Spanish Administration Research Articles

How effective is equality regulation in reducing gender gaps in the labor market?☆

The gender gap in both employment and labour participation has narrowed markedly in recent decades in Spain. However, this decline seems to have slowed and shows a certain persistence. The solution to this problem can respond to different regulatory or non-regulatory policies. This article studies the evolution of the regulatory framework for the formulation of possible policy recommendations. We identify and quantify for the first time when, at what rate and in what regions, Spanish administrations have adopted regulations aimed at combating discrimination against women, achieving gender equality or approved measures related to the work-life balance. The study is based on a text analysis of 297,402 regulations adopted in the period 1996–2022. The indicators reveal the high degree of heterogeneity in terms of the legislation. Non-discrimination legislation was the most developed and frequent, with 11,228 regional regulations and 2590 central administration regulations adopted. We show that the volume of new regulations, mainly those related to discrimination and work-life balance, has contributed to the reduction in gender gaps. Policy actions by administrations should concentrate on these two modes of intervention. The general analysis of regulation in this area also allows for some recommendations in terms of “better regulation” policies, such as the introduction of gender equality assessments (specific regulatory impact reports).

Perception of photovoltaic energy consumption in the Spanish primary sector. An environmentally profitable alternative

Agriculture and livestock farming are activities that depend on energy consumption. Photovoltaic self-consumption systems can reduce the production costs of these actors, especially in periods of high-energy price volatility. This work aimed to determine the degree of implementation of photovoltaic self-consumption systems, their relationship with the economic impact of the energy crisis, and the perception of producers to use renewable energy sources in the Spanish agricultural system as it is one of the most important at European level. For this purpose, a survey of the Spanish agricultural and livestock system, involving 396 primary producers, was carried out between December 2022 and March 2023. The results suggest that self-consumption systems are in place in 49.1% of all farms and that these have had a positive effect in alleviating the rising energy costs suffered by the Spanish primary sector. In summary, Spanish primary producers generally have a favorable perception of the use of renewable energies on their farms, especially photovoltaic. However, the cluster analysis shows the fact that there are two types of producers, active and passive, from an environmental point of view. The characterization of this type of producers can help the Spanish Administration to improve the efficiency of its energy strategy, and can be a source of inspiration for the governments of other countries.

Andean civilization in Poma de Ayala’s Chronicle

The subject of the analysis of this paper is the Andean civilization view by the Peruvian author of the XVI century Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala, a Quechua Indian by origin, who became a Catholic monk, as well as a translator and mediator between two civilizations: European, personalized by Spanish administration and Catholic Church present in the conquered lands, and Andean civilization, represented by local population speaking native Quechua and other Native American languages. The collision of two worlds is clearly visible in the Chronicle «El primer nueva corónica y buen gobierno», which belongs to this author. This literary monument is an invaluable document because it describes in Medieval Spanish a disappearing world left behind, due to the lack of writing, having only artifacts of material culture and proto-hieroglyphic recording tools. The main methods of this research – analysis, synthesis, generalization. Analyzing the statements of the author of the Chronicle, who is trying to reconcile the two worlds, it is possible to recreate the panorama of the life of Andean society of that era and the sociolinguistic situation developed in it. The novelty of the study can be considered the combination of cultural and sociolinguistic approaches in the analysis of the material. The conclusion reached by the authors of the article is that the death of the Andean civilization was inevitable under the onslaught of the European one. But the Andean world, native languages and culture have not disappeared, and today are being revived, since the Peruvian society has formed a request to restore the social functions of native languages in full.

Conquest, Rebellion, and Death in Latin America: Spanish Administration and Indigenous Resistance in the Age of Colonialism

