Análisis de la incidencia de la Teoría de la Identidad Colectiva en la posición de la Liga Árabe frente al reconocimiento de Somalilandia como Estado independiente

Esta Monografía se centra en mostrar cómo el intento por conservar la identidad colectiva de la Liga de los Estados Árabes impide ceder ante el deseo de Somalilandia de ser reconocida como Estado independiente.

Procesos de privatización del agua en América Latina: análisis y seguimiento de la interacción estratégica entre movimientos sociales versus multinacionales en Bolivia, Uruguay y México. Período 2000 – 2006

El presente escrito, constituye una aproximación a los procesos de privatización del agua en América Latina. Lo anterior, en el marco de la acción colectiva, específicamente de los movimientos sociales y su interacción estratégica con oponentes como las compañías multinacionales, las organizaciones financieras internacionales y el Estado. Tomando como referencia las luchas ocurridas en Bolivia, Uruguay y México, con especial énfasis en La Guerra del Agua en Cochabamba (Bolivia).

Political Economy of the Web

Slides to introduce political economy, and its relevance to the study of the Web. Brief review of methods and issues.

The Phenomenology of the Political: Cavell on Film

A lengthy defense of Cavell on film and politics in response to an article by Joshua Dienstag

El reposicionamiento de Rusia en Europa Central. Las relaciones con República Checa en materia de seguridad (2000-2008)

Esta monografía se realiza con el ánimo de analizar las relaciones militares entre Rusia y República Checa con el fin de valorar su incidencia en el reposicionamiento de Rusia como gran potencia y su repercusión en Europa Central. Se estudia cómo en los últimos años la relación de ambos países se ha definido por la inestabilidad política y la inseguridad que ha desembocado en un vínculo débil, lo cual trae consecuencias al proyecto ruso y le impide ejercer un liderazgo efectivo en la región. Dicho proyecto está sustentado en los elementos del poder nacional del Realismo Clásico que permiten hacer un recorrido por todos los aspectos relevantes de la construcción del proyecto ruso y dar cuenta de su efectividad frente a una República Checa inmersa en las dinámicas europeas.

Dinámicas de externalización entre las ONG locales y las ONG extranjeras (terceros actores) presentes en Egipto: 2004-2009 (TERCEROS ACTORES) PRESENTES EN EGIPTO: 2004-2009

El propósito de la presente monografía es evaluar el papel de las ONG internacionales en la apertura de espacios de participación política para la sociedad civil en Egipto. En ese sentido, se analiza el contexto de oportunidades políticas locales y transnacionales del país, así como los procesos de articulación entre la política local e internacional a través de los niveles de integración entre sus actores. Mediante una investigación de tipo cualitativa basada en los desarrollos sobre teorías de la acción colectiva planteados por Sidney Tarrow, Charles Tilly, Robert Benford y David Snow, y las teorías sobre redes transnacionales de defensa desarrolladas por Margaret Keck y Kathryn Sikkink, se avanza hacia la identificación del desarrollo de procesos de externalización como medio para el fortalecimiento de organizaciones locales como alternativa de oposición política.

The moral background of the political philosophers –The Nozick case–

 On the assumption that any complex Modern Political Theory involves a decision about human rights, this article considers a possible assessment of the broader aspects of the conception of the State in the work of Nozick. Based on one critical point of view originally formulated by H.L.A. Hart, it defends the claim that the libertarian conception is untenable in moral terms. 

Legal, political and economic aspects of the tragedy in rural Colombia in recent decades: hypothesis for analysis

Editorial

The institutional environment and its influence on political options to Protect Winnipeg’s Female garments Workers against the impact of globalization

The principal objective of this paper is to identify the relationship between the re­sults of the Canadian policies implemented to protect female workers against the impact of globalization on the garment industry and the institutional setting in which this labour market is immersed in Winnipeg. This research paper begins with a brief summary of the institutional theory appro­ach that sheds light on the analysis of the effects of institutions on the policy options to protect female workers of the Winnipeg garment industry. Next, this paper identi­fies the set of beliefs, formal procedures, routines, norms and conventions that cha­racterize the institutional environment of the female workers of Winnipeg’s garment industry. Subsequently, this paper descri­bes the impact of free trade policies on the garment industry of Winnipeg. Afterward, this paper presents an analysis of the ba­rriers that the institutional features of the garment sector in Winnipeg can set to the successful achievement of policy options addressed to protect the female workforce of this sector. Three policy options are considered: ethical purchasing; training/retraining programs and social engage­ment support for garment workers; and protection of migrated workers through promoting and facilitating bonds between Canada’s trade unions and trade unions of the labour sending countries. Finally, this paper concludes that the formation of isolated cultural groups inside of factories; the belief that there is gender and race discrimination on the part of the garment industry management against workers; the powerless social conditions of immi­grant women; the economic rationality of garment factories’ managers; and the lack of political will on the part of Canada and the labour sending countries to set effective bilateral agreements to protect migrate wor­kers, are the principal barriers that divide the actors involved in the garment industry in Winnipeg. This division among the prin­cipal actors of Winnipeg’s garment industry impedes the change toward more efficient institutions and, hence, the successful achievement of policy options addressed to protect women workers. 

