Social Policies and Center‐Right Governments in Argentina and Chile

Latin America's “left turn” expanded cash transfers and public services, contributing to lower poverty and inequality. Recently, right‐leaning candidates and parties have begun to win back seats in the legislature, and in some cases have captured the executive branch. This shift has sparked debate about the future of Latin America's welfare states. This article analyzes social policy reforms enacted by two recent right‐leaning governments: that of Sebastián Piñera in Chile (2010–14) and Mauricio Macri in Argentina (2015–). It finds that contrary to neoliberal adjustment policies of the past, neither Macri nor Piñera engaged in privatization or deep spending cuts. Instead, both administrations facilitated a process of policy drift in some sectors and marginal expansion in others. Policy legacies and the strength of the opposition help to explain these outcomes, suggesting that Latin America's political context has been transformed by the consolidation of democracy and the experience of left party rule.     

Change or Continuity? The Chilean Elections of 2005/2006

This article examines the electoral campaigns for the Presidency and Congress in Chile in 2005/2006. It looks at the issues in the campaign and at the candidates, and their relations with the political parties. It concludes that the economic and political advances during the Presidency of Ricardo Lagos (2000–2006) provided a very favourable context for the fourth successive Presidential victory for the Concertación alliance since 1990. Although electoral continuity was very marked, there were new features – not least the election of a woman as President. Bachelet’s election is partly the product of social and political change taking Chile in a more liberal direction, and her campaign promised to extend and deepen social rights in Chile.     

War Hypotheses: Drug Trafficking,Sovereignty and the Armed Forces in Mexico

This essay analyses how Mexican presidents have interpreted the concepts of drug trafficking and national security and how these particular connotations have redefined national sovereignty and the specific role of the armed forces in protecting this sovereignty. A qualitative technique of discourse analysis is used to examine public speeches by Zedillo (1994–2000), Fox (2000–2006) and Calderón (2006–2012). The conclusions suggest that drug trafficking and US omnipresence are the two main issues that shaped Mexico's national security threats during this period, with qualitatively distinct trajectories.     

Race,Nature and History in Ensayo sobre las revoluciones políticas and El Español de Ambos Mundos

This article revisits the Ensayo sobre las revoluciones políticas published in Paris by Colombian intellectual José María Samper in 1861. It does so by positioning it in the context of the newspaper in which it was initially published in instalments: El Español de Ambos Mundos. Hitherto both this newspaper and its close conceptual connection to the Ensayo have been overlooked. The simultaneous reading of EAM and the Ensayo also serves to signal similarities and differences in racial thinking on both sides of the Atlantic, while contributing to the increasing interest among scholars in studying how miscegenation was endowed with different meanings according to the context in which it was considered.     

The Spanish model of New Journalism in a European context

This work deals with the study of the evolution and the historical experience of Spanish journalism in the context of decades of transition between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. From the selection of the most relevant cases and the examination of tracking, or not, of models and European patterns of the reference press, singularities and analogies of the historical evolution of the Spanish journalism model may be seen – an evolutionary model fully registered within the framework of Western Europe and in one of its most fruitful phases: the origins and first development of the mass media. Therefore, the following trilogy of reference media is selected covering specified time periods: El Imparcial, Madrid, 1867–1933; La Vanguardia, Barcelona, 1881; and ABC, Madrid, 1903.     

Las reformas políticas en el gobierno de Sebastián Piñera Chile, 2010-2013

This paper analyzes political reforms carried out by Sebastián Piñera’s government in Chile. Te reforms considered are those that his Coalition for Change campaigned on as part of the presidential and legislative elections in 2009. Tese reforms promised an improvement in the quality of democracy, and promised its consolidation, including increased political participation, in order to counter the most common criticisms of institutions of representation. Throughout this process, the government showed little receptivity to proposals coming from other sectors, both of the ruling coalition and the opposition; furthermore, it paid scant attention to growing citizen protests and their demands voiced since his second year of government. Te information analyzed conveys little progress in decentralization and in the importance that players with veto powers were gaining within the ruling coalition.     

