Clientelism or Something Else? Squatter Politics in Montevideo

Through the in‐depth ethnographic study of one squatter neighborhood in Montevideo and its leader's political networks, this article illustrates a successful strategy through which some squatter neighborhoods have fought for their right to the city. This consists of opportunistic, face‐to‐face relationships between squatter leaders and politicians of various factions and parties as intermediaries to get state goods, such as water, building materials, electricity, roads, and ultimately land tenure. Through this mechanism, squatters have seized political opportunities at the national and municipal levels. These opportunities were particularly high between 1989 and 2004, years of great competition for the votes of the urban poor on the periphery of the city, when the national and municipal governments belonged to opposing parties. In terms of theory, the article discusses current literature on clientelism, posing problems that make it difficult to characterize the political networks observed among squatters.     

东南亚国家的经济外交与地区安全秩序的重塑

冷战结束后,塑造东亚地区安全秩序的力量来源主要有两个:一是雅尔塔体系的遗产,二是东南亚国家的经济外交。一方面,中国与俄罗斯通过上海合作组织构建了在安全等领域的合作,而美国在美日同盟的基础上强化了其在东亚的单边及多边同盟体系。因此,雅尔塔体系遗产的组织化程度较以往明显提高。另一方面,东南亚诸国通过在东盟"10+"合作框架、亚太经合组织以及亚欧会议等平台实施经济外交,比较成功地把主要大国及区域集团力量牵绊在东亚地区,并藉此影响了冷战后东亚地区的政治、安全秩序。     

A proposed dissection procedure for vertebral arteries in forensic pathology

Vertebral artery removing constitutes a significant forensic pathology challenge. Dissection techniques during head-neck autopsy are based on anterior approach, a difficult method, which is unable to assess the transverse part of the artery. This work presents an original and simple method for dissecting vertebral arteries by a posterior approach, opening the vertebroarterial canal through the spinal canal without any special equipment. Once the spinal cord is removed, the transversarium foramens are opened by an internal cut at the pedicle and an external cut at the transverse process. This enables us to visualize vertebral arteries in its entirety. The method improves both the examination of the upper extracranial segment of the vertebral artery and the neuropathological study when arterial injury is suspected. Applying this method routinely is both feasible and useful in suspected cases of vertebral artery trauma and could contribute to assess more precisely the actual incidence of this injury.     

Preliminary study of the succession pattern of necrobiont insects, colonising species and larvae on pig carcasses in Temuco (Chile) for forensic applications

Knowledge regarding the succession patterns of insects that visit carcasses as well as the other arthropod that colonise them and analysis of the parameters that are associated with larvae allow calculation of the minimum postmortem interval (PMI). This information is obtained from experiments carried out under specific geoclimatic conditions, which determine their application in forensic environments under similar conditions. The field study presented here is the first in Chile to analyse the decomposition process of pig carcasses and the associated succession of insects, colonising species and parameters related to larval masses. All of the larvae obtained from daily samples were measured (in mm), and their mean, range, standard deviation and stage of development (instars) were determined. The carcasses reached the dry remains stage in only 11 days. Seven species of Diptera visited the carcass during the process, but only two species colonised it by means of egg deposition followed by development of larvae: Cochliomyia macellaria (Fabricius) and Lucilia sericata (Meigen) (Diptera: Calliphoridae), which exhibited a duration of the development cycle from egg to adult of 21 days. The collected Coleoptera correspond to five predator species (Staphilinidae and Histeridae). From the results of this study, it can be concluded that only some of the insect species present in this region can provide information that can be used in forensic entomology and that analysis of larval masses of colonising species can be a valuable tool for determining the PMI(min) in this region of Chile.     

