Democracia, deuda, ajuste y pobreza : El caso del Plan Austral

El presente trabajo se refiere a algunos de los efectos socioeconómicos de las presiones exteriores que condicionaron el retorno a la democracia, en Argentina, durante la década del 80, como consecuencia de la necesidad de renegociar los pagos de la deuda externa. En efecto, al asumir Alfonsín, los bancos acreedores se negaron a negociar si las autoridades nacionales, antes no aceptaban implementar una política de ajuste recomendada por el FMI. Este organismo multilateral reclamaba la reducción del déficit, la generación de un saldo favorable en la balanza comercial de US $ 3.500 millones y la transferencia al exterior del 6del PBI en concepto de intereses de la deuda. Por entonces, se pretendió disminuir eldéficit mediante la contracción de las inversiones públicas en un 21y el aumento de la recaudación en un 13,5. Al influir la mayor presión tributaria en la disminución del consumo, se procuró compensar el mismo con una política de promoción de exportaciones. La aplicación del plan de ajuste acordado con el FMI acentuó la recesión, debido al deprimido comportamiento de la demanda, provocando por la caída del salario real y la suba de las tasas de interés. . La ponencia circunscribe el planteo de problema a los años 1984 y 1985, procurando reseñar el tema en cuestión, sobre todo, durante el 85, con el propósito de lograr una mayor comprensión en cuanto a las circunstancias en las que se inició la implementación del Plan Austral: sus fuentes, expectativas y limitaciones. La dependencia con respecto a las decisiones del FMI y la posición de éste con respecto al Grupo de los 24. También la relación entre inversión social, recursos fiscales e inflación

Democracia, deuda, ajuste y pobreza : El caso del Plan Austral

El presente trabajo se refiere a algunos de los efectos socioeconómicos de las presiones exteriores que condicionaron el retorno a la democracia, en Argentina, durante la década del 80, como consecuencia de la necesidad de renegociar los pagos de la deuda externa. En efecto, al asumir Alfonsín, los bancos acreedores se negaron a negociar si las autoridades nacionales, antes no aceptaban implementar una política de ajuste recomendada por el FMI. Este organismo multilateral reclamaba la reducción del déficit, la generación de un saldo favorable en la balanza comercial de US $ 3.500 millones y la transferencia al exterior del 6del PBI en concepto de intereses de la deuda. Por entonces, se pretendió disminuir eldéficit mediante la contracción de las inversiones públicas en un 21y el aumento de la recaudación en un 13,5. Al influir la mayor presión tributaria en la disminución del consumo, se procuró compensar el mismo con una política de promoción de exportaciones. La aplicación del plan de ajuste acordado con el FMI acentuó la recesión, debido al deprimido comportamiento de la demanda, provocando por la caída del salario real y la suba de las tasas de interés. . La ponencia circunscribe el planteo de problema a los años 1984 y 1985, procurando reseñar el tema en cuestión, sobre todo, durante el 85, con el propósito de lograr una mayor comprensión en cuanto a las circunstancias en las que se inició la implementación del Plan Austral: sus fuentes, expectativas y limitaciones. La dependencia con respecto a las decisiones del FMI y la posición de éste con respecto al Grupo de los 24. También la relación entre inversión social, recursos fiscales e inflación

