La movilización de los pueblos indígenas y la lucha por sus derechos en Colombia

Este texto presenta la historia de la movilización indígena en Colombia, los efectos que ha producido en la democracia y en el sistema político de este país, así como la reacción del Estado colombiano a sus reivindicaciones y a sus acciones. Pretende mostrar cómo las organizaciones indígenas han pasado de las reivindicaciones basadas en la clase social a una política en cuya agenda las reivindicaciones basadas en la identidad son prioritarias y forman parte de su estrategia de negociación con el Estado. También trata sobre el marco jurídico y constitucional que, pese al contexto de persecuciones, asesinatos y desplazamientos forzados, reconoce los derechos de los pueblos indígenas.

¿Nuevos actores, nuevas prácticas?. Los casos de reordenamiento de los bipartidismos en Argentina, Colombia y Uruguay, desde los años 60

La mayoría de las democracias latinoamericanas se caracterizaban por un esquema de competencia partidaria bipartidista. Se observó, no obstante, en los años ochenta-noventa un re-ordenamiento concomitante a toda la región de los sistemas de partidos, cuya principal consecuencia fue la deconstrucción de los bipartidismos. Esta situación nos lleva a preguntarnos si es posible identificar causas comunes que den cuenta de este fenómeno. Demostramos en este trabajo, a través del estudio de Colombia, la Argentina y Uruguay, que aquello consistió más bien en un realineamiento de los patrones de representación dentro de los sistemas de partido. Los procesos de cada uno de estos países, cuyos bipartidismos suelen considerarse como “tradicionales”, se caracterizaron por dinámicas específicas y diferenciadas no extrapolables a toda la región. Presentaremos asimismo las lógicas de realineamiento partidario y destacaremos los “eventos críticos” más propensos a la transformación política en la región.

El largo ciclo electoral de Plataforma per Catalunya: del ámbito local a la implantación nacional (2003-2011)

El partido anti-inmigración Plataforma per Catalunya (PxC) ha experimentado un progresivo crecimiento en la franja temporal que va desde su primera participación electoral en 2003 hasta las municipales de 2011. En dicho periodo temporal ha pasado de ser una formación presente exclusivamente en el ámbito local, y con un apoyo fuertemente concentrado en ciertos municipios de Cataluña, a recibir votos y tener secciones locales consolidadas en gran parte del territorio catalán. El texto trata de ofrecer claves interpretativas para entender tanto los éxitos como las debilidades de PxC a lo largo del ciclo electoral 2003-2011. Partiendo de la base de que actualmente existe en España una demanda electoral suficiente para el éxito de una formación como PxC, este trabajo se centra en el análisis de la estrategia política y electoral desarrollada por el partido para aprovechar dicha demanda, y en su interacción con el contexto social y político de la Cataluña de la primera década del siglo XXI.

Informalidad y mercados laborales urbanos: un análisis empírico para Colombia

En este trabajo se estudian los determinantes macroeconómicos de la informalidad laboral en Colombia. Teniendo en cuenta varias definiciones de informalidad, se encuentra que este fenómeno tiene una relación inversa con el nivel de educación de la población ocupada y el grado de desarrollo industrial de las ciudades. También se observa que un sector público muy grande genera un efecto positivo sobre la informalidad, lo cual indica que existen posibles ineficiencias estatales o cargas institucionales que afectan la decisión de formalizarse. Así mismo se evidencia que existe un importante efecto local en la informalidad asociado con la estructura productiva e integración comercial, que dependen de la ubicación geográfica de las ciudades.

Plan de comunicación para el lanzamiento de la marca país : Colombia

Aquest treball realitza un estudi de la imatge actual de la marca país “Colòmbia”, amb la finalitat de desenvolupar un Pla de Comunicació per al llançament d'aquesta marca a Espanya. Per aconseguir aquest objectiu s'analitza l'actual entorn colombià, els seus recursos naturals, la seva situació social i l'actual afluència de turistes al país. També s'analitza el mercat espanyol com a mercat d'origen. En el Pla de Comunicació Global, es planteja l'actual problema d'imatge que té Colòmbia a Espanya, i com el seu passat, i la ressonància que el mateix ha tingut gràcies als mitjans de comunicació, han fet que Colòmbia no sigui una de entre les destinacions triades pels espanyols, a causa de la percepció que es té de turísme d'alt risc.

