The Americas’ More Perfect Unions: New Institutional Insights from Comparative Political Theory

2014 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 808-828 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua Simon
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Latin America ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
The United States ◽  
Economic Effects ◽  
The Political ◽  
Comparative Political Theory ◽  
National Productivity ◽  
Path Dependent ◽  
Comparative Political Science

The disparities in per-capita wealth and national productivity that divide the United States and Latin America today have often been understood as results of institutional variations introduced during each region's period of imperial rule. According to this interpretation, path-dependent processes preserved institutions installed by Britain, Spain, and Portugal across the centuries, propagating their positive or negative economic effects, and eventually producing a marked “development gap” in the hemisphere. This article aims to improve this account by highlighting the direct and indirect economic effects of the success or failure of the political unions establishedafterindependence in both the United States and Latin America. It demonstrates that influential political theorists throughout the hemisphere understood the developmental advantages to be gained from unifying former colonies and employing the political authority newly at their disposal to abolish the stifling institutional legacies of European rule, suggesting that if Spanish America's unions had endured, or conversely, if the United States had collapsed, the two regions' economies might not have diverged as dramatically as they subsequently did. This illustrates an important contribution that the emerging subfield of “comparative political theory” can make to comparative political science in general, and to the new institutionalism in particular, by providing uniquely direct insight into the choices available to political actors in consequential moments of institutional genesis and change, and revealing the contingency of institutional variations that might otherwise appear inevitable.

scholarly journals Is Populism a Political Strategy? A Critique of an Enduring Approach

2020 ◽  
pp. 003232172096235
Author(s):  
Daniel Rueda
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Latin America ◽  
Eastern Europe ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Strategy ◽  
Close Inspection ◽  
Strategic Approach

The political-strategic approach is one of the most employed frameworks within the methodologically heterogeneous subfield of populism studies. In the last two decades, it has contributed to the analysis of populism both in Latin America and the United States and, more recently, in Western and Eastern Europe. That being said, a close inspection of its axioms and its conceptualization of the phenomenon shows that it is built on ill-conceived premises. This article intends to be a comprehensive critique of the approach that can contribute to the methodological progress of the field. It criticizes the three main dysfunctions of the approach: selective rationalism, leader-centrism, and normative bias.

The Political Theory Implicit in Social Casework Theory

1953 ◽  
Vol 47 (4) ◽  
pp. 1076-1091 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan Keith-Lucas
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
The United States ◽  
Local State ◽  
The Political ◽  
Government Function ◽  
The Past ◽  
National Governments ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship

The political theory implicit in social casework theory can be defined, for purposes of this discussion, as the theory of the relationship between man and society on which professional social casework is consciously predicated, or that theory of the relationship which is logically implied by social casework practice. This theory is not often consciously articulated and we must look for it, therefore, in those presuppositions underlying casework theory which are frequently accepted uncritically, if not wholly unconsciously. This practice obviously cannot be carried on without basic (although perhaps not entirely conscious) presuppositions about what man is like and consequently about what society can or ought to do for him.The presuppositions underlying social casework theory, although important in any context, have acquired a new significance to the extent that social casework has increasingly become a government function. During the past twenty years literally millions of people in the United States have been brought into a new relationship with officials of their local, state, and national governments—namely, the relationship of client and social caseworker.

scholarly journals Latin America: development tendencies

2015 ◽  
pp. 25-29
Author(s):  
A. A. Orlov
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Latin America ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Processes

The article analyzes the political processes taking place in Latin America. The author pays special attention to the increase of tension in some countries on the continent, especially in Venezuela, Argentina and Brazil. He comes to the conclusion that the United States, who have distanced themselves from Latin America’s affairs in recent years, head for «reformatting» of the continent under its own interest, that can have a serious destabilizing effect.

