Obligatory Point Research Articles

Chakana and Thirdspace: Engaging Ecuadorian STS in Places of Knowledge Co-Production

Ecuadorian STS studies connects to earlier Latin American scholars’ concerns over science and technology. Like many other academic communities, Ecuadorian STS emerged from the collision of scholarly interest, the building of new research centers, and opportunities for collaboration among undergraduate and postgraduate programs. Primarily rooted in the need to develop social technologies these studies form part of a regional movement aimed at questioning: technological dependence, the role of science in peripheral contexts, and public policies of science, technology, and innovation. The ways in which an STS academic community forms around Ecuadorian STS—is in this case, less about a network than—a matter concerning Henri LeFebvre’s “trialectics of spatiality” ([1974] 1991). In particular, Homi Bhabba (1994) and Edward Soja’s (1996) contributions to the decolonial development of a “thirdspace” is understood as a “particular way of thinking about and interpreting socially produced space” (ibid.). This essay offers a reflection on identity (re-)formation in the making of community. Developing a thirdspace as a transformative process draws inspiration from the Chakana, an Andean symbol of wisdom. A specifically decolonial thirdspace unfolds through the three ascending–descending steps of the Chakana that represent both the expansion and the sustaining of the community: 1. as an Andean referencing point (evoking the bridging-staircase symbol); 2. which allows for the co-creation of situated knowledge from different transnational STS genealogies located in Latin America; 3. and as an obligatory point of passage for STS community creation through identity building. Conceptualizing Ecuadorian STS as a thirdspace, helps to socially comprehend community formation as a social process that is also a critique of symbolic space for membership and knowledge production. By discussing why place is fundamental in community institutionalization, this essay creates possibilities to comprehend—dimensions of STS in the Global South—socially, politically, and cognitively.

CLASSICAL MECHANICS´ TEACHING IN IBERO-AMERICAN ENGINEERING BACHELOR’S DEGREE PROGRAMS. STATE OF KNOWLEDGE

Problem formulation. The teaching of science, in particular physics, has established itself as an obligatory point of reference, especially among Ibero-American professionals. Hence, it is necessary to delve into the theoretical basis of the studies and research, promote well-founded reflections in relation to the state and perspectives of the different priority lines of research at present, and promote interpretative work that allows us to advance in the understanding of significant problems related to science learning.
 Materials and Methods. The research was carried out following the documentary-bibliographic method, which consisted of the collection and subsequent selection of pertinent information on the subject of the study; analytical and comprehensive reading of texts; extraction of the analysis units from the documentary material, the pertinent data, and its submission to a process of review, examination, description, analysis. Thus, the articles of the following high-impact journals were selected: Latin American Journal of Physics Education, The Physics Teacher, Journal of Research in Education, American Journal of Physics, British Journal of Educational Technology, Revista Enseñanza de las ciencias, Revista de Enseñanza de la Física, Acimed, Revista Científica, Revista Mexicana de Física, Revista Academia, Enseñanza de las Ciencias, Revista Española de Física, Revista Cubana de Química, Educación Médica Superior, Revista Estilos de Aprendizaje, Revista electrónica Actualidades Investigativas en Educación, Revista Colombiana de Psiquiatría, ALTERIDAD Revista de Educación, Revista mexicana de investigación educativa, Didasc@lia: Didáctica y Educación, Multiciencias, Escenarios, Comunicar, Revista Academia y Virtualidad, Tarbiya, among others.
 Results. This paper presents the results of scientific-pedagogical research, which goal was to establish by studying the works of Ibero-American researchers who address the problem of basic sciences´ teaching, in particular, physics, at a higher level, how the use of didactic strategies mediated by Information and Communication Technologies applied to physics courses, is visualized; what results has it given and if it helped to improve the students learning results in engineering bachelor’s degree programs.
 Conclusions. The authors found that scholars conceive the use of ICT as favorable since they outline new educational dynamics that allow extending and enriching traditional pedagogy with new learning resources; they foster alternative forms of communication; they solve the problem of physical space; they attenuate the autonomy of the student; they favor the collaborative mode of learning; enhance motivation and improve student learning. However, in this process the prior training of the teacher in the use of ICT becomes important.

