We examine the promise and accomplishments of New Social Movement (NSM) theory for understanding recent social movements in Latin America. After delineating and critiquing the key premises and concerns of NSM analyses, we demonstrate how a conceptual frame combining political economy and political sociology accounts better for the origins and trajectories of the social movements, including two of the most important in Latin America, Brazil's Movement of the Landless Rural Workers (MST) and Bolivia's Movement toward Socialism (MAS).

The history of independent Brazil may be divided into three major state-society cycles, and, after 1930, five political pacts or class coalitions can be identified. These pacts were nationalist; only in the 1990s did the Brazilian elites surrender to neoliberal hegemony. Yet since early in the twenty-first century they have been rediscovering the idea of the nation. The main claim of this essay is that Brazilian elites and Brazilian society are “national-dependent,” that is, they are ambivalent and contradictory, requiring an oxymoron to define them. They are dependent because they often consider themselves “Europeans” and the mass of the people as inferior. But Brazil is big enough, and there are many common interests around its domestic market, to make the Brazilian nation less ambivalent. Today the country is seeking a synthesis between the last two political cycles—between social justice and economic development in the framework of democracy.

For many people throughout much of the world today, the terms “Amazon” and “rain forest” are synonymous—indeed, it seems as if the two must have always intertwined. However, while this much-invoked realm of shimmering, fragile nature, together with its ferocious jungle alter ego, does have deep roots in the past, its present-day incarnation has much to do with the global environmental movement that began emerging in the 1960s and has continued to morph over time. This article examines contemporary representations of the Amazon with an eye to what is now changing, as well as why. It underscores the key role that these depictions play in shaping policy, which gives them an importance far transcending purely narrative concerns.

In 2008 Bolivia ceased to benefit from US trade preferences, which resulted in thousands of jobs lost thoroughout the country. Without the political will to initiate a trade agreement with the United States, the Morales administration has the opportunity to initiate a trade agreement with the European Union. This study evaluates macro- and microeconomic impacts emerging from a hypothetical trade agreement between Bolivia and the European Union. Our methodology consisted of using a computable general equilibrium model as price generator, and a micro-simulation approach as a bridge to transmit those price changes to the household level under two liberalization scenarios. We conclude that Bolivia could benefit if a trade agreement with the European Union (the second largest importer of goods in the world) is accomplished.

Afro-Brazilian communities (quilombos) hold rights to a collective territory where they live and that supports their livelihoods. Historically, Afro-Brazilian smallholders have been subjected to contradictory programs and policies that either restrain traditional practices such as shifting cultivation or aim at empowering these communities. This is the first attempt to adopt the Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) theoretical framework to study the historical transformation of the institutional structure in Afro-Brazilian territories of the Ribeira Valley, São Paulo, Brazil. Our results reveal a history of long-term, continuous relationships between locals and external groups, sometimes combative and at other times cooperative, reflecting tensions and contradictions. As a result, quilombo communities have gradually emerged as leaders in an institutional arrangement that is moving toward co-governance or partnerships. We believe that if these communities achieve full economic and political autonomy, they might be able to self-govern their territories and reconcile the dual goals of local development and environmental conservation.

The present study analyzes the role of collective remittances in promoting democratic consolidation amid the decentralization of political decision making in Mexico. Specifically, 1 analyze how the remittance-matching program 3 × 1 para Migrantes conditions municipal politics in the state of Guanajuato, Mexico. To this end, I evaluate 3 × 1 para Migrantes investment patterns across Guanajuato's forty-six municipalities for the period 2001–2011. The results of my study indicate that, under the right conditions, remittances channeled through the 3 × 1 program stimulate higher levels of voter participation and in this manner have the potential to contribute to democratic growth. However, data patterns also indicate that 3 × 1 investments share a positive correlation with election cycles, demonstrating that local authorities may use the 3 × 1 program to garner political support. In this respect, my analysis calls into question the depth of democratic consolidation at the municipal level in the state of Guanajuato.

Este artículo analiza el humor, la conflictividad social y el lenguaje en la literatura y el proyecto editorial de Washington Cucurto en consonancia con la poscrisis argentina del año 2001, un período de inestabilidad y cuestionamiento de la configuración sociopolítica, económica y cultural del país. Su humor se encarna en la combinación del habla oral con sintagmas que no son propios de la oralidad, abriendo el espacio a la parodia y la tragedia. Este estilo —al que el autor denomina realismo atolondrado—introduce una “extrañeza inquietante” en prácticas sociales automatizadas en las que se naturaliza la violencia, el racismo y la xenofobia social hacia los inmigrantes externos e internos del gran Buenos Aires. El realismo atolondrado está asimismo presente en su proyecto editorial Eloísa Cartonera, el cual construido a partir de lo que la sociedad deshecha mantiene una relación de familiar extrañeza con el curso de la industria cultural global y con el curso de la cultura de las artes en general.