Six continents at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in Rome: Flavia Laviosa in conversation with Alfredo Baldi

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 261-270 ◽  
Author(s):  
Flavia Laviosa
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Latin America ◽  
The United States ◽  
Set Design ◽  
The Political ◽  
Large Numbers ◽  
The 1950S ◽  
Academic Cycle

In this interview Alfredo Baldi, historian of the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia (CSC) in Rome, gives a detailed overview of the political, cultural and artistic reasons for the prevalent presence of students from about 100 countries and six continents in all the specializations offered at the CSC in Rome (directing, photography, set design and acting), since its foundation in 1935. More specifically, Baldi explains why the CSC was popular in the 1930s and 1940s among students from the Axis nations in pre-war Europe, mentions the fascination of world artists with Italian neorealism, attributes international interest of the CSC to the artistic reputation of the film professionals who taught at the CSC and expresses his interpretation of the reasons for the large numbers of students from Greece, the Arab nations, Latin America and the United States in the 1950s and 1960s. Since its foundation, the CSC has granted diplomas at the end of the two- or three-year cycle of studies, but starting in the 2021–24 academic cycle, it will grant university degrees. Baldi explains what led to this critical and long overdue academic and administrative shift.

THE RACIAL UNCONSCIOUS OF ASSIMILATION THEORY1

2009 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 375-395 ◽  
Author(s):  
Moon-Kie Jung
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Latin America ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Political ◽  
Assimilation Theory ◽  
Segmented Assimilation ◽  
Oppositional Culture ◽  
National Belonging ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Caribbean

AbstractIn the past two decades, migration scholars have revised and revitalized assimilation theory to study the large and growing numbers of migrants from Latin America, Asia, and the Caribbean and their offspring in the United States. Neoclassical and segmented assimilation theories seek to make sense of the current wave of migration that differs in important ways from the last great wave at the turn of the twentieth century and to overcome the conceptual shortcomings of earlier theories of assimilation that it inspired. This article examines some of the central assumptions and arguments of the new theories. In particular, it undertakes a detailed critique of their treatment of race and finds that they variously engage in suspect comparisons to past migration from Europe; read out or misread the qualitatively different historical trajectories of European and non-European migrants; exclude native-born Blacks from the analysis; fail to conceptually account for the key changes that are purported to facilitate “assimilation”; import the dubious concept of the “underclass” to characterize poor urban Blacks and others; laud uncritically the “culture” of migrants; explicitly or implicitly advocate the “assimilation” of migrants; and discount the political potential of “oppositional culture.” Shifting the focus fromdifferencetoinequalityanddomination, the article concludes with a brief proposal for reorienting our theoretical approach, fromassimilationto thepolitics of national belonging.

scholarly journals Economic relations between China and Venezuela: modern characteristics and prospects

2021 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 197-209
Author(s):  
Alexandra G. Koval ◽  
Mikhail I. Sorokin
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Latin America ◽  
Significant Role ◽  
The United States ◽  
Political Crisis ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Factor ◽  
Economic Relations ◽  
The North ◽  
Distinguishing Features

Venezuela suffers currently from a deep economic and political crisis. China, being significant partner for Venezuela, has recently increased its presence on the Venezuelan market. The study reveals the distinguishing features of modern Chinese-Venezuelan economic relations. It analyzes China's foreign economic strategy in Latin America and identifies the trends in trade, investment and finance relations between China and Venezuela. The conclusion is made that the Chinese strategy in Venezuela is not based on the concept of South - South cooperation, but it more relates to the North - South approach. At the same time, the political factor plays an increasingly significant role in the development of relationship between states from a perspective of escalation of the confrontation between the United States and China. The possible scenarios and consequences of the Venezuelan political crisis for China are identified and certain comparisons with Russia are presented.

scholarly journals CHINA AND ITS INTERESTS IN LATIN AMERICA

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (5) ◽  
pp. 62-75
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Latin America ◽  
The United States ◽  
Raw Material ◽  
The Political ◽  
Economic Interest

It is a reflection article based on a bibliographic review. Its objective is to analyze the Chinese political and economic interest in Latin America, especially, to examine Chinese investments in the strategic sectors in Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina, and Ecuador. The article reaches three conclusions that help to understand this influence: first, the influence of China was possible by the political withdrawal of the governments of the United States; second, China's growing need to supply its raw material industries; and third, the generation of debtors that would be linked to China for many years, in some cases, the payments were scheduled to finish in a couple of decades. Within these elements, China's influence over the region has developed, increased, and strengthened.