Інклюзивна освіта у закладах вищої освіти: мета, завдання, напрями розвитку

The purpose of the study was to consider the issues of structural, organizational, educational and methodological changes that are needed in higher education in order for it to meet the requirements of working with people with special educational needs. The development of the education system directly depends on the level of development of society. «Education should be provided as far as possible, in secondary schools, without any discrimination against children and adults with disabilities» – this was the official position of the European community expressed by UNESCO, the Commission on Human Rights. The ideas of inclusion require radical changes in the educational space from universities. On the agenda for the implementation of this idea requires a step-by-step implementation of a set of actions aimed at addressing issues related to legal, educational and methodological, staffing of inclusive higher education. Restructuring universities to work with inclusive students requires changes in the structure of higher education institutions. There is a need to create separate units for the organization of inclusive education: the allocation of a separate deputy head to work with inclusive students; introduction of curators of integrated groups; organization of a preparatory department for children with special educational needs. Depending on the degree of dysfunction of the special student, work with inclusive students in the higher education institutions can be planned as individual, as part of inclusive groups or as part of integrated groups with other students of higher education. These forms of training can be adjusted depending on the condition of a person with special educational needs, on its adaptation in the team. Ensuring the development of the personality of a student with a disability and his/her socialization is an obligatory point in the development of higher education institutions on the way to the implementation of inclusive education. Conclusion. It is necessary to establish contact of inclusive students not only with the teaching staff, but also to ensure the merger of inclusive students with the main student body of the university. The implementation of this association requires the creation of conditions for social, cultural, creative, physical, sports rehabilitation of students with special needs. Programs are needed to attract such students to the life of the higher education institution, to develop their skills, talents, aspirations and motives. In the future, an important task for the higher education institutions is to provide assistance to graduates with disabilities in employment, which requires extensive outreach among employers, concluding contracts with companies for the employment of inclusive professionals

How Religious Destinations Innovate Tourism Models in Religious Personalization: An Evidence from Contemporary Art-Temple Collaboration

In response to the development of religious personalization, the old marketing strategies of most religious destinations have been unable to effectively promote their popularity in modern times. This article deeply explored how to use contemporary art to design religious destinations comprehensively and proposed an effective solution to enhance the popularity of religious destinations in religious tourism. We established an actor network in religious tourism with qualitative and quantitative analyses and took the Buddhism Yuan-Dao Guanyin Temple in Taiwan as a case analysis. We found temples to be the main actors in religious tourism networks and temple organizations to serve as their spokespersons. The successful obligatory point of passage (OPP) in the network was that “the religious performance of Yuan-Dao Guanyin Temple is a contemporary art style, and every subject who enters the temple field can obtain interests”. This is primarily formulated by the interaction between religion and contemporary art. The results show that adopting a contemporary art style in this case can successfully expand the popularity of the religious destination. Through the actor network model proposed in this paper, it can be used as a strategy for other religious destinations to improve religious tourism.

Modelli di maestà: il padiglione da campo e gli arazzi di Alfonso d’Aragona

The work concerns the iconographical, ideological and cultural relations between various sources dating from the time of Alfonso of Aragon, which are useful to define the king’s image and design his concept of majesty. Evidence for the king’s role models is given, in particular, by the field pavilion lavishly painted and given to the king in 1443 by the city of L’Aquila. Further evidence comes from the study of different tapestries commissioned by the monarch in Flanders as well as from a number of orations, laudatory works and panegyrics, written and dedicated to Alfonso by the humanists at his court. These models are represented by the stories and characters of the biblical and classical times, to which the king refers, once arrived in Italy, to legitimize himself under the guidance of the prominent intellectuals and artistes of the period. His purpose is to present his image as a sovereign depositary of all the Christian and humanist virtues and therefore as an obligatory point of reference for all the political forces, not only the Italian state powers of the era.