Recent criticism of the Spanish American novela total likens the genre's “totalizing” approach to social representation to that of state-administered nationalism, in which differences are either systematically erased or institutionalized through demographic segmentation in order to construct homogeneous, “democratic” consensus among political agents. In this view, the total novel misappropriates others' voices for the cultural elite's own political and commercial ends. In contrast, the testimonio is held up as a more democratic genre that distributes representational authority among a variety of agents. This essay reevaluates the relationship between the novela total and testimonial modes of discourse, arguing that Mexican author Fernando del Paso's total novels draw on the litigious power of testimonial as well as modernist aesthetics of rupture to disrupt the narrative of democratic consensus constructed by Mexico's Partido Revolucionario Institucional and to postulate a civil society that congeals as a horizontal, aggregative ethical community in opposition to state politics.

Decentralization has been considered a tool of democracy promotion because of its ability to improve citizen participation and increase equity by allocating resources to long-neglected populations. I examine these claims by focusing on decentralization's effects for indigenous and Afro-Latino individuals in fifteen Latin American countries. Using AmericasBarometer survey data provided by the Latin American Public Opinion Project (LAPOP), I first analyze how the inclusion of ethnic citizens in local government affects attitudes that are considered crucial for democratic consolidation, such as satisfaction with democratic governance. I then assess whether decentralization has increased inclusion by examining how political, fiscal, and administrative decentralization affect ethnic individuals' participation and engagement in local government. The analyses demonstrate the limits of decentralizing reforms for democratization. I find that the inclusion of marginalized citizens is not substantially enhanced by decentralization, which is especially important given the other significant result of this study: that local inclusion increases ethnic individuals' support for democracy. The results suggest that individual reserves of social capital may be most important for enhancing local inclusion, and hence support for democracy.

Aunque suele plantearse que la relación migración-desarrollo es un fenómeno complejo y multifacético, al final de cuentas el debate ha estado hegemonizado por la visión que los países receptores y organismos internacionales tienen de ella. Según esta perspectiva, la migración adquiere un sentido y significado político diferente según se trate de los países emisores o receptores de migrantes. En el primer caso, la migración es vista como una oportunidad para potenciar sus procesos de desarrollo económico y social. En el caso de los países de destino, en cambio, se habla más bien de una cuestión migratoria, enfocándose el análisis en los problemas sociales, económicos o políticos que plantea la inmigración masiva, máxime cuando se considera la alta proporción de migrantes indocumentados. En este contexto, nos interesa aportar elementos analíticos e información empírica que contribuyan a visibilizar diversos aspectos de la relación migración-desarrollo que han sido invisibilizados en este debate. Para ello, nos centraremos en el análisis de la inmigración latinoamericana a los Estados Unidos en las últimas décadas. En concreto, presentamos datos estadísticos en torno a tres aspectos que nos parecen de particular relevancia. Por un lado, en cuanto a las causas y factores desencadenantes de la migración internacional; por otro lado, en relación a las contribuciones de la inmigración latinoamericana a la economía y demografía de los Estados Unidos; y finalmente, sobre los costos e impactos de la emigración en los países de origen en América Latina.

Migrar desde Centroamérica hasta Estados Unidos comporta un costo económico y social cada vez más elevado. Las tarifas de los polleros se han incrementado; en México los centroamericanos corren un grave riesgo de ser secuestrados, y si logran cruzar con éxito la frontera estadounidense deben permanecer escondidos para evitar ser deportados. Este artículo, fundamentado en una metodología cualitativa que incluye entrevistas en profundidad a treinta y cinco polleros que conducían centroamericanos a Estados Unidos y a cincuenta migrantes de Centroamérica, pretende dar respuesta a la siguiente pregunta: ¿por qué se arriesgan los centroamericanos a transitar por México para llegar a Estados Unidos si el costo económico es tan elevado, la probabilidad de éxito tan baja y el riesgo de sufrir agresiones de carácter grave es tan elevado? El estudio concluye que el principal impulsor de este fenómeno migratorio es el apoyo económico de los empleadores para que los centroamericanos puedan cruzar de modo subrepticio la frontera estadounidense.

An ethnic church from the Middle East without a missionary tradition has grown in a decade to several hundred parishioners in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia. Using anthropology and ethnographic methods, this article argues that interculturality, even if marked by subjectivity, equivocations, culturalism, and ephemerality, can also be characterized by the seduction of symbols, mutual appropriation, and inclusion. I will give particular attention to the role of assigned beauty and awe in the constitution of meaning and show that shared relational intelligence and the emotional security provided by the priests allow for semiotic distortions to be overcome.

