scholarly journals Right to Water and Courts in Brazil: How Do Brazilian Courts Rule When They Frame Water as a Right?

Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (23) ◽  
pp. 3362
Author(s):  
Lara Côrtes ◽  
Ana Côrtes

The international protection given to the right to water has increased over the last decades, with two United Nations’ resolutions establishing a freestanding right to water in 2010. Several countries have a right to water enshrined in their constitutions, while in other countries, this right has been recognised by the courts. This study aims to assess whether and how Brazilian courts are deciding water-related conflicts using the “right to water” frame, what the content given to this right is, and whose rights are protected. We created a comprehensive database of decisions issued by Brazilian courts at different levels containing the expression “right to water”. Our main findings are that the great majority of decisions are from lower courts and were issued on individual cases related to water supply. Further, we have seen that courts are frequently prohibiting the disconnection of water supply services when extreme vulnerability is argued. The same has been seen in other Latin American countries, such as Argentina, Colombia, and Costa Rica, with the one main difference that in these countries, the right to water has been carved out by the Constitutional Courts. The Brazilian Federal Supreme Court, which has the last word on the interpretation of the constitution, has not issued any decisions establishing a right to water, but there is legal mobilisation aiming for this and using UN resolutions as a key argument.

1977 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 157-166 ◽  
Author(s):  
Milton Silverman

A survey was conducted on the promotion of 28 prescription drugs in the form of 40 different products marketed in the United States and Latin America by 23 multinational pharmaceutical companies. Striking differences were found in the manner in which the identical drug, marketed by the identical company or its foreign affiliate, was described to physicians in the United States and to physicians in Latin America. In the United States, the listed indications were usually few in number, while the contraindications, warnings, and potential adverse reactions were given in extensive detail. In Latin America, the listed indications were far more numerous, while the hazards were usually minimized, glossed over, or totally ignored. The differences were not simply between the United States on the one hand and all the Latin American countries on the other. There were substantial differences within Latin America, with the same global company telling one story in Mexico, another in Central America, a third in Ecuador and Colombia, and yet another in Brazil. The companies have sought to defend these practices by contending that they are not breaking any Latin American laws. In some countries, however, such promotion is in clear violation of the law. The corporate ethics and social responsibilities concerned here call for examination and action.


2018 ◽  
Vol 26 ◽  
pp. 159 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alejandra Birgin ◽  
Alejandro Vassiliades

Within the framework of the process of enrollment expansion in teacher training (in the context of the expansion of the higher education level), some Latin American countries have developed specific policies for the student population of teacher training institutions. In this article we analyze how these policies bring new questions to the field of teacher training, linked to the ways in which “new” students are questioned and their effects on the construction of teaching positions. For this, we address a series of speeches from international organizations (with marked influence in the region), which coincide in describing future teachers as deficit subjects. At the same time, we go through a set of student policies that assumed diverse orientations regarding the right to education of these populations and regarding the right of their future students. We understand that these policies and discourses have an effect on the configuration of teaching positions with respect to educational inclusion.


2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (7) ◽  
pp. 4076-4091
Author(s):  
Ryu Ohata ◽  
Tomohisa Asai ◽  
Hiroshi Kadota ◽  
Hiroaki Shigemasu ◽  
Kenji Ogawa ◽  
...  

Abstract The sense of agency is defined as the subjective experience that “I” am the one who is causing the action. Theoretical studies postulate that this subjective experience is developed through multistep processes extending from the sensorimotor to the cognitive level. However, it remains unclear how the brain processes such different levels of information and constitutes the neural substrates for the sense of agency. To answer this question, we combined two strategies: an experimental paradigm, in which self-agency gradually evolves according to sensorimotor experience, and a multivoxel pattern analysis. The combined strategies revealed that the sensorimotor, posterior parietal, anterior insula, and higher visual cortices contained information on self-other attribution during movement. In addition, we investigated whether the found regions showed a preference for self-other attribution or for sensorimotor information. As a result, the right supramarginal gyrus, a portion of the inferior parietal lobe (IPL), was found to be the most sensitive to self-other attribution among the found regions, while the bilateral precentral gyri and left IPL dominantly reflected sensorimotor information. Our results demonstrate that multiple brain regions are involved in the development of the sense of agency and that these show specific preferences for different levels of information.