Mapurbe Identity and Admapu in David Aniñir's Poetry

This article proposes a reading of David Aniñir's poetry that examines how he resignifies elements pertaining to admapu or Mapuche norms and practices in the metropolis. Aniñir is an urban Mapuche poet who lives in Santiago, Chile and displays interest in recovering his roots. While he defies preconceptions about indigenous peoples in his poetry, he includes Mapuche culture in his depiction of mapurbe identity. In his writing, Aniñir incorporates Mapuche key concepts and social roles such as yeyipun (prayer), pewma (dreams), werken (messenger), ngenpin (ritual speaker) and machi (spiritual authority and shaman), giving them new meanings within the urban context.     

The Death of the Author through False Translation in Mario Bellatin's Orientalised Japan

This article argues that Mario Bellatin's exploration of the potential relationship between writing, translation and physical deformity leads, perhaps unconsciously, to the continuation of exoticising stereotypes about ‘Oriental’ cultures. In El jardín de la señora Murakami, Shiki Nagaoka: una nariz de ficción, and Biografía ilustrada de Mishima, Bellatin resorts to Japanese characters to distance himself from his own writings, as if it were the culture that is the most alien to his own. His lucubrations about reading and writing are sometimes accompanied of exocitising and orientalist overtones, which he mocks at times.     

Presidentas Rise: Consequences for Women in Cabinets?

Since 1999, women have democratically won the presidency eight times in Latin America and have named hundreds of ministers. This study argues that under certain conditions, presidentas are more likely than male presidents to improve women's cabinet representation. Two mechanisms, presidenta mandates and gendered networks, appear to drive the relationship. Furthermore, because the pool of ministerial candidates is shallower for women than for men, presidentas are most likely to advance women's representation in cabinets at the beginning of their term and for “feminine” ministries. A case study of Michelle Bachelet's 2006 ministerial appointments reveals initial evidence for the argument. Empirical implications are then tested with an original dataset of 1,908 ministers of all democratically elected Latin American presidents since 1999. Model results are consistent with the theory that presidentas are most likely to “make a difference” when they are least constrained by the supply of female ministerial candidates.     

Memory,Melancholia and Political Transition in Amuleto and Nocturno de Chile by Roberto Bolaño

This article explores the significance of melancholy in two novels by Roberto Bolaño: Amuleto (1999) and Nocturno de Chile (2000). These aim to give narrative form to memories surrounding the violent dismantling of the political left that occurred in the 1960s and 1970s in Latin America. Yet in their melancholic articulation, they do so in a way that both haunts narratives of political transition and questions the consensus regarding literature's obsolescence. In so doing they advocate a mode of reading that confers futurity on past remnants and ruins, and that thwarts the transformation of political defeat into a trophy of the victor's triumph.     

State,Society and Markets in Argentina: The Political Economy of Neodesarrollismo under Néstor Kirchner, 2003–2007

The national Peronist social contract in Argentina has a long history rooted in syndicalism and populism. However, Menemismo in the 1990s, El Argentinazo in December 2001, and Kirchnerismo post crisis have all served to change the fundamental framework of the Argentine economy, the social underpinnings of that economy and how it intersects with global capital. This article is an attempt to identify the nature of Kirchner's administration through analysis of political economy, therefore seeking to facilitate a deeper understanding of the developmental nature and impact of the Kirchner administration of 2003–2007.     

