Economic Transition in Latin American and Post-Communist Countries: A Comparison of Multilateral Development Banks

This article examines regional development banks and their relationship with the World Bank. Specifically, the article analyzes the roles of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), and the factors that have influenced the creation of these international financial institutions. Most of the literature examines regional development banking practices and development strategies as if all regional banks were the same. However, the missions of the IDB and the EBRD are quite distinct. While the IDB primarily provides social sector loans to nation-states, the EBRD primarily provides private sector loans for finance and business development. Given that Latin America and the former Soviet Union share many of the same economic, political and social problems, it is surprising that these institutions are so different. What accounts for the different missions of these regional banks? We find that the influence of borrowing and non-borrowing member states in the creation of these banks can help explain some of the differences between the IDB and the EBRD.     

Historical Institutionalism and Economic Policymaking – Determinants of the Pattern of Economic Policy in Brazil, 1930–1960

From 1930 to 1960, Brazil adopted a pattern of economic policy marked by strong state intervention, high levels of protectionism, disregard of exports and a permissive treatment of inflation. These policies distorted the model of industrialisation and had a negative impact on the prospects for economic development. This article employs a historical institutionalist approach to investigate how the international context, the ideology of the policymakers, the role of the technocrats and the pressures of various social groups, especially the industrialists, influenced decisions on economic policy, contributing to the consolidation of the pattern described above.     

Democratic Hegemony and American Hegemony

The emergence of an ‘American democratic empire’, rising from the global informational and transportation revolution, that has its epicentre situated on the territory of the United States (US), has produced a profound metamorphosis in world affairs. National power elites, including those in America, are confronting a dilemma. They are compelled to accept, favour and even defend the so-called globalisation process in order to avoid further erosion of their economic and political power. On the other hand, this process is also directly threatening this same power. The paradox is that the US is the main promoter and defender of last resort of the new global ‘order’, which at the same time is restricting its own margins for sovereign action. The ‘democratic empire’ is thus fostering the rise of a democratic hegemonism at the expense of a ‘US hegemonism’. This democratic hegemonism is a gradually rising—and fragile—consensus on a proliferating set of perceptions and values, stressing individual freedom, responsibility and political and social activism. This consensus arises from the material possibilities of a more individualistic way of life and the increasing capacity of single individuals or organised groups to participate in global and local political decision-making processes. This is a process that favours the empowerment of interest groups whose reference is no longer solely the nation-state. Hence, traditional power elites are progressively losing their ability to present themselves as the ultimate embodiment of a national ‘general interest’. The irony of the seemingly intractable contradiction between US hegemonism and democratic hegemonism is that the actual spreading of the logic of the latter is closely dependent on US power and willingness to defend its own national interest. The greatest challenge for the coming decades will be the construction of supranational governance institutions under democratic hegemony, so as to avoid a classic imperial self-isolation of the US—a situation that would trigger the inevitable demise of democratic hegemonism and, for the time being, of any order as such.     

An ethics of skin and gender

The possibility of using skin as a metaphor for the relation between man and woman is examined. The metaphor of skin might be an alternative to the psychoanalytical, patriarchal metaphor for that relation: the phallus. It might also open up a third way between essentialism and constructivism. First and last, skin could be the metaphor for an ethical relation between self and other. The article concludes with an analysis of the final scene of August Strindberg's The Father :     

Scanning electron microscopy as an auxiliary method in the study of exhumed bones

Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) has been used in forensic science in many ways. The reports of cases in which SEM has been used as an auxiliary method in the investigation of exhumed bones are rare. In this article, we report an exhumation that was made to determine if a seized weapon could have been used in a homicide. We used SEM to analyze a fracture in the interior of the skull of the victim. The findings described in this article showed us that it is possible to develop new researches in this field.     

Y-chromosome STR haplotypes in a sample from São Paulo State, southeastern Brazil

Population: Unrelated males from the S?o Paulo State, Brazil (n=617).     

Firing distance estimation through the analysis of the gunshot residue deposit pattern around the bullet entrance hole by inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry: an experimental study

The use of inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) in the study of gunshot residues (GSR) is relatively recent, and only a few studies have been published on the subject. In the present paper, this instrumental technique has been used to study the deposit pattern of the GSR around the bullet entrance hole, through the analysis of antimony (Sb), barium (Ba), and lead (Pb). The data obtained were used to establish a mathematical model for estimating the firing distance. Test shots using a 6.35-mm pistol were made against a target of cotton tissue, and the amounts of Sb, Ba, and Pb deposited in quadrangular pieces of the target, cut from 4 radial positions, were determined by ICP-MS. In these experimental conditions, it was possible to estimate the firing distance on the interval [20-80] cm. The best linear correlation between ln m and d, where m is the mass of Sb, Ba, or Pb in the samples, expressed in mug/g of target tissue, and d the firing distance, was obtained at radial distances between 3.5 cm and 4.5 cm from the entrance hole. The best regression curve which adjusted to the data was a linear multiple regression between the firing distance and the logarithm of the mass of each element: d = a + b(1)X(1) + b(2)X(2) + b(3)X(3), where X(1) = ln m (Sb), X(2) = ln m(Ba) and X(3) = ln m (Pb). The accuracy of firing distance estimation using only 1 or 2 elements was not significantly different from the one obtained with the 3 elements.