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Although many international relations (IR) theory and international political economy textbooks consistently reference dependency theory, it is commonly considered a passé , outdated, or defunct theoretical approach. This paper challenges conventional wisdom, stressing the continued relevance of dependency as an analytical approach. Overall, it argues that Dependency theory represents a successful effort at decentering IR. To do so, it first discusses decentering as an effort to challenge and engage core concepts in IR to transform the "universal" understandings of global politics. In this sense, Dependency theory decentered IR by introducing an understanding of the world in which Western and non-Western spaces are mutually constitutive, highlighting the role of non-core contexts in creating and maintaining the status quo of the universal. Second, the paper analyzes the influence of Dependency theory in modern discourses of political economy like the resource curse, globalization, Post-Colonialism, and Post-Developmentalism. These parallelisms show Dependency's effectiveness at decentering IR and transforming the way the discipline studies non-core spaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One hundred years after the birth of Leopoldo Zea, one of the most prominent philosophers of Latin America, in this paper we reflect on the role of the human being in history and the philosophy proposed by the author. We gather his vision about the Western philosophical heritage, anthropocentric and Eurocentric, facing the possibility of generating from our region a philosophy centered on the idea that all humans are human. Thus, we will unveil his criticism to the pretension of a universal Man and we will make visible his anthropological and humanist proposal, from which he manifests the need of recognition, from the cultural diversity, of all human beings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to analyze the economic models applied throughout history in Latin America, emphasizing the development of the neoliberal model, understood as the preference for markets over cultural norms; bringing up the substitution of the company name for an economy abundant in capital and accumulated wealth in a sector of the population. Thus, guaranteeing the conversion of social rights into commercial services, where its main purpose is the search for macroeconomic balances at the expense of marginalization, discrimination and violation of the rights of populations that represent multiculturalism in the region. That is why, the need to search for balance focused on individual and collective safeguarding in the face of abuse and capitalist arbitrariness. The present investigation assumes a theoretical-philosophical position; however, it recognizes the confluence in the political, cultural and ecological impact. Scenarios that have concentrated problems that lead to the destruction of the diversity of peoples in the region, disrupting the value and human dignity by pursuing a dominant culture, the assimilation of other vulnerable ones through the imposition of knowledge, beliefs and ways of life different from yours. For this reason, the importance of an economic model reoriented to the multidimensional compression of its impact on the environment is recognized, creating a horizontal coexistence with relegated and marginalized cultures in society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The challenges of what to do in the contemporary communication, especially in the learning process associated with the university education, are unveiled with a complexity and deeper meaning that is precise approach with new perspectives, tools, strategic theories and methods. In this sense, and particularly in the academic field of the Communication, it would be appropriate the search for new focuses and theoretical models, including classic and recent ones, which evidence the art state of the knowledge and practice refer to as Communication theories, their models, and the research focuses. The present working paper propose re-interpret, re-discuss and re-articulate some theories and their central concepts, which give sense and action setting in the Communications studies with the purpose of verify its trans disciplinary, eclectic, transversal and heterodox character in the presence of others disciplines own theories in the Latin-American Communication thinking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this text is to contextualise and present a small monographic on recent studies that address the migratory relations between Spain and Latin America in a double sense: Latin Americans who emigrate to Spain and, conversely, Spaniards who emigrate to Latin America. The historical context is the past decade, with the background of the economic crisis that began in 2008. A brief review has been made of the data shown by the Statistics on Migrations of the National Statistics Institute with regard to the evolution of migratory flows during the period 2008-2019, which serves as a basis for the presentation of each of the selected articles. That papers address the evolution of the migratory flows between Latin America and Spain, research about the processes of rooting and the emigration of Spaniards to Latin America. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to do a self-critical retrospection exercise about what Organizational Studies (OS) are within the Latin American context. Their development and incidence in the region have increased and consolidated --although not in all countries at the same level and extent --as a critical field of knowledge to study organizations. However, there are some unresolved matters that need to be addressed and discussed; that is why Wittgenstein's (1986) expression is retaken to formulate some fundamental questions regarding the OS identity and projection in the region, in search of a "friction" that gives continuity to that path of growth. In addition, some constitutive aspects of OS are discussed. Reflections will allow organization experts and researchers not only to delve into this field of knowledge, but also to build a stance of their own on OS in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper studies the history and characteristics of the legal concept of supremacy. The concept of supremacy is employed by several constitutions in Latin America to define the powers of the president, and to establish the role of the president as leader of the Nation. Although a concept of supremacy has been used in recent controversies about the presidency of the United States, the