Open online courses in Colombia : report of an educational and technological experiment

Based on a discussion of the background, features and limitations of open online courses, this paper describes a technological solution to support their offering, built on online tools that don't require self-managed hosting. This is a proof of concept that intends to highlight the possibilities and obstacles related to this kind of educational practice in a Latin American context.

Intermediary and structural determinants of early childhood health in Colombia: exploring the role of communities

This study examines how structural determinants influence intermediary factors of child health inequities and how they operate through the communities where children live. In particular, we explore individual, family and community level characteristics associated with a composite indicator that quantitatively measures intermediary determinants of early childhood health in Colombia. We use data from the 2010 Colombian Demographic and Health Survey (DHS). Adopting the conceptual framework of the Commission on Social Determinants of Health (CSDH), three dimensions related to child health are represented in the index: behavioural factors, psychosocial factors and health system. In order to generate the weight of the variables and take into account the discrete nature of the data, principal component analysis (PCA) using polychoric correlations are employed in the index construction. Weighted multilevel models are used to examine community effects. The results show that the effect of household’s SES is attenuated when community characteristics are included, indicating the importance that the level of community development may have in mediating individual and family characteristics. The findings indicate that there is a significant variance in intermediary determinants of child health between-community, especially for those determinants linked to the health system, even after controlling for individual, family and community characteristics. These results likely reflect that whilst the community context can exert a greater influence on intermediary factors linked directly to health, in the case of psychosocial factors and the parent’s behaviours, the family context can be more important. This underlines the importance of distinguishing between community and family intervention programmes.

An Inquiry into the use of illegal electoral practices and effects of political violence

This article investigates whether vote-buying and the instigation of violence in the disputed 2007 Kenyan elections were strategically motivated, and whether those affected by electoral violence changed their views towards ethno-politics and the use of violence. To answer these questions, a panel survey conducted before and after the elections is combined with external indicators of electoral violence. We find that political parties targeted vote-buying towards specific groups to weaken the support of their political rivals and to mobilize their own supporters. Furthermore, parties instigated violence strategically in areas where they were less likely to win. Although the victims of violence would prefer that parties are no longer allowed to organize in ethnic or religious lines, they are more likely to identify in ethnic terms, support the use of violence and avoid relying on the police to resolve disputes. The overall findings suggest an increased risk of electoral-violence reoccurring.

Electoral competition through issue selection

Politics must tackle multiple issues at once. In a first-best world, political competition constrains parties to prioritize issues according to the voters' true concerns. In the real world, the opposite also happens: parties manipulate voter priorities by emphasizing issues selectively during the political campaign. This phenomenon, known as priming, should allow parties to pay less attention to the issues that they intend to mute. We develop a model of endogenous issue ownership in which two vote-seeking parties (i) invest to attract voters with "better" policy proposals and (ii) choose a communication campaign to focus voter attention on specific issues. We identify novel feedbacks between communication and investment. In particular, we find that stronger priming effects can backfire by constraining parties to invest more resources in all issues, including the ones they would otherwise intend to mute. We also identify under which conditions parties prefer to focus on their "historical issues" or to engage in issue stealing. Typically, the latter happens when priming effects are strong, and historical reputations differentiates parties less.

Uncertainty, electoral Incentives and political myopia

In this paper, we study the determinants of political myopia in a rational model of electoral accountability where the key elements are informational frictions and uncertainty. We build a framework where political ability is ex-ante unknown and policy choices are not perfectly observable. On the one hand, elections improve accountability and allow to keep well-performing incumbents. On the other, politicians invest too little in costly policies with future returns in an attempt to signal high ability and increase their reelection probability. Contrary to the conventional wisdom, uncertainty reduces political myopia and may, under some conditions, increase social welfare. We use the model to study how political rewards can be set so as to maximise social welfare and the desirability of imposing a one-term limit to governments. The predictions of our theory are consistent with a number of stylised facts and with a new empirical observation documented in this paper: aggregate uncertainty, measured by economic volatility, is associated to better ...scal discipline in a panel of 20 OECD countries.

Social Determinants of Child Health in Colombia: Can Community Education Moderate the Effect of Family Characteristics?

