“Deficient in love-interest”: the sexual politics of the office in Canadian fiction (1890-1920)

Con base en las preocupaciones de la época sobre la susceptibilidad al romance y acoso sexual de la trabajadora de oficina, este artículo propone explorar la representación de secretarias y taquígrafas en TheType-Writer Girl (1897), de Grant Allan, y en North of Fifty-Three (1914), de Bertrand Sinclair. Se mirará la presión para adquirir la independencia económica y autonomía personal a través del trabajo en oficina. También, la necesidad de ajustarse a ideologías presentes en la sociedad, que abogaban un destino predeterminado de matrimonio e hijos para la mujer. Se pregunta si el género de literatura workinggirl de esos tiempos abogaba la imagende la mujer independiente, trabajadora y emocionalmente realizada, o si el trabajo de oficina era interpretado como un paso natural hacia una evolución de niñas a madres. Este artículo también cuestiona si la oficina ficcional fue presentada como una ubicación de autonomía y potencial femeninos, o si fue vista como un espacio hostil y peligroso del que debería escapar lo más pronto posible para mantener la seguridad del hogar.

Latino Urbanism, the Politics of Planning, Policy and Redevelopment. Editado por David R. Diaz y Rodolfo D. Torres. Nueva York, New York University Press, 2012

--

Al – Qaeda and the international politics: a teorical Reflection

Through the study of the relationship between non-state actors and states, is pretended to analyze the role of Al-Qaeda in international politics. It is argued that Al-Qaeda tries or has the ability to promote or accelerate changes in the power  structure, where stands the American hegemony and the pursuit of balance by  various actors, implementing asymmetric strategies as counter-hegemonic responses.

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.

The politics of resource booms

This paper develops a simple model to investigate how resource-driven economic booms shape the equilibrium political institutions of resource-rich societies and influence the likelihood of experiencing civil war. In our model a strong government apparatus favors property rights protection but also makes the state more powerful and hence may induce predatory autocratic regimes over democracy. We characterize the parameter space of each political outcome in terms of the type of the available natural resources. Economic booms based on resources that are privately exploited empower the citizens and tend to ease democratic transitions. In contrast, booms based on resources exploited by the state tend to favor more dictatorial regimes. Finally, economic booms based on resources that can be exploited either by the state or by private citizens incite preemptive actions by both parties that may result in civil war. We discuss the predictions of the model using historical and contemporary examples.

AS and A level government and politics through diagrams.

Recurso diseñado para la obtención del título de General Certificate of Education Advanced Subsidiary (GCE), en los niveles AS y A2 para las especificaciones AQA, Edexcel y OCR, de 2008. Su contenido se divide cinco secciones: introducción a la política; los ciudadanos, la política y la participación en el Reino Unido; el gobierno de UK; los ciudadanos, la política y la participación en USA; el gobierno de Estados Unidos.

UK Government & Politics.

Este libro está diseñado para satisfacer las necesidades de los estudiantes de gobierno y política en el Reino Unido. Este libro proporciona una cobertura actualizada del curso AS para enseñanza secundaria. Contiene once capítulos con ilustraciones que tratan de democracia y participación, elecciones y votos, estructura de los partidos políticos, políticas e ideas de los partidos políticos, grupos de presión, la constitución, el parlamento, el primer ministro y los principales ejecutivos, los juicios y libertades civiles, el gobierno local, y la Unión Europea (desarrollo, instituciones, sistema político).

Government and Politics for AS.

Este libro ofrece los hechos e ideas y focos de discusión más específicos y accesibles que son necesarios para tener éxito en la asignatura denominada Política de AS enseñanza secundaria. La razón para publicar una tercera edición de este libro fue, originalmente, la necesidad de reflejar los recientes cambios que han sido realizados en Edexcel en Gobierno y Política. El libro consta de dos unidades, la primera refleja un cambio de actitud en la naturaleza de la democracia en Gran Bretaña a través de los partidos políticos e ideas, el sistema electoral británico en las elecciones generales, se trata la naturaleza y funciones de los grupos de presión. La segunda unidad explica como es el gobierno del Reino Unido, la constitución, el parlamento, el primer ministro y el gabinete, el poder judicial y las libertades civiles.

Casual politics : del cliktivismo a los movimientos emergentes y el reconocimiento de patrones

Resumen basado en el de la publicación. Resumen en inglés y catalán

«A majority of one already» : two notes on imagination and politics

This review considers two books on political philosophy not published in English language, Diogo Pires Aurélio's Imaginação e Poder (Imagination and Power, referred as IP) and Viriato Soromenho Marques' A Revolução Federal (The Federal Revolution, RF). All quotations of the books result from translations of my own initiative.

Castes, Social Mobility and Politics in Goa

While the colonial policies and the missionary activities dented the caste system by playing upon the caste rivalries to divide and rule, the post-independence Indian democracy transformed the traditional castes into valuable vote-banks that have permitted non-brahmin castes to achieve political leadership in several States, particularly following the politics of reservation recommended by the Mandal Commission in 1980s.

The audible and the inaudible : Bob Kaufman and the politics of silence

O poeta americano Bob Kaufman fez um voto de silêncio nas décadas de sessenta e setenta do século passado. Durante quase dez anos, não falou nem escreveu. “The Audible and the Inaudible: Bob Kaufman and the Politics of Silence” (“O Audível e o Inaudível: Bob Kaufman e a Política do Silêncio”) é uma tentativa de ver o silêncio de Kaufman como uma espécie de discurso político em nome das massas anónimas, dos marginais, dos que não conseguem fazer-se ouvir. O ensaio baseia-se, em parte, na obra recente de Jacques Rancière sobre discurso e política. Para Rancière, a política só pode ser exercida através do discurso, através da participação dos que não são vistos como parte activa. No entanto, o silêncio de Kaufman é uma recusa do discurso e da participação; assim sendo, o ensaio procura explorar o silêncio como um discurso político que se mantém socialmente isolado e inaudível, mas procura, ainda assim, reconhecer todos aqueles que continuam a não ter voz nas nossas instituições democráticas.

Romanian politics: struggling with the grass roots and digging for democracy. EPIN Commentary No. 11, 29 August 2012

Romania was on a good trajectory to meet the European standards in democracy. This process began before the country’s accession to the EU in 2007 and has continued since thanks to the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism (CVM). The recent political turmoil has put in danger this trajectory. 2012 will continue to remain a very difficult year for Romania, economically and politically, especially in light of the referendum’s result invalidating the suspension of the President and the upcoming parliamentary elections due to take place at the end of this year. Now is time to restore the process of strengthening Romania’s democratic institutions and rule of law. There are important roles to be played in this process both by the Romanian political class and the European institutions.