Political economy of Caribbean drug trafficking: The case of the Dominican Republic

The purpose of this dissertation was to examine the relationship between narcotics trafficking and the processes of economic liberalization and democratization in the Caribbean. The salient social, political and economic processes were explored at each juncture of the drug trafficking chain to determine why certain groups and locales became integrated in the global narcotics economy. It also considered the national security implications of the global narcotics economy. ^ The Global Commodity Chain framework allowed the study to examine the social, political and economic processes that determine how a commodity is produced, transported, distributed and consumed in the global economy. A case study method was used to specify the commodity (cocaine) and locations (U.S. and Dominican Republic) where these processes were examined. ^ The important contributing factors in the study included: a liberalizing global economy, the social processes of migration, the formation of enclaves in the U.S., the opening of the political process and institutional weakness in the country of origin. All of these factors contributed to the Dominican Republic and Dominican migrants becoming key players in the cocaine commodity chain. It concluded that narcotics trafficking as a national security issue remains a fluid concept, contingent on specific cultural and historic antecedents. ^

Building democratic institutions in Mexico

The purpose of this study is to explore the process of building democratic institutions in Mexico, to examine how political parties shape the process of democratization, and how this process determines the degree of party system institutionalization.^ The appearance of competitive politics brought new challenges and opportunities to parties in Mexico. The aim was to identify how the broader political and economic environment has challenged Mexico's political party system, and specifically the transformation of Mexico's political party system.^ This research illustrates the logic of the deductive model, beginning with general, theoretical expectations about democratization and the economic reform. The empirical data were analyzed to determine whether the deductive expectations were supported by empirical reality. This study offers a comprehensive analysis that conciliates the 'political opening' that has produced favorable conditions for democratization and social integration, and the 'economic opening' that has counteracted since it generated social exclusionary processes. ^

Generational change among women in rural Valencia

The demise of Generalissimo Francisco Franco in 1975 and the subsequent democratization of Spain and its inclusion in the European Community have profoundly altered the patriarchal traditions of Spanish society. This study focused on the changes that women in Moixent, a rural village in Valencia, Spain, have experienced as a result of this liberalization of government policies, modernization, and economic development. ^ The purpose of this research was to illuminate the changing lives of two generations of women and their families in rural Valencia. The qualitative research techniques of participant observation, in-depth interviewing, and narrative analysis were used to present the different frames of reference of the two generations. Young working women in this rural community have come to rely on the help and support of their mothers in their attempts to work outside the home and improve their standard of living. As they enter Spain's modernizing economy their consumption patterns increasingly mimic those promoted by the global media, and especially television. As these young women take jobs outside the home they are having fewer children and dramatically altering the nation's demographic profile. ^ The older generation of women, who lived through decades of deprivation during the Spanish Civil War and Franco's long regime, support their daughters' new independence by assuming the arduous tasks of providing informal day care for their grandchildren and performing a variety of unpaid services for their daughters, including shopping, cooking, and housecleaning. This older generation of grandmothers is assuming a more difficult and demanding workload in what otherwise would be their retirement years. Hence they are the true enablers of their daughters' economic progress and modern patterns of consumption. ^ Other influences from the outside world have altered family farming practices. The participation of women in the harvests has declined, and most harvesting is now done by migrant foreign workers. As young women enter the workforce grandmothers strive to impart traditional values to their grandchildren, in the face of a rapidly changing world. ^