Contextual effects on child health have been investigated extensively in previous research. However, few studies have considered the interplay between community characteristics and individual-level variables. This study examines the influence of community education and family socioeconomic characteristics on child health (as measured by height and weight-for-age Z-scores), as well as their interactions. We adapted the Commission on Social Determinants of Health (CSDH) framework to the context of child health. Using data from the 2010 Colombian Demographic and Health Survey (DHS), weighted multilevel models are fitted since the data are not self-weighting. The results show a positive impact of the level of education of other women in the community on child health, even after controlling for individual and family socioeconomic characteristics. Different pathways through which community education can substitute for the effect of family characteristics on child nutrition are found. The interaction terms highlight the importance of community education as a moderator of the impact of the mother’s own education and autonomy, on child health. In addition, the results reveal differences between height and weight-for-age indicators in their responsiveness to individual and contextual factors. Our findings suggest that community intervention programmes may have differential effects on child health. Therefore, their identification can contribute to a better targeting of child care policies.

Electoral Platforms, Implemented Policies, and Abstention

Recent studies of American politics evidence that political polarization of both the electorate and the political elite have moved 'almost in tandem for the past half century' (McCarty et al., 2003, p.2), and that party polarization has steadily increased since the 1970s. On the other hand, the empirical literature on party platforms and implemented policies has consistently found an imperfect but nonnegligible correlation between electoral platforms and governmental policies: while platforms tend to be polarized, policies are moderate or centrist. However, existing theoretical models of political competition are not manifestly compatible with these observations. In this paper, we distinguish between electoral platforms and implemented policies by incorporating a non-trivial policy-setting process. It follows that voters may care not only about the implemented policy but also about the platform they support with their vote. We find that while parties tend to polarize their positions, the risk of alienating their constituency prevents them from radicalizing. The analysis evidences that the distribution of the electorate, and not only the (expected) location of a pivotal voter, matters in determining policies. Our results are consistent with the observation of polarized platforms and moderate policies, and the alienation and indifference components of abstention.

La Alfabetización digital mediática y el reto de las TIC en Colombia : diagnóstico y análisis de las principales iniciativas educomunicativas en el escenario 2.0

Històricament la inserció de Colombia a les TIC i al desenvolupament que aquestes comporten va ser lenta. Tot i això, als últims anys s'han desenvolupat projectes de infraestructura i apropiació tecnològica a grans velocitats. En aquest escenari la educomunicació ha avançat de manera formidable i la web colombiana comença a nodrir-se de continguts abundants i de qualitat per a l'educació. Aquest treball examina les principals iniciatives 2.0 per a l'educomunicació i dóna un diagnòstic sobre la seva funcionalitat (progressos i carències). Finalment, dóna una serie de recomanacions per al correcte ús de les eines que ofereix la web 2.0

From severance pay to self-insurance: Effects of severance payments savings accounts in Colombia

In 1990 Colombia replaced its traditional system of severance paymentswith a new system of severance payments savings accounts (SPSAs). Althoughseverance payments often are justified on the grounds that they provideinsurance against earnings loss, they also increase costs for employersand distort employment decisions. The impact of severance payments dependslargely on how much of the costs to employers can be shifted to workers.The theoretical analysis in this paper shows that, in contrast to atraditional system of severance payments, the system of SPSAs facilitatesthe shifting of severance payments costs to workers in the form of lowerwages. Empirical results using the Colombian National Household Surveysindicate that the introduction of SPSAs shifted around 80% of the totalseverance payments contributions to wages and had a positive effect onweekly hours. Results using the 1997 Colombian Living Standards MeasurementSurvey suggest that, although SPSAs in part replaced employer insurancewith self-insurance, SPSAs continue to play a consumption smoothing rolefor the non-employed.

Associationism and electoral participation: A multilevel study of 2000 Spanish general election

This work presents an application of the multilevel analysis techniques tothe study of the abstention in the 2000 Spanish general election. Theinterest of the study is both, substantive and methodological. From thesubstantive point of view the article intends to explain the causes ofabstention and analyze the impact of associationism on it. From themethodological point of view it is intended to analyze the interaction betweenindividual and context with a modelisation that takes into account thehierarchical structure of data. The multilevel study of this paper validatesthe one level results obtained in previous analysis of the abstention andshows that only a fraction of the differences in abstention are explained bythe individual characteristics of the electors. Another important fraction ofthese differences is due to the political and social characteristics of thecontext. Relating to associationism, the data suggest that individualparticipation in associations decrease the probability of abstention. However,better indicators are needed in order to catch more properly the effect ofassociationism in electoral behaviour.