Bu yazı Latin Amerika’nın unutulmuş yerli halklarının, Avrupalıların kıtaya ayak basmalarından itibaren karşılaştıkları yenilgilerin, ikilemlerin, dönüşümün ve esaretin izlerini sürmektedir. Yerli halklar Avrupalı istilacılar gelmeden evvel kompleks siyasi yapılar kurmuş olsalar da medeni inkişafları yeni gelenler yüzünden ansızın durmak zorunda kalmıştır. Kıtanın her yerine yayılmış olan yerli halklar kaderlerine razı gelmemiş ve ilk karşılaşmadan itibaren karşı mücadeleye girişmişlerdir. Ancak binek hayvanı eksikliği gibi doğal yetersizlikler ve Avrupalıların taşıdığı bulaşıcı hastalıklara karşı bağışıklık eksikliği gibi nedenlerle bu mücadele çoğu zaman akamete uğramıştır. Bu mücadele sadece yerli halkların mücadelesi değildir. Sömürgecilik döneminde Yeni Dünyaya kitleler halinde gelen ikinci bir grup daha vardır: çoğu Afrika kıtasından sömürgeci Avrupalılar tarafından gemilerle taşınan köleler. Atlantik Köle Ticareti ile yüzyıllar boyunca bu yeni kıtaya zorla getirilen bu talihsiz insanlar zamanla Latin Amerika’da toplumların önemli bir parçası olmuşlardır. Latin Amerika’da İspanyol sömürgeciliği dört temel üzerine kuruludur: kölecilik, kast sistemi, Hristiyanlaştırma ve askeri üstünlük. Bu yazının amacı bu dört ana unsurun tarihsel bağlamını yine tarihsel gelişimi içerisinde sunmaktır. Çalışmada karşılaştırmalı tarihi sosyolojik yöntem kullanılmıştır.

Disability and the elderly in their freedom of interaction with the spanish administration

Disability and elderly people are considered special groups due to their high degree of vulnerability, and their welfare must be supported by public measures that reinforce the guarantees of their rights and freedoms. Although new technologies open up a world of possibilities in all areas of life, their use can hinder, in some cases, the development of the rights of these groups because their practice is a complex novelty, especially in the area of communication between citizens and the Public Administration. Therefore, this study focuses on the analysis of the impact of ICTs on the right to freedom of access of persons with disabilities and the elderly.

Recording of Social Determinants in Computerized Medical Records in Primary Care Consultations: Quasi-Experimental Study.

Social determinants of health may be more important than medical or lifestyle choices in influencing people's health. Even so, there is a deficit in recording these in patients' computerized medical histories. The Spanish administration and the World Health Organization are promoting the recording of diagnoses in computerized clinical histories with the aim of benefiting the individual, the professional, and the community. In most cases, professionals tend to record only clinical diagnoses despite evidence in the literature documenting that addressing the social determinants of health can lead to improvements in health and reductions in social disparities in disease. This study aims to develop and evaluate the effectiveness of a mixed intervention (face-to-face-digital) aimed at improving the quantity and quality of the records of the social determinants of health in computerized medical records at primary care clinics. A quasi-experimental, nonrandomized, controlled, multicenter study with 2 parallel study arms was conducted in the area of Central Catalonia (Spain) with primary care professionals of the Institut Català de la Salut (ICS), working from September 23, 2019, to March 31, 2020. All interested professionals were accepted. In total, 22 basic health areas were involved in the study. In Spain and Catalonia, the International Classification of Diseases is used, in which there is a coding of the social determinants of health. Five social determinants were selected by a physician, a nurse, and a social worker; these professionals had experience in primary care and were experts in community health. The choice was made taking into account the ease of use, benefit, and existing terminology. The intervention, based on the integration of a checklist, was integrated as part of the usual multidisciplinary clinical workflow in primary care consultations to influence the recording of these determinants in the patient's computerized medical record. After 6 months of implementing the intervention, the volume and quantity of records of 5 social determinants of health were compared, and a significant increase in the median number of pre- and postintervention diagnoses was observed (P≤.001). There was also an increase in the diversity of selected social determinants. Using the linear regression model, the significant mean increase of the experimental group with respect to the control group was estimated with a coefficient of 8.18 (95% CI 5.11-11.26). The intervention described in this study is an effective tool for coding the social determinants of health designed by a multidisciplinary team to be incorporated into the workflow of primary care practices. The effectiveness of its usability and the description of the intervention described here should be generalizable to any environment. ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04151056; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04151056.

Smugglers, pirates, diplomacy, and the Spanish Caribbean in the late seventeenth century

ABSTRACT In November 1682 the Dutch pirate Nicholas Van Hoorn entered the port of Santo Domingo. He left behind a path of robberies in Spain and attacks on ships of every nationality in West Africa for which English and Dutch authorities sought to prosecute him. The events that transpired during Van Hoorn's visit to Hispaniola reveal that European diplomatic alliances meant little in places where local groups had co-opted the Spanish bureaucracy under their own control and patronage. Local interests used their political influence to maneuver the Spanish administration and to serve their own goals, thus upending Spanish (and by extension, European) diplomatic arrangements. The sack of Veracruz in 1683 was in part the consequence of these actions, showing a worst-case scenario of the impact that events in the Spanish Caribbean borderlands had on the functioning of imperial systems. This article thus seeks to encourage a reevaluation of the relevance of Spanish Caribbean in the functioning of the Spanish colonial system beyond their traditional categorization as marginal enclaves.