Spain and the antipsychiatric aesthetic

This article outlines a family resemblance in the work of authors and film-makers of the 1960s and 1970s in Spain. In the light of the international zeitgeist most often termed “antipsychiatry,” the works of Michel Foucault (1926–1984) and R. D. Laing (1927–1989) make up the critical focus for the formulation of an “antipsychiatric aesthetic” in Spanish literature. In the novels Tiempo de silencio (1961) by Luís Martín-Santos (1926–1964) and Volverás a Región (1967) by Juan Benet (1927–1993), and the film El espíritu de la colmena (1973) directed by Víctor Erice (1940–), this antipsychiatric aesthetic explores the relationship between doctor and patient in poetry as Scottish antipsychiatrist R. D. Laing had in practice. Contemporary to Foucault and Laing’s critique of the managerial doctor figure, these three texts re-enact this critique and extend its remit to embody the reader–writer/author–text/text–reader dialectic. Consequently, a specifically Iberian school of critical theory becomes apparent, that responds to the existential writings of Miguel de Unamuno (1864–1936). Embedded within these poetics are attempts to reframe the ontological anxieties that stem from a subjective experience of silence and control.     

The death of Adib Ishaq

G.A. Nyersyesov's Diplomatichyeskaya istoriya Yegipyetskogo krizisa 1881–1882 gg. (v svyetye Russkikh arkhivnikh materialov), Diplomatic History of the 1881–1882 Egyptian Crisis (In Light of Russian Archival Materials) (Moscow: Nauka Press for the African Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union, 1979; 320 pp.)

V.S. Koshyelyev's Yegipyet do El‐Alameyna: iz istorii vmttripolitichyeskoy bor'bi (1939–1942), Egypt Before El‐Alamein: From the History of the Internal‐Political Struggle, 1939–42 (Minsk: The Belorussian State University Press, 1977; 176 pp.)

I.P. Byelyayev and Ye. M. Primakov, entitled Yegipyet: vryemya Pryezidyenta Nasyera, Egypt: The Era of President Nasir (Moscow: Misl’ Press 1974; 400 pp.)

V.I. Nagaychuk's Politika S. Sh. A. v otnoshyenii Yegipta (50–60ye godi), US Policy Towards Egypt: The 1950s and the 1960s (Kiev: Naukova Dumka for the Academy of Sciences of Soviet Ukraine, 1982; 208 pp.)

Olyeg Gyerasimov's Sumyerki Kaira, Cairo Twilight(Moscow: Sovyetskaya Rossiya Press, 1980; 96 pp.)

G.I. Sukharyev's Sadd‐El'‐Aali. Zapiski Stroityelya, The High Dam: Notes of A Builder (Moscow: Molodaya Gvardiya Press, due in late 1983; about 160 pp.

L.A. Fridman's Yegipyet 1882–1952: Sotsial'no‐ekonomichyeskaya struktura dyeryevni, Egypt 1882–1952: The Socio‐Economic Structure of the Village (Moscow: Nauka Press for the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union, 1973; 425 pp.)

V. A.L. Lutskyevich's Yegipyet vbor'bye za ekoaomichyeskuyu nyezavisimost’ 1952–1971 (analiz roli vnyeshnyeekonomichyeskikh svyazyey), Egypt in the Struggle for Economic Independence, 1952–1971: An Analysis of the Role of External Economic Relations (Moscow: Nauka Press for the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union, 1976; 231 pp.)

A.G. Baklanov's Rabochiy klass sovryemyennogo Yegipta, The Working Class of Contemporary Egypt (Moscow: Nauka Press, 1981; 216 pp.)

V.V. Chyernoskaya's Formirovaniye Yegipyetskoy intyelligyentsii v XIX — pyervoy polovinye XX v., The Formation of the Egyptian Intelligentsia in the 19th and the First Half of the 20th Century (Moscow: Nauka Press for the Institute of Oriental Studies of Moscow University, 1979; 163 pp.)     