Democracia, deuda, ajuste y pobreza : El caso del Plan Austral

El presente trabajo se refiere a algunos de los efectos socioeconómicos de las presiones exteriores que condicionaron el retorno a la democracia, en Argentina, durante la década del 80, como consecuencia de la necesidad de renegociar los pagos de la deuda externa. En efecto, al asumir Alfonsín, los bancos acreedores se negaron a negociar si las autoridades nacionales, antes no aceptaban implementar una política de ajuste recomendada por el FMI. Este organismo multilateral reclamaba la reducción del déficit, la generación de un saldo favorable en la balanza comercial de US $ 3.500 millones y la transferencia al exterior del 6del PBI en concepto de intereses de la deuda. Por entonces, se pretendió disminuir eldéficit mediante la contracción de las inversiones públicas en un 21y el aumento de la recaudación en un 13,5. Al influir la mayor presión tributaria en la disminución del consumo, se procuró compensar el mismo con una política de promoción de exportaciones. La aplicación del plan de ajuste acordado con el FMI acentuó la recesión, debido al deprimido comportamiento de la demanda, provocando por la caída del salario real y la suba de las tasas de interés. . La ponencia circunscribe el planteo de problema a los años 1984 y 1985, procurando reseñar el tema en cuestión, sobre todo, durante el 85, con el propósito de lograr una mayor comprensión en cuanto a las circunstancias en las que se inició la implementación del Plan Austral: sus fuentes, expectativas y limitaciones. La dependencia con respecto a las decisiones del FMI y la posición de éste con respecto al Grupo de los 24. También la relación entre inversión social, recursos fiscales e inflación

Cultural Politics of Resilience in Kingston, Jamaica

Recently, resilience has become a catchall solution for some of the world’s most pressing ecological, economic and social problems. This dissertation analyzes the cultural politics of resilience in Kingston, Jamaica by examining them through their purported universal principles of adaptation and flexibility. On the one hand, mainstream development regimes conceptualize resilience as a necessary and positive attribute of economies, societies and cultures if we are to survive any number of disasters or disturbances. Therefore, in Jamaican cultural and development policy resilience is championed as both a means and an end of development. On the other hand, critics of resilience see the new rollout of resilience projects as deepening neoliberalism, capitalism and new forms of governmentality because resilience projects provide the terrain for new forms of securitization and surveillance practices. These scholars argue that resilience often forecloses the possibilities to resist that which threatens us. However, rather than dismissing resilience as solely a sign of domination and governmentality, this dissertation argues that resilience must be understood as much more ambiguous and complex, rather than within binaries such as subversion vs. neoliberal and resistance vs. resilience. Overly simplistic dualities of this nature have been the dominant approach in the scholarship thus far. This dissertation provides a close analysis of resilience in both multilateral and Jamaican government policy documents, while exploring the historical and contemporary production of resilience in the lives of marginalized populations. Through three sites within Kingston, Jamaica—namely dancehall and street dances, WMW-Jamaica and the activist platform SO((U))L HQ—this dissertation demonstrates that “resilience” is best understood as an ambiguous site of power negotiations, social reproduction and survival in Jamaica today. It is often precisely this ambiguous power of ordinary resilience that is capitalized on and exploited to the detriment of vulnerable groups. At once demonstrating creative negotiation and reproduction of colonial capitalist social relations within the realms of NGO, activist work and cultural production, this dissertation demonstrates the complexity of resilience. Ultimately, this dissertation draws attention to the importance of studying spaces of cultural production in order to understand the power and limits of contemporary policy discourses and political economy. 

Financial media, globalisation, and China’s economic integration: comparing narrative construction of the Economist and Caijing