El General Francisco Franco’s “The Power of Beliefs”

This study analyzes and shows the elements of Francisco Francos’ various speeches and manner in which he targeted people's beliefs and conduct. His prime targets were the higher education organizations, educators and college students. Franco believed they needed to be indoctrinated in order to eradicate the republican beliefs from the previous Spanish administration. Thus he directed his propaganda towards them. His yearning to reach out to teachers and students was evident in Discurso pronunciado por S.E. El Generalísimo Franco, Jefe del Estado Español con motivo de la inauguración del presente curso escolar y de la Ciudad Universitaria de Madrid. The totalitarian vocabulary of the text comprises a utopian vision of reality and covert techniques of persuasion as well as control that, when combined, provided a potent weapon of manipulation. Taking into account both the era’s historical setting and the current political climate, this critical discourse analysis of the speech selected incorporates Wodak’s historical discourse approach with other approaches to analyze topoi in critical discourse. We see in the findings of this article how the combinations of a charismatic leader and power of speech play an important role in obtaining support of the population, even when it is against their own personal interest and well-being.

Gray Gold: Lead Mining and Its Impact on the Natural and Cultural Environment, 1700–1840

Gray Gold: Lead Mining and Its Impact on the Natural and Cultural Environment, 1700–1840

Mapping Indigenous Land: Native Land Grants in Colonial New Spain

In Mapping Indigenous Land, author Ana Pulido Rull investigates how Native nobles and painters used maps to intervene in land distribution in New Spain between 1536 and 1620. Mexico City’s Archivo General de la Nación (AGN) preserves over two hundred land-grant maps (mapas de mercedes de tierras) and appended court documents. While Pulido Rull focuses on fourteen maps, the volume’s findings emerged from an exhaustive examination of the genre’s corpus. In New Spain, painted maps were required evidence in land litigation, and the creation of a map was an essential step in the procurement of land titles. Pulido Rull shows how the design and visual conventions of Native-made maps influenced the outcomes of conflicts over land, arguing the cartographs represent subjective understandings of space. The analysis places renewed attention on the pictorial and legal processes that drove the commodification of Indigenous lands in the early colonial period, and further underlines the role of Native elites and painter-scribes (Nahuatl: tlacuiloque) in the legal history of rural land tenure.Each of the book’s five chapters analyzes the “visual-legal interplay” of maps and court records, many of which were transcribed for the first time by the author. Trained as an art historian, Pulido Rull shines when guiding the reader through the legal processes to acquire or dispute land grants. The author starts by examining the contradictions inherent in the Spanish Crown’s legal policies, which sought to incorporate Indigenous peoples and lands into the colonial system and protect Native communities from dispossession. Here, Pulido Rull illuminates how minor colonial officials, particularly Indigenous constables, shaped policies around land tenure. Particularly engaging are Pulido Rull’s nuanced accounts of Spanish schemes to delegitimize and ultimately divest Indigenous communities of their lands, resources, and profit structures.In the second chapter, Pulido Rull traces the preparation of a land grant map by tlacuiloque, arguing that “new challenges generated by colonial land requests and the new audiences the maps were painted for shaped the ways maps from this genre interpreted and represented space” (49). Interesting evidence for this claim is the example of the tlacuilo who used similar pictorial conventions to depict the primordial caves in the Manuscrito Tovar (ca. 1583) and later a land-grant map from Tenayuca. Yet, it is again Pulido Rull’s ability to invigorate court records through deep contextualization that reveals how Indigenous nobles and painters affected change within the colonial bureaucracy. This is especially apparent in the subsequent chapters, which take the form of case studies. Chapter 3 addresses how Indigenous communities used maps to acquire property. The fourth chapter examines how Native communities used maps to protect their territories and oppose Spanish land-grant requests. Finally, chapter 5 foregrounds the role of maps in land disputes, demonstrating how Indigenous communities resolved conflicts and negotiated better terms with Spanish administrators using maps painted specifically to accompany legal proceedings.Greater engagement with decolonizing approaches would have enhanced the author’s argument, which underplays the emergent material relations that cut through Indigenous connections to the land. While the author draws extensively on the interpretative frameworks of established scholarship, Pulido Rull excels at enlivening the multiple actors entangled in land allocation in New Spain. Free of academic jargon, the volume offers compelling portraits of how Indigenous communities confronted settler-colonial encroachment, which complements existing literature and is well suited to undergraduate and graduate students. Drawing on long-term research in the AGN’s Mapoteca section, Mapping Indigenous Land is copiously illustrated and enriches scholarship on cartography, property litigation, and spatial representation in the Americas.

