This paper presents a tentative explanation of the 1979 Nicaraguan revolution using a “micro-political” model of political profit, governmental efficiency, and political stability applied to data on the history of Somoza's fall. The revolution is explained as the outcome of a loss of stability by a government that attempted to control a greater share of the resources of the nation than its capabilities to persuade and coerce the population would allow. The initial results of the model, though preliminary, permit us to raise some important questions about the future of Nicaragua's political economy.

German scholarly concern with Latin America has a long and interesting tradition that began before Alexander von Humboldt's famous journey to Latin America at the beginning of the 19th century.

Well-known research in entomology, for example, was carried out by Maria Sybilla Merian, who was active in 1699 in Surinam. Similarly, a long and protracted cooperation exists between German and Latin American mining research on the major mining centers of the colonial Latin American world: the Bolivian highlands and Mexico. Alexander von Humboldt was able to build directly on these established and generally accepted contacts, especially in Mexico, where he found old college friends from Freiberg (Saxony) in decisive positions in Mexican mining affairs.

Would I be wrong in detecting a whiff of odium scholasticum? I am clearly not popular for poking fun at the language of modern social science, but I remain utterly unrepentant. It reminds me too forcibly of Section E, Umbugotology and Ditchwateristics, of Dickens' Second Meeting of the Mudfog Association for the Advancement of Everything. But worse, in my paper I “ideate” some fanciful notions on autonomy.

This article examines how the labor conditions of nurses in Nicaragua have evolved through twenty-five years of health care policy and regime transition, focusing on the period since the return to power in 2007 of the Frente Sandinista de la Liberación Nacional (FSLN). I ask whether the deterioration in nurses’ work-related well-being that were imposed by neoliberal health care restructuring have been redressed by the FSLN. I connect findings from interviews and focus groups with over fifty nurses to long-standing patterns in the gendering of care work, as well as the Sandinista track record in exploiting these patterns. Also relevant is the FSLN’s mutual antagonism with feminist movements and its incremental but pronounced turn toward a regressive stance on gender equality. Finally, a steady drift toward authoritarianism by the FSLN government constrains the capacity for nurses to collectively assert their interests as workers and professionals.

By using innovative microlevel data from Colombia’s civil war, this article examines protests, one of many actions that civilians employ to resists peacefully armed actors during civil war. By using a cost-benefit analysis, the author argues that inhabitants can mobilize and solve their collective action problem when the costs of migrating or supporting one side in a war are too expensive. By examining the civil conflict on Colombia between 1988 and 2010, the author finds that civilians are likely to protest armed actors under three conditions. First, autonomous communities, which enjoy benefits associated with their territory, are likely to protest because migration would be costly; moreover, the institutional strength of these communities can decrease the costs of mobilization against armed actors. Second, foreign aid distributed through nongovernmental associations can empower individuals to take action by providing selective incentives for mobilization, thus decreasing costs. Last, high levels of violence, up to a certain threshold, increase the costs of nonparticipation and induce civilian action.

Importantes protestas laborales ocurrieron en la minería latinoamericana en la última década. Este articulo compara las movilizaciones de contratistas en Chile y Perú, analizando por qué, a pesar de varias similitudes entre países, surgieron diferencias en sus dinámicas sindicales. En el primer caso, los sindicatos perduraron en el tiempo y coordinaron a nivel nacional, mientras que en el segundo las protestas no culminaron en organizaciones sólidas o articuladas. Sobre la base de entrevistas y trabajo de archivo, argumento que es crucial entender la permanencia de los líderes sindicales y sus redes políticas en Chile, y la precariedad no sólo laboral, sino organizativa, del caso peruano.

