Doing Courts Justice? Studying Judicial Politics in Latin America

2008 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 741-767 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diana Kapiszewski ◽  
Matthew M. Taylor

The past decade has brought an unprecedented boom in the study of courts as political actors in Latin America. We examine the extraordinary diversity of academic research on judicial politics in the region, identifying the key questions, findings, and theoretical debates in the literature, highlighting important conceptual disjunctions, and critiquing the research methods scholars of judicial politics in Latin America have employed in their work. We close by suggesting new avenues of inquiry to help advance the collective effort to understand the roles courts play in Latin American politics.

2003 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 721-750 ◽  
Author(s):  
ROBERT ANDOLINA

A crucial development in current Latin American politics is the growing involvement of indigenous movements in democracies grappling with the challenges of regime consolidation. This article examines how Ecuador's indigenous movement consecrated new rights and national constitutive principles in the 1997–8 constitutional assembly. It argues that the indigenous movement defined the legitimacy and purpose of the assembly through an ideological struggle with other political actors, in turn shaping the context and content of constitutional reforms in Ecuador. The article concludes that softening the boundary between ‘cultural politics’ and ‘institutional politics’ is necessary in order to understand the impact of social movements in Latin America.


Author(s):  
Leslie A. Schwindt-Bayer

In this introductory chapter of Gender and Representation in Latin America, Leslie A. Schwindt-Bayer argues that gender inequality in political representation in Latin America is rooted in institutions and the democratic challenges and political crises facing Latin American countries. She situates the book in two important literatures—one on Latin American politics and democratic institutions, the other on gender and politics—and then explains how the book will explore the ways that institutions and democratic challenges and political crises moderate women’s representation and gender inequality. She introduces the book’s framework of analyzing the causes and consequences of women’s representation, overviews the organization of the volume, and summarizes the main arguments of the chapters.


1926 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 14-30
Author(s):  
Percy Alvin Martin

To students of international relations it has become almost a commonplace that among the most significant and permanent results of the World War has been the changed international status of the republics of Latin America. As a result of the war and post-war developments in these states, the traditional New World isolation in South America, as well as in North America, is a thing of the past. To our leading sister republics is no longer applicable the half-contemptuous phrase, current in the far-off days before 1914, that Latin America stands on the margin of international life. The new place in the comity of nations won by a number of these states is evidenced—to take one of the most obvious examples—by the raising of the legations of certain non-American powers to the rank of embassies, either during or immediately after the war. In the case of Brazil, for instance, where prior to 1914 only the United States maintained an ambassador, at the present time Great Britain, France, Italy, Belgium, Portugal, and Japan maintain diplomatic representatives of this rank.Yet all things considered one of the most fruitful developments in the domain of international relations has been the share taken by our southern neighbors in the work of the League of Nations. All of the Latin American republics which severed relations with Germany or declared war against that country were entitled to participate in the Peace Conference. As a consequence, eleven of these states affixed their signatures to the Treaty of Versailles, an action subsequently ratified in all cases except Ecuador.


1994 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 543-574
Author(s):  
Timothy P. Wickham-Crowley

Social revolutions as well as revolutionary movements have recently held great interest for both sociopolitical theorists and scholars of Latin American politics. Before we can proceed with any useful analysis, however, we must distinguish between these two related but not identical phenomena. Adapting Theda Skocpol’s approach, we can define social revolutions as “rapid, basic transformations of a society’s state and class structures; and they are accompanied and in part carried through by” mass-based revolts from below, sometimes in cross-class coalitions (Skocpol 1979: 4; Wickham-Crowley 1991:152). In the absence of such basic sociopolitical transformations, I will not speak of (social) revolution or of a revolutionary outcome, only about revolutionary movements, exertions, projects, and so forth. Studies of the failures and successes of twentieth-century Latin American revolutions have now joined the ongoing theoretical debate as to whether such outcomes occur due to society- or movement-centered processes or instead due to state- or regime-centered events (Wickham-Crowley 1992).


