scholarly journals Democracy, political partisanship, and state capacity in Latin America

2015 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-69
Author(s):  
Davide Grassi ◽  
Vincenzo Memoli
Keyword(s):  
Latin American ◽  
State Capacity ◽  
Composite Index ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Political Factors ◽  
Political Partisanship ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Latin American Countries

Social scientists have often neglected, or not sufficiently explored, the role of political factors in shaping state capacity. When they did, they mostly focused on key institutional features of political regimes, especially democracy. In this paper, we broaden this approach: besides the institutional traits of democracy, we analyze how governments and their ideologies influence state capacity. In particular, we assess the impact of democracy and executives’ partisanship on a composite index of state capacity, based on political order, administrative ability, and extractive capacity. To this end, we apply a pooled cross-sectional time-series model to 18 Latin American countries between 1995 and 2009. Our findings suggest that, in recent years, state capacity in the region was significantly affected by both democratic features and the ideological bearing of elected governments.

scholarly journals Regulatory State and Judicial Decisions in Telecommunications in Mexico

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-36
Author(s):  
Clara Luz Alvarez
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Regulatory State ◽  
Judicial Decisions ◽  
Technical Issues ◽  
The Creation ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Latin American Countries ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose – To assess the role of the judiciary in defining the Regulatory State and in regulating telecommunications in Mexico after almost 5 years of the creation of an independent regulator for telecommunications and broadcasting (Instituto Federal de Telecomunicaciones) with authority in antitrust matters. Methodology/approach/design – To identify the most relevant judicial decisions in telecommunications and antitrust matters, research upon the context in which they were adopted, analyze the content of the decisions and identify the impact of such judicial decisions in the construction of the Mexican Regulatory State, and in the law, in regulation/acts of the regulator. Findings – The main findings are that: (1) the Mexican Regulatory State is a reality now, even if it is in its beginnings; (2) Congress is receptive to Judiciary´s decisions; and (3) deference by judiciary to the regulator is not a blank check, even if there are complex technical issues and a discretionary decision. Practical implications – The identification of a Regulatory State in Mexico evidences that there are deep changes in the traditional relationship between Congress and regulators. Also, the deference granted by the courts to regulators must be considered as a consequence of such Regulatory State. Nonetheless and despite the deference to regulators, Judiciary´s role in building the telecommunications and broadcasting sector is paramount, because judicial decisions ultimately define it. Originality/value – Major changes to telecommunications and broadcasting have taken place in Mexico in the last years. Therefore, there has been scarce research and analysis about the new role of regulators, legislators, and judges, in the so called Regulatory State in Mexico. Moreover, the experience of Mexico may be valuable for other scholars which are assessing public policy in their own Latin American countries or in countries with similarities to them.

scholarly journals The Role of Serology Testing in the Context of Immunization Policies for COVID-19 in Latin American Countries

Viruses ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (12) ◽  
pp. 2391
Author(s):  
Carlos E. dos Santos Ferreira ◽  
Hector Gómez-Dantés ◽  
Nancy C. Junqueira Bellei ◽  
Eduardo López ◽  
Katya A. Nogales Crespo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Latin American ◽  
Country Level ◽  
Testing Strategies ◽  
Literature Evidence ◽  
Barriers And Challenges ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Latin American Countries ◽  
Serology Testing ◽  
Potential Use

This review aims to explore the role and value of serology testing in the context of COVID-19 immunization policies in Latin American countries and the barriers and challenges to the adequate use and uptake of this tool. It builds on a review of the academic literature, evidence, and existing policies, and includes a multistage process of discussion and feedback by a group of five experts. Regional and country-level evidence and resources from five focus countries—Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Mexico—were collected and analyzed. This review contains an overview of (1) the impact of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, the variants of concern and current testing strategies, (2) the introduction of COVID-19 vaccination, (3) the potential use of serology testing to support immunization initiatives, (4) the current frameworks for the use of serology testing in the region, and (5) the barriers and challenges to implementing serology testing in the context of COVID-19 immunization policies, including a discussion on the potential actions required to address these barriers and facilitate the uptake of this strategy in the region. Stakeholders can use elements of this document to guide timely decision-making, raise awareness, and inspire further studies.