Political Reform: unfinished business in Brazil after Lula?

A year away from leaving the presidency, this article analyses Lula government in light of the many corruption scandals that erupted afterwards. These events showed that despite the almost unanimous conclusion of its balance sheet, Lula government leaves a big task ahead: the political reform. Priority of the Workers’ Party during the years 1980 and 1990, and subject of many academic studies, this issue has been abandoned in the 2000s, with the accession to power of Lula Da Silva. This paper evaluates the state-of-the-art on this matter and defends the need for further consideration in light of current events, and in a broader theoretical perspective than the institutional engineering one that prevailed earlier. 

The Proliferation of Paramilitary Groups in Southern Mexico: State Strategy or Struggle between Local Political Elites?

This study traces the origins of Mexican paramilitary groups and argues that, contrary to what most of the literature on the subject implies, they do not represent a state strategy to thwart leftist groups seeking social change. Rather, they represent battles between groups of national and local-level elites with different visions of democracy and of what constitutes good governance. The polarization inherent in this type of conflict leads local actors to have to side with one faction of elites or the other. The presence of radical leftist groups in recently colonized indigenous areas with scant state presence gives rise to a process of radicalization among local elites. There are multiple factors that explain the emergence of paramilitary groups. Aside from the post Cold War international context, there were national factors like a shift in its focus away from security matters between 1989 and 1993, and presidential policies between 1968 and 1993, that planted the seeds of leftist radicalism in a context of id modernization

The Demobilization Process of Paramilitaries in Colombia: Between Politics and Justice

The phenomenon of paramilitarism in Colombia has received an ambiguous treatment, balancing between political and criminal issues; an oscillation that has been intimately linked to the evolution of the Colombian internal conflict. This contribution analyzes the recent negotiations held with paramilitary groups by the administration of Alvaro Uribe Vélez (2002-2010). After a brief account of the dependency path that has determined this historical episode, I propose an assessment of the use of judicial categories by the various actors of the negotiations. The main argument is that those categories –war criminal, political criminal, drug smuggler, etc.– do not depend on the intrinsic nature of an armed actor, but are socially constructed by a conflictive process of material and symbolic struggles. The capacity to categorize private violence, as legitimate or illegitimate, political or criminal, appears as one of the basic manifestations of the state’s action, as well as one of the main conflicts presiding at the rocess of state formation.

Crisis of political representation and democratization in Mexico: the generality and specificity of the case

This article attempts to assess the implications and the own character of the crisis of representation in Mexico. Once the topic framed and the long-term dynamics of Mexican political elites presented, this paper will attempt to understand why, despite the pluralization of the party system, there remain many questions about the truly democratic nature of the Mexican political system.

La securitización de la migración, una aproximación desde la cooperación migratoria entre Italia y Libia. 2008-2011

El interés de esta investigación es analizar los cambios en las políticas migratorias de Italia y Libia a partir del Tratado de amistad y cooperación firmado en 2008. Utilizando el concepto de securitización de Barry Buzan, se explican cuáles fueron las principales motivaciones para que ambos Estados tomaran la decisión de endurecer sus políticas migratorias para hacerle frente a la migración irregular. La securitización del tema de la migración se convirtió en el mecanismo principal del gobierno italiano para justificar el incumplimiento de acuerdos internacionales, dejando en un segundo plano la protecciónde los Derechos Humanos. Esta situación trae consigo altos costos humanitarios y pone en evidencia cómo Italia y Libia están tratando las nuevas amenazas como lo es la migración irregular en esta región.

Political intervention in economic activity

This paper proposes a political economy explanation of bailouts to declining industries. A model of probabilistic voting is developed, in which two candidates compete for the vote of two groups of the society through tactical redistribution. We allow politicians to have core support groups they understand better, this implies politicians are more or less effective to deliver favors to some groups. This setting is suited to reproduce pork barrels or machine politics and patronage. We use this model to illustrate the case of an economy with both an efficient industry and a declining one, in which workers elect their government. We present the conditions under which the political process ends up with the lagged-behind industry being allowed to survive.