Diacronia ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sorina-Crina Ghiață

Starting with the independence process of all the territories once colonies and later, overseas territories of the different states of Western Europe, Latin America meant an association of unique paradoxes. Portugal and Spain have dominated in the past, especially from a linguistic and religious perspective,the current space that became avaried cultural environment. In this context, the aim of this study is to capture, in the introductory part, characteristics of the Latin American complex identity(reflected, for example, in the names associated with this space of civilization, in political circumstances and social issues, in particular). In addition, another purpose is to highlight the way in which these aspects are considered in the prose of modern Latin American writers, Rodrigo Rey Rosa and Héctor Abad Faciolince. At the same time,emphasizing the scourge of discrimination or inequality, but especially the perpetual violence, thestudyconcludes with a reference (also found in the literary discourse of the two texts chosen for analysis, Los sordos and El olvido que seremos) to the ethical spirit, but also to the feeling of empathy—subjects approached by both writers—in a world that seems more and more fragmented and depersonalized, as if it has been occupied by a continuous stigma of imbalance.


2013 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
João Carlos Amoroso Botelho

Desde que autores como Germani (1962), Di Tella (1969) e Ianni (1975) aplicaram a noção de populismo à América Latina, muito se escreveu sobre o tema. O conceito se estirou tanto que tem servido para definir políticos os mais díspares. Com a ausência das condições socioeconômicas descritas pelas formulações clássicas, a estratégia adotada é limitar a categoria à dimensão política. Esse procedimento, porém, não é capaz de descrever atributos exclusivos suficientes para que o populismo seja um fenômeno específico. Ao mesmo tempo, o conceito está tão enraizado que não é viável abandoná-lo. A solução proposta é avaliar em quais características um político se aproxima e se afasta dos casos paradigmáticos do passado. Assim, ele pode ser populista em certos aspectos e não em outros. Com esse procedimento, se chega a uma classificação, em que um líder apresente mais ou menos atributos descritos pelas definições clássicas, eliminando a necessidade de reformulação constante do conceito para adaptá-lo a novas circunstâncias. Também haveria menos espaço a que o rótulo de populista continuasse servindo para desqualificar políticos latino-americanos. O artigo aborda definições clássicas e recentes aplicadas à América Latina e avalia a viabilidade empírica da estratégia de se concentrar na dimensão política.---LA APLICACIÓN DEL CONCEPTO DE POPULISMO AMÉRICA LATINA: la necesidad de clasificar, y no descalificar Desde que autores como Germani (1962), Di Tella (1969) y Ianni (1975) aplicaron la noción de populismo a la América Latina, mucho se ha escrito sobre el tema. El concepto se ha estirado tanto que ha definido políticos muy dispares. Con la ausencia de las condiciones socioeconómicas descritas por las formulaciones clásicas, la estrategia adoptada es concentrarse en la dimensión política. Ese procedimiento, sin embargo, no es capaz de describir atributos exclusivos suficientes para que el populismo sea un fenómeno específico. Al mismo tiempo, el concepto está tan enraizado que no es viable abandonarlo. La solución propuesta es evaluar en cuales características un político se acerca y se aleja de los casos paradigmáticos del pasado. Así, ello puede ser populista en ciertos aspectos y no en otros. Con ese procedimiento, se llega a una clasificación, en que un líder presente más o menos atributos descritos por las definiciones clásicas, eliminando la necesidad de reformulación constante del concepto. También habría menos espacio a que el rótulo de populista continuase sirviendo para descalificar políticos latinoamericanos. El artículo presenta definiciones clásicas y recientes aplicadas a la América Latina y discute la viabilidad empírica de la estrategia de concentrarse en la dimensión política.Palabras-clave: populismo; América Latina; casos paradigmáticos; clasificación.---THE APPLICATION OF THE CONCEPT OF POPULISM IN LATIN AMERICA: the need to classify and not disqualifyEver since authors such as Germani (1962), Di Tella (1969) and Ianni (1975) applied the notion of populism in Latin America, much has been written on the subject. The concept stretched out so much that it has served to define the most dissimilar politicians. In the absence of socioeconomic conditions described by classical formulations, the strategy adopted is to restrict the category to the political dimension. Such a procedure, however, is not capable of describing adequate particular attributes that populism would be a specific phenomenon. At the same time, the concept is so deeply embedded in our society that it is not feasible to abandon it. The proposed solution is to evaluate in which characteristics a politician reaches and moves away from the paradigmatic cases of the past. Thus, it can be populist in some respects and not in others. In such a procedure, we arrive at a classification in which a leader shows more or less attributes described by classical definitions, eliminating the need for constant reformulation of the concept to adapt it to new circumstances. Also, there would be less space to which the label of populist would continue to serve to disqualify Latin American politicians. The article discusses recent and classic settings applied to Latin America and assesses the empirical viability of focusing on the political dimension strategy.Key words: populism; Latin America; paradigmatic cases; classification.