Not all roads lead to London: insularity, disconnection and the challenge to ‘regional’ creative industries policy

ABSTRACT The notion of ‘regional’ economic growth through the creative industries is rendered problematic by the socio-geographical complexities that characterize them. Addressing an important conceptual and empirical deficit in our understanding of the creative industries at and beyond the regional level, this paper develops a novel and detailed examination of the music economy in North West England. Uncovering a significant disconnection with the mainstream industry in London – an obligatory point of symbolic validation and passage to wider markets – it is argued that policy is required to support professionals in developing socio-spatial networking strategies to cope with their disconnected status.

The Latin Prope—What Part of Speech Is It?

The Polish version of the article was published in Roczniki Humanistyczne vol. 57, issue 3 (2009).
 This paper seeks to revise the description of the grammatical properties of the Latin lexeme prope, which are fundamental for its inclusion in specific classes of words (parts of speech). The change proposed here amounts to saying that behind the entry prope there are two parts of speech, and that they are not adverb and preposition but adverb and particle. The particle is prope, meaning almost, nearly—it occurs in the positive degree, does not govern case, and is syntactically related to various parts of speech. In the remaining cases, prope most generally means near (somebody / something); it is a gradable adverb that governs an obligatory point of reference (in the form of the accusative, the dative, or the prepositional phrase a [ab] with the ablative). This point of reference may, however, be subject to context-dependent ellipsis when the recipient has an opportunity to reliably reconstruct it.

Constituent Processes and Democratic Ruptures

This paper is a review of Gerardo Pisarello’s book, Procesos Constituyentes: Caminos para la Ruptura Democratica. This book examines constitution-making as a global phenomenon, both from a historical and comparative perspective. The author of this paper proposes that a more decisive move from the descriptive to the normative would have been desirable, but concludes that Pisarello’s book should become an obligatory point of reference for all scholars.

“One Must Not Forget This Diplomatic Negotiation”

"One Must Not Forget This Diplomatic Negotiation" Adrian Ivakhiv (bio) Interviewer: "One has the impression that the game is over from the start; why would they come to help you in your work? The contributors must be saying to themselves, 'He just has to do the job himself, and then publish the results.'" Latour: "You are being hard on me, but you are applying pressure where it hurts. … aime really has the ambition of using everything that philosophy has worked on, but to keep open the ethnographic inquiry. Or at least to obtain enough descriptive realism to open the diplomatic negotiation. One must not forget this diplomatic negotiation. It is essential; any critique you have of the project must be calibrated through it." —Bruno Latour and Carolina Miranda, "Does An Inquiry into Modes of Existence Have a System?" The first question, for me, is to determine whether to treat An Inquiry into Modes of Existence (aime) as Bruno Latour's quarter-century project of reconceiving the categories that structure what we (or he) think(s) of as modernity, or as something else entirely. Is it an expanded book, itself the culmination of many projects converging into one, or many projects diverging from one provocation (1991's We Have Never Been Modern) reconverged into a multimodal monster? Or is it something more diffuse, more collective, more fractal, digital, already networked, and already much more multiple in its origins and therefore impossible to tackle head on because it is so deeply rooted in diverse entanglements—among philosophers (Souriau, Simondon, James, [End Page 144] Whitehead, Deleuze, Stengers), anthropologists (Viveiros de Castro, Descola, Verran, Kohn), scholars of science (Law, Callon, Mol, Haraway, Leigh Star), and broad networks of others in bonds that will outlast any effort to deconstruct anything made up solely of "Bruno Latour"? Click for larger view View full resolution Fig 1. First draft of the classification of modes of existence (May 31, 1988, Melbourne, Australia, http://modesofexistence.org/timeline.html) If it is the latter, and something that has emerged "from the (ethnographic) ground up," then the Valparaiso interviewer is correct in suggesting that it should not have come fully equipped in a system of [End Page 145] modes that already appeared, in nascent form, in a document from 1988 (see image above), which can be found on the aime website. "How can you say it is 'empirical,'" the interviewer protests, "if it was all there in 1988, with squares to be filled in? … Isn't the system here coming to paralyse the inquiry?"1 But then, it is a strength of the web project that it provides historical details like these, and even incriminatory interviews such as this one, in which Latour equivocates that it is "not at all" a system but that "it's crazy" that he has "no satisfactory explanation for the fact that the modes are arranged in four groups of three. I'm terribly sorry, but they grouped themselves like this." He then admits, "You really have me on the spot, because it is true that candidates for new modes proposed until now by co-researchers did not get very far, or in any case, were not validated, or should I say approved." "But still," he assures, "we are right at the start of the collective work." More important than the modes themselves, he avers, are the "pluralism of associations" that the system is intended to enable and, of course, the "diplomatic negotiation," which is the point of the whole exercise: "It is essential; any critique you have of the project must be calibrated through it." Latour is, if anything, very much in his element with these equivocations and hedges on the fence—that is, after all, where the diplomat belongs. Let me suggest a particular reading of Latour and aime here. By his own mode of existence ([me?]), Bruno Latour cannot avoid becoming an obligatory point of passage (to use an actor-network term) for the work he is intending to perform on the world. It is not that here is a Bruno Latour and there is the work he does; here—Latour, and there—his ideas, writings, and activities. No, there is Latouring, which...