In June 2015, legal frameworks of the Asian Infrastructural Investment Bank were signed by its 57 founding members. Proposed and initiated by China, this multilateral development bank is considered to be an Asian counterpart to break the monopoly of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. In October 2015, China’s Central Bank announced a benchmark interest rate cut to combat the economic slowdown. The easing policy coincides with the European Central Bank’s announcement of doubts over US Fed’s commitment to raise interest rates. Global stock markets responded positively to China’s move, with the exception of the indexes from Wall Street (Bland, 2015; Elliott, 2015). In the meantime, China’s ‘One Belt, One Road’ (or New Silk Road Economic Belt) became atopic of discourse in relation to its growing global economy, as China pledged $40 billion to trade and infrastructure projects (Bermingham, 2015). The foreign policy aims to reinforce the economic belt from western China through Central Asia towards Europe, as well as to construct maritime trading routes from coastal China through the South China Sea (Summers, 2015). In 2012, The Economist launched a new China section, to reveal the complexity of the‘meteoric rise’ of China. John Micklethwait, who was then the chief editor of the magazine, said that China’s emergence as a global power justified giving it a section of its own(Roush, 2012). In July 2015, Hu Shuli, the former chief editor of Caijing, announced the launch of a think tank and financial data service division called Caixin Insight Group, which encompasses the new Caixin China Purchasing Managers Index (PMI). Incooperation with with Markit Group, a principal global provider of PMI, the index soon became a widely cited economic indicator. One anecdote from November’s Caixin shows how much has changed: in a high-profile dialogue between Hu Shuli and Kevin Rudd, Hu insisted on asking questions in English; interestingly, the former Prime Minister of Australia insisted on replying in Chinese. These recent developments point to one thing: the economic ascent of China and its increasing influence on the power play between economics and politics in world markets. China has begun to take a more active role in rule making and enforcement under neoliberal frameworks. However, due to the country’s size and the scale of its economy in comparison to other countries, China’s version of globalisation has unique characteristics. The ‘Capitalist-socialist’ paradox is vital to China’s market-oriented transformation. In order to comprehend how such unique features are articulated and understood, there are several questions worth investigating in the realms of media and communication studies,such as how China’s neoliberal restructuring is portrayed and perceived by different types of interested parties, and how these portrayals are de-contextualised and re-contextualised in global or Anglo-American narratives. Therefore, based on a combination of the themes of globalisation, financial media and China’s economic integration, this thesis attempts to explore how financial media construct the narratives of China’s economic globalisation through the deployment of comparative and multi-disciplinary approaches. Two outstanding elite financial magazines, Britain’s The Economist, which has a global readership and influence, and Caijing, China’s leading financial magazine, are chosen as case studies to exemplify differing media discourses, representing, respectively, Anglo-American and Chinese socio-economic and political backgrounds, as well as their own journalistic cultures. This thesis tries to answer the questions of how and why China’s neoliberal restructuring is constructed from a globally-oriented perspective. The construction primarily involves people who are influential in business and policymaking. Hence, the analysis falls into the paradigm of elite-elite communication, which is an important but relatively less developed perspective in studying China and its globalisation. The comparing of characteristics of narrative construction are the result of the textual analysis of articles published over a ten-year period (mid-1998 to mid-2008). The corpus of samples come from the two media outlets’ coverage of three selected events:China becoming a member of the World Trade Organization, its outward direct investment, and the listing of stocks of Chinese companies in overseas exchanges, which are mutually exclusive in sample collection and collectively exhaustive in the inclusion of articles regarding China’s economic globalisation. The findings help to understand that, despite language, socio-economic and political differences, elite financial media with globally-oriented readerships share similar methods of and approaches to agenda setting, the evaluation of news prominence, the selection of frame, and the advocacy of deeply rooted neoliberal ideas. The comparison of their distinctive features reflects the different phases of building up the sense of identity in their readers as global elites, as well as the different economic interests that are aligned with the corresponding readerships. However, textual analysis is only relevant in terms of exploring how the narratives are constructed and the elements they include; textual analysis alone prevents us from seeing the obstacles and the constrains of the journalistic practices of construction. Therefore, this thesis provides a brief discussion of interviews with practitioners from the two media, in order to understand how similar or different narratives are manifested and perceived, how the concept of neoliberalism deviates from and is justified in the Chinese context, and how and for what purpose deviations arise from Western to Chinese contexts. The thesis also contributes to defining financial media in the domain of elite communication. The relevant and closely interlocking concepts of globalisation, elitism and neoliberalism are discussed, and are used as a theoretical bedrock in the analysis of texts and contexts. It is important to address the agenda-setting and ideological role of elite financial media, because of its narrative formula of infusing business facts with opinions,which is important in constructing the global elite identity as well as influencing neoliberal policy-making. On the other hand, ‘journalistic professionalism’ has been redefined, in that the elite identity is shared by the content producer, reader and the actors in the news stories emerging from the much-compressed news cycle. The professionalism of elite financial media requires a dual definition, that of being professional in the understanding of business facts and statistics, and that of being professional in the making sense of stories by deploying economic logic.