Zootaxa ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 5087 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-58
Author(s):  
ANDRÉS A. SALAZAR-FILLIPPO ◽  
LADISLAV MIKO

This checklist of oribatid mites of the Republic of Colombia compiles and provides a taxonomic update of all records known up to 2020. It includes 192 entries accounting for 68 named and 47 unnamed species belonging to 73 genera and 58 families of non-astigmatid oribatid mites. Specimens from the brachypyline supercohort were dominant (54.7%), followed by Mixonomata (30.7%). However, current knowledge is far from being complete and distribution patterns show large gaps throughout the country due to this lacking knowledge and most existing investigations only include group specific studies that prevent from any conclusions regarding the real community composition of oribatids in Colombia. From 32 political-administrative departments, oribatids have been reported in 20, but 5 account for 65% of the records. These are: Cundinamarca -including Bogotá D.C.- (24.4%), Magdalena (21.8%), Nariño (6.3%), La Guajira (6.3%), and Quindío (5.9%). Whereas most oribatid reports in the Neotropical region have taken place during the past five decades, a map presented in this document shows that Colombia still lags behind other Latin American countries. Mexico, Argentina, and Brazil, for instance, have reported the highest number of species for the region and are the only nations that possess national oribatid checklists in Latin America. The current work represents a national baseline of oribatids encouraging further study of this clearly underrepresented group.  


Humanities ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clovis Ultramari ◽  
Fernanda Cantarim ◽  
Manoela Jazar

This paper investigates the circulation of ideas regarding the city among selected countries in Latin America. It discusses convergences between academic and scientific institutions and investigative weakness in partnerships between Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, and Mexico. It identifies two historical moments: one of vertical dialogues between Latin America and central countries in the elaboration of urban plans (20th century) and another of contemporary academic exchange signalling a horizontal dialogue that is fragile and sporadic but distinct from those observed in the past. Empirical reference is obtained from the analysis of scientific events and papers published by distinguished post-graduate programs concerning urban topics in selected countries, during the time frame of 2000–2015. The methodological approach is based on a bibliographic review and content analysis. Results indicate that the old “one-way” of transfer of urban planning ideas from central countries to Latin America is changing; slowly, the continent has been growing more independent in terms of knowledge creation and circulation.


1985 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 123-143 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arpad Von Lazar ◽  
Michele McNabb

Latin American societies and economies are. in a world of change and transition. The past decade, from 1973 to the present, has been for them an era of anxiety on the one hand and of opportunity on the other, a paradoxical era in which prospects for development had to compete with the high social costs of stagnation in many instances.Energy was the catchword, and the name of energy was oil. Its price, its availability, and its promise (a road to riches for those fortunate enough to possess it, a threat of increasing poverty for those unfortunate enough to have to buy it) brought turmoil to the economies, and the bodies politic, of Latin America.


2009 ◽  
Vol 66 (01) ◽  
pp. 81-106
Author(s):  
Howard J. Wiarda

The field of Latin American Studies owes much to Professor Howard J. Wiarda, whose pioneering work on “corporatism” and political culture during the 1960s and 1970s helped establish a new conceptual paradigm for interpreting the persistence of corporately defined, institutional identities throughout Latin America, despite the purported triumph of the “Liberal Tradition.” A child of Dutch parents, his early travels throughout Africa, Asia, and Latin America sparked a keen interest in the question of “third world development.” Entering graduate school in the early 1960s, Professor Wiarda gravitated to the newly emergent field of modernization studies at the University of Florida, where he received his masters and doctorate degrees in Latin American politics. It was a time of tremendous social ferment in Latin America and his early fieldwork took him to the Dominican Republic, Mexico and Brazil, among other places. In each instance, he found recognizable patterns that transcended geographic locations, patterns that seemed to directly challenge the predominant arguments set forth in the modernization literature at the time.


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