Colombian society in the 1990s: Fragmentation, legitimacy, and efficiency

During the nineties, Colombia experienced a two-fold process of restructuring. First, the political system underwent a process of constitutional reform in order to strengthen the state and increase its legitimacy, surpass the exclusionary character of the political regime, and achieve greater equity in the distribution of social resources. Second, the economy made the transition from a Keynesian development strategy to a strategy of “opening” or liberalization and internationalization of the economy, in order to increase the economic efficiency by reducing the “size” of the state and its regulatory role. The purpose of this dissertation is to analyze the interplay and contradictions of economic and political factors in the restructuring of the Colombian politico-economic system. ^ The main finding of this dissertation is that the simultaneous adoption of a neoliberal economic strategy and of the Political Constitution of 1991, have had a contradictory relationship: while the “political opening” has produced favorable conditions for fostering programs of democratization and social integration, the “economic opening” has counteracted that possibility given that it implies a social exclusionary process. This tension has aggravated the problems of political and social integration that have traditionally characterized Colombian society. ^ This crucial tension has also been characteristic of Latin America in the nineties. However, it has been neglected and undertheorized in most of the democratization studies of American comparative politics. Most of them lack consideration of structural aspects. According to those studies, the cause of regime change is determined by the strategic elections of actors. Contrary to these approaches, I develop a structural perspective. I consider that social phenomena are partly determined by structural factors, and scientific research should assign them decisive importance, since a fundamental basis for social action and transformation is to be found in the dynamics of relationships between individuals and structures and the development of contradictions within structures. ^

Liberalization without decentralization: Haiti under Namphy and Delatour, 1986–1987

Following Haitian President Jean-Claude Duvalier's flight into exile in February 1986, the President of Haiti's provisional Conseil National de Gouvernement (CNG), Lieutenant General Henri Namphy, and his Minister of Finance, Leslie Delatour, enacted liberal reforms. This study examined their initial doctrine, decrees, and institutions for democratization and free markets, within a historical context of over-centralization and exclusion. Its purpose was to explore the contradiction and consequences of pursuing liberalization by decree, without significant decentralization. The author extracted CNG doctrine from speeches, legislation, and economic records. He then juxtaposed it with the adverse results of market reforms and popular reactions gathered from nine Haitian newspapers and two archival collections. He found that CNG doctrine and institutions were inadequate for resolving exclusion and popular discontent. Rather the deficiency of market reforms and the insufficiency of representative institutions exacerbated exclusion, which the author identified as the source of confrontation and violence in 1987.

Democratic purgatory: The failure of democracy in Venezuela

This research provides an understanding of the conditions that presage the failure of consolidated democratic political regimes through constitutional processes. In seeking to answer the question of how democracy might fail through democratic means, this study has revealed a gap in the literature on democratization. Venezuela was selected as a heuristic case study to explain this phenomenon. Heuristic case studies place less emphasis on the more configurative or descriptive elements of the case itself, and instead see the case as a point of departure for the formulations of theoretical propositions. While in-case hypotheses are possible, heuristic case studies make it an explicit research plan to tease out mechanisms that exist in a particular case study that might survive in other situations. ^ This study demonstrates that the elements in society that act as direct participants in the establishment of a democratic political system are able to maintain their position in the new order largely through an expansion of their ability to meet popular demands through clientelistic arrangements. While these corporatist groups may serve to facilitate social mobilization during the establishment of democratic regimes, they do so only in so far as they can maintain social control of in-group membership without fully providing for representative democracy. Once these democratic institutions are consolidated as key parts of the democratic structure, these corporatist arrangements provide for a type of unstable democratic purgatory: democracy is not fully representative, yet it is not completely unresponsive to the demands of the electorate. ^ The condition of democratic purgatory produces a paradox whereby democracy can be undemocratic under certain conditions. The stability of these regimes allows for democratic consolidation, despite the undemocratic basis of legitimacy. While these regimes can undergo consolidation, ultimately, this condition is unstable: either these regimes must establish an endogenous basis of political legitimacy (one that is not simply a function of the corporatist/clientelistic political structure), or the democracy will suffer a qualitative decline that may result in a democratic breakdown. Furthermore, this study finds that the viability of any type of democratic regime rests upon its adaptability to ensure adequate representativeness. ^