Book Reviews

Book reviewed in this article: Centeno, Miguel A., and Patricio Silva, eds. The Politics of Expertise in Latin America. Fitch, J. Samuel. The Armed Forces and Democracy in Latin America. Oxhorn, Philip, and Pamela K. Starr, eds. Markets and Democracy in Latin America: Conflict or Convergence? Tuman, John P., and John T. Morris, eds. Transforming the Latin American Automobile Industry: Unions, Workers, and the Politics of Restructuring. Riordan Roett, ed. MERCOSUR: Regional Integration, World Markets. Inglehart, Ronald F., Neil Nevitte, and Miguel Basañez. The North American Trajectory: Cultural, Economic, and Political Ties Among the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Van Dijck, Pitou, ed. The Bolivian Experiment: Structural Adjustment and Poverty Alleviation. Triay, Victor Andrés. Fleeing Castro: Operation Pedro Pan and the Cuban Children's Program. Williams, Philip J., and Knut Walter. Militarization and Demilitarization in El Salvador's Transition to Democracy. Cullather, Nick. Secret History: The CIA's Classified Account of Its Operations in Guatemala, 1952–1954. Malone, David M. Decision‐making in the U.N. Security Council: The Case of Haiti.     

Drugs,Violence, and Corruption: Perspectives from Mexico and Central America

Robert J. Bunker, ed., Criminal Insurgencies in Mexico and the Americas: The Gangs and Cartels Wage War. New York: Routledge, 2013. Tables, figures, index, 210 pp.; hardcover $160, paperback $56.95. Robert J. Bunker and John P. Sullivan, Studies in Gangs and Cartels. New York: Routledge, 2014. Tables, figures, index, 232 pp.; hardcover $168, paperback $54.95. Michael Deibert, In the Shadow of Saint Death: The Gulf Cartel and the Price of America's Drug War in Mexico. Guilford: Lyons Press, 2014. Map, bibliography, index, 336 pp.; hardcover $24.95, paperback $16.95. Alfredo Nateras Domínguez, Vivo por mi madre y muero por mi barrio. Significados de la violencia y la muerte en el Barrio 18 y la Mara Salvatrucha. Mexico City: Instituto Mexicano de la Juventud (IMJUVE)/Secretaría de Desarrollo Social (SEDESOL), 2014. Figures, bibliography, 493 pp.; paperback. Sala Negra de El Faro, eds., Crónicas negras desde una región que no cuenta. Mexico City: Aguilar, 2014. 350 pp.; paperback $17. Héctor Silva Ávalos, Infiltrados: crónica de la corrupción en la PNC (1992–2013). San Salvador: UCA Ediciones, 2014. 312 pp.; paperback $10.     

Resurgence of post-crisis neoliberalism: labor law reform and the return to “business as usual” in Lithuania

ABSTRACT

The economic crisis of 2008–2010 revealed the extreme vulnerability of Lithuania to global financial shocks. However, instead of reforming Lithuanian capitalism, the domestic political and business elites chose to write off the enormous social and economic costs incurred during the 2008–2010 crisis as an expense of continuing doing business in a way that was typical to the pre-crisis, booming years of ‘the Baltic tigers’ (2000–2007), i.e., relying on the unstable and inequitable growth model based on foreign capital inflows and remittances, suppressing and keeping wages and taxes on capital low and exporting cheap-skilled labour to the core EU countries. We illustrate this return to business as usual in Lithuania by analyzing the political process of contestation and eventual consolidation of neo-liberal consensus among domestic political actors that resulted in the passage of the new Labour Code enabling creation of ‘flexible’ labor markets. Social and political implications of the resurgent neoliberal hegemony in post-crisis Lithuania are discussed.     

Book reviews

Cook P &; C Kirkpatrick (eds), Privatisation in Developing Countries. International Library of Critical Writings in Economics. Cheltenham: Elgar Reference Collection, 2000. 120pp. ISBN: 1–85898–358–4 (Two volume set).

Entman RM &; A Rojecki, The Black Image in the White Mind: Media and Race in America. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000.305pp. US$26.00. ISBN: 0–26–21075–8.