Advertising text as the form of social impact.

The given article is dedicated to the advertising text and its form of expression, social impact, and direct approaches to its study. The components of advertising texts are considered in detail. Definitions of all terms are available, related to advertising, as well as the role of the advertising text in society is defined.This article also provides a list of the main components of advertising. However, it should be noted that the presence of all components at once is not an obligatory point, a lot of factors that affect to transfer information that is the main goal of advertising.Thus, we see that approaches to the study of texts in general, and most preferably advertising texts are a few, but the most effective is pragmatic because advertiser’s only purpose is to promote the goods and develop the interest of many people. All language features in the advertising texts are intended to make the recipient to perform the necessary steps that advertiser needs and thus meet the needs of the subject and the recipient of the language. The recipient itself dominates in advertising communication, their needs, motivation, interests are crucial to the advertiser, whose aim is to make identical area of interest of the recipient with his own.The existence of promotional texts of verbal and visual components enables us to classify them into kreolizovany texts, where we see that the non-verbal means are quite significant, but with the verbal form meaningful and pragmatic aspects.

Segmentation and motivations of the attendees’ of the Mediaschool Festival in Łódź, Poland

Abstract The article presents the case study of the Mediaschool Film Festival held in Łódź, a large Polish post-industrial and post-socialist city. The authors’ main goals were to establish the number of the festival visitors, as well as investigate their structure, main motivations to attend the festival, and the level of satisfaction with the festival services. As a result, the authors draw conclusions concerning the role of the festival as a place of the film culture consumption, as well as its role in the development of social capital. The basic method of study was the survey, conducted among the festival visitors in 2011. It contained questions concerning the structure of the festival audience, the evaluation of the event, and the main motivations to attend it. The method was adapted from the event studies, which was a tactical move in order to place the research on the borderline between cultural geography and event studies. Other methods typical of cultural geography and used in the present study included participant observation and semi-structured interview with the festival organisers. The event is one of the urban festivals created after the fall of communism. It is visited mainly by young people, often connected with the Łódź film school. First of all, the festival satisfies the need for contact with culture and film art, thus contributing to the creation of social capital and the development of the film school in Łódź (a part of the cluster of film institutions in the city). The event is a meeting point for film people from Łódź, Poland and abroad. Thus it could be also described as an obligatory point of passage in film-related network of connections.

La Lira de Ébano: escritos sobre el Romanticismo español by Leonardo Romero Tobar (review)