The absence of race in democratic politics: The case of the Dominican Republic

This dissertation explores the relationship between race and democratization. Through the examination of the case of the Dominican Republic, this study challenges mainstream explanations of democratic transitions. At its core, this dissertation aims at calling attention to the absence of race and ethnic allegiances as explanatory variables of the democratic processes and debates in the region. By focusing on structural variables, the analysis shies away from elite and actor-centered explanations that fall short in predicting the developments and outcomes of transitions. The central research questions of this study are: Why is there an absence of the treatment of race and ethnic allegiances during the democratic transitions in Latin America and the Caribbean? How has the absence of ethnic identities affected the nature and depth of democratic transitions? Unlike previous explanations of democratic transitions, this dissertation argues that the absence of race in democratic transitions has been a deliberate attempt to perpetuate limited citizenship by political and economic elites. Findings reveal a difficulty to overcome nationalist discourses where limited citizenship has affected the quality of democracy. Original field research data for the study has been gathered through semi-structured interviews and focus groups conducted from October 2008 to December 2009 in the Dominican Republic.

Rethinking the national question: Anti-statist discourses within the Kurdish national movement

Why and under what conditions have the Kurds become agents of change in the Middle East in terms of democratization? Why did the Kurds' role as democratic agents become particularly visible in the 1990s? How does the Kurdish movement's turn to democratic discourse affect the political systems of Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria? What are the implications of the Kurds' adoption of "democratic discourse" for the transnational aspect of the Kurdish movement? Since the early 1990s, Kurdish national movements in Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria have undergone important political and ideological transformations. As a result of the Kurds' growing role in shaping the debates on human rights and democratization in these four countries, the Kurdish national movement has acquired a dual character: an ethno-cultural struggle for the recognition of Kurdish identity, and a democratization movement that seeks to redefine the concepts of governance and citizenship in Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria. The process transformation has affected relations between the Kurdish movements and their respective central governments in significant ways. On the basis of face-to-face interviews and archival research conducted in Turkey, Iraq and parts of Europe, the present work challenges the current narrative of Kurdish nationalism, which is predominantly drawn from a statist interpretation of Kurdish nationalist goals, and argues instead that the Kurdish question is no longer a problem of statelessness but a problem of democracy in Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria. The main contributions of this work are three fold. First, the research unfolds the reasons behind the growing emphasis of the Kurdish movement on the concepts of democracy, human rights, and political participation, which started in the early 1990s. Second, the findings challenge the existing scholarship that explains Kurdish nationalism as a problem of statelessness and shifts the focus to the transformative potentials of the Kurdish national movement in Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria through a comparative lens. Third, this work explores the complex transnational coordination and negotiations between the Kurdish movements across borders and explains the regional repercussions of this process.

The Absence of Race in Democratic Politics: The Case of the Dominican Republic

This dissertation explores the relationship between race and democratization. Through the examination of the case of the Dominican Republic, this study challenges mainstream explanations of democratic transitions. At its core, this dissertation aims at calling attention to the absence of race and ethnic allegiances as explanatory variables of the democratic processes and debates in the region. By focusing on structural variables, the analysis shies away from elite and actor-centered explanations that fall short in predicting the developments and outcomes of transitions. The central research questions of this study are: Why is there an absence of the treatment of race and ethnic allegiances during the democratic transitions in Latin America and the Caribbean? How has the absence of ethnic identities affected the nature and depth of democratic transitions? Unlike previous explanations of democratic transitions, this dissertation argues that the absence of race in democratic transitions has been a deliberate attempt to perpetuate limited citizenship by political and economic elites. Findings reveal a difficulty to overcome nationalist discourses where limited citizenship has affected the quality of democracy. Original field research data for the study has been gathered through semi-structured interviews and focus groups conducted from October 2008 to December 2009 in the Dominican Republic.

