Las reformas de Solón y los límites de la coacción extraeconómica en la Atenas arcaica

El rasgo distintivo de las sociedades precapitaslistas está dado por el hecho de que en ellas las relaciones de explotación se vehiculizan a partir de mecanismos coactivos (extraeconómicos) que aseguran la transferencia de los excedentes desde las clases productoras hacia las dominantes. Tales mecanismos suelen sostenerse por escisiones jurídicas, políticas, religiosas, etc. que delimitan y oponen claramente a los productores de los apropiadores del plusproducto. Teniendo esto en mente, en el presente trabajo se analizan las diferentes formas que adquirieron las relaciones de dependencia rural en Atenas a principios del siglo VI a.C. (hectemorazgo, endeudamiento, esclavización por deudas, etc.) y su evolución a partir las reformas encaradas por Solón. Desde nuestra perspectiva, este abordaje resulta fundamental para entender un aspecto singular de la democracia ateniense del siglo V a.C.: la igualación que se dio -en virtud de la extensión de los derechos de ciudadanía- en el plano jurídico y político entre los productores agrícolas directos y la aristocracia terrateniente y los límites que ello impuso a la posibilidad de desarrollo de relaciones de explotación entre los miembros del cuerpo cívico

La Argentina del Centenario en Mundial magazine de Rubén Darío

En la revista ilustrada Mundial Magazine, dirigida por Rubén Darío se publican varios textos sobre las Repúblicas Hispanoamericanas. Cuando se conmemora el 9 de julio de 1911, con el espíritu del Centenario, el poeta publica la crónica 'República Argentina' con diecisiete fotografías. En este trabajo analizamos la relación entre el texto y las fotos de la clase dirigente argentina de aquellos años

¿Mercosur o Alca? : Clase dominante, gobierno e inserción regional en los inicios del Kirchnerismo

El objetivo de este trabajo es analizar la relación entre gobierno, corporaciones empresarias de la clase dominante y los proyectos MERCOSUR y ALCA en los inicios del gobierno de Kirchner. La hipótesis principal es que los cambios en la inserción regional de Argentina desde 2003 (reconstrucción del MERCOSUR y rechazo al ALCA), tuvieron entre una de sus causas a las acciones de corporaciones como la Unión Industrial Argentina (UIA) y la Sociedad Rural Argentina (SRA). Como afirma Katz (2006) aquella reconfiguración regional, además de estar influenciada por las protestas sociales antineoliberales, también respondió a la demanda de una diferente inserción regional por parte de las clases dominantes locales. Mediante el análisis de la prensa escrita y de documentación de las corporaciones, observaremos los posicionamientos sobre el ALCA y el MERCOUSR, el tipo de intervención del gobierno que reclaman y por qué apoyan o rechazan las negociaciones entre 2003 y 2004, en la reunión de la Ronda Doha de Cancún de la Organización mundial de Comercio (OMC) y en las Minicumbres del ALCA de Miami y Puebla, donde quedaron trabadas las negociaciones del ALCA y se produjo la reorientación del MERCOSUR

Las reformas de Solón y los límites de la coacción extraeconómica en la Atenas arcaica

El rasgo distintivo de las sociedades precapitaslistas está dado por el hecho de que en ellas las relaciones de explotación se vehiculizan a partir de mecanismos coactivos (extraeconómicos) que aseguran la transferencia de los excedentes desde las clases productoras hacia las dominantes. Tales mecanismos suelen sostenerse por escisiones jurídicas, políticas, religiosas, etc. que delimitan y oponen claramente a los productores de los apropiadores del plusproducto. Teniendo esto en mente, en el presente trabajo se analizan las diferentes formas que adquirieron las relaciones de dependencia rural en Atenas a principios del siglo VI a.C. (hectemorazgo, endeudamiento, esclavización por deudas, etc.) y su evolución a partir las reformas encaradas por Solón. Desde nuestra perspectiva, este abordaje resulta fundamental para entender un aspecto singular de la democracia ateniense del siglo V a.C.: la igualación que se dio -en virtud de la extensión de los derechos de ciudadanía- en el plano jurídico y político entre los productores agrícolas directos y la aristocracia terrateniente y los límites que ello impuso a la posibilidad de desarrollo de relaciones de explotación entre los miembros del cuerpo cívico