Life expectancy and trade openness: causality in Latin America

2020 ◽  
Vol 47 (10) ◽  
pp. 1265-1281
Author(s):  
Mert Akyuz ◽  
Cagin Karul ◽  
Ibrahim Demir
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Life Expectancy ◽  
Granger Causality ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Trade Openness ◽  
Specific Region ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Latin American Countries

PurposeThe aim of this research is to investigate the causal relationship between trade openness (TO) and life expectancy (LE) at birth in Latin American countries over the period of 1980–2014.Design/methodology/approachThe bootstrap panel Granger causality test proposed by Emirmahmutoglu and Kose (2011) was used to determine the direction of causality in the presence of cross-sectional dependency and heterogeneity among Latin American countries. Also, four different tests were employed in order to determine the cross-sectional dependency and slope homogeneity. The stationarity properties of variables were inspected by employing a unit root test.FindingsThe findings indicated that Granger causality existed between TO and LE, at birth which was running from the former to the latter for panel. On a country basis, TO Granger caused LE at birth for countries with low level of economic development and higher taxes on income and profits.Practical implicationsThis study provides new insights for policymaking regarding the role of TO in achieving comprehensive economic reforms to increase LE at birth during a period of intense trade rivalry across nations.Originality/valueAlthough research in the literature has mainly focused on the impact of TO on LE at birth with panel data, most studies ignored the regional effects. It is the authors’ concern that the direction of causality can be country-specific and have regional characteristics. In this regard, instead of dividing countries for a specific region into two parts such as developing and developed, the authors investigated the pattern of trade–health link for a specific region, Latin America.

The Changing Role of the Military in Latin America

1961 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 559-569
Author(s):  
Edwin Lieuwen
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Church Hierarchy ◽  
The Military ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Changing Role ◽  
World Environment

“A new Latin America is rapidly emerging” — this has been the message of many Hispanic-American social scientists. The traditional order, under which a landed aristocracy, a praetorian military caste, and a Catholic church hierarchy monopolized power, wealth, prestige, and influence, is crumbling. Society is in a state of upheaval; politics is being revolutionized; the economy is undergoing a fundamental transformation; new institutional forms are reshaping the environment.The extent and intensity of change among the various Latin-American countries has been uneven. At one extreme is Mexico whose “new look” strikes nearly all contemporary observers. Meanwhile, neighboring Nicaragua still lives in the nineteenth century. Despite their distinct identities, however, all the Latin-American states have felt the impact of fundamental shifts in the recent world environment.

From the “Pink Tide” to “Soft Coup d’État” in Latin America: the Case of Bolivia

2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 597-625
Author(s):  
Martha I. Chew Sánchez
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Latin America ◽  
Latin American ◽  
The United States ◽  
Coup D'etat ◽  
Economic Relationships ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Latin American Countries

Abstract This article addresses the impact of settler colonialism by the Spanish and United States in the American continent in forming the base, development, and power of capitalism in the West. It provides a general overview of the United States’ unequal economic relationships with Latin American countries since the end of the nineteenth century to the present. It highlights the role evangelist groups have in changing the way coup d’états have been taking place in the region, in particular, to countries that had democratically elected presidents who were part of the “Pink Tide” and had a program to counterbalance neoliberal policies that were contributing to unprecedented economic inequality in their societies. One of the central questions in this work is the role of coloniality within Latin American countries and between the US and Latin America in the coup d’état against Evo Morales in Bolivia on November 10, 2019.

Twin Studies and Politics

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Levente Littvay
Keyword(s):  
Political Science ◽  
Behavioral Genetics ◽  
Twin Studies ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Genetic Transmission ◽  
The Social ◽  
Direction Of Causation ◽  
Social Part ◽  
The Impact

As recently as 2005, John Alford and colleagues surprised political science with their twin study that found empirical evidence of the genetic transmission of political attitudes and behaviors. Reactions in the field were mixed, but one thing is for sure: it is not time to mourn the social part of the social sciences. Genetics is not the deterministic mechanism that social scientists often assume it to be. No specific part of DNA is responsible for anything but minute, indirect effects on political orientations. Genes express themselves differently in different contexts, suggesting that the political phenomenon behavioral political scientists take for granted may be quite volatile; hence, the impact of genetics is also much less stable in its foundations than initially assumed. Twin studies can offer a unique and powerful avenue to study these behavioral processes as they are more powerful than cross-sectional (or even longitudinal) studies not only for understanding heritability but also for asserting the direction of causation, the social (and, of course, genetic) pathways that explain how political phenomena are related to each other. This chapter aims to take the reader through this journey that political science has gone through over the past decade and a half and point to the synergies behavioral political science and behavioral genetics offer to the advancement of the discipline.

scholarly journals Be Aware of Burnout! The Role of Changes in Academic Burnout in Problematic Facebook Usage among University Students

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (15) ◽  
pp. 8055
Author(s):  
Katarzyna Tomaszek ◽  
Agnieszka Muchacka-Cymerman
Keyword(s):  
Regression Coefficient ◽  
Population Sample ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Academic Burnout ◽  
Independent Variables ◽  
Social Motive ◽  
Explained Variance ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