The Central European initiative : an approach to regional stabilization and democratic consolidation

This thesis examines how multilateral institutions can contribute to democratization and regional stability. It is a case study of the Central European Initiative (CEI), a regional intergovernmental organization founded by Italy and Austria in 1989 to undertake a regional integration process, and of its role in stabilizing post-communist democracies. Documents were collected at the CEI offices in Trieste, Italy, and interviews conducted with CEI officers, and data obtained from the websites of related organizations and of CEI member countries. The thesis probes the relevance of concepts derived from theories of international regimes and social constructivism. It shows that the CEI diffuses norms and institutional rules conducive to consolidating democracies, including the development of a free civil society, a relatively autonomous political society, rule of law, state bureaucracies that are usable by the new democratic governments, and functioning free market economies, addition, and fosters habits of dialogue, socializes participants, and supports the creation of supra-national identities.

Humanização do direito e da justiça: reconhecimento e efetividade dos direitos da criança e do adolescente

The crisis of the model of technical and formal rationality is discussed in light of a paradigmatic change of the Law that arises in the context of recent transformations of capitalism worldwide, proposing a humanization of Law and Justice with a new ethical-political foundation that promotes a reconciliation between the rules that governs the social order and the world of life, a process of society’s emancipation. As empirical cut it is taken the Right of Children and Youth and, in a practical perspective, the recognition and effectiveness of the Rights of Children and Adolescents in Brazil. It is proposed to analyze the process of democratization and legitimacy of the children and youth rights from the study and apprehension of knowledge that advocate a multidisciplinary view of knowledge and a dialogic praxis for construction of a thought able to contribute to the analysis of public policies and to develop strategies that allow a real change on the social thinking about the doctrine of integral protection of children and adolescents. The proposed methodological approach was developed from a dialectical view of science and as a research strategy for data collection of symbolic cartography or cartographic sociology of law and justice. It is shown that in the process of humanization of the Law and Justice there is a gap between the rights and the democratic participation of these rights.

O programa de aquisição de alimentos (PAA) e as transformações socioterritoriais no Rio Grande do Norte

The Acquisition Food Program (Programa de Aquisição de Alimentos – PAA) is one of the governmental public politics proposed, in the year of 2003, that has the focus in the family-run farm in Brazil. This Program has as objectives: commercialize the familyrun farm products, bought by the government agencies; to encourage production, and promoting actions that improve quality food of people facing starving risk. This Program has been working, to some extent, as complement to the Program of family-run farm Enhancement (PRONAF). The present study has as its focus to analyse the social territorials changes observed in the state of Rio Grande do Norte, as a result of the PAA implementation. In this sense, it was promoted a discussion between territory and rules. I this work, public politics are understood as rules. This procedure was important in order to understand how the rules have influenced territorial changes, creating new social and territorial relations. In the research process was used scientific and institutional texts on the subject. It was applied a quiz with 97 PAA’s supplying farmers, and interviews were done with the Program managers in Federal (MDA), State (CONAB and EMATER) and municipal (local office of EMATER and Departments of Agriculture) levels. Social public politics were also analyzed with the aim of understand the context where PAA is situated in relation with the public politics directed to familyrun farm as a whole since 1980, within new Brazilian democratization process. With the information collected in the field, plus the secondary data, maps, charts, tables and cartograms were made. With all of this, a socio-economical profile of the family-run farm in the Rio Grande do Norte was traced, as well as the included in this research. Before this picture, we concluded that PAA indeed represents a forward in public politics directed to family-run farm. However, in spite of the importance of the Program for the family-run farmers to come of age, but in order to the rural and family-run farm reality in the Rio Grande do Norte come to present meaningful changes much still remain to be done.

