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In this paper, we compare the attitudes of mass publics toward abortion in two Latin American countries (Mexico and El Salvador) and two nations in Central Europe (the Czech Republic and Poland). In El Salvador and Poland, abortion laws have become more restrictive, contrary to international trends. We find that, at the level of the mass public, attitudes toward abortion are significantly related to attitudes toward feminism in Mexico and the Czech Republic, but not in El Salvador and Poland. These finding suggests that mass publics in the latter two nations are less likely to perceive abortion as a "women's issue." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A huge worldwide wave of cross-border bank acquisitions occurred in the 1990's. Europe and Latin America provided the most active game boards on which bank acquisitions played out, in terms of value and number of acquisitions, but countries in Asia, the Middle East and other regions also saw significant levels of bank sales to foreign buyers. Financial economics had traditionally analyzed bank acquisitions from an efficiency perspective, arguing that banks are driven to exploit the efficiency gains obtained through buying other banks. But I argue, with support from recent studies in banking finance, economics and international politics, that these waves of bank privatization and acquisition are driven largely by political dynamics at the national and international levels. The more controversial forms of FDI involve industries of strategic interest, of which banking is one. Banks are at the center of modern economies. Banks are monitored and governed by national and international organizations established for that purpose and they lobby these organizations. Banks are also "privately monitored" by investors and other interested parties. In short, banks and financial systems operate in a complex web of politics. Governmental actors are pulled and pushed toward banks and banks' power. They are pulled by banks' ability to deploy liquidity in productive ways, and pushed by the perceived need to regulate and monitor banking activity. I propose that cross-border bank acquisitions, driven by "closeness" between countries, could be examined through a multilevel tobit model examining the predilection for a bank in one country to buy a bank in another. I propose to modify and extend the "gravity equation" model from international economics to explain the broad variation in cross-border bank acquisitions. Through this model, I suggest that "closeness", measured in legal, political economic, cultural and spatial terms, promotes cross-border bank acquisition. Closeness is theorized to decrease transaction costs. This paper sketches a preliminary hierarchical linear tobit model utilizing longitudinal datasets of national, bilateral and international factors for OECD countries. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our goal in this paper is limited: we seek to increase our understanding of globalization and government spending in one important way: we want to compare results from Latin America with Europe in order to determine whether governments in Latin America operate under the same constraints. To make the comparison we will use a time-series cross-sectional data set that records social spending in 19 Latin American countries and 16 European countries from 1980 to 2000. Our findings indicate that if countries tie themselves to policies that guarantee the free flow of capital and commit to maintaining a fixed rate of exchange for their currency, their ability to follow expansionary fiscal policy is contingent on region. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper begins with an overview of human rights protections in Latin America, Europe, and South East Asia. Next, the evolution of human rights in Africa in the early 1980s and the late 1990s is discussed, followed by an examination of the impact of domestic conditions, regional and international pressures, and cultural concerns on the instrumental calculations of state actors. Finally, African human rights developments are contrasted with those in other regions with the variance explained by a combination of domestic, regional and international factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A recent literature has explored the political determinants of social spending in Europe and in global and regional samples, for example, in Latin America. We argue that social spending in the 1980-2000 period depende heavily on the prior evolution of welfare regimes in the pre-1980 period. This paper explores this proposition through an analysis of social spending and changes in social policy in three regions: East Asia, which had relatively minimal social commitments prior to the 1980s, Latin America, where social spending was relatively extensive but highly unequal in its impact, and Eastern Europe, where social spending reflected entitlements that covered large segments of the population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based upon the concept of Security Governance, the paper analyzes a series of gaps and weaknesses in the EU Code and in related EU Member States' national and regional mechanisms to control military and security exports. In the case of the relation with Latin American countries, Governments that export arms and those that receive them have a fundamental responsibility to ensure that the arms are not misused for human rights violations or breaches of international law. In the case of Europe, EU Member States should fully abide by their international obligations including those acknowledged in the EU Code of Conduct and related EU and other international agreements, including treaties on human rights and international humanitarian law. In the conclusions, the paper indicates that fulfilling these obligations should not be viewed as a "hindrance" to trade, but as a fundamental pre-requisite for greater international security and prosperity. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Numerous observers have noted the recent trends of increased voter abstention, reduced confidence in politicians and political parties in decline. Such complaints are levied against the advanced democracies of Europe, their post-communist neighbors, the United States, and Latin America. Some use the term “anti-politics” to capture these apparently global phenomena that affect new and old democracies alike. This usage includes everything from relatively benign conditions of voter apathy to the more consequential loss of regime legitimacy. Whatever the specific symptom, they reflect varying degrees of negative public attitudes toward politics. Along with the rise of anti-politics, particularly in the 1990s, came a resurgence of populism. Several right-wing populists emerged in Europe, at times capturing surprisingly large shares of the popular vote. In Latin America, so-called neopopulists generated discussions of delegative democracy, hyperpresidentialism, illiberal democracy and so forth. Populist leaders of all stripes tend to exploit domestic problems to their own advantage. They play on the complaints of common citizens and blame the nation’s rulers from causing the hardships. As such, their efforts and rhetoric could be described as “anti-political.” Yet this raises an interesting question: what, exactly, is the relationship of anti-politics to populism? Are these merely two terms that describe the same phenomena, or are they analytically distinct? This paper attempts to clarify the relationship between populism and anti-politics. It enters into the conceptual discussion of populism—offering a new definition of populism as a political movement, rather than a style or strategy and so forth—and argues that anti-politics is best considered as a means of securing support. That is, if populism is not in itself a political strategy, then anti-politics must be the strategy populist leaders use. Although one can conceive of non-populists using anti-political strategies, it is difficult to conceive of populists not relying on anti-politics. Populists of all stripes rely on it. The classic populists in Latin America rose in reaction to the oligarchical parties that dominated politics at the time, and infused their messages with nationalist rhetoric. Neopopulists of the 1990s similarly reacted to the so-called political class that seemed aloof and removed from the problems of ordinary citizens. In these, as well as with the agrarian populism in the United States and the right wing populism in Europe, the effort to mobilize support includes the claim that the political system is not working properly, that the interests of ordinary citizens are ignored, and without some big changes the status quo will remain. In all of these cases the predominant argument in favor of the change is that the system needs fixing. Populists claim to offer an appropriate solution. This paper will present the logic behind this conceptualization and explore their relationships in the cases of Peru and Venezuela, with an eye toward providing an inter-regional comparative framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Race, Empire and Republicanism in Latin American Thought ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a comparative analysis that includes democracies in Europe and Latin America, I demonstrate that gender-based shortcuts do function outside of the US, and that their function and power varies in different political environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What explains the emergence of populist parties? Emphasizing populist parties’ universal reliance upon strong leaders and aggrieved electorates, this paper argues that populism will flourish under conditions that simultaneously promote voter discontent and the rise of charismatic leaders. It proposes that populist parties emerge as a function of decreasing party system nationalization and institutionalization. Party system nationalization determines the concentration of political losers in the electorate and institutionalization determines the ease with which populist leaders can mobilize. The model predicts three broad outcomes. First, in systems with low nationalization and low institutionalization, uneven party returns result in exclusive benefits distribution and produce more aggrieved voters, and strong leaders can quickly emerge to appeal to them. Second, populist parties are not expected to emerge in systems where both nationalization and institutionalization are high. Third, in systems where nationalization and institutionalization are incongruent, populist party emergence is conditional on exogenous political or economic shocks. These propositions are empirically tested with data on 100 political parties in 25 countries. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Politicians, scholars and pundits alike have drawn attention to the decline of corporate and capital income taxes across multiple regions. Whether speaking of western or eastern Europe, Latin America or Asia, observers have noted that governments are relying more on low-mobility groups, like consumers and workers, to collect taxes and less on the high-mobility revenue sources, like business or capital investors. That is, in order to remain competitive in an internationally integrated economy, governments in many regions are losing a degree of policy autonomy in the allocation of the tax burden across domestic groups. To what extent does Russia’s tax regime reflect the use of the tax system to attract mobile capital investment? How does the structure of the Russian economy, which relies importantly on revenue from energy exports, alter its participation in the international economy? Does the Putin administration’s violation of property rights and its attempts to augment state control of the commanding heights of the Russian economy suggest an alternative pattern of participating in the global economy? This paper seeks to answer these questions by analyzing trends in Russian taxes over the past decade. An analysis of these trends helps us, first, to understand the extent of Russian policy autonomy under the forces of economic globalization and, second, it assists us in conceptualizing how domestic forces and economic structure mediate the powerful forces of globalization. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the question of how ordinary people understand democracy. Do contemporary publics display a reasonable understanding of the meaning of democracy, and what are the contents of their definitions? Do people focus on the procedural aspects of democracy-elections, democratic institutions, and processes-which are the main focus of democratization efforts. Alternatively, do they see democracy in economic or social welfare terms? We draw on a wide range of public opinion surveys that have recently been conducted to explore these questions in Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. Our research yields two generalizations about popular conceptions of democracy. First, most citizens of new democracies are cognitively capable of imputing meaning to democracy in their own words. Second, and most important, most of those cognitively capable citizens think of democracy in terms of the freedoms, liberties and rights that it conveys, rather than procedural and institutional conceptions of liberal democracy. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Does hegemonic power increase ? or decrease ? the likelihood of civil conflict? This paper examines the impact of hegemonic governance on internal conflict including political protests (strikes and anti-government demonstrations); political violence (riots and assassinations); and government responses (declarations of crises and purges). Specifically, we test two competing hypotheses drawn from neo-liberal institutionalism and world systems scholarship. We use comprehensive, multidimensional indicators (from Sacko 2006) to conduct a cross-national, cross-time, empirical investigation of the effects of differing levels of hegemonic power of the United States (1960-2006) on civil conflict in five (5) regions: Latin America, Europe and Central Asia, the Middle East/North Africa, South Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social cohesion is to day the most visible item on the bilateral agenda of the Latin American-Europe relationship. This decision has been taken by the commission 11 months before the Guadalajara Summit of may 2004. It will probably be on eof the main topics at the Vienna Summit in May 2006. This paper will try to analyse what this decision means theoretically and practically for the development of the bilateral relations between both continents. We shall address in particular the followings two questions:What is social cohesion and is there a clear and common definition? Is it a solid basis to develop a strong relationship between both regions? ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the obvious similarities between the models of regional integration adopted in Europe and most sub-regions of the Western hemisphere, the results of these initiatives have proven to be quite different. A comparative analysis demonstrates that the regions have taken divergent developmental paths. I argue that a functional development of regional integration, a key element of European integration but one that is not evident in similar projects in Latin America, facilitates cooperative experiences that are consolidated in the institutionalization of integration. This paper examines how the institutionalization of written and unwritten contracts at both the domestic and regional levels impacts the outcomes of regional integration in Europe and Latin America. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the interest in constitutions has surprisingly decreased in North America and European societies after some outstanding constitutional moments - following the Second World War or the end of authoritarian regimes - the same interest in Latin America has grown bigger, contrary to all expectations. This phenomenon occurred in parallel with an enhanced awareness of the exploitation suffered by citizens and the evidence of the limited identity of interests between political representatives and the represented mass.Constitutional processes taking place in Latin America lately show how the very concept of Constitution, and more, of constitutionalism, have been strengthened.In this paper I present three key features in order to better grasp the constitutional reality of this historical moment:a)Firstly, constitutionalism in force in most of the Western Countries, let's call it constitutionalism of the well-being, has not been able to cope with the weakening of the Social State and answer properly the many requests of current societies; b)Secondly, beside the constitutionalism of the well-being, a new constitutionalism, let's call it the constitutionalism of discomfort, is developing in Latin America: a new constitutionalism willing to take back its role of guardian of the citizens' interests and protect them from the possible arbitrariness of the rulers;c)Thirdly, and finally, the new Latin American constitutionalism is creating its own and recognizable constitutional style, one that, in many occasions, shows significant differences with what is considered as correct in classic constitutional theory. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gender inequality is a known phenomenon in many spheres in life; yet, it is especially conspicuous in high-level governmental positions. Men tend to get elected more and more often, to posts of vast political importance. In comparison to established democratic countries, the gender gap in high-level political positions is larger in developing democracies. Theory suggests however, that gender inequality is reduced by democracy. If true, this would indicate that we should see a closing of the gender gap as democratic countries mature. Further, if such a relationship does not exist, this would suggest that factors other than democracy are at play when it comes to choosing between a man or a woman for a high-level office. We test the hypothesis that democracy decreases gender inequality on data collected from developed and developing countries from Europe and Latin America. The results confirm the theory, and further suggest that the number of women in legislature, and the level of female economic activity, have a positive effect on decreasing the gender gap. Finally, wage inequality shows to adversely affect the number of women appointed to cabinet, however the result barely reaches statistical significance. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a large literature of (mainly) single country studies of intelligence reform in former authoritarian states, especially in Europe and Latin America. The time is ripe for a comparative study of this process, not least because ‘democratisation’ is ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vienna meant a downturn in the bi-regional relationship between Europe and Latin America. This relationship never could find a strategic content as wished in Rio de Janeiro for the first meeting in 1999. After the relative failure of Madrid in 2002, the European Commission chose ?social cohesion? as the content of the strategic relationship, together with multilateralism and integration, to give the light of Vienna where two features appeared clearly: the lack of Latin American Integration and the ideological divisions within Europe and Latin America as well as between them. Taking that into account it might be possible to think of a new bi regional partnership, which could include three important topics, energy, migration and the triangular relationship with the United States. In all these three cases, Mexico should play a key role in the discussions as it did since the institutionalization of the relationship EU/Latin America ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using survey data for nineteen European and Latin American countries, we test the assumption that vote choices are shaped by preferences over a single economic issue dimension that is highly correlated with income. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We assess the connection between elections and protest using data from the European Protest and Coercion Data, additional data from Latin America, Burma and Korea as well as election data. We investigate how the following factors affect protests: 1) ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]