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This paper aims to analyse the role of supreme courts of justice in some of the recent removals from office of progressive "pink tide" Latin American presidents and governments where so-called "new right" governments have taken power. It shows the composition of the supreme courts to be a decisive factor in removing these governments from power. The core hypothesis is that the judiciary may have served as a body for legitimating interruption and dismissal processes led by the legislature in contexts of institutional paralysis (or conflict with the executive branch). To demonstrate this, the case of Brazil is analysed and specifically the role played by the Federal Supreme Court (STF) in the dismissals of Luis Inácio Lula da Silva and Dilma Rousseff. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Brazil is a signatory to various international treaties against gender violence and has a specific law on the issue: the "Maria da Penha" Law (LMP), the tenth anniversary of the approval of which was in 2016. This law is the first systematic mechanism against gender violence in the country. This paper analyses the validity of this legislation over these ten years, studies the mechanisms created to halt domestic violence against women and assesses their effectiveness. Finally, some current challenges for the policy combating gender violence in Brazil are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, the border shared by Peru, Colombia and Brazil has become an enclave of drug production and trafficking for the international markets. It is a territory whose control is disputed by non-state actors and where state security forces suffer from severe material and transport limitations. This paper takes an ethnographic approach to explain the limitations of border security and the institutional challenges of controlling drug and wood trafficking in this context. It places the ideas of reproduction and social change at the centre of the discussion on drugs and borders, as key ways of thinking about the dynamics of growing and processing coca-derived drugs in the global South. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last years, Brazil has gained international visibility especially due to the capacity of its economical development and the progress of its public policies on fighting poverty. Though there reason for celebration exists with respect to the country's recent achievements, Brazil still has a lot to do if it wants to gain international prominence. In this paper we address two issues that are fundamental for Brazil to achieve real leadership: education and culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]