The armed forces in nearly all of the developing countries have frequently played a significant role in the political process. Because civilian groups—such as political parties, interest associations, bureaucracies—tend to be weak, fluid, and amorphous during the transition from a “traditional” to a “modern” society, the military is liable to be the strongest and best organized actor in the system. The roles may vary, from performing minimal governmental functions to exercising exclusive governing power, but in general the armed forces in the developing countries have a deeper domestic involvement in government and politics than their counterparts in the more “developed” nations.

From an historical point of view, Latin America is often considered the home of political militarism. The caudillo, or “man on horseback,” has traditionally galloped in and out of the presidential palace with frequent regularity.

On February 27, 1967, representatives of the member nations of the Organization of American States, meeting in Buenos Aires, Argentina, signed the Protocol of Amendment to the 1948 Charter of Bogotá. It will become effective when ratified by two-thirds of the signatory states.

The Protocol reflects the current mood toward the inter-American regional system, and perhaps toward international organization in general. Contrasted with the 1948 Charter, the Protocol has its elements of strength and of weakness. The spirit of internationalism today, however, is much weaker than it was in 1948, and from the standpoint of the Organization the elements of weakness within the Protocol are much greater than the elements of strength.

In their identification with Latin America, major foreign powers-including Japan—have always considered the Central American region-the zone of present-day Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica—of secondary or lesser significance. For more than three centuries Spain attached marginal importance to this area and during the last 150 years, the five states there have played minor, though occasionally dramatic, roles in U.S. relations with Latin America. For Japan, until quite recently, the region has rarely fostered more than the single interest of trade, and that with stuttering results.

Because of its potential as a canal route, Nicaragua first drew Japanese attention to the area, attention that entered the historical record in such roundabout fashion that it raised more questions than it supplied answers.

En el curso de estos últimos años, los países hispanoamericanos han venido celebrando con singular júbilo el sesquicentenario de sus independencias nacionales. El pensamiento de sus más altos valores humanos ha enriquecido la historiografía de nuestra América, y ha venido a confirmar en sentido crociano, que toda nuestra Historia es también hazaña de libertad. Nuestra lucha se agita contemporáneamente, pues cada día conquistamos y reconquistamos nuestra libertad. El hombre de nuestras naciones todavía se debate en servidumbres y esclavitudes, mas su libertad y dignidad son valores permanentes.

The great concern with the economic and social development in Latin America has made the issue of land reform a very fashionable subject of discussion. The importance of land reform has been officially acknowledged in South America as well as in North America by the signing of the Charter of Punta del Este, which established as one of the objectives of the Alliance for Progress the ; change in land tenure patterns wherever necessary in Latin America. The widespread acknowledgment of the importance of land reform has not led, though, to general agreement on the consequences of land reform for the process of economic development in Latin America. It would thus seem appropriate to re-examine the effects of large landholdings on economic development.

In that remarkable little book, so deftly argued and so elegantly phrased, which he wrote about anthropologists and coincidentally Peasant Society and Culture, Robert Redfield made more than one wise observation, but one was both a promise and a suggestion. Noting that peasant society in one sense consists of two connecting halves, he remarks that “we may be able to see a sort of link or hinge between the local life of a peasant community and the state or feudal system of which it is a part.”

The recognition and disclosure of connections in the extended relations of indigenous peoples — especially those who comprise major elements of modern states — is surely one way in which anthropologists, from the peculiar advantage of their ethnographic tradition, can contribute something of method and point of view to the study of large, compound societies and cultures.

Development planning in Venezuela began in 1959 as a result of the changes in the economic conditions and in the political situation that occurred in 1958. In that year, on January 23, Pérez Jiménez government was deposed after 10 years of military rule. A provisional government was established and elections were held December 7, 1958 with Rómulo Betancourt (Democratic Action Party) winning a near majority (49%) of votes for Presidency. A coalition government of the Democratic Action party (AD), Democratic Republic Union party (URD), and the Christian social party (COPEI) was established according to a pre-election agreement among these parties.

The economic conditions also changed in 1958. Until that year Venezuela was able to achieve a high rate of economic growth (see Table I) and to accumulate considerable foreign exchange that prevented balance of payments crises such as those which interrupted economic development in other countries.

Democratic institutions, ranging from constitutional provisions and electoral rules to judiciaries, have been important in improving the rights of citizens across the world. If institutions matter for human rights, then it stands to reason that institutions built specifically to protect human rights, like the human rights ombudsman, should matter too. Using a comparative case study approach, this article examines the effect of the human rights ombudsman at the regional level on several human rights measures in Latin America between 1982 and 2011. The results suggest that the presence of an ombudsman, and some of its design features, have had effects on some social and economic rights, in keeping with the broad mandate given to this office.