paper shows that constitutional powers of presidents in Latin America are very different from the powers assigned to the president by the United States constitution. The differences are described in the paper. First of all, the paper analyses constitutional language, the opinions of legal scholars and judicial precedents. Secondly, the history of the concept of presidential supremacy is considered. Finally, the paper discusses the impact of presidential supremacy on the state structure and on the consolidation of national institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the structure of scientific collaboration within the disciplines of the Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities in Latin America between 2005 and 2015. This includes the reasons that lead specialists to work collaboratively, based on the fact that these communities adhere to the global trend towards an increasingly exogenous scientific dialogue. The analysis relies on 138,865 refereed articles by Latin American authors published in 838 journals indexed by Redalyc.org, and a survey of 515 researchers in the region. It was concluded that the trends towards and reasons for co-authoring are a result of current scientific policies, which have had an impact on the purpose of research and publications, and communication between researchers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper studies narratives strategies used by a fair part of Latin-American intellectuals in order to defy the rapid changes taking place in urban society in the late nineteenth century. Furthermore, the paper explores the rhetoric models men of letters used to qualify the limits of the notion of democracy, with the hope that these discursive interventions would limit the access to places of influence where new social actors struggled to enter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper the mediation of language is discussed in the social representation of the autonomy of the Latin American University in development politician citizenship through scientific and humanistic discourse that should permeate society emancipatory interests. The educational processes that are generated at the university are understood and oriented towards and by social actors to play discursive roles in line with the social sense and the common interest resulting of deliberation and consensus in obtaining politics in society. In the twenty-first century it is necessary that the university education in Latin America, as a process of academic formation, allow the transformation of the political order through the relationship between theory and praxis, between techno-scientific and human action emancipatory thought. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper looks at corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices of multinationals from Latin America. In spite of the economic growth in recent years, social problems in the region persist. Poverty is endemic and Latin America is still today one of the most unequal regions in the world. Multinationals from Latin America have thrived in the last years and are embracing CSR practices. The paper asks if these CSR practices are effective or whether they should become more proactive in poverty alleviation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective. To review health research conducted among indigenous populations in Latin America during the period 1995-2004. Material and methods. The search strategy was purposely broad to ensure the identification of all relevant studies indexed in the PubMed and Lilacs databases. Results. Six-hundred ninety citations were included. One hundred fifty-nine (23.0%) papers dealt with indigenous populations in Central America and 509 (73.8%) papers with South American populations. Three hundred two (43.8%) of the studies were quantitative, 39 (5.7%) qualitative, 259 (37.5%) mainly based on laboratory work and 24 (3.5%) dealt with policy analyses. The most common researched theme was human biology with 200 (29.0 %) papers, followed by communicable diseases (150 papers, 21.7 %). Conclusions. There is a special need for policy studies in the field of indigenous health. An increased commitment to resources and capacity building will be the real challenge for indigenous health research in the nearest future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces a theoretical and practical framework, the Territorial Activation with Localized Agro-industry System approach (AT-SIAL, in Spanish), developed from experiences in Latin-American territories where activation processes for specific resources where promoted, through articulation, reinforcement and synergy strengthening for local stakeholders. The AT-SIAL allowed diverse economic sectors participation, supporting an innovative way for revaluation of territorial resources and traditional knowledge. The methodology was focused on rural agro-industries concentrations, but activities related to territorial environmental component where included: tourism and handicrafts. This proposal for territorial management was constructed based on: collective action with local stakeholder empowerment, territory anchoring and territorial governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper appraises quantitatively the efficiency of public expenditure of 15 Latin American countries using cross-country data for averages between 2000 and 2009. For this purpose two non-parametric methods are used: Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and Free Disposal Hull (FDH). Selected output indicators in primary and secondary school are evaluated respect to public spending in education per student. As a study case, Colombia's efficiency scores are compared with the most efficient peers in each of the educational levels to identify best practices and achieve better results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: the essay explores the changes based on market mechanisms introduced in the reforms of the last quarter century. Methodology: market conditions are taken as an analytical axis determining the configurations and results of health systems seen today in the majority of countries. The analysis is complemented by the presence or absence of regulatory mechanisms which reduce the negative impact of market imperfections on health. Discussion: this paper aims to characterize various health care market types while taking into account the function of the State, and its articulation within the public-private sector after analyzing some of the types of health system that are related to the market models. Conclusion: the market mechanisms introduced