Academic teaching and research on subjects related to Latin America developed in Israel not as the result of multi-faceted and premeditated planning but as a consequence of general historical events as well as of local and partial initiatives. In order to understand the present position of research and teaching activities on these subjects, it is indispensable to bear in mind the major developments which occurred in Israel in two main areas: (a) the emergence of academic life and institutions during Israel's 25 years of exstence; (b) the development of the diplomatic relations and economic and technological ties between the State of Israel and Latin American countries. Research and academic teaching evolved directly from these two determining factors.

The study of history in Ecuador is still in its infancy. Too few foreign scholars have ventured into the country's past and most Ecuadorean historians have failed to produce well-researched studies. Consequently, generalization and bias have passed for scholarship. Although there are many reasons for the backward state of Educadorean historiography, perhaps the most important has been the poor condition of the nation's archives. During the last decade, however, libraries and repositories in the country have improved tremendously. While not yet the equal of research facilities in many other Latin American nations, still it is now possible to do historical research with relative ease in Ecuador.

Both developed and developing countries have experienced increasing state intervention in the social welfare arena. In most countries of the world, the state has sponsored some social welfare programs, especially programs of social security. Despite their prevalence, little is known about their political nature, especially in the developing countries. Yet, the study of the political aspects of social security, especially the who, the what, and the how, would at once reveal important patterns of state-society relations.

In literary terms, the new novel did not emerge until 1976 in Guatemala, which represented a ten-to-fifteen-year lag behind most of the other Latin American countries. Since 1976, however, four Guatemalan novels have been published that merit consideration in the same rank with Hijo de hombre (1960), La muerte de Artemio Cruz (1962), Gestos (1963), Rayuela (1963), La casa verde (1966), Cien años de soledad (1967), and Tres tristes tigres (1967). The explanation for the earlier paucity of high-quality, structurally and linguistically experimental novels is simple. The blatant violation of human rights by the autocratic governments of Carlos Castillo Armas (1954-57) and his successors has led to the exodus of the best-known authors and the self-censorship or silence of others. In this political climate, the birth of a Guatemalan literary generation of 1954 was almost completely aborted. With the exception of some new works published abroad by Miguel Ángel Asturias (1899-1974) and Mario Monteforte Toledo (b. 1911), Guatemala's two most important twentieth-century novelists, the novels published between 1954 and 1975 were generally undistinguished, as is suggested by the annotated bibliography accompanying this essay.

The Study of Political Leadership is Important for an Understanding of any society. Political leaders participate in, or influence the making of, decisions that allocate resources within and among social units. These acts of choice constitute the major component of the governing process. It seems obvious, then, that an understanding of any social order rests fundamentally on a systematic grasp of the background attributes, careers, value and issue orientations, behaviors and environmental context of political leaders.

The role of the dissertation as part of academic preparation is generally accepted and unquestioned. The dissertation is intended to initiate students into serious research in their chosen field. However, what happens to the research, once completed, is another question. Apparently very few have addressed this question, and their findings are not consistent. McPhie, in a study of dissertations completed in social studies education, measured the dissemination of dissertations via library circulation. He concluded that: “These data on library circulation, even when viewed with caution, would seem to indicate a rather meager use of some potentially valuable findings.” He also found that nearly two-thirds had not published even one article from their dissertations. In a more recent study of Ph.D. dissertations in sociology, Yoels found a similar picture. He concluded, after analyzing citations to Ph.D. dissertations in the two most frequently cited journals in sociology, that “the likelihood that dissertations will be widely disseminated appears to be slim.” However, in a recent and more complete study, Hanson found that dissertations are more widely used than is indicated in the above studies. He concludes that: “When one broadens the definition of dissemination to include the media of books, monographs, chapters, presented papers, journal articles (including those not appearing in the two major journals), research bulletins, and miscellaneous forms during the professional life of the Ph.D. sociologist, a picture of more extensive transmission of dissertation results emerge. A conservative estimate would be that findings from a substantial majority of dissertations are disseminated through various media at some point in time.”

Desde al año 1971 estamos organizando lo que actualmente se llama el Archivo del Fuero Agrario. Esta institución fue conocida antes con el nombre de Centro de Documentación Agraria y ahora, de manera resumida, se le dice simplemente Archivo Agrario. Desde el año mencionado un grupo de investigadores científicos sociales e historiadores percibieron que con el proceso de Reforma Agraria (Decreto Ley 17716) en las haciendas que iban siendo expropiadas quedaban un conjunto de documentos que debían ser centralizados en un local. Fue de esta manera como se empezó a reunir los documentos de empresas agrícolas o ganaderas. De esto han pasado ya seis años y se puede decir que ya hay un importante archivo que facilita la comprensión del mundo rural peruano desde el interior de las unidades de producción. Esto es algo así como penetrar dentro de un organismo y comprender, desde su interior, el funcionamiento de sus distintos sistemas. El Archivo Agrario es un caso único en América Latina y en el mundo. Hay casos particulares de documentos muy similar a los que tenemos en el archivo que han sido utilizados por investigadores sociales, pero en ninguna parte hay concentrado el volumen del material documental del tipo al que nos estamos refiriendo. Esto es lo que tenemos ya construido. Y no solamente se trata de un repositorio de documentos sino que se trata de algo más que ello. Se está creando un centro donde colaboramos en orientar las investigaciones históricas agrarias y donde los que trabajamos ahí hacemos historia del mundo rural. Estamos creando una institución donde también hay organizados mapoteca, hemeroteca, fototeca, todo ello del ambiente rural peruano.