Localismo y miradas urbanas: las monograf��as locales en el Ecuador del siglo XX (Estudios)

La construcci��n del Estado nacional involucr�� la conformaci��n de las localidades y la difusi��n de los idearios y s��mbolos nacionales. Las monograf��as locales transmitieron estos s��mbolos con el prop��sito de vincular las patrias chicas a la naci��n. Las miradas urbanas locales se convirtieron, a menudo, en im��genes del progreso y retratos de las ��lites locales. El per��odo de mayor producci��n de estas monograf��as -1920 y 1960- coincide con el auge de la prensa regional. Esto revela la relativa eficacia con que se propagaron los s��mbolos patrios durante el per��odo de profundizaci��n de la divisi��n pol��tico-administrativa y la constituci��n de los poderes locales en el Ecuador.

Los ���enganchados���. La formaci��n de grupos armados en la Costa del Ecuador a inicios del siglo XIX (Estudios)

Basado en fuentes primarias (epistolarios), el art��culo ofrece una aproximaci��n al proceso de formaci��n de grupos armados irregulares, en la provincia de Manab��, a inicios del siglo XIX, como consecuencia de la disputa por el poder y el control del monopolio de la violencia, en el marco de construcci��n del nuevo r��gimen republicano. En esta regi��n perif��rica del Estado central, la sociedad se torna violenta cuando es presionada tanto por el poder estatal, como por los caudillos locales que pretenden formar parte de las estructuras de poder local por medio del reclutamiento forzoso para engrosar las filas de milicias y grupos armados.

Nuevos enfoques te��ricos en torno a las guerras de independencia (Estudios)

El art��culo aborda los procesos de independencia en la Am��rica espa��ola, por medio de una evaluaci��n de las interpretaciones historiogr��ficas m��s recientes sobre el tema. El trabajo considera estos procesos como parte de un desarrollo m��s amplio de cambio global, que sustituy�� la legitimidad din��stico-religiosa por la legitimidad nacional.

La UNASUR y su accionar frente a conflictos internacionales (Tema Central)

Este art��culo se centra en el papel de UNASUR frente a las diversas crisis nacionales e internacionales que ha vivido Suram��rica desde 2008. Igualmente, analiza su accionar en dos casos concretos: Ecuador en 2010 y Paraguay en 2012, que son ejemplos extremos de la vulnerabilidad institucional prevaleciente en la regi��n. Se evidencia, adem��s, que el proceso de resoluci��n de conflictos es un tema fr��gil en la agenda pol��tica e institucional de UNASUR que se vincula, sobre todo, con la defensa de la democracia y el mantenimiento de la paz, factores importantes para los Estados.

Conspicuous redemption? Reflections on the promises and perils of the 'celebritization' of climate change

With rising public awareness of climate change, celebrities have become an increasingly important community of non nation-state ���actors��� influencing discourse and action, thereby comprising an emergent climate science���policy���celebrity complex. Some feel that these amplified and prominent voices contribute to greater public understanding of climate change science, as well as potentially catalyze climate policy cooperation. However, critics posit that increased involvement from the entertainment industry has not served to influence substantive long-term advancements in these arenas; rather, it has instead reduced the politics of climate change to the domain of fashion and fad, devoid of political and public saliency. Through tracking media coverage in Australia, Canada, the United States, and United Kingdom, we map out the terrain of a ���Politicized Celebrity System��� in attempts to cut through dualistic characterizations of celebrity involvement in politics. We develop a classification system of the various types of climate change celebrity activities, and situate movements in contemporary consumer- and spectacle-driven carbon-based society. Through these analyses, we place dynamic and contested interactions in a spatially and temporally-sensitive ���Cultural Circuits of Climate Change Celebrities��� model. In so doing, first we explore how these newly ���authorized��� speakers and ���experts��� might open up spaces in the public sphere and the science/policy nexus through ���celebritization��� effects. Second, we examine how the celebrity as the ���heroic individual��� seeking ���conspicuous redemption��� may focus climate change actions through individualist frames. Overall, this paper explores potential promises, pitfalls and contradictions of this increasingly entrenched set of ���agents��� in the cultural politics of climate change. Thus, as a form of climate change action, we consider whether it is more effective to ���plant��� celebrities instead of trees.

The politics of the environment: a survey

The book is a collection of cutting edge essay on the politics of the environment covering and analysing important topics, such as the Kyoto protocol and deforestation, this book provides extensive coverage of all aspects of environmental politics. This unbiased survey is of interest to students, academics, business people and general researchers. Four sections present a thorough overview of current issues in the politics of the environment in historical perspective. The first section consists of essays written by a variety of academic and other experts on topics including Globalization: The Environment and Development Debate; The State, International Relations and the Environment; Environmental Movements; Mass Media and Environmental Politics; and The Ethical Dimensions of Global Environmental Change

Intersections and differentiations: a corpus-assisted discourse study of gender representations in the British press before, during and after the London Olympics 2012

This study examines the impact of a global sports event on gender representations in media reporting. Whereas previous research on gender, sport and media has been mainly concerned with sports events in the North American or Australian context, this study investigates the British media reporting before, during and after the London Olympics 2012. Our study follows the approach of Corpus-Assisted Discourse Studies (CADS) and uses both quantitative and qualitative research procedures. The results reveal more balanced gender representations during the London Olympics in that the ���regular��� biased associations were supressed in favour of positive references to female achievements. However, little carry-though of the ���gains��� was noted. Also, this study shows that the positive associations intersected with national sentiments and were used to celebrate the nation-state. At the same time, some subtle resistance was observed to accepting as ���truly��� British the non-white athletes and those not born in Britain.

War and culture studies in 2016. Putting 'translation' into the transnational?

The first issue of the 'Journal of War and Culture Studies' in 2008 mapped out the academic space which the discipline sought to occupy. Nearly a decade later, the location of war, traditionally within the nation-state, is being challenged in ways which arguably affect the analytical spaces of War and Culture Studies. The article argues for an overt engagement with a reconceptualization of the location of war as broader in both spatial and temporal terms than the nation-state. Within this framing, it identifies local 'contact zones' which are multi-vocal translational spaces, and calls for an incorporation of 'translation' into our analyses of war: translating identities, including associations of the material as well as of subjective identities, and espousing a conscious interdisciplinarity which might lead us to focus more on the performative than the representational. Putting 'translation' into the 'transnational' marks the spaces of War and culture studies as multilingual, making accessible the cultural products and cultural analyses of a much broader range of sources and reflections. The article calls for the discipline of Translation Studies to become a leading contributor to War and Culture Studies in the years to come.

Europeisk familjelycka : Om anv��ndandet av familjemetaforen i EU

The re-unification of a family of nations: usages of the family metaphor in the EU This article analyses usages of the family metaphor in the EU. It starts up with a scrutiny of feminist theories of the nation-as-family metaphor. Introducing the concept of domopolitics, the author infers that the family, on the one hand, connotes to feelings of security and homelyness and, on the other hand, fears of the well-known, of immanent threats to in-group cohesion. The significance of the family metaphor in the EU rhetoric connects to a renewed emphasis on distinct values, principles and norms that balance the otherwise technocratic image of the EU. He further applies the nation-as-family metaphor to contemporary EU rhetoric. In the analysis, he infers that all three dimensions of the metaphor (ethnic, civil and hierarchic) are manifest in the EU political language making its use an enterprise that strives at moving beyond, but not completely away from the nation-state paradigm.