Most previous research has examined the relationship between FB addiction and burnout level by conducting cross-sectional studies. Little is known about the impact of changes in burnout on FB addiction in an educational context. Through a two-way longitudinal survey of a student population sample (N = 115), this study examined the influence of changes in academic burnout over time and FB motives and importance (measured at the beginning and the end of the semester) on FB intrusion measured at the end of the academic semester. The findings show that: (1) increases in cynicism and in FB motives and importance significantly predicted time2 FB intrusion; (2) FB importance enhanced the prediction power of changes in the academic burnout total score, exhaustion and personal inefficacy, and reduced the regression coefficient of changes in cynicism; (3) the interaction effects between FB social motive use and changes in academic burnout, as well as between FB importance and personal inefficacy and exhaustion, accounted for a significant change in the explained variance of time2 FB intrusion. About 20–30% of the variance in time2 FB intrusion was explained by all the examined variables and by the interactions between them. The results suggest that changes in academic burnout and FB motives and importance are suppressive variables, as including these variables in the regression model all together changed the significance of the relationship between independent variables and FB intrusion.

scholarly journals Factors associated with emotional exhaustion in healthcare professionals involved in the COVID-19 pandemic: an application of the job demands-resources model

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Serena Barello ◽  
Rosario Caruso ◽  
Lorenzo Palamenghi ◽  
Tiziana Nania ◽  
Federica Dellafiore ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Exhaustion ◽  
Patient Engagement ◽  
Healthcare Professionals ◽  
Job Demands ◽  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
Personal Resources ◽  
Sectional Study ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Purpose The purpose of the present cross-sectional study is to investigate the role of perceived COVID-19-related organizational demands and threats in predicting emotional exhaustion, and the role of organizational support in reducing the negative influence of perceived COVID-19 work-related stressors on burnout. Moreover, the present study aims to add to the understanding of the role of personal resources in the Job Demands-Resources model (JD-R) by examining whether personal resources—such as the professionals’ orientation towards patient engagement—may also strengthen the impact of job resources and mitigate the impact of job demands. Methods This cross-sectional study involved 532 healthcare professionals working during the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy. It adopted the Job-Demands-Resource Model to study the determinants of professional’s burnout. An integrative model describing how increasing job demands experienced by this specific population are related to burnout and in particular to emotional exhaustion symptoms was developed. Results The results of the logistic regression models provided strong support for the proposed model, as both Job Demands and Resources are significant predictors (OR = 2.359 and 0.563 respectively, with p < 0.001). Moreover, healthcare professionals’ orientation towards patient engagement appears as a significant moderator of this relationship, as it reduces Demands’ effect (OR = 1.188) and increases Resources’ effect (OR = 0.501). Conclusions These findings integrate previous findings on the JD-R Model and suggest the relevance of personal resources and of relational factors in affecting professionals’ experience of burnout.

Public Sector Employment, Quality of Government, and Well-Being: A Global Analysis

2021 ◽  
pp. 223386592110117
Author(s):  
Robert Davidson ◽  
Alexander Pacek ◽  
Benjamin Radcliff
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Global Analysis ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Political Factors ◽  
The Public ◽  
Employment Quality ◽  
The Impact

While a growing literature within the study of subjective well-being demonstrates the impact of socio-political factors on subjective well-being, scholars have conspicuously failed to consider the role of the size and scope of government as determinants of well-being. Where such studies exist, the focus is largely on the advanced industrial democracies of the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development. In this study, we examine the size of the public sector as a determinant of cross-national variation in life satisfaction across a worldwide sample. Our findings strongly suggest that as the public sector grows, subjective well-being increases as well, conditional on the extent of quality of government. Using cross-sectional data on 84 countries, we show this relationship has an independent and separable impact from other economic and political factors.

Leadership Training in Latin America

1993 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-17
Author(s):  
Alice B. Lentz
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Leadership Training ◽  
Developing Economies ◽  
Business Leaders ◽  
Private Higher Education ◽  
Enterprise Growth ◽  
The University ◽  
Latin American Countries

Alice Lentz offers a brief view of the role of the Americas Fund for Independent Universities (AFIU) in relation to significant initiatives in various Latin American countries. In a region where the function and development of private higher education institutions is especially important, the focus of the AFIU's activities is on private universities' ability to provide trained business leaders with the skills necessary to meet the challenges of enterprise growth in these developing economies. She mentions in particular the strengthening of financing capabilities within the university, and the evolution of three-way partnerships among business corporations, AFIU, and universities in Latin America.

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