Return Migration in the Ecuadorian and Bolivian population: motivations, strategies and discourses

This article analyses the motivations for return migration among the Ecuadorians and Bolivians who, after living in Spain, returned to their countries of origin during the economic crisis that started in 2008. From the analysis of 22 interviews in-depth which took place in Ecuador and 38 in Bolivia to women, men and young people from migrant families, this decision-making process is shown to be embedded into a gendered dynamics of relationships. Particular detail is given to affective and economic elements that had an influence on the decision to return, as well as to the strategies deployed to project their readjustment back in origin. Males and females occupy differential positions within the family, work and social circle, their expectations being built in a gendered manner. Despite the fact migration has brought women greater economic power within the family group, their reintegration upon return redefines their role as main managers in the household and the dynamics that allow their social reproduction. Men, for their part, aspire to refresh their role as providers in spite of their frail labour position upon return. Social mobility for females is passed on through generations by a strong investment on education for their daughters and sons, while for males this mobility revolves around setting up family businesses and around their demonstrative abilities.

Setting the Rules of the Game: Mega-Regionals and the Role of the WTO

Faced with a WTO in a state of paralysis, large developed trading nations have shifted their attentions to other fora to pursue their trade policy objectives. In particular, preferential trade agreements (PTAs) are now being used to promote the regulatory disciplines that were previously rejected by developing countries at the multilateral level. These so-called ‘deep’ or ‘21st century’ PTAs address a variety of issues, from technical norms, procurement, investment protection and intellectual property rights to social and environmental protection. Moreover, recently, developed countries have sought to negotiate PTAs which are large in scale, both in terms of economic size and geographical reach, including the so-called ‘mega-regional’ PTAs, such as the EU-US Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, the EU-Japan PTA, the Transpacific Partnership, and the China-backed Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership. These mega-regional PTAs are distinctive not just in terms of their sheer size and the breadth and depth of issues addressed, but also because some of their proponents readily admit that one of the central aims pursued by such agreements is to design global rules on new trade issues. In other words, these agreements are being conceived as alternatives to multilateral rule making at the WTO level. The proliferation of 21st century trade deals raises important questions concerning the continued relevance of the WTO as a global rule-making venue, and the impact that the regulatory disciplines promoted in such agreements will have on both developing and developed countries. This paper discusses the emerging features of an international trading system that is increasingly populated by large-scale PTAs and discusses some of the points of tension that arise from such practice. Firstly, it examines instances of horizontal tension resulting from the proliferation of PTAs, particularly the extent to which such PTAs represent a threat or multilateral trade governance. Secondly, it looks at an example of vertical tension by examining the manner in which the imposition of regulatory disciplines through trade agreements can undermine the ability of countries, especially developing countries, to pursue legitimate public interest objectives. Finally, the paper considers a number of steps that could be considered to address some of the adverse effects associated with the fragmentation of the international trading system, including the option of embracing variable geometry within the WTO framework and the need to develop mechanisms that provide flexibility for developing countries in the implementation of regulatory disciplines.

Foreign Direct Investment and Political Uncertainty

Recent developments in the general equilibrium theory of multinationals emphasize the importance of multilateral considerations. Yet, existing explanations and corresponding estimations of FDI patterns have largely limited political and institutional investment impediments to a bilateral framework. Through the application of spatial econometric techniques, I demonstrate that the presence of both domestic and regional political uncertainty generate real options effects that lead to the delay or redirection of foreign direct investment. The magnitude and direction of these effects is conditional upon the host country regime type and the predominant multinational integration strategies in the region. Comparing these results with FDI of U.S. origin, I find evidence for divergent investment behavior by U.S. multinationals during regime changes in partner countries. Additionally, I find no evidence that multinationals from developing countries are more likely to complete cross-border deals in environments characterized by greater political risk or political uncertainty.

The New Silk Road, a Glimpse to China's Regime?