Explanatory factors of the relationship between gender diversity and corporate performance

In recent years a growing interest in gender diversity has arisen in the business context, and a significant number of research studies have analysed its effect on corporate performance. Nonetheless, these studies have not led to conclusive results, perhaps owing to the complexity of the relationship. The present work focuses on analysing two possible justifications of the contradictory effects of gender diversity on company performance: the business context and the optimum size of the female presence in decision-making bodies. The results obtained show that when working conditions and academic background are similar, women achieve better performance in sectors traditionally dominated by men. Moreover, to take the best advantage of gender diversity it is recommended that boards of directors should be balanced or have a slightly higher female presence.     

No More! Women Reporting Intimate Partner Violence in Mexico

An analysis of the National Survey of Violence Against Women (2006) in Mexico was performed to estimate the prevalence and the associated factors of women suffering intimate partner violence (IPV) that report their aggressor by severity of violence. Women aged 15 years or older who reported IPV were analyzed by using logistic regression models. Prevalence of IPV was 33.33 %, 64.11 % of them were classified as non-severe violence (NSV) and 35.89 % as severe violence (SV). Women with SV reported the aggressor more often (24.69 % vs. 6.08 % of NSV). Variables associated with reporting the aggressor for both NSV and SV were having children living in the household, higher socioeconomic status, frequent alcohol consumption by the partner, and health personnel informing women that they were experiencing IPV. We can conclude that a low percentage of women reported IPV. Greater efforts should be made to empower women so they can effectively execute their right to live a life free of violence.     

About the Impossibility of Absolute State Sovereignty

State sovereignty is often thought to be absolute, unlimited. This paper argues that there is no such a thing as absolute State sovereignty. Indeed, absolute sovereignty is impossible because all sovereignty is necessarily underpinned by its conditions of possibility—i.e. limited sovereignty is the norm, though the nature of the limitations varies. The article consists of two main sections: (a) the concept of sovereignty: this section is focused on some of the limitations the concept of sovereignty itself presents; and (b) a historical account of the notion of sovereignty as it was used in the Ancient Times. The particular focus on early notions of a modern concept such as sovereignty has to do with the fact that this early notion has been anthropomorphised with societal evolution. Therein, the current concept of State sovereignty embraces the same limitations it had in its ancient form as a non-fully developed conceptual idea. The implications of understanding State sovereignty as limited rather than absolute are several, both directly and indirectly. A main immediate consequence is that sovereign States can cooperate together, limit their sovereignty and still be considered sovereign.     

England,Englishness and Brexit

In the 1975 referendum England provided the strongest support for European integration, with a much smaller margin for membership in Scotland and Northern Ireland. By 2015 the rank order of ‘national’ attitudes to European integration had reversed. Now, England is the UK's most eurosceptic nation and may vote ‘Leave’, while Scotland seems set to generate a clear margin for ‘Remain’. The UK as a whole is a Brexit marginal. To understand the campaign, we need to make sense of the dynamics of public attitudes in each nation. We take an ‘archaeological’ approach to a limited evidence‐base, to trace the development of attitudes to Europe in England since 1975. We find evidence of a link between English nationalism and euroscepticism. Whatever the result in 2016, contrasting outcomes in England and Scotland will exacerbate tensions in the UK's territorial constitution and could lead to the break‐up of Britain.     

The Anti‐Incumbent Effects of Conditional Cash Transfer Programs

Scholars concur that conditional cash transfer (CCT) programs have a strong proincumbent effect among beneficiaries. Although no study has properly focused on the overall effect of cash transfers on incumbents' national vote shares, most scholars have deduced that this effect is positive; i.e., that cash transfers lead to the expansion of incumbents' electoral bases. This article analyzes survey data from nearly all Latin American countries and confirms that beneficiaries of CCT programs are more likely to support incumbents. However, it also shows that CCT programs may induce many voters who were previously incumbent supporters to vote for the opposition. As a consequence, the overall impact of cash transfers on incumbents' vote shares is indeterminate; it depends on the balance between both patterns of behavioral changes among voters. This study is the first to report evidence that cash transfer programs may have significant anti‐incumbent effects.