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This paper presents the results of a literature review that considers documents and research work on environmental education (EA) in general, and on EA and legislation in particular, produced at the international, regional and national levels, and guided by the questions: What do works linking EA and education in Argentine legislation contend? In what context, within the EA field, are they inserted? Through the referred reviews we characterize the EA international and Latin American panorama, and analyze the contributions of five articles and a book relevant to our focus on Argentina. Without claiming to have done thorough research, this approach allowed us to perceive the need to deepen the studies that, apart from describing the content of the various laws, analyze its meaning in the historical context in which each regulation was passed, as well as the relationship between forces in the field of environmental education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper analyzes the changes occurred since the VI EU-LAC Summit, in Madrid in May 2010, on the relationship between the European Union and Latin America. A change continued with the Celac-EU Summit, held in January 2013, which presents evidence of bi-regional strategy and the full import of the most significant commitments to build that relationship: regional integration and social cohesion. Latin America and the European Union should strengthen their bond and extrapolate on other institutions and settings of the current post-Cold War geopolitical order. A scenario where they share views and concerns and whose response, in any case, must come from a joint position and shared perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper proposes the creation of a model for the harmonisation of contract law in Latin America. For this purpose two conditions are relevant: the factual assessment of the phenomenon of the disassembling of traditional contract law and the assessment of the creation of a common Latin American legal culture. Based on them, a singular method of harmonisation can be constructed, the scope of which is to reduce legal dispersion in Latin American contract law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper is a bibliographical overview which constitutes the author's first document presented for his PhD in Law from the Universidad Javeriana. It presents the latest studies on formalisation and judicialisation of arbitration in some legal systems in Latin America. For this purpose, it will deal with matters such as the definition of the legal nature of arbitration, monism and dualism in legislative structures, the constitutionalisation of the figure and phenomenon of judicial intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses some issues regarding the institutional and teacher's identity in the Latin American context. Taking as reference our own experience as researchers and teachers in different schools in Rosario, Argentina, we will consider necessary to mention that identity needs to be approached in light of the sudden changes that have been taken place in the contemporary political world since 2001 in our country. So, questions like: How can we sustain teacher's identity in a frame of political and social changes?; how these processes can be built within the educational community?; or what can be said about factors which make teachers suffer? And, finally, what kind of alternatives can help to rethink professional and institutional identity in our educational organizations? =, will be the main goal of this reflection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the importance of integration and identity as country strategies to promote better ways to market their products and sales of services to those involved in partnerships for generating complementary methods in common markets. Countries, especially those with weaknesses in meeting needs have sought ways associative integration, through the simple bilateral agreements, to the formation of economic communities, characterized by monetary integration, fiscal, labor, tariff, etc. In Latin America it is common to find a number of economic agreements signed between countries, such as the Andean Community of Nations (CAN), Group of three (Colombia, Mexico and Venezuela), CARICOM, which is a common trade agreement Caribbean. All these arrangements are designed to facilitate exchanges that make them viable complementary processes for generating default tariff markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Education Against the Tide in Latin American Prisons: education versus punishment. Promoting education in prison is latterly a difficult task. This paper's objective is to examine the structural causes of this complex situation. We have accomplished a research on official documents and laws, and visited prisons in many Latin American countries, in order to produce this study. Among the many discussed issues, we may highlight: impunity and the failure of the justice system; the limits of punishment; punishment as an ideology; the punishment imagery and the institutional contradictions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Revolution's Reading Plan is a Venezuelan government stimulus program oriented towards the education of citizens with particular emphasis on collective readings. The present paper analyses the political, ethical and pedagogical aspects of this cultural policy, within the framework both of Venezuelan legislations and the Ibero-American Reading Plan (ILÍMITA) promoted by the Organisation of Ibero- American States in consultation with the Regional Centre for the Development of Books and Reading in Latin America and the Caribbean [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper develops a few hypotheses regarding the traffic of material culture in Latin America and its