Numerous recent country studies demonstrate that beneficiaries of conditional cash transfer (CCT) programs vote for incumbents at higher rates. It is reasonable to expect that, as a consequence, those incumbents will perform better nationally in the next election. This article warns against such an extrapolation. It analyzes an original cross-national data set with information for eighty-four Latin American presidential elections that took place between 1990 and 2010. My results reveal that CCT programs have not improved incumbents' aggregate electoral performances in the region, contradicting common speculative claims of the literature. They also confirm the classic economic voting hypothesis that incumbents are held accountable in the polls for their economic performance.

En las fronteras indígenas del Río de la Plata y Chile meridional, principalmente en la primera, la comunicación interétnica estuvo condicionada para las autoridades coloniales por una endémica escasez de lenguaraces e intérpretes, de quienes dependían debido a su habitual desconocimiento del mapu dungum, lengua del sur del reino de generalizada utilización en el siglo XVIII por todos los grupos nativos de la región. Con relación a estos últimos, en cambio, no son pocos los casos documentados de personas que habían incorporado el habla de Castilla (o español como se la denominaba) y la utilizaban en actividades de mediación —inclusive por circunstancial requerimiento de la administración— y de inteligencia. En este artículo, se examinan las distintas maneras en que los oficiales reales, los sacerdotes y especialmente los hombres y mujeres indígenas enfrentaron y resolvieron las dificultades inherentes a la adquisición de ambas lenguas y a las demandas de intermediación.

This article offers an articulation of liberation philosophy, a Latin American form of political and philosophical thought that is largely not followed in European and Anglo-American political circles. Liberation philosophy has posed serious challenges to Jürgen Habermas's and Karl-Otto Apel's discourse ethics. Here I explain what these challenges consist of and argue that Apel's response to Latin American political thought shows that discourse ethics can maintain internal consistency only if it is subsumed under the program of liberation philosophy.

This article addresses the paradox of unpopular corruption and popular corrupt politicians. It explores why corrupt politicians are reelected, paying particular attention to incumbent provision of public goods and voter information on incumbent misconduct. Using a new data set on mayoral elections (2000 and 2004) in the Brazilian state of Pernambuco, we specify econometric models to test the hypothesis that incumbents' performance in delivering public goods might mitigate reputational losses. Our main empirical analysis suggests that (1) corruption decreases the probability of incumbent reelection, (2) public expenditure increases the probability of reelection, and (3) the negative marginal effect of corruption on reelection disappears as public expenditure increases.

México se encuentra inmerso en un proceso que se caracteriza por el aumento de la violencia armada. Sin embargo, esta no es la única forma de violencia que se vive en los pueblos. Este artículo analiza el proceso de transformación de la vida cotidiana y las condiciones de vida de los habitantes de Huitzilac, Morelos, México, debidas a la presencia de actividades delictivas como el robo, secuestro y asesinato; la firma de tratados comerciales internacionales que ha provocado la desaparición de la actividad manufacturera; y la inseguridad en la tenencia de la tierra como parte de un proceso de manipulación de la legislación agraria.

Las ciencias sociales por lo general han propuesto lecturas de las clases populares y de lo popular que han tendido a minimizar la existencia de formas de individualidad en su seno, dando lugar a visiones altamente colectivistas de sus miembros. Sobre la base de dos investigaciones empíricas de tipo cualitativo para el caso de Chile, realizadas mediante entrevistas semidirectivas y técnicas grupales, este artículo discute que, sin desconocer la comunidad de experiencias observable entre sus miembros, es posible dar cuenta de ciertos procesos individualizadores específicos en este grupo social. Frente a las numerosas adversidades de su existencia en un contexto de alta inestabilidad posicionai y exigencia de híperactuación, los miembros de los sectores populares urbanos tienden a afirmar su individualidad a partir de tres dimensiones: la fortaleza de carácter; la habilidad y el sentido de oportunidad; y el goce y la irreverencia humorística.

How are patterns of delegation between the president and the legislature chosen in multiparty presidential regimes? How do political actors make strategic use of legislative provisions during moments of institutional reform? This essay explores causal mechanisms related to these questions based on a case study of Brazilian budget reform from 1999 to 2008. The main findings are that legislative agenda control can be decisive for the maintenance of delegation patterns that favor governing coalitions; entrepreneurs have a real, but limited, power; and the strategic use of legislative rules may be as relevant for institutional reform as they are for regular policy making.