Knowledge Production by the Spanish Royal Crown (1845-1868): From Making Maps to Policing Customary Rights

The Spanish Royal Crown administration collaborated with international experts in the 19th century to produce a pioneering set of forestry maps. Forestry held a privileged place in cameralist thought and had material characteristics that were amenable to standardized classification. Analysis of this project revealed very clearly how national and international communities of experts generated knowledge about the Spanish territory. Producing credible environmental knowledge at that time required an international network of disciplined experts, and the Royal Corps of Forestry Engineers saw forestry maps as a way of producing a new community of experts. The map colors and legends corresponded to a new international classification system and constituted a groundbreaking accomplishment because of their potential to unify Spanish administration practices. The rigorously empirical descriptions of trees also revealed the interplay of the cosmopolitan values of scientific internationalism with the social tensions of that century.

Alluvium and Empire: The Archaeology of Colonial Resettlement and Indigenous Persistence on Peru's North Coast

Alluvium and Empire: The Archaeology of Colonial Resettlement and Indigenous Persistence on Peru's North Coast

Spanish Place Names of the Falkland Islands

It has been argued that no Spanish toponymic inventory is used in the Falkland Islands (Woodman 2016). Nonetheless, maps attest to the presence of several Spanish names. The existence of these place names reflects the history of the area. Even though the Falklands currently host an English-speaking community, the Islands have a long history of Spanish-speaking settlers. The former Spanish administration as well as contact with 19th century Spanish-speaking gauchos left quite a few Hispanic toponyms. Mostly coined after 1833, these toponyms collectively reflect the need for orientation, delimitation, and land management for livestock. However, there is another group of Spanish place names that is not used in the Islands. These toponyms are partly a result of the ongoing Argentinian claim of sovereignty over the Falklands. The objective of this paper is twofold: to account for the existence of Spanish place names used locally to refer to the Islands, and to present a novel classification system for the Spanish-language toponymic inventories of the Falklands into Gaucho-heritage and Argentinian. For these purposes, both traditional and modern approaches of toponomastic analyses were employed.

#EsteVirusloParamosUnidos: War-like political communication on Twitter. Creating homogeneous communities in the Covid-19 crisis

This article analyses the political communication on Twitter of the Government of Spain at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. The #estevirusloparamosunidos campaign on Twitter is monitored during the dates with the worst results in terms of fatalities (March 31th- April, 4th, 2020). The sample included in total 398 523 tweets in four data sets. Through the Social Network Analysis, the main actors and the main interactions between users are identified. The research shows a high coincidence between the typology of the Press Conference Spokespersons and the main actors on the analyzed hashtag, prioritizing the Spanish Administration and the Armed Forces. There was also a high relationship of the main opinion leaders with their “natural spectrum”. We conclude that in this hashtag there was a “war-like” atmosphere. Via the computer-based text analysis we identify that the word ‘government’ was mentioned more than medical words and that there are present some military-like terms.

Journalistic Independence and Public Funds: Institutional Social Communication as a Distortion of Competition in the Information Market

This research focuses on the scientific and journalistic controversies about the effects of the budget that the Spanish administration uses for institutional social communication through the media, as a potential distortion for fair competitiveness in the journalistic market. We expose the problem and then review the discourses about this phenomenon in both the academic literature and mainstream newspapers. When we compare the coverage made by traditional newspapers and the native digital media, we identify a lack of attention both in established mainstream journalism and in academic research, in contrast with the strong criticism within these recently created digital newspapers. This observation converges with the fact that the mainstream press receives much more funding from regional and national governments, becoming much more dependent on the administration.

To care for or to accompany? Determining factors for an inclusive work environment in Community Social Services of Andalusia (Spain)

AbstractThis article, the result of a research and development project funded by the Spanish administration, analyzes the impact of the dynamics of social inclusion carried out by the Municipal Social Services Centers in the region of Andalusia (Spain). The research follows a qualitative methodology, centered on the analysis of normative, operative, and discursive dimensions. This research shows how the social intervention carried out in these centres is conditioned by two very different realities. On the one hand, there is a set of regulations that, from a theoretical point of view, is committed to social integration. On the other hand, a daily context with a high level of interferences and assistance demands that hinder a real labour activation and social integration. This situation generates great organisational pressure and conditions professional praxis. Several factors play a role in this situation: The ideas held by the people involved in the professional intervention, knowledge management, networking, and the relationship between client and professional. The study concludes that to reinforce the inclusive capacity of social services increasing the resources and number of professionals is not enough, focusing on the models of management and intervention in a collaborative fashion is also necessary.