impact, both in the field con anthropologic knowledge and in the artistic vanguards of the first half of the twentieth century. The circulation networks that supported the exchange of images and objects between ethnographers and institutions that supported their research allow for the reconstruction of the itineraries followed by those objects, the footprints of those trajectories in the construction of knowledge, the demarcation of disciplinary fields and the transgression of epistemological frontiers, associated to the emergence of new aesthetic objects and sciences such as anthropology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper partly explores the debates on men's natural rights which took place in the public sphere in mid-nineteenth century Latin America. In Colombia, as in many other countries in the region, such debates were related to civil wars between liberals and conservatives which started around the year 1848. Romantic poet Julio Arboleda Pombo (1817-1862), military chief and catholic thinker, was a central figure of such doctrinal debates and of such civil wars. In his poetic and journalistic works it is possible to trace the emergence of a post-republican conservatism that would gravitate over the public sphere and academia in Nueva Granada, during the second half of the nineteenth century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Latin America is adopting regulations that bear on medicinal costs and spending. The regulations have four main goals: i) to guarantee a competitive market, ii) to ensure affordability for individual consumers (commercial channel), iii) to contain public spending on medicines (institutional channel), and iv) to guarantee efficient spending on medicines. The experience of Latin America differs from that of countries in developed regions. In the latter, the countries tend to have similar policies, both in promoting generic medicines and in price control strategies, and in optimizing and containing pharmaceutical expense. In contrast, in Latin America, certain institutional weaknesses impede the consolidation and application of an effective regulatory policy. This paper reviews the experience gained through the adoption of economic regulations aimed at reducing spending and improving access to medicines, suggests lessons learned at the international level, and offers recommendations for the countries of Latin America. Its purpose is to offer key elements to decision-makers and the authorities of the countries concerned in pursuing economic regulation of medicines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the treatment received by Latin American countries in textbooks of geography and history during the 20th century in Spain. To do so different political situations and successive educational levels are considered. Primarily, two contexts are distinguished to assess discharges on economic and social issues: the colonial era and the contemporary period of the authors. A number of postures that were developed in the content of the textbooks is discussed, and they are mainly related to disseminated ideas about Hispanity and interest in current economic and social problems. For a better understanding of the different positions over time, some approaches are briefly discussed in particular school books and university textbooks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The key aim of this paper is related to discuss -from a theoretical perspective- core aspects regarding humanitarian aid and its link to development processes and conditions. Concept of development, here, will include human dimensions, as well as economic and social aspects. The central claim to uphold in this research focus on the consideration that humanitarian aid -without the feature of credits or eventual financial return- constitute an unquestionable variable to promote social inclusion of sectors that are living under extreme marginal conditions. Fundamental context for this presentation are less developed countries especially those of the Latin American region. Basic conceptual frame of development is based on that which has been formulated by United Nations Organization, since its first worldwide, Human Development Report in 1992. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the work of the recently deceased philosopher, Arturo Roig, from the perspective of Latin American humanism, a trend of critical thought strongly present in Latin America. The core of Roig's theoretical proposal is expressed as the problem of the subject or, as he preferred to call it, of subjectivity. After a brief section that separates the philosopher's works into periods, the article reviews Roig's contributions on this theme in the different fields he explored: his methodological proposals for reading Latin American texts, his concept of the history of ideas as a reconstruction for the American subject's itinerary, the anthropological a priori as a theoretical and heuristic tool of philosophy in Latin America and, finally, his developments in the ethical field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Latin America faces a growing concentration of banking markets, situation that worries both the public and the media for its potential impact on competition, access to credit at competitive rates, and thus the potential impact on its economic and social development. This paper provides a brief literature review of banking competition in Latin American, and then assesses market power in the Chilean banking market. Using a novel dynamic reformulation of the static conduct parameter model, we conclude that intertemporal relationships in the supply and demand for credit are very important, so that the use of static models to measure competition would be misleading, delivering biased parameters' estimates. Finally, it is estimated that Chilean banks exert significant market power, especially