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.     

Increasing the Human Capital of Children in Latin American Countries: The Role of Parents’ Time in Childcare

In this paper, we focus on the relationship between parents’ education and activities aimed at increasing the human capital of children (for example, educational childcare). Using time use surveys from Mexico, Peru, Ecuador, and Colombia we find that in Mexico, Peru, and Colombia the level of education of both father and mother has a positive association with the time devoted to educational childcare, while in Ecuador only fathers’ level of education has a positive association with father’s time devoted to educational childcare. Furthermore, we find that the time devoted to educational childcare by parents is positively related in all four countries.     

Psychiatric Morbidity Differences in Male and Female Adolescent Inpatients With Alcohol Use Disorders

Objective: To examine gender differences in demography, cooccurrence of Diagnostic Statistical Manual (third edition, revised; DSM-III-R) axis I disorders and axis II personality disorders, and self-reported psychological distress in adolescent psychiatric inpatients with alcohol use disorders. Method: A consecutive series of 61 adolescent inpatients (36 boys and 25 girls) with either alcohol abuse or dependence were reliably assessed with structured diagnostic interviews for DSM-III-R Axis I and Axis II personality disorders. Results: Boys and girls did not differ in age, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, global functioning, age at first psychiatric contact, or number of hospitalizations. Girls were more likely to meet criteria for oppositional defiant disorder, eating disorders, and additional drug use disorders. Girls were also more likely than boys to meet criteria for at least one personality disorder and borderline personality Contrary to gender patterns in the general population, the proportion of girls and boys with affective disorders and conduct disorders did not differ significantly. Conclusions: Relatively few gender differences were found in adolescent inpatient alcohol abusers even where they would be expected, based on non substance-abuse general population gender patterns. When observed, gender differences were in the direction of greater psychiatric disturbance among girls. Some of the gender patterns observed among alcohol abusing adolescents are at odds with gender differences observed in non substance-abuse samples.     

Long-term effects of participation in the Baltimore City drug treatment court: Results from an experimental study

This study uses an experimental design comparing 235 offenders assigned either to drug treatment court or treatment as usual. It extends prior analyses of this study sample to examine whether differences observed between drug treatment court subjects and control subjects at one and two years after the start of the program persist after three years, when many of the subjects had ceased active treatment. Further, it extends earlier analyses that showed that the quantity of drug treatment court services received was related to lower recidivism rates by using an instrumental variables approach to handle the endogeneity problem that sometimes arises when subjects self-select into different levels of service. Results show a sustained treatment effect on recidivism, controlling for time at risk. This effect is not limited to the period during which services are delivered. Rather, it persists even after participation in the drug court program ceases. Results also show that the recidivism is lowest among subjects who participate at higher levels in certified drug treatment, status hearings, and drug testing. These positive findings are tempered with findings that more than three-fourths of clients are re-arrested within three years, regardless of participation in the drug treatment court, and that drug treatment court cases spend approximately the same number of days incarcerated as do control cases. Implications for strengthening drug treatment courts are discussed.     

Argentina,a 'Parasite State' on the Verge of Disintegration

Argentina has more than twice the total debt of India whilst the latter has 28 times more population in roughly equivalent territories. According to Poder Ciudadano, a local NGO, in 1999 Argentine political parties spent 440 times more than those of Chile. These gross asymmetries help to show that Argentina's financial troubles must be attributed to her own political practices rather than to adverse circumstances or foreign scapegoats. By December 2001, overspending had manifestly destroyed the Argentine financial system. Across-the-board violations of property rights followed, through bank withdrawal restrictions and a debt default that was the biggest in world economic history. This paper analyses the breakdown of federal institutions, the atomisation of power and the erosion of governability that ensued as a consequence of the financial crisis. Mafia-style political practices, an endemic evil in the background of Argentine politics, jumped to the forefront as a consequence of this institutional breakdown.     

The role of 'the resources of the power hypothesis' in explaining the Spanish welfare state between 1975–1995

There are two clearly differentiated parts to this work. The first consists of a review of the theoretical arguments that underlie the so–called 'resources of power hypothesis' . That theory has been used to explain the growth and development of the Welfare State in several European countries. The findings of a number of empirical works backing up that theory have also been included in this review. The intention of the second part is to check the theory against the Spanish case between 1975 and 1995. The conclusion of this work is that if, besides considering the ideological persuasion of the party controlling the government, we take into account the other relevant factors encompassed by the theory, then the 'resources of power hypothesis' is valid in explaining and interpreting the make–up and scope of the Spanish Welfare State.