Jalilian H, Tribe M &; J Weiss (eds), Industrial Development and Policy in Africa. Edward Elgar Publishing, 2000. 292pp. ISBN: 1–84064–120–7

Jing J (ed.), Feeding China's Little Emperors: Food, Children and Social Change. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2000. 279pp. ISBN: 0–8047–3134–9. US$17.95. http: //www. sup. org

Kleinen J, Facing the Future Reviving the Past: A Study of Social Change in a Northern Vietnamese Village. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 1999. 239pp. ISBN: 981–230–039–2. US$29.90. http: //www.iseas.edu.sg/pub.html

Kebede JA, The Changing Face of Rural Policy in Tanzania: From Collectivism to Capitalism. London: Minerva Press, 2000. 86pp. ISBN: 07–5410–828–7. £8.99

Lane RE, The Loss of Happiness in Market Democracies . New Haven: Yale University Press, 2000. 465pp. ISBN: 0–300–07801–3. £22.50

Madsen W, Genocide and Covert Operations in Africa : 1993–1999. Lampeter, Ceredigion, Wales: Edwin Mellen Press, 1999. 568pp. ISBN 0–7734–8002–1.

Mankekar P, Screening Culture, Viewing Politics: An Ethnography of Television, Womanhood and Nation in Postcolonial India. Durham and London: Duke University Press. 429pp. 1999. ISBN: 0–8223–2390–7.

Mathoma P, Mills G &; J Stremlau (eds), Putting People First: African Priorities for the UN Millennium Assembly. Johannesburg, SANA, 2000. 129pp. ISBN: 1–919819–14–5

Nurnberger K, Prosperity, Poverty and Pollution: Managing the Approaching Crisis. Cluster Publications, 1999.487pp. ISBN: 1–875053–15–8.

Harvey D, Limits to Capital , Verso, 1999. 478pp. ISBN: 1–85984–714–5

O'Conner JS, Orloff AS &; S Shaver, States, Markets, Families: Gender, Liberalism, and Social Policy in Australia, Canada, Great Britain, and the United States. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999. 280pp. ISBN: 0–521–63881‐X. £15.95. h ttp: //www. cup. cam.ac.uk

Oi J &; A Walder (eds), Property Rights and Economic Reform in China. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1999. 354pp. ISBN: 08047–3788–6. £13.95. http: //www.sup.org

Parenti C, Lockdown America: Police and Prisons in the Age of Crisis. London: Verso, 1999. 244pp. ISBN: 1–85984–3034. £15.00

Townsend RF, Agricultural Incentives in Sub‐Saharan Africa: Policy Challenges , World Bank Technical Paper no.444. Washington DC: World Bank, August 1999. ISBN: 0–8213–4528–1. Available from World Bank offices and Oxford University Press.

Verdery K, The Political Lives of Dead Bodies, Reburial and Postsocialist Change. New York: Columbia University Press, 1999. 185pp. ISBN: 0–231–11230–0. US$25.00. http: //www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup

Zouev A (ed.) Generation in Jeopardy: Children in Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. New York: Unicef, 1999. 206pp. ISBN: 0–7656–0290–3. US$19.95. http: //www.unicef.org     

“Una tercera lectura”: the cinematic reader and the cult of virility in Manuel Puig's El beso de la mujer araña (1976)

In El beso de la mujer araña, Manuel Puig encourages a “tercera lectura,” informed by both cinema and literature. He creates a cinematic language reinforced by the spirit of “synthesis” and then incorporates a conceptual discourse which is beyond cinema because of the “límites de atención” of a “lector cinematográfico.” Puig expects readers to draw their own conclusions about the themes which emerge. I argue here that both the themes and aesthetic of the novel can be read as a challenge to the form and content of a literary and filmic “cult of virility.”     

Democracy,Authoritarianism, and Ministerial Selection in Russia: How Presidential Preferences Shape Technocratic Cabinets

Abstract: In Russia, politicians routinely select technical, non-party cabinets whose political outlook is difficult to decipher. The article asks how variation in politicians' preferences along the democratic-authoritarian dimension shapes political skills sought in cabinets and how ministers sharing politicians' aims are selected. The account of ministerial selection is tested in a controlled, comparative analysis of ministerial appointments in Russia, using an original dataset covering all full ministers appointed by presidents Boris Yel'tsin and Vladimir Putin, 1992–2008. The results clarify several important debates about the political implications of changes to cabinet composition in Russia and contribute to a more nuanced general understanding of the politics of technical cabinets.