in the long run, similar to a symmetric Cournot equilibrium of 40 banks, as the market had in the early 90's [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims at setting out a reflection about the conditions of poverty and the processes of impoverishment in Latin America. It starts from empirical data as approximation, but it focuses especially on a qualitative perspective that intends to study how the images and figures of the poor and poverty are consolidated in the region from the perspective of the neoliberal management (and then briefly commenting the so-called "post neoliberalism"), taking three focal points in particular: a discussion on the constitution of the welfare State in Latin America and the consolidation (and later neoliberal destitution) of the future and the promise as its axis, related to the development of the citizenry figures; legitimization ( and later delegitimization) of the figure of the worker as a model of "honorable" poverty, referring to the model of social mobility in terms of center-periphery reversibility; and its progressive appearance in the setting of the impoverished middle class, a situation that contributes unprecedented elements to the matter at hand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is an expanded, more thorough version of a paper presented at the Seminar on Development Theory about the international crisis, hosted by the UNAM Institute for Economic Research. It includes a historical and theoretical introduction, followed by three parts and a. brief conclusion. The three parts are a) relations between the world crisis and the U.S. economy; b) the current course of the crisis, its localization in Western Europe, and probable international consequences, and c) the consequences for Mexico in the more general framework of Latin America. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports the largest content analysis yet of television adverts targeted at children in Latin America. Findings show similar patterns to those previously reported from developed countries in terms of amount of advertising, depicted products and persuasive strategies. However, a relevant deficit is evidenced regarding the use of elements facilitating young viewers understanding of commercial messages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taking as its starting point the concepts of governance of Rhodes and Kooiman, the article develops a critique of the theory of shared government between elected governments and civil society or market actors for its potentially adverse implications for democracy, such as the uncertainty regarding accountability of nongovernmental actors, the lack of presence of major groups of the population in the networks of actors and the absence of redistributive policies in the discourse of governance. On this basis, it argues the need to look back to the traditional political arena as an area of public statement, aggregation of social demands and the main option for political participation by large groups of the population in Latin America. The paper argues that strengthening democracy goes through the development of politics, rather than by their escape into the networks of governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The basic premise of this paper is that the problem in the agency-social structure or subject-social structure relationship is crucial for understanding the present stage of take-off in the new phase of development or capitalism of knowledge following the recent global crisis of 2007-2009. This expresses the contradiction between neoliberalism, as a political-ideological projection, and a new technological-productive base, as well as the question of differentiation between developed "successful" countries and those that are "backward". Institutionalism and Gramsci's Marxism have offered solutions to the agency-structure dichotomy through very different theoretical approaches, the first seeking to explain the issue of differentiation between countries. Aspects of an alternative explanation are provided here through the Gramscian solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Teacher training, especially in Latin America, has undergone a deep reconceptualisation as a society's significant phenomenon. Therefore, it is appropriate to ground teacher training on a sociocritical approach, by establishing some theoretical points of reference that support it, and as a means of democratic empowerment for teachers and students face to emerging challenges from political and economic paradigms and systems shaping society. This research paper studies the importance of discussing and examining teaching formation practices, purposes, context and actors from a sociocritical approach, as a proposal that facilitates and leads to unravel and challenge any and all forms of domination, through an individual building a critical and constructive awareness of society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Society and culture at the planetary level suffered major transformations during the twentieth century, particularly in the second half, largely because of the impressive degree of scientific and technological development. Forms of economic production also experienced profound changes, so much so that the greatest wealth, from an economic standpoint, now is generated by so-called knowledge-based production systems. The concept of a knowledge society has been forged to refer to these phenomena. Nevertheless, it is a fact that science and technology have brought about major changes, thereby making it urgent to develop strategies to strengthen the culture of science and technology throughout Latin America. The aforementioned concepts are discussed in this paper, along with possible strategies for bolstering the culture of science and technology. The authors also contend that a suitable model for a knowledge society in the Latin American countries should consider their broad and rich cultural diversity, which poses additional challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The economic crisis and its impact on the Spanish policy of international cooperation are analysed in three different parts of this document. Initially, the paper addresses the cuts from a Latin American perspective, and through international regulatory framework of the effectiveness and governance of development aid. The second stage analyzes such cuts and its impact in three fields: Latin America, Spanish cooperation policy and the global agenda. Finally, some conclusions arise which point out challenges and opportunities within reduced public expense, and identifies some areas to be considered from a Latin American point of view. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper attempts to make a brief presentation of the work conducted by Romanian intellectuals in Latin America during the second half of the 20th century. After the establishment of communism in Romania, at the end of the Second World War, those who objected to the forced imposition of the new totalitarian ideology saw themselves obliged to go into exile. Among the countries they moved to were also those of Latin America. They had to adapt to another language, to another reality and integrate into the Latin American society. Some of them became professors in some of the most prestigious Latin American universities. A complementary activity of these intellectuals was to disseminate the Romanian culture, not only within their own community through the publication of a series of magazines in Romanian, but also within the Latin- American society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the progress made in terms of gender equity in Latin America, there is still a significant gender gap in political participation. The literature has focused in the understanding of politics as an occupation, side-stepping the relationship of common citizens with the political environment. The present paper evaluates the determinants of the political participation in Latin America, analyzing men and women separately. The results suggest that occupation, income and marital status are associated with female political participation while the trust in male leaders and living in an urban region determine male participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents theoretical considerations arising from an investigative process carried out in Bogotá, 2011, addressed to a population of young Afro-Colombian women on the issue of human rights and affirmative action policies. Its objectives questioned the many faces of sexism in current capitalist societies, stating that, despite the explicit intentions to empowerwomen included in public policies, advances are not being made toward inclusion and the visibility of all women; on the contrary, more subtle and stratified forms of exclusion are being adopted from the consumerist capitalist machinery that penetrates deeply into the modes of existence in Latin American countries. The article is divided into four parts: i. Presentation. ii. White subjectivities and the logic of exclusion, iii. Stratification of the subjective becomings of women. iv. Critical reflections about gender discourses. v. Conclusions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the impact on total factor productivity (TFP) in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) and in other developing countries of trade-related technology diffusion from the North (denoted by NRD), education, and governance. The NRD of developing countries is defined as a weighted sum of R&D stocks in the North, with weights related to openness with the North's trading partners. Industryspecific NRD is based on the North's industry-specific R&D stocks, North-South trade patterns, and input-output relations in the South. The main findings are that: i) the impact of education and governance on TFP is significantly larger in LAC than in other developing countries, while the opposite holds for NRD; ii) education, governance and NRD have additional effects on TFP in LAC's R&D-intensive industries through their interaction with the other two variables; and iii) since NRD increases with openness to the North and with the North's R&D stocks, both variables raise the South's TFP directly as well as through interaction with education and governance. These interaction effects imply that increasing the level of any of the three policy variables — education, governance or openness — results in virtuous growth cycles. These are smallest for an increase in one of these variables, stronger for an increase in two of them, and strongest for an increase in all three variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we analyse the trajectory of leísmo in Latin America. In Spain, the dialectal distribution, as well as the history of leísmo have been studied in depth, whereas the diachrony of leísmo in America is less known and there are barely any works on the subject. Through a systematic analysis of Spanish texts from the twelfth to the eighteenth centuries and Latin American texts, specifically Mexican and Peruvian texts from the sixteenth to the twenty-first centuries, we have followed the path of this phenomenon in Latin America from its beginnings to its (almost total) disappearance in Latin American Standard Spanish. We also take into consideration the academic norm and its influence in the American speech, as well as the social reasons that could have contributed to its demise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we build an index to measure the extent to which displaced households can effectively realize their economic and social rights. Based on the results of the index, we conclude that during the reparations and resettlement process, a displaced household, on average, is able to exercise 60% of the rights associated with economic and social stability. This result is four points below the average level at which poor nearby households are able to exercise their rights. Using panel data on a group of households, our technical work illustrates that between 2007 and 2008, the ability of displaced households to exercise their rights deteriorated to the point where, in effect, 45% of the households saw a regression in their ability to exercise at least one right during this period. We also identified other factors threatening the sustainability of the socio-economic stabilization policy, and some recommendations are made. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the results of a study about the perceptions that primary and secondary school teachers in Latin America have about Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) use in education. A questionnaire to measure perceptions was designed using as a theoretical framework the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) (Venkatesh, Davis and Davis, 2003). Results from the questionnaire administered to a population of 524 teachers from sixty nine schools located in eight Latin American countries that attended a five months online teacher training course, show that teachers have a positive perception about technology usefulness in education and that they perceive that using technology would not require too much effort or time. In an attempt to shed more light on these results, online forum interactions during the course were analyzed using the same theoretical framework. The analysis confirmed the results of the test, and revealed additional information about their desire to use technology to comply with their group's subjective culture (Thompson, Higgins & Howell, 1991), their concept of technology and awareness of the risks of misuse in education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

El objetivo central del siguiente trabajo es reflexionar acerca de los efectos observados por la crisis subprime en los Objetivos del Mileno en América Latina. La hipótesis que guía esta investigación es que la crisis global de 2008 frenó el cumplimiento de los Objetivos del Mileno, contuvo los niveles de crecimiento en América Latina, precarizó las condiciones laborales y aumentó los índices de pobreza regional. The main goal of the following paper is to reflect on the effects of subprime crisis on the Objectives of the Millennium in Latin America. As the hypothesis leading this research it can be said that the world crisis in 2008 stopped the levels of economical growth in Latin America, turned labor conditions unstable and increased regional poverty indicators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The regionalization process in Colombia has several similarities with the process of regionalization in France. Based on a comparative study, the paper presents the development of the process, taking into account the origins from the colonial time, the constitutional reforms up to the LOOT. In each step, I analyze the influence of the revolutionary and Napoleonic model and the current status of the regions in France. It ends with a conclusion which remarks the long path we have yet to go through before we accomplish the real purpose of the regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the effects of citizen perceptions of democratic legitimacy in Latin America. In the aftermath of the electoral processes, citizens who voted for losing candidates, or who cast blank or spoiled ballots, have less of an incentive than those citizens who backed the winning candidates, to support the government whose leaders they did not choose. Based on data from the 2008 Latin American Public Opinion Project (lapop) survey, that centers on ten countries in the region, it was possible to estimate two probit models. These models confirmed that individuals who belonged to the group of "losers" after the elections are less likely to legitimize democracy than those in the group of winners. However, this relation is mediated by political-institutional and attitudinal variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For a long period of time, it has been seen the rebirth of several approaches and models of Guidance. The purpose is to bring a theoretical support to the practices that are made upon this professional field. These approaches and models of Guidance have been developed all over the world, including Latin America. Nowadays, it seems that the Latin American countries should initiate or reinitiate a reconsideration process of our theoretical bases, fundamental approaches or models. So, this paper aims to present some basic criteria for the development of a Guidance Model for Latin America. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aim to examine the different uses of the expression "filosofía latinoamericana". The porpousse of the study ist not to determinate if one of these uses ist right or wrong,but just to show that the expression "filosofía latinoamericana" has different uses and that these uses brings us to diferent philosophical problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper examines the relationship between the performance of Latin American stock markets with their real economies, applying seven econometric models for the cases of Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Mexico. The relationship between stock market yields in these countries and their respective GDPS is examined and compared, applying to the series for each country unit root tests, cointegration analysis, error correction model analysis, Granger causality modeling, self-regression vector analysis, stimulus and response functions, and variance decomposition analysis. The series comprise the following stock markets: Argentina's MERVAL, Brazil's BOVESPA, Chile's IGPA, and Mexico's IPC, as compiled by Economática. The GDP series were obtained from the Cepalstat data base. The series are monthly and are for the period 1993-2005. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within the actual debate on citizenship within democracy, admitting a crisis in educational matters is highly relevant (NUSSBAUM, 2010; BERKOWITZ, 2001). Thus, if we want to understand why the ancient educational image is problematic and unsatisfying to the citizens of democratic governments, it is unavoidable, from the history of philosophy point of view, to quote the teaching of preeminent political theorists. Needless to say, the power of education in forming people's character and opinions is widely recognized. Nonetheless, by looking at the history of the institution, it seems obvious that its purpose is not only to form habits but to circumscribe the knowledge of the persons in such a way as to make one set of opinions always inevitable (RUSSELL, 1961). Current paper reveals the theoretical presuppositions of the political and educational doctrines of two main figures of Ancient and Modern times, namely, Aristotle and Locke, respectively. Further considerations will ensue on whether the ancient image of virtue, or its antagonism and possible use in liberalism, has any power to represent the present conditions of equity and justice sought after in civil life within Latin American democracies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) is a native plant from Latin America that is mainly used as food. However, it contains cyanogenic compounds that have been associated with neurological diseases, such as tropical ataxic neuropathy and konzo. The aim of this paper was to conduct a critical review of the literature to describe the nutritional proper ties of cassava, provide epidemiological data present neurotoxic effects, and discuss the possible relationship to neurological diseases such as tropical ataxic neuropathy and konzo. We reviewed (the Scopus,Embase, PubMed and Elsevier) databases and local libraries to analyze ar ticles in English, French and Spanish published between 1964 and 2010. The analysis showed that in unprotected populations of developing countries, food-derived diets rely on easy and economical crops, such as cassava, but this plant contains cyanogenic compounds that exer t neurotoxic ef fects that appear to predispose an individual to neurological disease when it is consumed in abundance or inadequately prepared. These diseases are often endemic in African countries, but Latin America, may also be affected because the consumption and cultivation of cassava has increased in this region in recent yeras. In conclusion, cassava can be an alternative food source in developing countries, but considering its possible association with neurological diseases, additional studies are necessary to avoid the possible health problems associated with its consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the Salud Mesoamerica 2015 initiative (SM-2015) aim is to improve health and nutrition conditions of those most vulnerable in Mesoamerica, the goal of the evaluation is to generate evidence of the joint effectiveness of a package of interventions designed to improve the health conditions. We propose a mix design for the evaluation, which will allow to know the magnitude of changes attributable to the interventions, as well as the meanings of these changes for the target population, taking into account the speciicities of each country. The main axis of this design is a locality panel where information about individuals, households, and health facilities (irst and second level) will also be collected. The evaluation design described in this paper was developed between June and December, 2009, and it was integrated during workshops in Cuernavaca (Mexico), Managua (Nicaragua), and San Jose (Costa Rica). The proposed design will allow to generate evidence about the joint effectiveness of the package of interventions proposed for the SM-2015. The success of this design rests on the political commitment of countries and donors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the results of research on socioeconomic inequality in Bogota's secondary education (year 2009). The results show that socioeconomic student level is significantly associated both to educational access (public or private), and to educational quality (ranking in State test - ICFES). This demonstrates that in Bogotá not only does each social class study separately, but also that rich people have access to a better education than poor people. This situation of social segregation (apartheid) aggravates some of the already pervasive Colombian problems: lack social mobility, economic inequality and illegitimacy of the political system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the idea of civil disobedience as praxis from a Western-hemisphere perspective. The reference to the term "civil" highlights the importance of theorizing about the category of civil society together with the concepts of democracy and praxis, in order to make an explicit justification of civil disobedience in democratic societies and to explore the possibility of extending such disobedience to the field of social praxis beyond the liberal conception of the term. Key Words: Civil society, civil disobedience, democracy, praxis, Latin America. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper will indicate some of the challenges the contemporary world poses for education under the influence of globalization, processes that affect many areas of human thought and action. It expounds a number of conceptualizations on that subject and invites a serious analysis of this phenomenon due to its social implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the determinants of bank performance between Latin American and U.S. institutional environment. For a sample of 111 banks of six Latin American countries and the United States over the period 1997-2010, our results show the existence of significant differences in bank performance between the two institutional settings. Specifically, U.S. banks show higher performance levels compared to Latin America, which may be explained by the greater administrative efficiency associated with total assets. On the other hand, our results show that the predominant Latin American diversification through non-traditional banking activities has a positive effect on the performance of banks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of my paper is to make a balance in the rural school historiography in Mexico, and through it, dialogue with those made in other Latin American countries. Instead of trying to have a joint vision of rural educational development in Latin America through a supposed progress, what really interests is to go beyond national barriers with the purpose of generating a debate about the heterogeneity of different local realities and theoretical-methodological perspectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

World histor y is full of conflicts caused by the scarcity of natural resources: gold, diamonds and oil. However, the water that has not previously been considered a source of conflict, with the climate change it becomes "the blue gold" of this century. This paper analyzes the risks of water shortage worldwide, particularly in Latin America, which despite its abundant resources, is facing scarcity of this element. The population growth, inappropriate management policies, lack of innovative technology and corruption aggravate the situation, putting in danger the development of the Latin American region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper will analyze the effects of the concurrent application of two institutional instruments -open primary elections and majority run off system- suggested during the last political reforms in Latin America. The relevance of the thematic is due to that both share similar objectives that synthetically are: to give citizens more political discernment tools, to provide the parties with better democratic conditions, to consecrate the medium voter candidate, and to increase the electoral base and democratic legitimacy of the President. By the exposition and discussion of certain theoretical models proposed, we will try to evaluate the balance between potential benefits and hidden costs of the application of both system, and their impact on democratic representativeness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the present paper is to analyze, from a historiographical perspective, the noteworthy work on psychodiagnosis Bela Szekely's "Los Tests" (The Tests), which is very well-known among Latin American psychologists; in particular, we want to examine the development of both its structure as well as its contents throughout its successive published versions, paying particular attention to the Spanish contribution to it. The analysis allows us to conclude that The Tests is characterized by the interests and dominant perspectives in the Latin American psychology from the second half of the twentieth century; it emphasizes its applied value and close links with the diagnostic, psychometric and pedagogical fields. Likewise, it highlights the significant presence of European authors who promoted the Latin American psychology within the theoretical and applied areas, far from the prevailing North American behaviourism, to the detriment of the psychodynamic paradigm. The work has an essentially educational guidance, which focuses on the qualitative and descriptive aspects of psychodiagnostic tests not so much on their rigorous and scientific application. Regarding its structure, this book evolves from a list of tests which measure intelligence, primarily aimed at educators to a compilation of tests which evaluate not only intelligence but also personality for clinical purposes within a clearly psychoanalytic framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an analysis of the colonial and capitalist construction of hegemony in nation-states, emphasizing their development in Latin America and strict co-dependence between economy and politics in government structures. This situation generates a transnational reproduction of hegemony that impedes the development of more local or national emancipation processes in states of the Andean region. A possible alternative is represented by social movements in Bolivia, that, in their intent to create a counter- hegemonic horizon, attempt a unification of indigenous peoples and an ideal of the plurinational state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper seeks to establish the nature, as the characteristics of Latin American society during the colony, especially the new Spain, and the reasons why the wars of independence in the region, and the circumstances which determine, as they create disruptions, since the beginning of their economies in seeking to implement a project of nation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Religious pilgrimages to the high Andes take place periodically in the Humahuaca region of northern Argentina. Although these processions are formally dedicated to the Virgin and saints of Catholicism, they take place in a mountain landscape that has been traditionally sacred in Andean religiosity. This paper describes the high altitude pilgrimage to Punta Corral from an ethnographic and ethnoarchaeological perspective, focusing in the use of the mountain scenery in the context of the diverse rituals that configure this particular collective religious experience. The Punta Corral pilgrimage is a syncrethic ceremony which combines elements of popular catholicism in Latinoamerica with traditional Andean rituals of probable pre-hispanic origin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]