A moderna fase, iniciada no século XV, de contactos de europeus com regióes tropicais — contactos que têm importado na maior ou na menor europeização dessas regiões — permite-nos considerar êsse fenômeno em têrmos nao só de Historia Social e de Antropologia Cultural como de Sociología de Historia ou de Sociologia da Cultura. Em qualquer dessas especialidades, é assunto, ésse, de importancia máxima para a interpretacáo e a compreensáo do Homem Situado: assunto já de Antropologia Filosófica. Em têrmos, quer da primeira, quer de qualquer outra dessas especialidades — principalmente em têrmos, sociológicos ou antropo-filosóficos — já nos é permitido empregar a expressáo “eurotropical” para caracterizar, globalmente, ésse tipo de contactos interregionais, interraciais e interculturais.

Rapid Modernization is Latin America's chief development requirement. Its costs and benefits are central questions for educators, developers and leaders to ponder and help answer.

Among the requirements of educational modernization is the adoption of curricula more pertinent to new social, political and economic needs than the outmoded curricula most schools and universities still have. Curriculum changes must also be accompanied by the introduction of new methods of instruction, improved physical facilities and raised academic standards. Another immediate challenge to the effectiveness of Latin American education, especially of universities, is the development of ways to engage facilities and faculties in significant service to public and private development activities. Contributions of educational institutions to the processes of national development no longer depend solely on their capacity to supply well-trained graduates. They must also contribute to the formulation and implementation of research and policy in the applied fields of government and industrial development.

“One of the chief objects of my administration,” Woodrow Wilson stated on March 11, 1913, after learning of political unrest in the Caribbean, “will be to cultivate the friendship and deserve the confidence of our sister republics of Central and South America, and to promote in every proper and honorable way the interests which are common to the peoples of the two continents.” Believing, however, that “cooperation is possible only when supported at every turn by the orderly processes of just government based upon law, not upon arbitrary or irregular force,” he wanted the Latin American nations to build their governments upon the same foundation of law and order as that of the United States. On the part of his own nation, he renounced, in his Mobile Address of October 27, 1913, the “Dollar Diplomacy” of his predecessors Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft, and proposed instead a Pan American Pact to provide mutual guarantees of political independence and territorial integrity.

Peruvians who are planning more extensive development of their Northern coast area find the lack of accurate data regarding land surveys, land tenure, and land values a serious obstacle. An effective register of the real property of the area based on a sound cadastral system is urgently needed.

A typically faulty element in the agrarian structure of economically underdeveloped countries is the so-called land division or cadastral system regnant. Generally, the main objectives of these systems would be to record and measure the tenure characteristics of (agricultural) land. Their contents would vary according to the goals of the system and the resources available for establishing and maintaining it. The essential components are a registry of rights in land and its accompanying map.

Urban morphology and growth have been studied by sociologists and others in the United States for half a century. A question raised in some recent studies is: To what extent are urban forms and growth processes universal? Sargent (1972) has proposed a universal model of urban dynamics intended “to relate processes to the spatial development,” particularly residential development, of the city. Sargent uses Buenos Aires between 1870 and 1930 as a case study. This article applies his model to another Latin American capital, Caracas, during approximately the same time period in order to demonstrate imperfections in the model as it relates to the way in which transportation systems expand, the forces which influence their expansion, and the manner in which they affect city growth.

In a March 1980 address to the Venezuelan Congress, President Luis Herrera Campíns stated: “Effective action by Venezuela in the sphere of international affairs must take into account certain key facts: Economics—we are a producer-exporter of oil; politics—we have a stable, consolidated democracy; and geopolitics—we are at one and the same time a Caribbean, Andean, Atlantic, and Amazonian country” (Venezuela Up To Date, 1980: 8). President Herrera's statement reveals a Venezuelan interest in geopolitics; at the same time, it outlines the difficulties in achieving a coherent geopolitical strategy.

This article analyzes the campaign of Nicaraguan president Arnoldo Alemán (1997–2002) against organized competitors, what has been called his war against the nongovernmental organizations, or NGOs. Alemán's attacks on the NGO sector are shown to be consistent with the logic of the new populism in Latin America. At the same time, his choice of targets—prominent NGO figures who were often foreign-born and always female—must be explained with reference to the specifics of Nicaraguan civil society and its evolving relationship with the political parties. This study argues that by choosing to respond to the challenges of international neoliberalism and local feminism through the anti-NGO campaign, Alemán helped to weaken democracy in Nicaragua.