The Crystallization and Erosion of Transnational Solidarity

2021 ◽  
pp. 181-204
Author(s):  
Luis Roniger
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Latin America ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Political ◽  
Regime Legitimacy ◽  
Regional Dynamics ◽  
Political Implications ◽  
Political Project ◽  
Hugo Chavez ◽  
Transnational Solidarity

This chapter provides an interpretation of the regional “appeal” of the Pink Tide in Latin America and its more recent deceleration. It details the legitimation strategies of Hugo Chávez and Chavismo, the political project, movement, and regime led by Chávez, along with his regional allies and successors. The chapter suggests that in legitimizing that political project, Chávez addressed the expectations of wide sectors in the Americas, whose voice he claimed to express. By relying on long-existing visions of “Nuestramerican” (Our American) solidarity and providing material assistance to allies, he invigorated the sense of transnational connection for millions of people in the Americas. This layer of regime legitimacy also provided the basis for Chávez’s global realignment and served his foreign policy of defying the hegemony of the United States and its allies. The chapter reconstructs the rise and partial erosion of the encompassing narrative of transnational solidarity and its political implications for regional dynamics.

IDEAS in AGORA: The Philosophy of the Empires, Fear and Sense of Exemplarity

2014 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 11-33
Author(s):  
Korstanje Maximiliano
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Latin America ◽  
South America ◽  
United States Of America ◽  
Work Force ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Political ◽  
Clear Sign ◽  
The Right ◽  
Geographical Point

Abstract Why do the United States reserve the right to be called “America” by conferring the “Americas” to the whole continent?, is that a clear sign of discrimination or supremacy or both? Ideologically, America refers to the United States of “America” excluding other regions such as Latin America, central or South America. This leads some scholars to explain convincingly that, beyond this subtle grammatical difference, the Anglo-ethnocentrism in the United States has been drawn to make their citizens believe they are unique, outstanding, and special. Basically, this belief allowed not only to fight against the political enemies in Europe or in any other geographical point, but also to control the incipient worker union leaderships. What merits further attention, anyway, is the sentiment of exemplarity instilled by the founding parents of this nation. Fear was historically a mechanism of control employed by US governments at different stages in several ways. Our intention is not only to review how the fear disciplined by the claims of work-force, but also explain why the sentiment of exemplarity and fear are inextricably intertwined.

The Political Economy of National Security

1990 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 15-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ethan B. Kapstein
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Political Economy ◽  
National Security ◽  
Summer School ◽  
The United States ◽  
Economic Effects ◽  
Defense Spending ◽  
The Political ◽  
Student Interest ◽  
The Impact

In recent years, public officials in the United States and abroad have expressed increasing concern over the economic effects of defense spending. It has been alleged that defense spending is a major cause of the budget deficit and is at the root of America's economic “decline.” Even in the Soviet Union, questions are now being raised about the impact of military spending on the civilian economy.As director of a research program at Harvard that focuses on economics and national security, I decided it was important to offer a course on the “political economy of national security.” While Harvard and other major universities in the Boston area offer courses in political economy on the one hand and national security on the other, students have few opportunities to examine national defense from an economic perspective. Given that national security is the largest single economic activity in the United States and many other countries, and given intense student interest in the topic, the time was ripe to devise such a course.The course was first offered in the Harvard Summer School, which is open to undergraduate and graduate students from Harvard and other universities. The only prerequisite was an introductory course in economics. As it turns out, most of the students were more than adequately prepared; among those who attended were students from Harvard Business School, the Kennedy School of Government, some local defense industry executives, military officers, and a number of Ph.D. candidates. For those who might consider offering such a course, I would suggest that the required economics course not be waived in any circumstances; otherwise you will spend a lot of time explaining basic concepts.

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