Parties, Democracy and Grounded Utopias: A Reply to Sara Motta

The article is a reply to Sara Motta's article 'Utopias Re-imagined: A Reply to Panizza' in this journal. It discusses the relations between representative and participatory democracy in Latin America in the light of Motta's vindication of different forms of participatory democracy. It argues that when analysing the advances of the left and the centre-left in contemporary Latin America it is difficult to ignore the strategic role played by left-of-centre political parties in winning elections and the importance of controlling the state as a crucial instrument for promoting change. It further argues that while participatory democracy is essential for a democratic polity, it presupposes a well-functioning representative democracy rather than an alternative to it. Against Motta's celebration of localised, anti-capitalist utopias the article vindicates a process of iterative yet cumulative change that shapes and reshapes the political and institutional parameters that redefine what governments consider politically possible, feasible and desirable. It concludes by noting that the twentieth century's failure of totalising utopias makes us overlook the success of other, more grounded and open forms of utopian thinking, such as political democracy and economic social democracy, which have the potential to improve the lives of millions of people in Latin America.     

DNA typing: an accessory evidence in doping control

A clear positive case for anabolic steroids doping was confounded by alleged urine tampering during doping control procedures. Review of the chain of custody showed no flaws, but nevertheless the athlete was adamant that the urine sample should be analyzed for DNA in order to support her contention that she was not the donor of the sample. The results obtained showed that the urine sample that scored positive for steroids contained nuclear DNA that could not be matched to the DNA obtained from the athlete's blood. On the other hand, the same urine sample contained mitochondrial DNA whose nucleotide sequences spanning the hyper variable regions HV1 and HV2 proved to be identical to those determined in mitochondrial DNA amplified from the athlete's blood. The occurrence of an extraneous genotype is compatible with exogenous nuclear DNA admixture to the athlete's urine. Alternatively, taking in consideration the mitochondrial DNA, we could not exclude that a sibling or a maternal relative of the athlete could have acted as a donor of the urine utilized for doping control and DNA analysis. Both situations point to possible tampering of the urine by the athlete. Adjudication at CAS maintained previous national and international federation decision that there was no proof of a chain of custody flaw to justify the athlete's allegation of urine substitution after collection.     

Age patterns of suicide: identification and characterization of European clusters and trends

Relatively few studies have addressed age patterns of suicide using specifically designed and systematized approaches. Our main objective was to identify and characterize age patterns of suicide in Europe, both on cross-sectional and longitudinal perspectives, based on data comprising the two last decades of the 20th century. A second objective was to determine whether some analytical methods could be useful as complementary approaches to the traditional examination of age-specific rate curves. We identified and characterized four patterns: upward-sloping, convex, downward-sloping, and uniform. The first three reproduce patterns previously described, though we propose some modifications to the respective classification criteria. Longitudinally, pattern stability was found for most countries, but some notable exceptions were detected. From the computation of multiple-decrement life tables by European country, period, and gender, we derived cumulative distributions of age at death for suicide. The results indicate that this methodology is a useful tool, not only for describing and summarizing information, but, more importantly, for providing a better understanding of intrinsic features and complexities of the patterns. Finally, we discuss practical implications of the study in the context of previous theories linking age patterns of suicide to sociological and economic dimensions, and we raise a few questions and hypotheses to be addressed in future research.     

Is Brazil becoming a “boring” country?

The article looks at the condition of Brazil's political system in light of the 1998 electoral results. It critically examines arguments that electoral volatility, political fragmentation and weak institutionalisation have produced a highly unstable political system unsuitable for sound policy‐making and processing change. While not underestimating the influence of electoral rules, it argues that given the combination of political, institutional and economic turmoil of the 1980s, it is not surprising that electoral volatility over the period was amongst the highest in the world. Arguably, however, these factors are now having a diminished impact on the political system, lessening volatility and allowing the emergence of a more institutionalised party system.     

'Brazil Needs to Change': Change as Iteration and the Iteration of Change in Brazil's 2002 Presidential Election1

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's triumph in Brazil's 2002 presidential election was construed in terms of a promise of radical change against the holders of the status quo . This article argues that in fact a more subtle political game was a stake in the election, a contest over the meaning and limits of change itself. The article examines how the various players – Lula da Silva, outgoing president Fernando Henrique Cardoso and the PSDB's presidential candidate José Serra – invoked and iterated a discourse of change to define and redefine the political dividing lines that marked out the electoral dispute and attempted to set or fix the distinctions between their political positions.     

Analysis of STR loci in Cartagena, a Caribbean city of Colombia

Allele frequencies, together with some parameters of forensic interest were estimated for nine STRs included in the AmpF/STR Profiler kit (CSF1PO, D3S1358, D5S818, D7S820, D13S317, FGA, TH01, TPOX and vWA) in a sample of 215 unrelated individuals from Cartagena (Colombia). For all loci, no significant deviations from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium were observed. Comparative analysis results between our data and those from other Colombian and African population samples revealed significant differences, except with two Colombian Caribbean Coast sub-regions.