La Argentina del Centenario en Mundial magazine de Rubén Darío

En la revista ilustrada Mundial Magazine, dirigida por Rubén Darío se publican varios textos sobre las Repúblicas Hispanoamericanas. Cuando se conmemora el 9 de julio de 1911, con el espíritu del Centenario, el poeta publica la crónica 'República Argentina' con diecisiete fotografías. En este trabajo analizamos la relación entre el texto y las fotos de la clase dirigente argentina de aquellos años

¿Mercosur o Alca? : Clase dominante, gobierno e inserción regional en los inicios del Kirchnerismo

El objetivo de este trabajo es analizar la relación entre gobierno, corporaciones empresarias de la clase dominante y los proyectos MERCOSUR y ALCA en los inicios del gobierno de Kirchner. La hipótesis principal es que los cambios en la inserción regional de Argentina desde 2003 (reconstrucción del MERCOSUR y rechazo al ALCA), tuvieron entre una de sus causas a las acciones de corporaciones como la Unión Industrial Argentina (UIA) y la Sociedad Rural Argentina (SRA). Como afirma Katz (2006) aquella reconfiguración regional, además de estar influenciada por las protestas sociales antineoliberales, también respondió a la demanda de una diferente inserción regional por parte de las clases dominantes locales. Mediante el análisis de la prensa escrita y de documentación de las corporaciones, observaremos los posicionamientos sobre el ALCA y el MERCOUSR, el tipo de intervención del gobierno que reclaman y por qué apoyan o rechazan las negociaciones entre 2003 y 2004, en la reunión de la Ronda Doha de Cancún de la Organización mundial de Comercio (OMC) y en las Minicumbres del ALCA de Miami y Puebla, donde quedaron trabadas las negociaciones del ALCA y se produjo la reorientación del MERCOSUR

Las reformas de Solón y los límites de la coacción extraeconómica en la Atenas arcaica

El rasgo distintivo de las sociedades precapitaslistas está dado por el hecho de que en ellas las relaciones de explotación se vehiculizan a partir de mecanismos coactivos (extraeconómicos) que aseguran la transferencia de los excedentes desde las clases productoras hacia las dominantes. Tales mecanismos suelen sostenerse por escisiones jurídicas, políticas, religiosas, etc. que delimitan y oponen claramente a los productores de los apropiadores del plusproducto. Teniendo esto en mente, en el presente trabajo se analizan las diferentes formas que adquirieron las relaciones de dependencia rural en Atenas a principios del siglo VI a.C. (hectemorazgo, endeudamiento, esclavización por deudas, etc.) y su evolución a partir las reformas encaradas por Solón. Desde nuestra perspectiva, este abordaje resulta fundamental para entender un aspecto singular de la democracia ateniense del siglo V a.C.: la igualación que se dio -en virtud de la extensión de los derechos de ciudadanía- en el plano jurídico y político entre los productores agrícolas directos y la aristocracia terrateniente y los límites que ello impuso a la posibilidad de desarrollo de relaciones de explotación entre los miembros del cuerpo cívico

Gazprom's position on the Russian gas market weakening. OSW Commentary No. 70, 2012-02-23

As the difficulties Gazprom has faced in recent years on the European market have multiplied1, so more and more symptoms have appeared which may suggest that the company’s dominant position is deteriorating. The decision made by the Russian government in June 2011 to double the tax Gazprom has to pay on the extraction of gas, which was later approved by parliament, was the first time in many years when the company’s fiscal privileges were withdrawn. The process of Gazprom’s assets being taken over by private companies and business partners from within Vladimir Putin’s closest circle is underway. More and more frequently attempts are being made to challenge the company’s monopoly in areas of key importance for the functioning of the entire gas sector, such as Gazprom’s exclusive right to dispose of the Russian gas transportation system and its exports monopoly. Competition from independent gas producers on the domestic market is growing, and Gazprom is gradually being pushed out of some of that market’s most profitable segments (industrial clients). The emerging tendencies in the Russian gas sector derive from a number of factors – from the situation on the European gas market, through difficulties hampering the development of the sector in Russia itself, to the private interests of the current ruling class and its business partners. The plans for a structural reform of the monopoly (including isolating gas transportation system from Gazprom), presented since 2000 by the Ministry for Economic Development and since 2003 by the Russian Association of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP), suggest a direction for the changes necessary to stimulate the sector’s development and improve the efficiency of Gazprom itself. However, the monopolist’s current business model gives the government full control over this strategic enterprise, which is a core of Putin’s concept for developing Russia as a global energy power. Despite Putin’s recent statement that he “does not rule out privatising Gazprom in the future” (made at a meeting with political scientists in Moscow on 6 February this year), any structural reform of Gazprom (and consequently, a weakening of the state’s control over it) seems unlikely in the foreseeable future. Still, the developments on the domestic market – growing pressure from other gas companies (oil corporations and independent producers) and changes on the European market2 – may result in the weakening of Gazprom’s monopoly privileges and a gradual deterioration of its special status within Russia.