2015 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 363-384 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sebastián M. Saiegh

In this article, I use joint scaling methods and similar items from three large-scale surveys to place voters, parties, and politicians from different Latin American countries on a common ideological space. The findings reveal that ideology is a significant determinant of vote choice in Latin America. They also suggest that the success of leftist leaders at the polls reflects the views of the voters sustaining their victories. The location of parties and leaders reveals that three distinctive clusters exist: one located at the left of the political spectrum, another at the center, and a third on the right. The results also indicate that legislators in Brazil, Mexico, and Peru tend to be more “leftists” than their voters. The ideological drift, however, is not significant enough to substantiate the view that a disconnect between voters and politicians lies behind the success of leftist presidents in these countries. These findings highlight the importance of using a common-space scale to compare disparate populations and call into question a number of recent studies by scholars of Latin American politics who fail to adequately address this important issue.


Author(s):  
Kai Michael Kenkel

Latin American states have become major providers of troops for UN peacekeeping operations (PKOs) since the early 2000s. MINUSTAH (Mission des Nations Unies pour la stabilisation en Haïti), the UN mission in Haiti, 55% of whose troops were from the region, was a major watershed for local security cooperation and PKO contributions. Led by Brazil, these states were able to develop a specific approach to peacebuilding that reflects regional strengths and experiences, rooted in minimizing the use of force and bringing successful domestic development policies to bear abroad. This approach also reflects the common security and intervention culture that underpins policy in the region. Two states in particular have taken on a role as major providers of peacekeeping contingents. Tiny Uruguay, with a population of 3 million people, has maintained over 2,000 troops deployed on UN PKOs (more than 10% of its armed forces) since 2005. While Uruguay’s motivations are mostly economic—UN reimbursements exceed the country’s costs—Brazil’s ascendance as a major peacekeeping provider during MINUSTAH was part of a larger emerging-power foreign policy project. Participating in peacebuilding allowed the country to provide security through actions in the development realm, bridging a key gap in many rising states’ capabilities, and to mount an incipient challenge to the Western-led peacebuilding paradigm. The remaining states of Latin America show considerable diversity in their peacekeeping engagement, with many others sending small or token contributions and some no troops at all. Latin American states’ involvement in PKOs cannot be understood without looking at their interaction with patterns of civil–military relations in the region. In the case of such states, the effect of peacekeeping participation on civil–military relations, while a key point in need of monitoring, has not been decisive, as other factors prevail. Finally, PKOs have served as the locus for a significant increase in policy coordination and cooperation in the defense arena in the region. As the UN moves toward stabilization operations which privilege counterterrorism measures over the peacebuilding paradigm that is a strength of Latin American countries, PKOs may lose attractiveness as a foreign policy avenue in the region. Additionally, the swing to the right in recent elections may serve to reduce the appeal of a practice which came to the fore under previous left-wing governments.


1982 ◽  
Vol 51 (3) ◽  
pp. 321-333
Author(s):  
James F. Vivian

The Right Reverend Monsignor William T. Russell, pastor of Saint Patrick's Church in Washington, D.C., since 1908 and reputedly one of the finest preachers in the country, agreed to an unusual interview during the spring of 1912. Five other clergy, including a rabbi, likewise participated in separate sessions with the same Protestant minister. The resulting six semiautobiographical accounts appeared as a weekly series in Collier's magazine at midyear. Unlike the companion pieces, however, the article devoted to Msgr. Russell appeared at a particularly timely moment. On the one hand, the Pan-American Thanksgiving Day celebration, although just three years old, seemed well on the way toward becoming an annual observance that neither the president of the United States nor the Latin American diplomatic contingent could slight idly. Yet, on the other hand, the article heralded a major Protestant protest that would call the entire basis of the celebration into public and even political question. Upon assuming the presidency in 1913, an unsuspecting Woodrow Wilson would find himself inadvertently drawn into an interdenominational dispute over the special Catholic service. Embarrassed to the point of privately admitting a clumsy mistake, Wilson eventually yielded to the critics and finally withdrew his support from an implied experiment in the cultural extension of a famous holiday.