¿Qué hacen los trabajadores asalariados para responder a situaciones de injusticia en sus lugares de trabajo? Este artículo examina distintos repertorios de acción desplegados por trabajadores en el contexto laboral chileno, caracterizado por altos niveles de desigualdad salarial y una débil estructura sindical. Se analizan ocho grupos focales en los cuales trabajadores conversaron acerca de cómo responder a injusticias percibidas en el mundo laboral. Se identifican cinco repertorios que cuentan con diversos grados de legitimidad según el nivel socioeconómico del grupo: neoliberal, managerial, sindical, fatalista y resiliente. Se argumenta que el repertorio neoliberal ofrece a los grupos profesionales una mayor capacidad de respuesta ante injusticias distributivas y procedimentales, mientras que el repertorio resiliente ofrecería a trabajadores no calificados un set de herramientas culturales para hacer frente a los agravios a la dignidad en los lugares de trabajo. Los grupos de supervisores adoptarían en mayor medida un repertorio managerial, impulsados por gestionar el clima laboral en contextos de baja legitimidad de los sindicatos y miedo al conflicto. Se concluye que en contextos laborales fuertemente desregulados, como el caso chileno, una apropiación diferenciada de repertorios podría contribuir a reforzar las desigualdades existentes en el trabajo.

The pulperos were the largest group of small, independent entrepreneurial storekeepers officially categorized and supervised in Spanish America during the colonial period and the nineteenth century. There are no studies of them. There were other small storekeepers, such as owners of bakeries or fish stores, who were far fewer in number, or artisan storekeepers, who occasionally were many in number but who were craft oriented rather than purely business oriented. What follows is a preliminary report. A final analysis and presentation must await an intensive, long-term study of the pulperos and bodegueros in Caracas, Medellín, or Buenos Aires, as circumstances permit, that will not be completed for several years.

O projeto de integração regional Mercosul inclui o ensino de espanhol e português nos países membros. A Argentina e o Brasil têm leis obrigando a ofertar essas línguas aos estudantes no ensino médio, porém os processos de promoção, financiamento e implementação desses compromissos, como o contexto de implementação dessas iniciativas, são marcadamente diferentes. Neste trabalho analiso os últimos vinte anos de política lingüística regional à luz de fatores extralingüísticos e discuto algumas das razões que podem estar influenciando a maior autonomia regional do ensino de português em Buenos Aires, em contraste com uma maior dependência do ensino de espanhol em São Paulo vis-a-vis a Espanha.

This essay reviews the following works:

Rethinking Productive Development: Sound Policies and Institutions for Economic Transformation. Edited by Gustavo Crespi, Eduardo Fernández-Arias, and Ernesto Stein; Inter-American Development Bank. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014. Pp. xxix + 461. $54.99 paperback. ISBN: 9781137397164.

Macroeconomics and Development: Roberto Frenkel and the Economics of Latin America. Edited by Mario Damill, Martín Rapetti, and Guillermo Rozenwurcel. New York: Columbia University Press, 2016. Pp. xi + 389. $65.00 hardcover. ISBN: 9780231175081.

Free Trade and Faithful Globalization: Saving the Market. By Amy Reynolds. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2015. Pp. x + 179. $28.99 paperback. ISBN: 9781107435179.

Latin America after the Financial Crisis: Economic Ramifications from Heterodox Perspectives. Edited by Juan E. Santarcángelo, Orlando Justo, and Paul Cooney. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Pp. vii + 251. $149.99 hardcover. ISBN: 9781137486615.

Meaningful Resistance: Market Reforms and the Roots of Social Protest in Latin America. By Erica S. Simmons New York: Cambridge University Press, 2016. Pp. xi + 219. $27.99 paperback. ISBN: 9781107562059.

Global Capitalism in Disarray: Inequality, Debt, and Austerity. By Andrés Solimano. New York: Oxford University Press, 2017. Pp. xi + 235. $35.95 hardcover. ISBN: 9780190626273.

The Last Day of Oppression, and the First Day of the Same: The Politics and Economics of the New Latin American Left. By Jeffery R. Webber Chicago: Haymarket Books, 2017. Pp. 1 + 305. $26.00 paperback. ISBN: 9780745399539.

In the liberal tradition, democracy is often defined by the holding of open elections and the preservation of a given set of civil rights and liberties. As neoliberal democratic governments emerge around the world, the relationship between democracy and a citizen's democratic rights is rapidly being redefined. In the ensuing debates, access to information has become an important issue. Many of these new governments, in their efforts to project themselves as “democratic,” have moved quickly to declassify a host of documents. This strategy has resulted in a tidal wave of revisionist research. One of the countries following this trend is Brazil.