What kind of ‘generalized’ systems of preferences?

Relations between Developed and Developing Countries are constantly being subjected to new and increasingly challenging situations, but there is a generally held belief that Developing Countries should be treated differently. However, both the nature and the extent of this differential treatment are sensitive issues. Against this background, this article examines Generalized Systems of Preferences as unilateral instruments for development cooperation, and considers the problems caused by the discretionary nature with which they have traditionally been implemented. JEL Classification K33 · F13 · F18 · F02 · J80 This article expands on the author’s research included in the papers presented to the XX Session of the Spanish Association of Professors of International Law and International Relations, Jaen, September 2003, and to the Conference on North and South Dimensions on Trade and Environment, Amsterdam, November 2004, organised within the framework of the concerted action on trade and environment (CAT & E), financed by the EU-UNER, contract no. EV K2-CT-2002-20017. This field of study forms part of the author’s contribution to the Project ‘La incidencia de la globalización en los procedimientos de creación y aplicación de Derecho Internacional’, financed by the Spanish Ministry for Science and Technology, SPGC, project number BJU2003-04240.     

Contextual,cognitive, and adolescent factors associated with parenting in adolescence

In this study, we examined predictors of parenting during adolescence from three domains: the contextual (i.e., stress, support, marital satisfaction), social-cognitive (i.e., beliefs about adolescence), and child (difficulty). Fifty-three mothers and 38 fathers of 13–18 year olds were interviewed and rated on three dimensions of parenting—involvement, autonomy support, and structure. Parents completed questionnaires assessing predictor variables. Results indicated that, for mothers, higher numbers of recent stressful events were associated with less provision of structure and more control. For fathers, relations between views of adolescence and parenting were in evidence; while for both mothers and fathers strong relations between adolescent difficulty and parenting emerged. Relations between perceived difficulty of adolescent and parenting were more apparent in conducive than nonconducive contexts. The differential results for mothers and fathers are interpreted in terms of mothers' greater involvement and less role latitude than fathers. Parents' resources, experience, and expectations are considered in understanding why predictors might be associated with parenting variables.Received Ph.D. in clinical psychology from University of Rochester. Research interests include motivational development, parenting, self- and emotion-regulation. Also investigating factors affecting parenting, especially parent involvement.Received a Master's degree from New York University. Current interests involve interpersonal processes in depression.Received a Master's degree from Clark University. Research interests include the development of self-regulation with particular interest in the effects of power, authority, and responsibility on the socialization and disciplining of young children.Received Master's of Social Work degree from Columbia University. Current interests include factors that facilitate adolescents developing connections with the community.     

Tensions between congress and the executive in nineteenth-century Argentina: federal intervention and separation of powers

SUMMARY

This article analyses the debates that took place in the Congress of Argentina between the enactment of the constitution in 1853 and the end of the century, regarding the powers of the executive and legislative branches for intervening in the provinces in case of internal conflict or external attack. It focuses on the controversies arising from different bills submitted to congress in order to enact a general intervention act to resolve, once and for all, the powers of each branch in that matter. Although those bills did not pass, a study of them shows the existing disagreements about the operation of the federal system and the separation of powers. Some of the differences were linked to the discussion of American constitutional doctrine in which Argentina had been engaged since the mid nineteenth century in order to solve the dilemmas of organizing its political institutions. This article claims that this analysis contributes to ongoing debates on the roots of political conflict in Argentina by showing the importance of institutional controversies, and argues that it is necessary to address the role of congress and of doctrinal dissent in order to revise the role that historiography has given to the disputes over power as an overall explanation for political confrontations.