2018 ◽  
Vol 53 ◽  
pp. 348-368
Author(s):  
Вадим [Vadim] Юрьевич [IUr'evich] Меликян [Melikian] ◽  
Анна [Anna] Васильевна [Vasil'evna] Меликян [Melikian]

The phenomenon of syntactic semioimplicationSemioimplicative meaning is a “derived,” secondary meaning. The typical example of a semioimplicative meaning in syntax is the use of the positive constructions in the meaning of the negative ones and vice versa (converted meaning). The semioimplicative sentence interpretation scarcely has logical limitations. Most sentences, given the right intonation, can undergo an enantiosemic conversion. The ironical negation can be hidden in practically each sentence. In this article we single out and parameterize the main conditions of such semioimplication and the kinds of language means triggering the semioimplicative mechanism. Besides, we draw attention to the ways of expressing diverse connotations organically linked with the very process of syntactic constructions semioimplication and consistently caused by it. The core of semioimplicative structures is constituted by constructions that are able to express two meanings: direct and transferred (in this case, opposite) meaning. We have termed them “symmetrical” constructions. The sentence models with one meaning opposite to the form expressing it and also the models opposite in sign but not correlated according to some morphological characteristics serve as the periphery of semioimplication (“nonsymmetrical” constructions). The models that possess any language means facilitating their reconsideration as their own opposites are called the “specialized” models in the research. The “non-specialized” models do not have such qualities. The ability to express two opposite meanings can potentially take place on different levels of the sentence model concretization: abstract (syntactic), morphological, general lexical and concrete lexical (i.e., on the level of speech model realization). Each of the types of opposition, both objective and evaluative ones, has its own means of specialization. In the sphere of enantiosemical and evaluative opposition of the sentence meaning the dominating development line of the semioimplication phenomenon is the pursuit of maximal language expressivity, on the one hand, and of monosemanticity, accuracy, and effectiveness, on the other hand. The tendency toward language means economy turns out to be weak in this case. The reason for this process consists in the desire to assign these sentences to the sphere of the expressive syntax by using them exclusively in the secondary, ironical and most expressive meaning. As a result, the nonsymmetrical (the maximally specialized) constructions are 1.5 times more numerous than the symmetrical constructions (ones with moderate specialization). We find research of this subject-matter in its functional-communicative, cognitive, discoursive and pragmatic-linguistic aspects to be to a topical and worthwhile endeavor. Zjawisko semioimplikacji składniowejZnaczenie semioimplikacyjne to znaczenie „pochodne”, wtórne. Typowym przykładem występowania znaczenia semioimplikacyjnego w składni jest używanie konstrukcji pozytywnych w znaczeniu negatywnym i vice versa (konwersja znaczenia). Semioimplikacyjna analiza zdania praktycznie nie napotyka na logiczne ograniczenia. Większość zdań, jeśli towarzyszy im odpowiednia intonacja, w określonych kontekstach może ulegać enantiosemantycznej konwersji: ironiczne zaprzeczenie może skrywać się w praktycznie każdym zdaniu. W tym artykule identyfikujemy i parametryzujemy podstawowe warunki takiej semioimplikacji oraz rodzaje środków językowych, jakie inicjują mechanizm semioimplikacyjny. Zwracamy także uwagę na sposoby wyrażenia różnorakich konotacji związanych organicznie z samym procesem semioimplikacji struktur składniowych i regularnie przez nią wywoływanych. Rdzeniem struktur semioimplikacyjnych są konstrukcje mogące wyrażać oba znaczenia: dosłowne i przenośne (tu: przeciwstawne). Określiliśmy takie konstrukcje mianem „symetrycznych”. Za peryferia zbioru konstrukcji semioimplikacyjnych (za konstrukcje „niesymetryczne”) można uznać modele zdań mających tylko jedno znaczenie, które jednak jest przeciwstawne w stosunku do wyrażającej go formy, oraz modele o przeciwnym znaku, ale nieskorelowane pod względem niektórych parametrów morfologicznych. Modele zdań dysponujące środkami językowymi ułatwiającymi zmianę ich znaczenia na przeciwstawne nazywamy „wyspecjalizowanymi”. Modele „niewyspecjalizowane” nie dysponują takiego rodzaju środkami. Zdolność wyrażania dwóch przeciwstawnych znaczeń może potencjalnie zachodzić na różnych poziomach konkretyzacji modelu: abstrakcyjnym (składniowym), morfologicznym, leksykalnym ogólnym i leksykalnym konkretnym (tzn. na poziomie językowej realizacji modelu). Każdy z typów przeciwstawności, czy to przedmiotowej czy wartościującej, dysponuje własnymi środkami specjalizacji. W sferze enantiosemicznej i wartościującej przeciwstawności znaczeń zdania dominującym kierunkiem rozwoju zjawiska semioimplikacji jest dążenie, z jednej strony, do maksymalnej wyrazistości języka, z drugiej zaś – do jego jednoznaczności, precyzji, efektywności. Tendencja do zwiększania ekonomii środków językowych okazuje się w badanym przypadku słabsza. Przyczyną tego procesu jest dążenie do trwałego przypisania takich zdań ekspresyjnej sferze składni za sprawą używania ich wyłącznie w drugim, ironicznym, a zarazem bardziej ekspresyjnym znaczeniu. W rezultacie konstrukcji niesymetrycznych (maksymalnie wyspecjalizowanych) jest w przybliżeniu 1,5 raza więcej niż konstrukcji symetrycznych (umiarkowanie wyspecjalizowanych). Uważamy za wskazane dalsze badania nad zarysowaną tu tematyką w jej aspekcie funkcjonalno-komunikacyjnym, kognitywnym, dyskursywnym i pragmalingwistycznym.