Changes in the political elite, economy and society of Belarus: Appearances and reality. OSW Study 30/2008

In late 2006 and early 2007, relations between Russia and Belarus were hit by the most serious crisis in many years. In a setting of heightened tension, the Belarusian authorities decided to gradually modify their economic policy and thoroughly restructure the ruling class. The new situation created new, much more difficult challenges for the Belarusian opposition. The processes initiated by the authorities were not intended to bring about either the democratisation of public and political life or full economic liberalisation; their only purpose was to enable the regime to tackle new challenges and survive in the changing international context. Nevertheless, modernisation has been initiated in Belarus' authoritarian system of power, which until now was considered to be completely incapable of reform. This puts the country's main political and economic partners, including the European Union, in a new situation.

Turkey: has the AKP ended its winning streak? OSW Commentary No. 117, 2013-10-07

Since the conservative Justice and Development Party (AKP) took power in Turkey in 2002, it has enjoyed a constant winning streak: it won each election (with a support level of 49.83% in 2011), subordinated the army (which had de facto stood above the civilian government) and was reforming the country. The situation in the country was stable (especially when compared to the crises and restlessness in the 1990s), the economy was booming, Turkey’s position in regional politics was strengthening, and Ankara’s significance on the international arena was growing. This encouraged the ruling class to make long-term plans, leading up to the hundredth anniversary of the republic in 2023. In the coming decade, Turkey governed by the AKP was to become one of the global economic and political centres, a full member of the EU and at the same time a political and economic leader in the Middle East. However, the negative trends in the situation both domestically (mass public protests, the deadlocked Kurdish issue and the unsuccessful attempt to amend the constitution) and abroad (the war in Syria and the coup in Egypt) seen over the past few months have laid bare the limitations of the AKP’s rule and have affected the government’s democratic mandate, prestige and credibility on the international arena, as well as peace and order and domestic security. When compared to the beginning of 2013, the way the situation will develop in Turkey is at this moment definitely less predictable; and the possible scenarios include both relative peace (however, with socio-political tension present in the background) and the threat of destabilisation. Therefore, although the AKP will still remain the sole major political force, this party will have to face challenges which will decide not only its political future but also the directions the country will be developing in. However, a comprehensive solution of the accumulated problems and a simple return to the status quo ante, convenient to the government, seem unlikely in the foreseeable future.

Hyphenated cultures: Ethnicity and nation in Trinidad

This dissertation attempts to unravel why and how postcolonial Trinidad has displayed relative stability in spite of the presence of the factors that have produced conflict and instability in other postcolonial societies.^ Trinidad's distinctive social formation began in the colonial period with a unique politics of culture among the landowning European groups, Anglican English and French Creole. Contrary to the materialist assumption of landowners' class solidarity, the development of Trinidad's plantation economy into two crops, each controlled by a separate European ethno-religious faction, impeded the integration and subsequent ideological domination of European-Christians. Throughout the nineteenth century neither group dominated the other, nor did they fuse into a single ruling class. The dynamics between them both generated recurring conflict while simultaneously creating mechanisms that limited conflict. ^ Based on original in-depth fieldwork and historical analysis, the dissertation proceeds to demonstrate that Trinidad's unique intra-class conflict within the dominant European population has produced hyphenated, as opposed to hybridized cultural elements. Supplementing the historical analysis with empirical examinations of contemporary inter-religious rituals and post-colonial politics this dissertation argues that social integration is inseparable from the question of inter-cultural mixture or articulation. In Trinidad, however, the resulting combination of distinct cultural elements is neither a "plural society" (M.G. Smith 1965; Despres 1967) nor an integrated totality in the structural-functionalistic sense (R.T. Smith 1962; Braithwaite 1967). Moreover, Trinidad does not conform to the post-structural framework's depiction of the social linkage between power and culture. The concept of cultural hybridization is equally misleading in the case of Trinidad. The underlying assumption of a monolithic European population's cultural hegemony and post-structural analysis's almost exclusive focus on the inter -class politics of culture seriously misrepresent and misunderstand Trinidadian cultural and its associated social and political relations. The dissertation examines this reflexive influence of culture not as an instrument of the powerful few but as an autonomous force that reproduces social divisions, yet restrains conflict.^