Reviewed by: La Lira de Ébano: escritos sobre el Romanticismo español by Leonardo Romero Tobar Alexander Selimov Keywords Alexander Selimov, Leonardo Romero Tobar, Spanish romanticism Romero Tobar, Leonardo . La Lira de Ébano: escritos sobre el Romanticismo español. Málaga, Sp.: Universidad de Málaga, 2010. 352352 pp. Professor Romero Tobar is a distinguished scholar of Spanish Peninsular Literature, well known in academic circles for his significant contributions to Hispanic literary criticism, and in particular, to the field of Romantic studies. The reviewed volume is a collection of twenty interpretive essays in Spanish, eighteen of which were published as articles between 1983 and 2006, and two, presented as conference [End Page 383] papers in 2003 and 2008. The volume is divided into four sections: "Sobre el nombre y marcas del romanticismo," "Literatura y sociedad," "Romanticismo y géneros literarios," and "Algunos temas," with the first three carrying the bulk of his critical discourse. The essays are written from a perspective that combines insights from rationalist and historicist approaches, and collectively present the author's views on the development, essence and transcendence of Spanish Romanticism. The volume opens with epigraphs extracted from a sonnet by Juan Meléndez Valdés and a novel by Ramón López Soler. Both works were published prior to the full triumph of Romanticism in Spain in the mid 1830s, which is indicative of the author's broad contextualized understanding of the processes leading to the development of Romantic aesthetics. The articles are organized thematically and can be read in any order. The first articles focus on the etymology of the term "Romantic" and on the concepts of imagination and fantasy in the early Romantic works. Romero Tobar explains their influence on the emergence of the aesthetics of Romanticism, marked by the transition from the empirical sensualist perspective to the predominance of the creative imagination. Many Spanish intellectuals influenced by pan-European cosmopolitanism attempted to reconcile liberal ideology and traditional Spanish cultural and religious values. Some of them maintained a single stance throughout their lives, and others traded allegiances later in life. José Zorrilla is among those who declared himself a traditionalist, even though his early writings show a strong presence of liberal enthusiasm, including a still unpublished invective against the Pope. As Romero Tobar points out, Zorrilla's claim can hardly be taken at face value, yet his fascination with the genre of "literary legend" rooted in the collective imagination of Spanish people and such rich sources as romanceros and epic poetry, does make a case for his conscientious turn to traditionalism. The transition toward a profound transformation in the Spanish artistic scene is marked by the theoretical quarrel between the partisans of Romantic aesthetics and the classicists, which consequently, and for a long time, became the obligatory point of departure for literary studies of that period. The interest in classical poetics, however, did not vanish with the triumph of Romanticism, and continued to be present in Spanish literary and critical discourse during the nineteenth century. La Lira de Ébano promotes a holistic approach to understanding the dynamics of the transition from Aristotelian poetics to modern aesthetics. The Romantic movement had a positive impact on Spanish society. It contributed to the formation of modern Spanish identity by fashioning national culture and creating communities of readers. Romero Tobar argues that periodicals played an important role in this process. The two fundamental journals in the history of Spanish Romanticism, El Artista and Semanario Pintoresco Español, experimented with [End Page 384] visual components by incorporating engravings on a much larger scale than ever before. This innovative practice enjoyed great popularity among Spanish readers, and may have contributed to the development of costumbrismo, a new literary trend particular to Spain. The fascination with visual culture in European society takes a new turn with the scientific discovery of capturing still images with Daguerre's method, which makes its way into Spain in the late 1840s. The new technology influences literary discourse on different levels, coinciding with the development of Spanish Realism, and as the author implies, such coincidence may be more than merely accidental. Romero Tobar argues that activity in periodicals was particularly vigorous among Spanish exiles...

Human Nucleoporins Promote HIV-1 Docking at the Nuclear Pore, Nuclear Import and Integration

The nuclear pore complex (NPC) mediates nucleo-cytoplasmic transport of macromolecules and is an obligatory point of passage and functional bottleneck in the replication of some viruses. The Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) has evolved the required mechanisms for active nuclear import of its genome through the NPC. However the mechanisms by which the NPC allows or even assists HIV translocation are still unknown. We investigated the involvement of four key nucleoporins in HIV-1 docking, translocation, and integration: Nup358/RanBP2, Nup214/CAN, Nup98 and Nup153. Although all induce defects in infectivity when depleted, only Nup153 actually showed any evidence of participating in HIV-1 translocation through the nuclear pore. We show that Nup358/RanBP2 mediates docking of HIV-1 cores on NPC cytoplasmic filaments by interacting with the cores and that the C-terminus of Nup358/RanBP2 comprising a cyclophilin-homology domain contributes to binding. We also show that Nup214/CAN and Nup98 play no role in HIV-1 nuclear import per se: Nup214/CAN plays an indirect role in infectivity read-outs through its effect on mRNA export, while the reduction of expression of Nup98 shows a slight reduction in proviral integration. Our work shows the involvement of nucleoporins in diverse and functionally separable steps of HIV infection and nuclear import.