2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (3 - Sup2) ◽  
pp. 169-177
Author(s):  
Fabio Andrés Díaz Pabón

Unlike other Latin American countries, Colombia has consistently been governed by centre-right or right-wing political parties. The absence of political space for the Left in this country allowed governments to portray protests as subversive and criminal. However, starting in 2008, right-wing politicians have embraced, supported and used the protest as a tactic; undertaking, calling for, and giving support to various protest movements across the country. This has had an unexpected consequence: right-wing parties, government institutions, and even some sectors within the security and armed forces now see protests as valid and normal. Drawing on a brief historical analysis of protest movements in Colombia since 1948, and particularly after 2002, this article argues that to understand the recent normalization of this form of political expression we should look at changes in the dynamics of competition within the Right.


Author(s):  
Michela Giovannini ◽  
Marcelo Vieta

This chapter focuses on co-operatives in four representative Latin American countries—Argentina, Chile, Cuba, and Mexico—in order to highlight their historical trajectories, evolutionary trends, and potential for further development. These representative countries reflect the range of co-operative development in Latin America, both historically and contemporaneously. Each country, for instance, shows different paths of co-operative development related to, among other factors, different levels of support by their governments, community-based responses to neoliberal policies, and varying connections to broader social movements and other forms of grass-roots organizations. This chapter will also present a number of experiences that are of particular interest today in the region, such as worker-recuperated enterprises and other forms of workers’nself-management, indigenous co-operatives, community-owned agricultural co-operatives, co-operatives managing general-interest social services, and, most controversially, public-services and work-for-welfare co-operatives created by the state.


2020 ◽  
pp. 1866802X2097503
Author(s):  
Nordin Lazreg ◽  
Alejandro Angel ◽  
Denis Saint-Martin

Conventional wisdom indicates that politicians in Latin America are all wealthy. However, the literature on both political elites and social origins of political parties indicates that we should expect differences in the capital accumulation of politicians depending on their ideological position. This study seeks to explore that question using financial disclosure forms made available in six Latin American countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Peru, and the Dominican Republic. We calculate the median wealth of the main political parties in each country and compared them according to their ideological position on the left–right continuum. We consistently find that the most right-leaning party in each country had a higher median wealth than the most left-leaning one. This relation is non-linear since centrist parties often represent anomalies in the distribution of wealth. When there are no ideological differences, we do not observe significant wealth differences either.


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