North American political scientists and foreign policy observers spend a good deal of time lecturing Brazil on its proper role in world affairs. Brazilian diplomats and foreign policy specialists are occupied with formulating appropriate responses to the well meaning, but basically inaccurate, attempts of the Americans to push Brazil into global leadership (Política e Estrategia, 1983).

With the coming change in government on March 15,1985, the debate will again erupt. Will Tancredo Neves reformulate Brazilian foreign policy? Can Paulo Maluf redefine his country's role in world affairs? My own sense of the evolution of Brazilian foreign policy is that the concern is irrelevant. Brazil's world view, for some decades, has manifested a high degree of coherence and even predictability, if one listens to what Brazilian foreign policy elites say as well as what they do.

This article studies voter behavior in Argentina. Do voters vote based on issues? Do they vote based on economic performance? What segments of the population are more or less likely to do so? What is the relative impact of issues and the economy in vote choice? To provide a reliable answer to these questions, this study uses a mixed-logit model of spatial voting with nonpolicy components. Contrary to the common belief, the analysis finds that issue voting is a statistically significant and important factor. Economic voting is prevalent in the middle and upper classes, but not among poor voters.

It is now six years since the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) toppled the regime of Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Somoza Debayle. Even today, the nature of the FSLN - its road to power, its political complexion and orientation, and its objectives - remains the subject of heated debate. Some still argue that the Sandinista regime is a nationalistic, non-aligned, although radical, Third World government. Others emphasize the Marxist-Leninist overtones characterizing its seizure and consolidation of power, its foreign relations, and its efforts to introduce socialist transformation to Nicaraguan society.

Basically, there are two exaggerated views of Nicaraguan foreign policy: one depicts Nicaragua as a communist pawn of Moscow and Havana; the other views Nicaragua as a classical non-aligned Third World nation. Neither school of thought reflects the complex reality of Nicaraguan politics and foreign policy.

Although the United States entered the Cuban war against Spain in 1898 with a great burst of pro-Cuban enthusiasm, this friendliness suddenly soured into contempt. A revolution in public opinion during the summer of 1898 abruptly lowered the Cuban heroes to the status of villains in North American eyes, while the Spanish enemy came to be regarded as brave and honorable. A Michigan soldier expressed a characteristic view when he confessed that “while my opinion of the Spanish troops is in the ascendant, that of the Cuban troops is at the other end of the teeter.

“A new economic order is essential for world peace,” proclaimed President Carlos Andrés Pérez of Venezuela (1976) on November 16, 1976, at the UN General Assembly in fulfilling “the mandate which Simon Bolivar gave [the Venezuelans] more than 150 years ago” (Pérez, 1976: 28). Responding to this call of destiny and reaffirming Venezuela's claimed Bolivarian tradition of placing “its resources.at the service of its people, at the servi of Latin America, at the service of humanity” (Pérez, 1976: 28f President Pérez (nicknamed Simonsito) sought in and through the New International Economic Order (NIEO) a new Lebensraum, not of destructive territorial expansion, but of increased purchasing power, dignity, equality, and independence for the poor, weak, underprivileged countries (Pérez, 1976: 7, 11). The NIEO, “a moral obligation of all nations,” “is required as a¡ desideratum of peace,” especially since the disintegrating “old international economic order which emerged from the Second World War … was an unjust system of relations based on inequality … designed to benefit those countries which had accumulated the fruits of technical progress” (Pérez, 1976: 9).

Socio-Economic or General Cultural Similarities between Brazil and the rest of Latin America would seem sufficient to support similarities of interests and close cooperative relationships. Yet Brazil's Lusophone culture, the immensity of the country, the geographical distance of much of its population from Spanish American population centers, and middle and upper class fascination for things American or European led instead to a sense of separateness and distinctness which impeded serious Brazilian selfidentification, beyond rhetoric, as a Latin American nation despite its geographical location. Thus the question of how Brazil should relate to the rest of Latin America has been a topic of domestic and continental debate, with increasingly practical consequences as the South American development process continues. The recent shift toward more intense, collaborative relations, in particular, invites analysis of current trends and speculation on possible outcomes.

By Mid-1986, The Contadora Group's search for a negotiated peace in Central America had reached a seemingly insurmountable impasse. Negotiations were deadlocked over the issues of arms limitations, democratization, and US support for the Nicaraguan counter-revolutionaries (contrarevolucionarios or contras). The United States and its closest Central American allies - Costa Rica, Honduras and El Salvador - demanded that Nicaragua reduce the size of its armed forces and install a democratic political system before they would end support for the contras Nicaragua's Sandinistas, in turn, refused to disarm until the United States and its Central American neighbors halted their support for the contras, they also rejected all proposals for direct negotiations with the contras.