A molecular monopoly? HPV testing, the Pap smear and the molecularisation of cervical cancer screening in the USA

DNA-based molecular testing for human papillomavirus has emerged as a novel approach to cervical cancer screening in the context of well-entrenched existing technology, the Pap smear. This article seeks to elucidate the process of molecularisation in the context of screening programmes. We illustrate how, although Pap has long been problematised and could be seen as a competing technological option, the existing networks and regime for Pap were important in supporting the entrenchment process for the artefacts, techniques and new diagnostics industry entrant, Digene, associated with the new test. The article provides insights into how the molecularisation of screening unfolds in a mainstream market. We reveal an incremental and accretive, rather than revolutionary, process led by new commercial interests in an era when diagnostic innovation is increasingly privatised. We show Digene's reliance on patents, an international scientific network and their position as an obligatory point of passage in the clinical research field with regard to the new technology's role, as well as on controversial new marketing practices. The article is based on a mixed method approach, drawing on a wide range of contemporary sources (including patents, statutory filings by companies, scientific literature and news sources) as well as interviews.

Strategy, enrolment and accounting: the politics of strategic ideas

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to use Actor Network Theory to explore the role of management accounting systems (MAS) in the construction of business strategy.Design/methodology/approachThe paper draws on findings from an ethnographic study of a UK‐based firm. Theoretical concepts from Actor‐Network Theory are used to illuminate the findings of the study.FindingsThe study found that MAS acted as an obligatory point of passage into the strategic agenda of the firm. However, the findings also reveal the political tactics used by employees in order to work within, against and around the MAS.Originality/valueThe paper shows that MAS are a key player in the political contests that occur during the process of strategy formulation, as opposed to offering a neutral tool for measuring the strategic value of innovative ideas.

An analysis of the demands on a sufficient audit: Professional appearance is what counts!

The aim of this paper is to analyze the demands on a sufficient audit. Previous research has suggested that the production of comfort is not only about producing an audit according to ‘the manual’ but that professional aspects such as the appearance of the auditor also are of importance. In practice the relationship between, and the relative importance of, process and professional aspects of an audit are however unclear. In this paper this question is probed by analyzing the demands on a sufficient audit by an actor that in its jurisdiction is an obligatory point of passage for the framing of a sufficient audit: the Swedish supervisory board of public accountants (SSBPA). The material that is investigated is the disciplinary cases published by the SSBPA. The image of a sufficient audit that materializes from this investigation is of an audit that meets the demands of professional appearance.

Manufacturing competition: how accounting practices shape strategy making in cities

PurposeRecent years have witnessed an increasing number of cities develop strategies. The discourse of strategic management has become an obligatory point of passage for many city managers. This paper starts by posing an ostensibly simple question: why do cities need strategies? The commonsensical answer to the question is: because cities compete with each other. This paper aims to problematise the seemingly natural link between cities, competition and strategy. It also aims to explore the role that calculative practices play in creating city league tables that, in turn, function as the a priori condition that generates competition between cities.Design/methodology/approachThis paper is interdisciplinary and draws on the related disciplines of accounting, organization theory and strategy. The argument unfolds in four steps: first, it briefly provides some theoretical background for analysis and relates it back to strategizing and accounting as a calculative practice; second, it scrutinizes league tables as ana prioriof competition; third, it discusses the implications of the argument for city management and critical accounting; finally, it concludes with a discussion of the power effects of those calculative practices that shape strategizing in cities through the production of competition.FindingsThis paper argues that city strategizing is best understood as a set of complex responses to a new competitive arena, one rendered visible through calculative practices, manifested through city rankings. The paper makes five key contributions: one, league tables reduce qualities to a quantifiable form; two, league tables create an order amongst an heterogeneous ensemble of entities; three, league tables stimulate the very competition they claim to reflect; four, once competition is accepted, individual players need a strategy to play the game; and five, league tables have important power effects that may result in unintended consequences.Practical implicationsThe paper contributes to understanding how calculative practices relate to strategy; it explores the organizational environment in which city managers strategize; in addition, it discusses the problem of civic schizophrenia.Originality/valueThe paper seeks to open up an agenda for studying city management, strategy and accounting.