China's Silk Road Economic Belt plan is a part of One Belt, One Road initiative that aims to create trade routes from China all the way to Europe. Despite the potential benefits, there are also problems along the way. In this research I am examining the adverse effects of one part of the Silk Road Economic Belt with my focus on Xinjiang Uyghur minority and their rights and Central Asian regional stability. Moreover, I suggest that China's past commitments in the international society as well as her actions in relations to the undertaking can give an insight into a regime where China would be the dominant power in international society. I have used qualitative analysis to study the topics. My most important methodological tools to examine the topics are as follows. I utilise conceptual analysis to borrow concepts from international relations field. I use method of situation analysis when I am describing the current circumstances in China's Xinjiang and Central Asia. Inductive analysis is the overall method since I suggest that the content I have examined could give an insight to how China regards and relates to international law in the future. Moreover, my theoretical framework of the research sees international law as a tool that a state can use to gain more power but at the same time international law restricts state's behaviour. Based on the findings of this research, in case of Xinjiang the New Silk Road is likely to worsen Uyghurs situation because of Beijing's worries and harsh actions to prevent any disturbance. However, the New Silk Road could bring stability and maintain regional security in Central Asia when the states could see it beneficial to unite for cooperation which can result with greater benefits. China's potential future regime will emphasize sovereignty and non-interference to states’ domestic matters. Moreover, there will be no room for minority rights in China's concept of human rights. Human rights are meant to protect rights of masses but are of secondary importance since development and security will be more important goals to pursue. In the field of cooperation, China is increasingly using multilateral forums to discuss the matters but reserves bilateral negotiations for executing the plans.

Umowa międzynarodowa w sferze kultury - wybrane aspekty ustrojowo-prawne

W artykule omówiono rolę bilateralnych i multilateralnych umów międzynarodowych w ochronie oraz popularyzacji dziedzictwa kulturowego. Wskazano na potrzebę respektowania zasady pacta sunt servanda w stosunkach międzynarodowych. W rozważaniach podkreślono, iż umowa międzynarodowa jest nie tylko źródłem the international law, ale i środkiem pokojowej współpracy między państwami i narodami bez względu na ich uwarunkowania społeczne oraz ustrojowo-prawne.

La Unión Europea y España en su relación con el Magreb: Los casos de Marruecos y Argelia

354 p.

CRISIS ALIMENTARIA: NUEVO MEGA-NEGOCIO GLOBAL

Resumen El presente artículo desenmascara la forma en que falazmente las instituciones financieras multilaterales pretenden hacer ver las causas de lo que han dado en llamar “la crisis alimentaria mundial” a partir del incremento de los precios de los alimentos alrededor del mundo. Agrocombustibles, incremento del precio del petróleo, cambio climático en zonas productoras son algunas de las causas que el Banco Mundial pone como justificación al incremento del precio de la mayoría de cereales y granos básicos. La milagrosa solución al hambre en los países pobres: la minería, es lanzada desde este todopoderoso agente financiero, como panacea para la producción de regalías que permitan a muchos países de África y algunos de América Latina y Asia,  para resolver la problemática alimentaria.  ¡Nada más falso! En los siguientes párrafos se describen las verdaderas razones de la crisis del actual modelo económico mundial, y se proponen desde un país en concreto,  propuestas de política pública para su solución.   Abstract The present article unmasks the way in which multilateral financial institutions pretend fallaciously to show the causes of which they have given to call “the world food crisis” since the increasing prices of food around the world. Agrofuels, increase the price of oil, produces climate chance in zones used for production, these are some of the causes that the World Bank uses to justify the increasing prices of the majority of cereals and grains. The miraculous solution for hunger in poor countries: mining, is launched from this all mighty financial agent, as a panacea to produce royalties that will permit many countries in Africa, and in some in Latin American and Asia, to solve their food problematic. Nothing more false than that! In the next paragraphs the true reasons of this crisis of the actual economic world model are described, and from a particular country, proposals of public politics for their solutions.

