Controlling Administrative Discretion Promotes Social Equity? Evidence from a Natural Experiment

Although social equity has been a formal pillar of public administration for decades, identifying mechanisms through which public officials inadvertently reproduce unfair conditions remains a relevant topic. In particular, it is important to understand how the habits and practices of street‐level bureaucrats may result in an unjust allocation of public resources. This article provides evidence on how the administrative discretion conferred on school principals may result in an efficient but unfair condition regarding the allocation of students across schools, thus undermining social equity. By exploiting a natural experiment, we are able to provide reliable evidence on how controlling administrative discretion decreases the segregation of students based on their socioeconomic status.     

The Transaction Costs of Government Responses to the COVID-19 Emergency in Latin America

The COVID-19 pandemic has created a crisis that is challenging national and local governments to innovate in their responses to novel problems. Despite similarities to the challenges confronted in developed countries, for Latin American governments, these problems are amplified by structural obstacles such as social inequalities. These countries must respond with capacities and resources that are often limited by spoils systems and by social and political polarization. This essay provides an overview of some innovative practices in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Mexico. In particular, this essay concentrates on some salient collaborative efforts in the region. To draw lessons from these practices, the authors focus on the formal and informal institutions that facilitate or obstruct collaboration across jurisdictions. The findings are discussed in terms of the transaction costs of collaboration identified in these experiences.     

Healthcare,Policy Implementation,and Culture: What Cultural Values Influence Unpaid Primary Caregivers to Provide Care to Older Adults?

This research examines home healthcare programs implemented in Puerto Rico and Indiana. Puerto Rico is primarily a Hispanic territory of the United States, while Indiana is a culturally Anglo Midwestern state. This study explores the cultural values that influence unpaid care of older adults in these two settings. I hypothesize that dissimilar cultural values will influence care of unpaid primary caregivers (UPCs) in both jurisdictions. Results supported the hypothesis: UPCs emphasized different cultural values in caregiving. The study recommends that the federal government support families with essential services to enable them render badly-needed care to their elderly family members.     

Mediated territoriality: rural workers and the efforts to scale out agroecology in Nicaragua

The Spanish word formación can be translated as ‘training’ or ‘education’, but Latin American social movements use it as inspired by Che Guevara’s notion of ‘molding’ the values of the new woman and new man for egalitarian, cooperative social relations in the construction of a ‘new society’. This contribution presents findings on the dialectical linkages between the formación processes led by the Rural Workers’ Association (ATC) and the gradual transformation of the Nicaraguan countryside by peasant families choosing to grow food using agroecological practices. We use Vygotsky’s sociocultural historical theory to explore the developmental processes of formación subjects and the pedagogical mediators of their transformation into movement cadre. The motivations of active learners to develop new senses and collective understandings about their material reality become a counterhegemonic process of internalization and socialization of agroecological knowledges and senses. In this paper, we further explore the formación process by identifying territorial mediators: culturally significant elements within and outside of individuals that facilitate the rooting of agroecological social processes in a given territory where the social movement is active. By placing the territory, rather than the individual, at the center of popular education processes, new synergies are emerging in the construction of socially mobilizing methods for producing and spreading agroecological knowledge.     

The Portuguese Cortes during the reign of Ferdinand I (1367–83): the context of the Hundred Years War (1337–1453)

This article focuses on the study of the Cortes that convened during the reign of King Ferdinand I (1367–83), which took place in the context of the wars experienced in Europe, in the Iberian peninsula and in Portugal. First, it is shown how the Hundred Years War impacted on the Iberian peninsula from the moment when Henry of Trastámara, with the support of France, opposed the rule of his half-brother, Peter of Castile. At the same time, the Portuguese King Ferdinand I presented himself as a candidate to the Castilian throne, with the support of England. The three Fernandine Wars that took place in 1369–71, 1372–73 and 1381–82 are then briefly described. Next, this article examines the eight Cortes that met during the reign of Ferdinand I, showing how they were all summoned because of the war. Finally, this article analyses the appeals made by the municipalities in the Cortes of Lisbon of 1371, the Cortes of Oporto of 1372 and the Cortes of Leiria of 1372, with special attention given to the many military, economic, social, administrative and fiscal appeals and requests arising from the ills of war. Hence, it is concluded that the Cortes were unable to solve many of these problems, even though they contributed to restraining certain abuses. They were mostly an opportunity for dialogue between the king and the commoners, as well as a mitigating factor of greater tension and social conflict in this internal and external state of war. Within the context of war, the strength of the Cortes as a representative institution was reinforced, as well as the power and representativeness of the procurators of the commoners within the Cortes.     

Documentation of torture and cruel,inhuman or degrading treatment of children: A review of existing guidelines and tools

The documentation of individual cases of child torture is of paramount importance to bring justice to, and help heal, individuals and sensitize societies. Our objective is to systematically review medical guidelines for the recording of individual cases of child torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment (CIDT). We searched CINAHL, Embase, the Guidelines International Network, Lilacs, Medline, the National Guideline Clearinghouse, PsychInfo and all websites of the organizations participating in the updating of the Istanbul Protocol for guidelines or studies on how to document torture, CIDT or abuse in persons under 18 years. We did not find a comprehensive guideline that encompassed all aspects of the documentation of child torture, as does the Istanbul Protocol for adults. An expert opinion guideline on how to document sexual torture in children was found, and in addition we identified 13 consensus-based guidelines for the evaluation of abuse in children or specific aspects thereof. We strongly recommend a child specific, comprehensive guideline on the documentation of torture and CIDT in children.     

Sustainable small enterprise development in a Cuban transition economy

This article examines the status of small business development in Cuba through 1999, and evaluates the potential future of small enterprises in a Cuban transition to democracy and capitalism. In any transition to democracy and capitalism, small enterprise development is highly desirable, if not essential, for creating a growing and sustainable economy. We attempt to elucidate the complex issues that will shape the development of small enterprises in Cuba's eventual transition to a market economy, as well as outline the relevant experiences of other economies in similar situations and provide suggestions for future internal and external policymakers working to further small business interests in Cuba. Special emphasis is placed on the obstacles grounded in human behaviors that are incompatible with a globally competitive market economy. J. Antonio Villamill, former U.S. undersecretary of commerce and director of Florida's Office of Tourism, Trade and Economic Development, is president of Washington Economics Group, Inc.