Between Institutional Survival and Intellectual Commitment: The Case of the Argentine Society of Writers during Perón’s Rule (1945–1955)

An analysis of Peronism constitutes an obligatory point of departure of any study of Argentina’s history since 1945. The advancement of the popular masses toward the Plaza de Mayo on 17 October 1945, clamoring for their new leader (the Colonel Juan Domingo Perón) inaugurated a new era for this nation. For some, especially for those who marched on that day, it represented the beginning of a period of hope. For others, those who looked with stupor at the crowds “invading” the city, this was the start of a decade of undemocratic practices and populist pseudo-fascist reforms. Perón’s rise to the presidency in 1946 would find the majority of the Argentine intelligentsia in the ranks of the opposition. The intellectuals were particularly worried by the emergence of this political movement which, in their eyes, was a combination of a local incarnation of European fascism and the ‘barbaric’ regime of the caudillo Juan Manuel de Rosas. In 1956, the writer Ezequiel Martínez Estrada summarized the horror that this march signified for the “decent people.” He declared it the threat of a “San Bartolomé del Barrio Norte” (an affluent neighborhood in Buenos Aires) and characterized the Peronists as “those sinister demons of the plains which Sarmiento described in El Facundo.” In his description Perón was depicted as a local Franco, a Mussolini or a Hitler. Only those intellectuals who defended different versions of local nationalism joined the enterprise of the colonel-turned-popular-politician and put their hopes in him.

Between Institutional Survival and Intellectual Commitment: The Case of the Argentine Society of Writers during Perón’s Rule (1945–1955)

An analysis of Peronism constitutes an obligatory point of departure of any study of Argentina’s history since 1945. The advancement of the popular masses toward the Plaza de Mayo on 17 October 1945, clamoring for their new leader (the Colonel Juan Domingo Perón) inaugurated a new era for this nation. For some, especially for those who marched on that day, it represented the beginning of a period of hope. For others, those who looked with stupor at the crowds “invading” the city, this was the start of a decade of undemocratic practices and populist pseudo-fascist reforms. Perón’s rise to the presidency in 1946 would find the majority of the Argentine intelligentsia in the ranks of the opposition. The intellectuals were particularly worried by the emergence of this political movement which, in their eyes, was a combination of a local incarnation of European fascism and the ‘barbaric’ regime of the caudillo Juan Manuel de Rosas. In 1956, the writer Ezequiel Martínez Estrada summarized the horror that this march signified for the “decent people.” He declared it the threat of a “San Bartolomé del Barrio Norte” (an affluent neighborhood in Buenos Aires) and characterized the Peronists as “those sinister demons of the plains which Sarmiento described in El Facundo.” In his description Perón was depicted as a local Franco, a Mussolini or a Hitler. Only those intellectuals who defended different versions of local nationalism joined the enterprise of the colonel-turned-popular-politician and put their hopes in him.

The Bolivarian Government of Hugo Chávez: Democratic Alternative for Latin America?

An analysis of opinion surveys throughout Latin America concerning state institutions and electoral participation reveals that the region's population displays an ever weaker commitment to the political and ideological institutions of Latin American capitalism. Despite this generalised lack of political legitimacy found in most Latin American countries, the opposite appears to be occurring in Venezuela. The Bolivarian process has therefore become an obligatory point of reference for studies of present day Latin American democracy. Following a discussion of different forms of capitalist democracy, especially neoliberal democracy in Latin America, consideration is extended to the political and social content of the Bolivarian process being directed by Hugo Chávez. Particular attention is given to the corresponding actions of different Venezuelan social sectors.