The Aztecs discovered petroleum in Mexico and used it before the arrival of the Spanish in 1519. They burned it in tribute to their gods, caulked their canoes with it, smeared it on their bodies as a medicine, and utilized it as a dye and a glue. Over three centuries elapsed before an effort was made to turn black gold into cash. Ten years after Edwin L. Drake drilled his famous well near Titusville, Pennsylvania, in 1859, a group of Mexicans unsuccessfully attempted to produce oil on the “Furbero” hacienda near Papantla in Vera Cruz state. It was not until May 1901 that Edward L. Doheny, a wily product of the rough-and-tumble American oil industry in which he had amassed a fortune, struck oil in Ébano, a jungle region of San Luis Potosí. Another pioneer in the development of Mexico's petroleum industry was Weeman Pearson, later Lord Cowdray, a Yorkshire entrepreneur who formed the fabulously profitable Mexican Eagle (Aguila) Company after discovering the “Golden Lane” fields in 1908 (Bermúdez, 1963; Sampson, 1975: 83-85; Grayson, 1978a).

It is difficult to write about a martyr. One has to contend with the keepers of the flame, who have strong personal and political reasons for preserving the hero's image. Moreover, myths usually contain elements of truth. Although Leonardo Ruiz Pineda is not known as widely as Zapata, Sandino, Che, or Camilo Torres, there are unmistakable efforts on the part of Venezuela's democratic leaders to include him in the pantheon of Latin America's recent revolutionary heroes.

The Council occupies a central position in the Organization of American States. The Charter names it as one of the six organs through which the Organization carries out its functions. It is the only body representing all member governments that is continually in session at the seat of the Organization. With some 60 years of consecutive if varied existence, the Council has been constantly subject to the major political influences that have shaped the attitudes of the 21 member governments toward the OAS. The fundamental character of the Council, its authority and its true role in the regional organization are still in a process of evolutionary development.

Colombia remains one of a very small group of countries in Latin America which retain competitive, liberal-democratic political institutions at this writing. Indeed, Colombia's civil government, recognizing a modicum of individual liberties and conducting periodic elections, has been shattered on relatively few occasions since the mid-nineteenth century, a record equalled or surpassed by few other Latin American countries. The Colombian political system is still dominated by the two traditional political parties (Liberal and Conservative) which arose in Colombia and elsewhere in the region in the nineteenth century. In almost every other country they have long since passed into oblivion or insignificance. This continued dominance by the traditional parties is commonly attributed to their successful mobilization of mass support, especially among the peasantry. The Colombian parties (unlike their counterparts elsewhere) early moved beyond being mere elite factions by using traditional authority relationships, clientelistic exchanges and ideological appeals to develop durable bases of mass support.

The unemployment problem in Colombia was recently discussed by Geithman and Landers (1973) in this journal. They argue that one of the fundamental causes of unemployment is a “higher capital-labor ratio” than would otherwise exist, according to factor endowments and the structure of final demand. This is attributed to the dependency of less developed countries (LDCs) on capital from advanced countries (ACs), with laborsaving characteristics suitable for the latter (Geithman and Landers, 1973: 317). Their excessive capital intensity thesis is based on Bruton's cross-sectional statistical study (1967), which made a number of simplified assumptions which should be examined in some detail.

Since Bruton and Geithman and Landers use the production function in their analysis, it is necessary to briefly discuss its most important characteristics. The quantities of capital (K), labor (L), and other inputs required by the industrial sector or the entire economy to achieve various levels of output (Q), can be viewed as a generalized production function.

Desde el momento mismo de la conquista y establecimiento de los españoles en el Nuevo Mundo ha sido de importancia singular el problema de la aculturación de la población indígena. En la primera mitad del siglo XVI se planteó una amplia discusión doctrinal con profundas consecuencias prácticas, en la que fueron agentes activos centrales las más altas instancias políticas y administrativas del Estado español coetáneo, desde el Consejo de Indias a la persona del propio Monarca, encontrándose en el origen de las más importantes decisiones de orden legislativo adoptadas por la Corona, con sus momentos culminantes en la Junta de Burgos, mandada reunir por Fernando III de Aragón en 1512 para estudiar expresamente la problemática humana e ideológica (en la época esencialmente religiosa) de los indios americanos, y en las Leyes Nuevas de 1542 promulgadas por Carlos V bajo la immediata influencia del “grupo de presión” del que era figura prominente el dominico Bartolomé de las Casas.