. Kosevich ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Political Crisis ◽  
The Political ◽  
Multiple Sources ◽  
Protest Movements ◽  
The World ◽  
Neoliberal Development ◽  
History Of ◽  
A Chain ◽  
Further Development

Social outbreaks which have been characteristic of the political landscape of Latin America throughout the course of history of this region , reached their peak in the late 90s of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century. It can be argued without exaggeration that a special culture of mass protests has already formed in this part of the world. It functions as an independent “pressure mechanism” aimed at expanding rights and reducing historical injustice. In the fall of 2019 Latin America became the epicenter of social protests. Residents of the highest income inequality region of the world ceased restraining their discontent. It turned out to be impossible for the state authorities to react to such indignation by the usual repressive methods, thus they were forced to listen to society demands. In just a few months, Haiti, Ecuador, Chile, Bolivia were caught in a massive political crisis which was marked by massive street demonstrations. Gradually, a wave of public discontent swept over countries such as Colombia and Argentina. Although the root causes of these events in each country were different, several general trends stand out in all the chaos that is happening in Latin America. These trends can be traced in all foci of instability that broke out almost simultaneously in several countries of the region. This paper attempts to analyze the main factors that led to such widespread unrest. The goal of this analysis is to reveal the unresolved problems of the region. The author identifies the main reasons that together caused social explosions, and presents them in the form of a hierarchical pyramid: from the underlying economic instability, the crisis of the neoliberal development model, social inequality; the weakening of the political system and corruption, that are situated in the middle; until the very top of the pyramid – the “democracy deficit” and the influence of social networks. In this context, I divided the article into 4 thematic blocks, which will allow a systematic review of the most important causes that set a chain reaction in motion of protest activities, as well as an assessment of the further development of the socio-political situation in Latin America. A combination of regional and country approaches were applied in this paper to the phenomenon under study.

scholarly journals Investigation the need to teach the characteristics of the development of parliamentarism in Latin America as part of education

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (SPE3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Larisa Lvovna Norden
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Party System ◽  
General Rule ◽  
Political Life ◽  
The Political ◽  
Practical Implementation ◽  
Intensity Increase ◽  
Island States ◽  
Democratic Experience ◽  
The One

The article highlights the history and features of parliamentarism development in the Latin America countries. In addition, the need for training on the subject and the effect of increasing students and educators’ awareness in this field is examined. This process was lengthy, replete with the examples of various social groups, political trends and parties struggle intensity increase. Since the beginning of the 19th century, there have been almost no favorable conditions for the practical implementation of democratic government in the countries of Latin America, and the institutionalization of the party system has not taken place yet. However, there have been exceptions to the general rule in the history of Latin America. Chile and Argentina were such an example. The success of democratic transformations in the countries of the region depended on various reasons: a) whether the country had a democratic experience in its past; b) the conditions for the political and economic development of this country to develop representative institutions in the future; c) the importance of the parties in the political course development and the adoption of state decisions. The results of democracy and parliamentarism development in the states of Latin America are rather complicated by the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries. On the one hand, the last decades of the XX-th century and the beginning of this century was marked by the democratization of political life, reforms, and the replacement of military regimes with civilian governments. Since the beginning of the 60-ies, they started the process of democratization and formation of independent island states in the Caribbean and Central America. Despite the successful development of the economy, culture, education, the presence of a large middle class in Argentina, the military governments overcame civilian ones in the 30-70-ies. Therefore, it is needed to consider this aspect as a part of education system to improve the educators’ level.

scholarly journals PATRIOTIC VALUE ORIENTATIONS OF KAZAKHSTAN'S YOUTH

2020 ◽  
Vol 71 (3) ◽  
pp. 135-141
Author(s):  
V.H. Nabiyev ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Political System ◽  
Value Orientations ◽  
Political Life ◽  
The Political ◽  
Processes Of Change ◽  
Special Role ◽  
The World ◽  
Political Conditions ◽  
People Today

The article examines the problem of patriotism, which plays a special role in the political life of modern Kazakhstan. In fact, in all over the world, young people today are in very difficult socio- economic and political conditions, when their entry into life is accompanied by changing and peculiar processes of change not only political system or economic mechanisms of management. The change in the system of spiritual and moral values, guidelines and ideals of all citizens, especially young people, is impressive.

The Political Economy of Import-Substituting Industrialization in Latin America

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Albert O. Hirschman
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Latin America ◽  
Industrial Revolution ◽  
Political Life ◽  
The Political ◽  
Economic Aspects ◽  
Latin Americans ◽  
Growing Pains ◽  
Late Industrializing

This chapter surveys some characteristics of “import-substituting industrialization” in an attempt to appraise its evolution and the principal difficulties it has encountered. Some purely economic aspects of the problem are discussed, but particular attention is directed to interrelations with social and political life, as industrialization—one of the principal solutions for Latin America's development—has led to some feelings of disenchantment. It becomes necessary here to have a clear-eyed view of what “late-late” industrializing is; instead of exhaustion, this chapter posits that Latin Americans are confronted with the growing pains of having industrialized without an industrial revolution (basic social and political changes).

A New Political Pacifism

2018 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-77
Author(s):  
William R. Marty ◽  
Keyword(s):  
World War I ◽  
Peace Movement ◽  
Political Life ◽  
The Political ◽  
World War ◽  
The World ◽  
Christian Love ◽  
The Church

In the aftermath of the carnage of World War I, a politically engaged pacifism spread rapidly among a number of traditionally non-peace churches, and among the populations of England and America. This pacifism meant to be effective in the world, and it was: it swayed the democracies of England and America to adopt many of its policies. It meant to achieve peace and end war. Represented as what Christian love requires in political life, it failed utterly and completely in its aims both as political prescription and understanding of Christianity. The relevance of this essay is that many of the erroneous assumptions and failed policies of the church peace movement of the 1930s appear to be still the assumptions and policies of secular statesmen of the present. The errors of the political pacifists live on, and if they are not corrected, the consequences are likely to be the same, or worse, for next time, unless we are wiser than the last, the evil ones may prevail.

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