A-120 Comparison of Baseline and Post-Concussion ImPACT Performance in Spanish-English Bilingual and English Monolingual Athletes

Abstract Objective Research comparing English and Spanish administrations of Immediate Post-Concussion Assessment and Cognitive Testing (ImPACT) have consistently found differences in performance on various cognitive composites. Few studies have examined the effect of bilingualism on baseline and post-concussion assessments. This study examined whether monolingual English-speakers (MO) and bilingual Spanish/English speakers (BI) differed in cognitive performance at baseline (BL) and post-concussion (PC). Methods Participants were selected from a larger database of high school athletes administered ImPACT in English at BL and PC. Participants included 86 BI athletes (Mage = 14.53; 65.10% male) and 86 MO athletes matched on age, gender, sport type, and probable concussion as defined by number of PC follow-up assessments (PCF; 0 vs. ≥1). To examine group differences and changes over time in cognitive composites, a general linear modeling approach was used with language and PCF as between-subjects factors and time as a within-subjects factor. Results There was a significant Language x Time x PCF interaction for Visual Memory (VM), Visual Motor Speed (VMS), and Reaction Time (RT). On VM and RT, MO with multiple PCF performed the worst at PC, while MO with 0 PCF performed the best at PC. On VMS, BI with 0 PCF performed the worst at BL. Conclusion Visual memory and reaction time were less affected in bilingual compared to monolingual athletes with probable concussion. However, at baseline, bilingual athletes had slower visual motor speed compared to monolingual athletes. Future research should focus on how bilingualism may serve as both a protective and risk factor for cognitive functioning after probable concussion.

Coronavirus and Immigration Detention in Europe: The Short Summer of Abolitionism?

In managing the coronavirus pandemic, national authorities worldwide have implemented significant re-bordering measures. This has even affected regions that had dismantled bordering practices decades ago, e.g., EU areas that lifted internal borders in 1993. In some national cases, these new arrangements had unexpected consequences in the field of immigration enforcement. A number of European jurisdictions released significant percentages of their immigration detention populations in spring 2020. The Spanish administration even decreed a moratorium on immigration detention and closed down all detention facilities from mid-spring to late summer 2020. The paper scrutinises these unprecedented changes by examining the variety of migration enforcement agendas adopted by European countries and the specific forces contributing to the prominent detention decline witnessed in the first months of the pandemic. Drawing on the Spanish case, the paper reflects on the potential impact of this promising precedent on the gradual consolidation of social and racial justice-based migration policies.

Recomendaciones sobre lenguaje claro en español en el ámbito jurídico-administrativo: análisis y clasificación

The impact of the introduction of plain language into Spanish administration has been lees acknowledged than in the administrations of other countries. However, various initiatives have been carried out to improve the clarity of legal-administrative texts and, in addition, there are different sources that offer recommendations for writing these kinds of texts in plain language. The aim of this work is to analyse the recommendations on written plain language in Spanish that are collected in the most relevant and current sources on the subject, to later classify them according to the language level to which they refer. Specifically, the discourse, morphosyntactic and lexical levels are considered. Based on this analysis and classification, a list of the most frequent and, therefore, most relevant, plain language recommendations in Spanish is offered, taking the aforementioned three language levels into account.

Focus on Weaknesses or Strengths? Determining Factors for an Inclusive and Relational Management in Public Community Social Service Organizations

This article, which is result of a research and development (R&D) project financed by the Spanish administration, studies the difficulties in managing social inclusion programs in Social Service (SS) Centers located in areas with high rates of exclusion in Andalusia (Spain). The research follows a qualitative methodology, based on observation, semi-open interviews (SOI), and focus groups (FG) aimed at the different actors in four Social Service Centers. Three dimensions are addressed: normative, functional, and perceived. The main results are four groups of incident factors: the mismatch between the expectations of non-professional actors (politicians, etc.) and those of technicians; the knowledge management of implemented dynamics; the position of the SS in local action networks; and the professional–client relationship. We concluded that, although these programs should be managed in an inclusive context, they are conditioned by scenarios with little possibility of social activation and a high level of interference and additional demands. Aspects that generate a great deal of organizational pressure divert professional practices to social assistance work.