A OAB no processo de transformação da sociedade brasileira: a seccional potiguar como espaço de redemocratização (1979-1988)

The period known as the Military Dictatorship (1964-1985) was a period of history marked by Brazil's control of state power by the Armed Forces together, this started with the Civil-Military Coup of April 1964. Was characterized as a time where political freedoms of expression and were placed in check by authoritarian and repressive measures taken by the military governments. The sectional potiguar of the Ordem dos Advogados do Brasil (OAB / RN), and the Federal Council of the institution, supported the establishment of this scam, but from the 1970s undertook measures that sought to corroborate the struggles around democracy the country, which has consolidated its image as a defender of democratic order. With the title inspired by the XII Meeting of OAB in October 1988, the research aims to analyze the participation of OAB / RN and its members within the Brazilian democratization. This analysis begins in 1979 with the participation of the entity in discussions Amnesty Policy to the promulgation of the 1988 Constitution, since the Constitution is the beginning of a full rule of law. We seek to understand the object as a space for democratization, combining the concepts of History, Memory and Politics. In the analyzes are guided theoretically by Jacques Le Goff, Pierre Nora, Maurice Halbwachs, Pierre Bourdieu and Hannah Arendt. Be rebuilt the period of democratic rule in the land potiguares birthing shares of OAB / RN, particularly in the following events: Amnesty Policy 1979, the mobilizations around the campaign of "Direct Now" and the 1988 Constitution We make use of legislation. minutes, papers and interviews built on Oral History.

A educação popular para todos de uma cidade educadora (Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, 1957-1964)

This work has as a research subject of popular education policies of the city of Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, in the years 1957 to 1964. It aims to identify and analyze popular education policies developed and implemented by the Municipality of Natal in these years. To get the historical data, we establish as a guiding reserch question the following: Which elaborated educational policies were implemented by the Municipality of Natal in the years 1957-1964? and took over as the method Evidential Paradigm as proposition in Pinheiro (2009). This is anchored in documentary sources of Educational Legislation at National, State and Municipal levels as well as in the newspapers Folha de Tarde and Jornal de Natal; in existing documents from the archives of the Historical and Geographical Institute of Rio Grande do Norte (IHGRN), the Municipal Public Archives of Natal; iconographic sources; interviews and academic publications. In addition to these sources, we were inspired by the works of Aristotles (2011), Hobbes (2009), Freire (2011), Góes (1980), Germano (1989), Cortez (2005) and Galvão (2004). This research allowed us to understand that policies of popular education of Natal (RN) were based on a democratic educational practice, supported on three pillars, namely: participation and involvement of Natal population; construction and reconstruction of teaching practices in prioritizing their action programs to mass literacy and the training of lay teachers; and the democratization of culture. This historical process made Natal on educating city.

Aprender e ensinar na escola inclusiva: desafios na construção da identidade de pedagogos

The democratization of Brazilian education and discussion about the educational rights of persons with disabilities in refer to reflection on the conceptions of teaching and learning and the folding of these concepts in practice and in the formation of professional identity of the teacher educator. Thus, the proposed research in this dissertation aimed to describe educational processes developed by educators in classrooms in which they are enrolled students with disabilities a view to considering how these processes affect the construction of their professional identity of the pedagogue. As the methodology used to research is classified as Case Study. This methodological approach enables the analysis of singularities of educational contexts. In this work, the case investigated consisted of the analytical study of the pedagogical practices developed in classrooms where there are students with disabilities and their relation to the establishment of the professional identity of the teacher in a school linked to a non-governmental organization supporting people with disabilities in the city of Natal / RN. The Data were collected through the use of the following instruments: exploratory questionnaires, observation and respective registration in the field diary of research and interviews with educators in different professional cycles proposed by Huberman. The data reveal didactic and pedagogical aspects common in educational processes in the observed classes and differences concerning the specifics of pedagogues in the teaching profession in different moments of their professional careers. The analysis of the conceptions tell us the nuances of meanings constructed on teaching and learning and its interface with the reflection on teaching practice. As to the meaning assigned to be pedagogue research highlights the professional identification related to the meanings of teaching and learning in school. The experiences in the teaching profession according to the survey data point to changes in teachers conceptions about teaching and learning disabled people in the perspective of inclusion. Therefore, the study concludes that the pedagogical practices with students with disabilities the different experiences add up and can transform conceptions of teachers about teaching and learning interfering with constant reflection on practices and the construction of professional identities of pedagogues.