in the health reforms in the last quarter century in most Latin American countries have transformed health services in favor of the transnational financial market, thus generating inequity, inefficiency, corruption and financial imbalance in the health system, which in turn has a negative effect in the health conditions of the population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The prawns of the genus Macrobrachium with economic and fishing interest are well known and exploited in almost all coastal communities in Latin America. However they have not been properly studied and their conservation is at risk. The economic, social and cultural characteristics in most countries in the region have resulted in habitat degradation and overfishing, consequently, the populations of this genus of aquatic macro invertebrates are endangered. From this, it follows that all these are poorly studied, and their population status is not known, although in the case of M. amazonicum there are numerous studies. Culture techniques is the area in which more reasearch hs been done. This paper summarizes the knowledge we have on native species of Macrobrachium in Latin America and discusses their economic importance and conservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is a brief overview of the data protection in Latin America through the Institute of Habeas data, and describes the situation of Chilean law, with its current shortcomings, which needs urgent reforms, in order to international standards related to this kind of rights and the "data protection system" offered by our legislation, not enough efforts being partial to this day. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the adoption of foreign concepts in Latin-American urban planning and Architecture. We ask about the reasons and the means in which city actors are taking and adapting those theories. Also we point main urban concepts shaping landscapes in XXI century. Mexico city brings us a good example of that process. The main conclusion is about the circulation of ideas with significant changes that allows partial new concepts emerge from the Latin-American reality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the obstacles that hinder the formation of linkages among local firms, multinational corporations and universities in the Costa Rican information and communication technologies cluster. It examines both the social and the economic reasons for forming or participating in linkages, ranging from the capabilities of potential partners to compliance with customs. The research is based on qualitative information collected over four years through more than 150 direct and detailed interviews with different stakeholders in the cluster. Costa Rica is often used as a positive benchmark of cluster policy in Latin America, but it is argued here that linkages among firms in the sector have developed much more slowly than anticipated. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

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]

This paper presents the current conditions of production in social sciences in Latin America, and the expectations regarding this branch of knowledge. It examines some of the barriers that hinder its regional development, and it discusses the arguments that call into question the global nature of social sciences, introducing some examples of local development with global impact. At last, it suggests some strategies that might help our production in social sciences reach a global scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Literature published a decade ago reflected a pessimistic view of the market-oriented reforms that Latin America carried out in the 1980s and 1990s, and many politicians have attacked these reforms openly. Indeed, the atmosphere is so negative that it would be reasonable to assume that many of the reforms have been reversed. This paper will take a new look at the situation ten years later. Our argument is that the reforms have generally not been reversed. The reversal that has occurred has been with respect to privatisation in a few countries; negative public opinion is also concentrated on privatisation; and the reforms helped to enable Latin America to take advantage of favourable conditions leading to high growth in the 2004–8 boom period and a relatively strong performance during the 2008–9 crisis. While much remains to be done to raise growth and improve distribution, objective information about the reforms is needed when policies for the future are made. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper uses the Luxembourg Income Study (LIS) to analyze the dimension of the middle class in various Latin American countries. One of its major findings is that during the first decade of this century, the size of the middle class in Latin America did not appear to depend on demographic factors. A second finding is that, in contrast with the majority of developed countries, government income and expenditure policies had little influence on increasing the size of the middle class in the Latin American countries in the sample. Finally, as in the developed world, labor market factors have little influence on the size of the middle class in Latin America, the main exceptions being Brazil and Mexico, where employment seems to increase the size of the middle class. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's rapid growth and increased integration with the global economy over the past three decades have significant economic impacts and political implications for Latin America. This paper reviews the debate over whether these impacts have on balance been positive or negative for the region. It argues that those who emphasise the positive economic impacts of China have been over-optimistic and underplay some of the negative impacts associated with Chinese competition in manufacturing and increasing Latin American specialisation in primary products. On the other hand, when focusing on the political dimensions, there has been a tendency to exaggerate both the extent of China's influence in the region and the fears to which this gives rise, particularly among US commentators. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In the last few years, there has been a wide claim made by both, political and academic voices, for a deeper state presence in current development process in Latin American countries. This claim seems not to be tackled by theoretical, methodological and/or empirical contributions analyzing whether states are capable to do what they have to do. Focusing on the Argentinean scenario this paper aims to bring the analysis of state capabilities back to the front. Based on a case study at the meso-level, and by developing ad hoc methodological tools, we show the legacies of the neoliberal experience of the 90s that have became weaknesses on state structure capabilities. Weaknesses that need to be tackle by the current claim to bring back in the state for Latin American (regional) development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the causes of disproportionality — the difference between the percentage of seats and percentage of votes obtained by a party — in 18 Latin-American countries, by measuring the effect of four independent variables. The first part presents the research design, the main theoretical approaches used to study electoral systems and a literature review, where both disproportionality and the independent variables are conceptualized. The second part discusses the general behavior of electoral systems and the independent variables in Latin America. The third part contains the inferential analysis, where we measure the impact of the independent variables on disproportionality. We find that there is a direct relationship between district magnitude and disproportionality. Moreover, we find that the higher the threshold of exclusion — the number of voters that could potentially be left without representation because of the district magnitude and the electoral formula —, the higher the disproportionality. We find that proportional electoral systems, rather than majority or mixed electoral systems, tend to produce less distortion between the percentage of votes and the percentage of seats. We find that a low fragmentation in the party system — that is, a small number of parties with a presence in Congress — weakly contributes to increase disproportionality. Finally, we find that malapportionment (i.e., the disproportionate distribution of seats based on the number of voters in that district) has no statistically significant relationship with disproportionality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper a study on the impact of Foreign Direct Investment on Economic Growth in 14 Latin American countries is presented. With this purpose the relationship of Foreign Direct Investment per capita with Gross Domestic Production per capita variation (as a proxy for Economic Growth) and Private Capital per capita variation during the period 1996-2003 were analyzed. A model with two simultaneous equations that are solved using fixed-effects panel for both analysis of countries and the study of the time effect. The results allows concluding that for those countries studied the Foreign Direct Investment boosts both the Private Capital per capita accumulation and the Income per capita growth. The Institutional Quality, mainly that related to private property rights protection and individual freedom, are determining factors for Growth. It was finally found that Public Investment also boosts Growth and the countries considered in the analysis show conditional convergence, which is consistent with the mainstream literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper the economic performance of post-independence Latin America is assessed in comparative perspective. The release from the colonial fiscal burden was partly offset by higher costs of self-government, while the opening of independent Latin American countries to the international economy represented a handmaiden of growth. Regional disparities increased after independence, so generalisations about the region's long-run behaviour are not straightforward. However, on average, per capita income grew in Latin America, and although the region fell behind compared with the United States and Western Europe, it improved or maintained its position relative to the rest of the world. Thus the term ' lost decades' appears an unwarranted depiction of the period between 1820 and 1870. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main purpose of this paper is to analyze broadly, the origins, characteristics and challenges of the "new" left in Latin America, whose promotion dates from the last years or even months, with a significant weight in the political and social life of several countries. For the analysis of this topic, there will be an exhibition of their common features, from a historical perspective as well as its current development, product of recent international socioeconomic changes. This analysis hopes to contribute to the debate of the subject matter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Some years ago, the GLOBE Project measured nine cultural dimensions in ten Latin American Countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, and Venezuela. In spite of its valuable contribution, the GLOBE Project did not provide an aggregated measure for the cultural distances between countries, which would enable directly inspecting the cultural distances between countries. To overcome that limitation, this paper uses the methodology proposed by Kogut and Singh (1988) for quantifying cultural distances. Consecutively, multi-dimensional escalation (MDE) is used to graphically represent (i. e., in maps) the cultural distances calculated between the ten countries. Then, for the purpose of interpreting the axes of the maps obtained using the MDEs, a linear regression is made using the methodology suggested by Fernández et al. (2003) for each one of the nine cultural dimensions. Finally, based on the limitations of the study, some future lines of research are proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently appeared, media observatories are media supervision instances that overlook media activity. Even though little has been systematized about their activity, they are realities that grow in a slow but progressive manner. The present paper objective is to justify the reason for being of Latinamerican observatories, describe the context in which they are born and show how in their essence they house a true and legitimate service vocation. The manuscript aims to explain that media observatories appear in Latinamerica because of two reasons: first, someone has to oversee those who oversee, and secondly it may no be suitable any more that fact that those who keep an eye on may also commit mistakes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores a minimalist approach to the recently created Community of South American Nations. Based on the experience of the currently weakened process of integration it argues that the principles of concentration, gradualism and concreteness are essential to future actions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]