A economia brasileira diante da crise mundial : fragilidades e perspectivas de crescimento

O objetivo deste artigo, apoiado nos principais indicadores da economia global e nacional, é pro-mover uma análise dos efeitos da crise mundial e as perspectivas de crescimento da economia bra-sileira no período de 2013-2015. O referencial teórico está apoiado nas Teorias Keynesiana, Neoins-titucionalista e das Finanças Públicas. Trata-se de um artigo bibliográfico, descritivo e qualitativo, cujas discussões estão baseadas nas projeções contidas nos relatórios das principais instituições multilaterais e nacionais brasileiras, em especial nas variáveis econômicas mais relevantes como o crescimento da economia mundial, do comportamento do nível de emprego e da inflação. Os re-sultados das discussões, a partir das análises dos documentos citados, evidenciam que a crise eco-nômica mundial continua impactando de forma preocupante na maioria dos países, em especial, dos países membros da Zona do Euro e Estados Unidos, e que o desempenho da economia brasi-leira deverá crescer num ritmo menor nos próximos anos. Essas constatações permite concluir que se faz necessário a definição de um diagnóstico consistente para o Brasil, que permita uma mudan-ça estrutural no potencial de expansão da economia do país, em especial, preparando de forma mais adequada o seu ambiente macro e microeconômico. _______________________________________________________________________________________ ABSTRACT

Propuesta de una guía de exportación de dulces para la pequeña empresa ubicada en el municipio de Quezaltepeque, departamento de La Libertad, utilizando el Tratado de Libre Comercio.

En el ámbito empresarial es importante hoy en día contar con una guía de exportación dado los niveles de competitividad que han alcanzado los países de la región Centroamericana, a sí mismo la pequeña empresa juega un rol muy importante en el ámbito empresarial y social del país. Por pequeña empresa entenderemos “Todo establecimiento manufacturero que a través de un proceso de producción y/o transformación físico o químico, se dedica a la producción de materias primas, artículos semi-elaborados o terminados, teniendo sus características propias de operar, además de las ventajas y desventajas con las que cuentan, se puede clasificar de acuerdo al número de empleados y a la magnitud del capital. Con el Tratado de Libre Comercio algunos procesos de exportación han sufrido cambios leves que ha dejado obsoletos a los pequeños empresarios, mientras otros no tienen ningún conocimiento del TLC y las exportaciones, Según el Ministerio de Economía de la República de El Salvador el Tratado de Libre Comercio se define como “Los acuerdos entre países que pueden ser negociados y firmados de manera bilateral (Entre dos países o dos bloques económicos), o multilateral (más de dos países o bloques). Conociendo la forma de operar del TLC fue necesario realizar un censo en el municipio de Quezaltepeque para conocer la necesidad de cinco de las empresas productoras de dulces, aplicando la investigación exploratoria y descriptiva. Se procedió a elaborar una guía de exportación la cual va dirigida a solucionar el problema de falta de conocimiento sobre las exportaciones y el TLC, entre los documento administrativos más importantes como requisitos para exportar tenemos la tarjeta de inscripción de exportadores, la solicitud de exportación, el Formulario Aduanero Único Centroamericano, declaración de mercancías y los certificador de origen de acuerdo a su naturaleza. Entre los documentos comerciales más importantes están, la factura comercial de exportación, lista de empaque, factura pro forma, así mismo se presentan los documentos de transporte y seguros como la orden de embarque,conocimiento de embarque, guía aérea, carta de porte terrestre, manifiesto de carga, solicitud, póliza y certificado de seguros. En la misma guía de exportación se presentan algunas reglas que impone el Tratado de Libre Comercio para la exportación de dulces a Estados Unidos, pues según el ministerio de Salud de El Salvador las medidas higiénicas son: Utilizar agua aprobada por organismos encargados de higiene, no tener en el lugar de fabricación basura o desperdicios, almacenar el dulce en lugares seguros, higiene en el empaque y que sea doble, higiene en los lavamanos, recipientes y mantener la higiene personal en el área de fabricación entre otros.

Europeanization beyond the EU: The case of Georgia.

320 p.