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Objective/context: In 2019, promoted by President Martín Vizcarra, the Congress of the Republic of Peru sanctioned a law on mandatory primary elections for voters and political parties. However, the regulation was not implemented, given that it was suspended by the Legislative Branch for the general elections in 2021 and the regional elections in 2022. Methodology: This paper studies the reform process of mandatory, simultaneous, and open primaries (PASO, for its acronym in Spanish) in Peru and its counter-reform based on its suspension on two occasions (2021 and 2022). Twenty-three key actors were interviewed for this research, including congresspersons, ministers, electoral officials, and researchers, in addition to the revision of secondary sources and newspapers of legislative sessions. Conclusions: The paper concludes that PASO were a "decorative" reform, i.e., a law passed without the intention of implementing it. Its sanction was the product of a reformist coalition between civil society and the President of the nation, where the objectives of increasing popular support for President Vizcarra and the need to improve the legitimacy of the political system converged. The reform was resisted by congresspersons who formed two counter-reformist coalitions that suspended the PASO on two occasions. Originality: The research shows that these counterreform coalitions are intrinsically linked to the atomization and personalization of the Peruvian party system, characterized by hyper-personalism and a lack of party structures. In addition, it generates theoretical contributions to studying the processes of reforms and counter-reforms in the context of institutional weakness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective/context: In 2009, the law of mandatory, simultaneous, and open primaries (PASO, for its acronym in Spanish) was enacted in Argentina. Among others, this regulation seeks to democratize party structures. From a gender perspective, this paper studies the effect of PASO on women's access to the Chamber of Deputies (2003-2023). To this end, it analyzes how the final lists are assembled, the places assigned to women candidates, the ease with which they gain access to expectable positions, and the permeability of groupings towards their participation since the implementation of PASO. Methodology: This is an exploratory and descriptive study of the effect of PASO on the allocation of seats for the category of female deputies in Argentina, considering all female legislators elected in successive elections (2011-2023). Conclusion: The findings show that PASO's objective of democratizing party structures and making their components more representative does not seem to have impacted the country's existing political and party traditions prior to implementing the law regarding the place given to women in a party. Originality: The article presents a study on the democratization effect of PASO on party structures from a gender perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective/Context: This paper aims to analyze the vast, varied and lasting presence of the little-known revolutionary rhetoric exploited by Francisco Franco throughout the dictatorship in Spain. To this end, this rhetoric is connected with the different contexts in which it was used and with the terminology employed in those same years by thinkers or politicians linked above all to the Falange. Methodology: As this article is interested in the public discourse of Franco's regime, it has examined in detail and qualitatively the content of Franco's public speeches. For this purpose, we have resorted to the official compilations made under Franco's regime and, because of their selective and incomplete nature, also to newspaper sources. Thus, more than a history of intellectual or political ideas, this work is linked to their public and pragmatic dimension and delves into the complex practical functioning of ideologies. Originality: With few exceptions, Franco's rhetoric has not been studied in detail, and even less in the revolutionary rhetoric. The originality of this study lies in the fact that it is the first specific and analytical approach, although not quantitative, to Franco's revolutionary rhetoric. For example, it explains its unknown survival until the 1960s and even the 1970s, so that it outlived the so-called defalangization of Francoism. Conclusions: Franco's revolutionary rhetoric was characterized by great flexibility and imprecision. It underwent many changes over the years and coexisted with other central discursive frameworks, such as the Cruzada's. It was a crucial factor in the discursive legitimization of Francoism, especially in its initial years. Compared to the Cruzada, with which it complemented, it stood out for its elasticity and pretended transversality. In addition, it was connected with a legitimacy of exercise, not of origin, which was, in fact, more easily connected with the present and the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective/Context: This paper studies the first Chilean school newspapers led by women and the role of high school students as mediators of scientific knowledge at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th. The analysis is part of the expansion and modernization of the press and publishing industry, as well as the in$uence of positivism and the educational reforms that were implemented in Chile during that period, a context in which the ruling class considered scientific knowledge, both its development and access to it by the population, as a priority. Methodology: The article is based on the studies of historians of science who have understood audiences as active agents in generating new knowledge, problematizing categories such as expert, amateur and layman, and examining the types of relationships they sustained. This theoretical perspective is applied to analyzing the magazines of four women's high schools that took advantage of the valid study plans to access the university in the period and is complemented with other sources, such as prospectuses and relevant administrative documents. Originality: The study makes visible the role of women in science and, specifically, Chilean schoolgirls in this context, which have not been studied from the perspective presented here. Conclusions: Despite the lack of attention given to this population group in terms of scientific contribution, it is shown that high school students were active readers, disseminators and producers of knowledge, managing magazines, generating networks and circulating the knowledge beyond the walls of their educational establishments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, using empirical and statistical research, we analyze the impact of the external sector on economic growth in Paraguay during the 1994-2020 period. The results enabled the assessment of the validity of the income elasticities of imports calculated in the long term, attributed to the presence of cointegration among the series. Consequently, the economic growth rate associated with the external balance was obtained, aligning with Thirlwall's Law. The empirical analysis and validation of Thirlwall's Law suggest that the growth dynamics of the Paraguayan economy can be explained by the Thirlwall model. Thus, it was determined that the external sector has had an impact on Paraguay's economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Population aging has positioned as a key demographic change. This paper analyzes the characteristics of older adults in situations of dependence, care strategies and the profile of caregivers for Chile, Colombia, Paraguay, El Salvador and Uruguay. The population in a situation of functional dependence is mostly female and over 75 years old. Between 54% and 70% receive some type of care, with unpaid family care being the main care strategy. Unpaid caregivers are mostly women, under 65, and economically inactive. We evidence a negative relationship between the status of elderly caregiver and employment, that is stronger for women. Although elderly informal care leads to a lower probability of employment among individuals of all ages and income quintiles, the employment gap between caregivers and non-caregivers narrows substantially among higher-income people. Improving care for older people would have positive effects on female employment and inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several studies have examined the relationship between monetary policy and the stock market. However, few have assessed the impact of fiscal management on this market. This paper examines the extent to which fiscal policy affects a firm's stock market capitalization using the Panel Vector Autoregressive (PVAR) methodology. The study finds that the stock market capitalization in the CPI fully reflects the available information on the movements of variables related to monetary policy. However, total public indebtedness exerts a significant lagged effect on the stock market capitalization of Mexican firms. This finding indicates that the CPI does not fully reflect the available information on the movements of fiscal policy variables. A comprehensive analysis of fiscal policy measures can enhance stock market performance for investors and financial analysts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]