Puerto Rico’s Luis Muñoz Marín: Poet,Politician, and Paradox

Some revere Luis Muñoz Marín (1898–1980); others condemn him. The author lived years of her childhood and adolescence in Puerto Rico, when prosperity—to a great extent the result of Luis Muñoz Marín’s leadership—promised a socioeconomic reality different from the current one. To understand his life and legacy, she interviewed in San Juan his daughter Senator Victoria Muñoz Mendoza (1940– ), spoke with professors, authors, and a spectrum of other individuals, and spent time at the archives of the Luis Muñoz Marín Foundation. The Foundation is a welcome oasis in an island where, despite its natural beauties, 21st century quandaries and traffic jams abound. Landing in the international airport named in Muñoz Marín’s honor, she heard a Puerto Rican airline employee say that today Muñoz Marín is a fish out of water.     

Religion, Nationalism, History, and Politics in Hungary’s New Constitution

Positive and negative factors in Hungary??s history, politics, and society contribute to controversies over the new Constitution. Hungarians in Budapest conversed with the author about religion and secularism, nationalism and authoritarianism, the legacy of 1956 and 1989, and the work of the Constitutional Court.     

Continuity in Change: Leftwing Coalitions in Uruguay and Chile

Coalitions have been critical for the reemergence of democracy and stability in Uruguay and Chile. Where do they come from? Why are they successful? To explore the role of history and ideologies in the formation and successes of two leftwing coalitions, Uruguay’s Frente Amplio (Broad Front) (FA) and Chile’s Concertación por la Demcracia (Concertación), the author traveled to South America. In Montevideo and Santiago, she spoke with professors and politicians, government officials and former Presidents. This essay will introduce the Uruguayan and Chilean political party systems, discuss how they have dealt with crimes committed by the dictatorships (1973–1990), and highlight the significance of the two coalitions. It will use the term “left” to designate parties which favor egalitarianism and statism, and claim to speak for the people, especially the underprivileged; the term “right” for those which favor liberty, individual initiative, equality of opportunity, and limited government.     

Synagogues,Cemeteries, and Frontiers: Anti-Semitism in Switzerland

Jews have lived in Switzerland since ancient times. This article discusses recent anti-Semitic incidents and concerns in Geneva and traces the complex history, over a number of centuries, of restrictions and progressive emancipation of Jews in Switzerland.     

From Dictatorship to Democracy: Four Chilean Women’s Memories

A law school dean, a university president, a scholarly judge, and the head of the Foreign Ministry division in charge of Chile’s frontiers agree: The Constitution of 1980 was the initial turning point in Chile’s transition from autocracy to pluralism.

Ethnic Identity and Gender in Pluralist Perú

In 2011, Japanese-Peruvian Keiko Fujimori (1975- ), daughter of the former president, Alberto Fujimori, almost won presidential elections in Peru. Ollanta Humala (1962- ), who identifies himself as indigenous and as a youth studied in “La Unión,” a Japanese-Peruvian school, defeated her. He had been an army officer; Keiko Fujimori, a congresswoman. She now hopes to win in 2016. This would make her Perú's first elected female president. What is the importance of a candidate's ethnicity or gender? Have such identity factors become meaningless or unimportant in Perú -- despite the historical reality of racism and gender inequality? To answer these quite general questions, this article focuses on history, multiculturalism, and law. Key points are enhanced through conversations with present and former state officials, authors, professors, students, and with the coordinator of the Japanese Immigration Museum at the Peruvian Japanese Cultural Center. Peru is a multiethnic nation-state and being a woman is not an obstacle to power.