"Sub Tiberio quies"? Judaea’s Political Situation under the Prefects (6-41 c.e.), between Reality and Ideology

Deeply conflicting views on the political situation of Judaea under the Roman prefects (6-41 c.e.) have been offered. According to some scholars, this was a period of persistent political unrest and agitation, whilst according to a widespread view it was a quiescent period of political calm (reflected in Tacitus’ phrase sub Tiberio quies). The present article critically examines again the main available sources –particularly Josephus, the canonical Gospels and Tacitus– in order to offer a more reliable historical reconstruction. The conclusions drawn by this survey calls into question some widespread and insufficiently nuanced views on the period. This, in turn, allows a reflection on the non-epistemic factors which might contribute to explain the origin of such views.

The Hyderabad Political System and Its Participants

W HILE Hyderabad State developed from the Mughal subah, or province, of the Deccan, it did not represent a mere continuation of the Mughal provincial administration. By the end of the eighteenth century, Hyderabad represented a new political system, with a whole new set of participants. This article investigates the development of this political system and the constitution of its ruling class.

The modified Hodge test is a useful tool for ruling out klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemase

OBJECTIVE: Enterobacteriaceae bacteria harboring Klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemase are a serious worldwide threat. The molecular identification of these pathogens is not routine in Brazilian hospitals, and a rapid phenotypic screening test is desirable. This study aims to evaluate the modified Hodge test as a phenotypic screening test for Klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemase. METHOD: From April 2009 to July 2011, all Enterobacteriaceae bacteria that were not susceptible to ertapenem according to Vitek2 analysis were analyzed with the modified Hodge test. All positive isolates and a random subset of negative isolates were also assayed for the presence of blaKPC. Isolates that were positive in modified Hodge tests were sub-classified as true-positives (E. coli touched the ertapenem disk) or inconclusive (distortion of the inhibition zone of E. coli, but growth did not reach the ertapenem disk). Negative results were defined as samples with no distortion of the inhibition zone around the ertapenem disk. RESULTS: Among the 1521 isolates of Enterobacteriaceae bacteria that were not susceptible to ertapenem, 30% were positive for blaKPC, and 35% were positive according to the modified Hodge test (81% specificity). Under the proposed sub-classification, true positives showed a 98% agreement with the blaKPC results. The negative predictive value of the modified Hodge test for detection was 100%. KPC producers showed high antimicrobial resistance rates, but 90% and 77% of these isolates were susceptible to aminoglycoside and tigecycline, respectively. CONCLUSION: Standardizing the modified Hodge test interpretation may improve the specificity of KPC detection. In this study, negative test results ruled out 100% of the isolates harboring Klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemase-2. The test may therefore be regarded as a good epidemiological tool.

The Digital Economy Act in the dock: a proportionate ruling

The UK’s Digital Economy Act 2010 contains measures to enforce copyright on the Internet, specifically a two-tiered form of a graduated response.The Act was challenged in the High Court by two of the UK’s biggest Internet Service Providers (ISP), who obtained a Judicial Review of the copyright enforce- ment provisions. This paper is an overview of the case, based on the hearing of March 2011 and the ensuing judgement. It focuses on the two most hotly contested grounds for the challenge, namely an al- leged failure to notify the European Commission under the Technical Standards Directive, and the pro- portionality or otherwise of the contested provisions. It observes how the judgement accepted the defence argumentation of the government and the copyright owners as interested parties, and how the ISPs appeared to be put on the back foot.