Populismos y democracias defectuosas en El Ecuador (1996-2012): continuidades y diferencia

From 1995 to 2015, Ecuador experienced one of its longest periods of deep political, social and economic crisis. During this interval, three democratically elected governments (Bucaram, 1997; Mahuad, 2000 and Gutiérrez, 2005) were overthrown and a critical juncture arose in 2006 as a result. Since 2007, and as a consequence of these chaotic circumstances, new populist strongmen ascended and, amid the biggest bonanza of oil revenues in Ecuadorian history, established a defective democracy. The gradual escalation of authoritarian tendencies during the three consecutive terms in which Rafael Correa has acted as President, have resulted in the severe weakening of the country’s democratic institutions, since Correa’s has strived to perpetuate himself in power through continual re-election into office, instead of building an institutional quality-democracy. This study aims to clarify the historical foundations of the recurrence of caudillistas, populist and authoritarian governments in Ecuador, revealing the basis of the specific path dependence of Ecuadorian politics. We also explore the Jungian theory, specifically the “pseudo-hero myth”, as the political narrative which Correa’s regime successfully employed to establish its hegemony. Additionally, we perform a psychological-political case analysis by examining the social psychology components underlying the Ecuadorian path dependence towards authoritarian and populist caudillos: Specifically, our case study is framed within historical institutionalism, which focuses on methodological individualism to attend various political science and psychological-political theories...

Las parodias dramáticas de Don Juan Tenorio en el siglo XIX

Zorrilla was, undoubtedly, the one who approached the myth of Don Juan the closest. Tirso has paternity. Madariaga thinks the Don Juan of Moliere lacks spontaneity and displays a conscious rebellion against the laws. That of Byron is a reflective character. The Don Giovanni created by Da Ponte for Mozart's opera is very civilised and lacks spontaneity, as well. Madariaga does not forgive Pushkin for the appearance of Laura on a balcony in Madrid and not in Seville. Obviously Madariaga is right because his view is the popular response to the work of Zorrilla. José Zorrilla gets to the spot and the core of the myth as very few Spaniards would not remember the most emblematic verses of his work since its implementation in the role. That is why the Tenorio is the most parodied work...

Tener hambre de luz y devorar una estrella: la poesía de J.E. Eielson

The present Doctoral Thesis is framed within the study of the poetry of the great Peruvian artist Jorge Eduardo Eielson (April 13, 1924 – March 8, 2006). In general terms, it focuses on the symbols that articulate both his literary productions and his work in the field of visual arts. Throughout this project, I used the principles of the modern semiotics as well the myth criticism theory developed by Gilbert Durand in his work The Anthropological Structures of the Imaginary as the basis. Following the assumption of considering Eielsońs work as an indivisible whole, in contrast to many studies that often attempted to analyse part of his creative work by privileging one medium over the others, I analyzed each symbol in all its forms, looked at its presence and relevance in his entire work and sought the archetypal level of each term. For this task, the works of Joseph Campbell and Mircea Eliade provided valuable guidances. At the beginning of this study I present a short author's biography, in order to help to understand the circumstances under which his poems were composed. (Let us remember that most of his books were published many years after their conception). Throughout this chapter, I have carefully considered the Lima period, his relationship with his first mentor, the anthropologist and writer José María Arguedas who introduced him to the knowledge of the ancient civilizations of Peru, his link with the literary circles of Lima and his first acknowledgments: the National Poetry Award (1944) and the National Drama Award (1948)...