Analysis of Normative Orders in International Mediation: Lessons learned from the Colombian Peace Process

The following paper summarizes the findings of a bachelor thesis that analysed the role of normative orders in international mediation by examining the norms applied during the Colombian peace process. The objective of the investigation is defined by the research question, which lessons-learnt can be derived from the Havana Process for the categorization of normative orders in international peace mediation? For answering that question the author analyses the norms and principles applied during the Colombian peace process and thereby, shows the potential to enhance existing scientific models and log-frames for the analysis of norms in peace mediation. The paper provides a new model for classifying normative frameworks by integrating the stage of negotiation as another classifying dimension. Therefore, the model is called “Process-Oriented Model for Categorizing Norms in International Mediation”. The research is built upon a qualitative research conducted in the Colombian cities Medellin and Bogota, where the author held interviews with scientific researchers, political decision-makers, and civil society organisations. The results of the research are complemented by a substantial review of existing academic literature about norms in international peace mediation and the Colombian peace process.

Tertiary education expansion and access for disadvantaged women in Brazil and Mexico

This paper seeks to identify if women from vulnerable, socioeconomic and ethnic/racially, backgrounds have been benefited from this process through the Maximally Maintained Hypothesis developed by Raftery and Hout (1993), in which vulnerable or less advantageous groups can access education only after the demand of the most advantaged group has been met. Using data from the National Household Surveys from Brazil (PNAD) and Mexico (ENIGH) both countries were studied for the 2004 and 2014 periods in order to observe the changes occurring through time, with a focus on the women population. As a result, this study found two different dynamics of inclusion: while in Brazil higher socioeconomic inclusion has been attained, there is a persistent stratification by race in tertiary education with an underrepresentation of non-white participants. On the other hand, Mexico has advanced in terms of including the population that describes itself as indigenous or understands an indigenous language, nonetheless underrepresentation from those that speak an indigenous language persist and socioeconomic stratification remains a factor of exclusion.

Reclutamiento de migrantes en la frontera colombo-venezolana

Recruitment has been a phenomenon present in the context of the Colombian armed conflict. Thus, illegal armed groups (ELN, dissent from the former FARC, paramilitary groups, drug traffickers, among others) have seen migration as an opportunity to increase the number of members in their ranks. Thus, the exodus of Venezuelans has become an attractive phenomenon for recruitment where armed groups take advantage of irregular dynamics and socio-territorial complexities to increase the range of action of attacks, fighting and presence. That said, the research question is: How has the flow of Venezuelan migrants on the Colombian-Venezuelan border contributed to the strengthening of illegal armed actors? Due to the lack of academic information, the investigation will use as collection instruments: interviews with academics, decision makers and journalistic work.

O Protagonismo do PMDB na Política Brasileira: Uma Análise Comparativa das Eleições de 1994 a 2018

With the promulgation of a new Federal Constitution in 1988, the Brazilian political-institutional arrangement was established based on a process of reconstructing representative democracy. With this change, the present work sought to analyze the role of PMDB in Brazilian politics during the electoral period of 1994 and 2018. PMDB was the pivotal party in the process of redemocratization in Brazil, as well as the greatest ally to have been sought by the government in studied period. However, due to its characterization as a center party and lack of an ideology consistent with the current demands of the population, the PMDB lost a significant space within the Brazilian Legislative, being neither part of the allied base nor of the opposition of the current Bolsonaro government, making with its protagonism in check.

Frontera colombo-ecuatoriana: gobernanza criminal

Criminal governance is a new object on the Colombian security-related investigation agenda. In Colombia, the constant presence of illegal groups affects regions far from urban centers. Based on the foregoing, the State has been supplanted in territorial control affecting binational ethnic communities on the border between Colombia and Ecuador. Empirical evidence shows that since the signing of the peace agreement in 2016, the presence of criminal governments defined by Lessing (2019) as the governance of criminal actors over populations within an economy, ethnic group or territory, has been increasing. The objective of this research proposal is to determine the factors that converge within the new dynamics of transnational organized crime after the FARC. To this end, the tentative question is the following: How is the relationship between regional and extra-regional criminal governments on the Colombian-Ecuadorian border configured with ethnic communities between 2016 and 2019? For methodological purposes, a review of the literature will be made under the conceptual framework of ‘criminal government’ proposed by Benjamin Lessing (2019). Indeed, analyzes of the border have been able to determine that the area is of strategic importance for criminal organizations. These groups are not exclusively dedicated to drug trafficking, but also to human trafficking, extortion, and fuel smuggling, factors by which criminal organizations compete or cooperate for control of the area through legitimacy within the border population.

Populismo: breve reseña del concepto aplicado a los casos de Perú, Argentina y Chile

In this article, we will analyze the different interpretations that we have about populism, its antecedents and comparative manifestation through the cases of Peru, Argentina and Chile; with the objective of understanding its development and the impacts it leaves on the society of each country. In this way, we will observe that this political phenomenon can be perceived as beneficial or unsuccessful for development as a whole and in areas such as political and social.