In 1976, Macmillan of Canada published the first recent book-length study of Canadian-Latin American relations, Gringos from the Far North: Essays in the History of Canadian-Latin American Relations, 1866-1968, by Professor J.C.M. Ogelsby of the University of Western Ontario (1976a). Ogelsby deals with interactions between the residents of Canada and those of the Latin American republics – diplomatic, trade, business and religious relations; he includes subjects such as the emigration of Canadian Mennonites to South America. Ogelsby, who consulted Canadian and Spanish-American archives and travelled to the scenes of many of the events he describes, sets a standard for others in the field.

Costa Ricans have worked hard to weave the norms and principles of sustainable development into their nation's environmental policies, especially with respect to natural renewable resources, such as the forest. As a result, the nation is known as a leader in innovative environmental initiatives. But sustainable development is a complex, evolving concept. This paper analyzes how the emphasis on biodiversity conservation during the 1990s and early 2000s has, rhetoric notwithstanding, neglected the social equality, or livelihood, component of sustainable development. This trend stands in sharp contrast to earlier periods, when decisionmakers crafted policies and institutions that supported social ecology. The article concludes with a few observations on building political will to revive the grassroots development component of sustainable development.

Un pays ne saurait vivre replié sur lui-même, prisonnier de ses frontières. II doit entretenir des relations de tous ordres avec l'étranger.

Le gouverneur-empereur Dessalines en eut l'intuition. II prit en conséquence toutes les dispositions.

En premier lieu, Dessalines rassura toutes les puissances coloniales qu'Haïti s'abstiendrait de troubler la paix des colonies situées dans l'Archipel des Antilles. C'était une préaution de style pour calmer les appréhensions des nations européennes et garantir l'oeuvre d'indépendance de la Nation Haïtienne, en lui évitant toutes les mesures de coercition de la part de l'Espagne, de la France, de l'Angleterre, du Portugal et des autres puissances intéressées dans cette partie de l'hémisphère américain.

In Peru, as in most Latin American republics, managerial manpower development is gaining increased recognition as a major force in the modernization process. The explosive contemporary evolution of management education with new programs developing in every conceivable form and institution in Peru strongly evidences the North American concept of specialized higher education for administration, as well as its theory and curriculum. However, Peru's development of effective managerial resources is directly related to its unique social economic system within which they function. What may be sound and efficient management practice in the United States may be largely ineffective when taught within the widely different cultural and economic environment of Peru. In fact, the North American concept of managerial efficiency must be redefined in relation to the Peruvian value system and environmental constraints within which it must operate.

Entre las cuestiones en que el derecho constitucional lationamericano ha debido separarse del modelo —en tantos otros respectos seguido no sin admiración— de los Estados Unidos de Norteamérica, cuenta la de los indígenas.

La diferencia arraiga en zonas profundas de la historia y de la idiosincrasia de los dos sectores culturales del continente americano. Es consecuencia de la diferente actitud básica con que emprendieron la ocupación de este territorio los ibéricos y los anglosajones. La conquista anglosajona de los actuales Estados Unidos, tendió al desalojo, cuando no al exterminio de los primitivos habitantes de ese territorio. Nunca intentaron, de consiguiente, incorporarlos a la comunidad dominante, ni prepararlos para esa incorporatión, ni la reconocieron deseable o legítima. Los restos de aquellos pobladores indígenas son tratados prácticamente como extranjeros, o poco menos, y han quedado situados en “reservaciones”, algo así como enclaves foráneos dentro del territorio de la Unión.

Women's participation in the industrial labor force seems to have followed a universal pattern across nations and across historical periods. Available evidence suggests that in the early stages of industrialization young, single women are readily employed in industries manufacturing food, clothing, and other nondurable products. As industrialization progresses and more advanced technologies are introduced, women are replaced by men as the preferred industrial workers (Baker, 1964; Boserup, 1970; Safa, 1977; Scott and Tilly, 1975).

A 1995 survey shows that Mexican citizens depend on their cognitive and affective orientations toward the United States in forming opinions about economic agreements between the two countries. The degree to which respondents utilized general feelings toward the United States rather than images of the United States varies by educational level and across the two agreements that were examined, NAFTA and the Clinton economic stabilization package of 1995. Whether respondents utilized an image of U.S. economic imperialism or of racial discrimination against people of Mexican origin in forming their opinions also depends on the level of education attained and on the policy domain of the agreement. The cognitive processes respondents utilized to form opinions about these economic agreements also differ across educational levels and policy domains. The findings have important implications for the capacity of Mexican elites to mobilize support for agreements with the United States and more generally for U.S.-Mexican relations.