This article discusses epistemological, theoretical, and methodological issues that arise while doing fieldwork in communities where conflict and violence are part of everyday life. It also discusses some of the debates on the role of social research while studying the interaction of conflict, violence, and human suffering. The author explored collaborative research methodologies to build research questions that resonate with both the researcher and collaborators, and she underlines the need to engage in dialogue about their different types of knowledge.

This article addresses the way in which the Argentine Supreme Court has set out to redefine its own institutional role through its procedures and decisions, since its institutional reform in 2003. It shows that the Court has developed innovative ways of judicial intervention in public policy and rights issues, which include the participation of new kinds of actors and entail an emerging new relationship between the Court and civil society organizations in Argentina. The article argues that this change can be understood as a way for the Court to rebuild its institutional legitimacy, and that the reform is connected to the presence of strong nongovernmental organizations whose claims for a change in the Court's composition and procedures gained momentum in the aftermath of the social and political crisis of 2001-2002 in Argentina.

El asesinato de setenta y dos indocumentados en Tamaulipas en agosto de 2010 parece confirmar el punto de vista oficial de que el contrabando de indocumentados entre México y los Estados Unidos ha pasado a manos de los grupos delictivos que operan en la frontera. Este artículo, a partir del uso de una metodología cualitativa que incluye la realización de entrevistas en profundidad de cuarenta coyotes, examina la estructura de las redes de contrabando de indocumentados en Tamaulipas y analiza los nexos existentes entre el coyotaje y los grupos delictivos.

Este trabajo analiza, en el contexto de la Guerra Fría y del terrorismo de Estado, el comportamiento de una red integrada por referentes religiosos que, articulados con organizaciones de la sociedad civil y del Estado lograron el cese de la ayuda militar norteamericana al gobierno argentino, el otorgamiento de asilo político a algunos ciudadanos argentinos y pedidos por otros detenidos desaparecidos. Los religiosos que formaban parte de esta red fueron aquellos que, en diferente grado, incorporaron alguna nota de secularización: laicidad de la política, pluralización social o autonomía personal. Esta diversidad se explica por las distintas concepciones de lo sagrado de las que eran tributarios los sectores católicos.

Distinguimos entre a perspectiva instrumental do indivíduo sobre sua rede de relações sociais (capital social minimalista) e a perspectiva da resolução dos dilemas da ação coletiva (capital social maximalista) (Ostrom e Ahn 2003). Seguindo esta última, estudamos os mecanismos sociais que operavam dentro de um arranjo produtivo que visava substituir cultivos ilícitos de coca na Colômbia. Reconstruímos os efeitos da estrutura de incentivos sustentada por um ator externo — situação third party— e das estruturas emergentes de circulação da informação, de colaboração e de controle social lateral. Ao contrário da visada associação de agricultores, criou-se um aparelho de regulação com baixa capacidade coercitiva e sob os critérios do agente externo. A politização do processo e a disposição espacial da produção geraram um perfil dual nas redes intra organizacionais: centralização burocrática e descentralização técnica da informação, de baixa e alta densidade de colaboração, e de autoridade vertical e horizontal para o controle social lateral.

Several scholars have argued that decentralization benefits states and municipalities, granting them more autonomy for managing their budgets and more resources to deliver their services. Others have questioned this assertion, claiming that decentralization makes subnational units more fiscally dependent on central governments. This article argues that the fiscal impact of decentralization must be differentiated across states. It theoretically specifies and empirically demonstrates which states benefit during periods of decentralization and centralization. It argues that powerful presidents who centralize resources have imposed greater costs on more developed and fiscally independent districts (which prefer to administer their own resources and can be serious challengers to presidential power), thus relying mainly on support from less developed and more fiscally dependent provinces, which prefer more redistribution. I present empirical evidence for Argentina (1983-2004), a developing federation with strong governors and high cross-regional inequality, and discuss some implications for comparative studies on the topic.

Este artículo analiza la forma en que la construcción e institucionalización de las representaciones sociales sobre Tepoztlán, Morelos, México, han influido en la definición de la actividad turística en esta población. Proponemos el concepto de “economía de la experiencia íntima” para analizar las formas de institucionalización que tienen los lugares, las prácticas, los símbolos y las relaciones que al reunirse producen lo que la mayoría de la gente considera como vivencias auténticas, de recreo y confort. El artículo concluye que el turismo es una compleja red de dimensiones y relaciones sociales donde existe una tendencia a la creación de relaciones asimétricas de explotación del trabajo y la cultura.

This study evaluates whether 853 municipalities of Minas Gerais have developed one specific strategy of electronic government. We searched for municipalities that have websites for the executive branch, relating this information to a number of secondary data. These data include variables on the Municipal Human Development Index (HDI-M), municipal budgetary revenues, year of founding of municipalities, the mayor's party affiliation, and a public policy initiative related to the creation of municipal executive branch websites. This analysis was performed to develop descriptive statistics among the variables collected. In addition to exploring descriptive analysis, we attempted to determine statistical models that explain the existence of websites for municipal executives. This allowed us to determine whether municipalities that were established earlier than others, have the highest HDI-M, and have larger budgets are also more likely to have websites. The results indicate that older municipalities, as well as those with higher HDI-M and elevated budgetary revenues, are more likely to have websites. A mayor's party affiliation indicates that municipalities administered by the Workers' Party (Partido dos Trabalhadores, or PT, the center-left-wing party) are more likely to have websites than municipalities governed by the Brazilian Social Democratic Party (Partido da Social Democracia Brasileira, or PSDB, the center-right-wing party). Furthermore, municipalities that use the state government program Integraminas (Connect Minas) are less likely to have their own websites, which is an indication that these locations are using policy resources to communicate electronically with the population. Thus, newly founded municipalities with low HDI-M, with low budgetary revenue, and administered by center-right-wing parties may benefit from public policies that encourage greater transparency in the communication of municipal executives with their population.

This article examines the sources of economic growth for a group of Latin American countries in relation to their export performance in China. The analytical framework is based on an extended normalized quadratic profit function. The econometric results confirm that a favorable export record with China represents a positive source of growth for Latin America. However, it also creates long-run dependability conditions in terms of reduced prices and thinner profits that weaken its growth capacity. Latin American countries must seek product diversification away from their current commodity base and aggressively climb up the value chain to remain competitive worldwide.