scholarly journals Evo-lución: The Economic Situation of Evo Morales’ Bolivia Under Scrutiny

2018 ◽  
Vol 23 ◽  
pp. 67-104
Author(s):  
Christian Dalenz

This paper deals with economic changes in the last 12 years in Bolivia under the presidency of Evo Morales. After a short introduction about the political landscape of the country, I will explain how Morales’ party, Movimiento al Socialismo, planned to change Bolivia’s economic model. Here I will rely on the works by former Bolivian Ministry of Economics and Public Finances, Luis Arce Catacora. Then I will show the improvements in social conditions of the Bolivian population during the Morales’ presidency, and I will relate them to the Cash Conditional Transfers adopted by the government, otherwise known as bonos. Finally, I will assess the intricate issue of economic and environmental sustainability of this model. My point of view is that since Bolivia will soon face less revenue from its gas exports, efforts in diversifying its economy will have to improve. At the same time, no major crisis should happen.

2011 ◽  
Vol 63 (2) ◽  
pp. 297-319
Author(s):  
Misa Djurkovic

The article deals with the political and economic situation in Hungary in the last several years. The author firstly points to the causes of decline of influence of the previous socialist government and the heavy defeat of the socialists in the 2010 elections and the success of the right party Fidesz. After winning the elections, the Viktor Orban government started, at an accelerated rate, to implement the pre-election programme of Fidesz that had been prepared for a long time while it was an opposition party. The author is of the opinion that this programme is atypical, very radical and unique by many characteristics in the Europe of today. He points out that only a year after Fidesz victory the government and the parliament adopted quite a number of laws, a new Constitution and a set of risky measures of recovery that should lead to a substantial economic reform. The author particularly underlines the fact that the government decided to break of negotiation with IMF, reject its recommendations and try to overcome over-indebtedness by carrying out its own ideas.


2019 ◽  
pp. 108-128
Author(s):  
Jonas B. Bunte

A Capital Coalition between Finance and Industry dominates the political landscape of Colombia, while Labor is comparatively marginalized. Both groups are alarmed by the prospect of increased Chinese competition. Moreover, both prefer the government to borrow from the capital market even if cheaper loans from public sources are available. Interviews suggest that Colombian politicians are well aware of the dominant groups’ preferences. Consequently, politicians are ready to act upon the interests of the Capital Coalition when making borrowing decisions. The qualitative evidence suggests that Chinese loan offers are significantly disadvantaged with respect to both loans for general budget expenditures and loans for financing specific infrastructure projects. As a result, Colombia has rejected several Chinese loan offers and instead relies on private creditors for its financing needs.


2015 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 120-146 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lubomír Kopeček ◽  
Jan Petrov

The Czech Constitutional Court has gained a strong position within the political system. This article examines the judicial review of legislation from the point of view of the relation between the court and the parliament. The authors analyze trends in the use of petitions proposing the annulment of statutes, who makes use of the petitions, how successful the petitioners are, and what issues the petitions concern. The article pairs a quantitative view with a qualitative analysis of key selected decisions by the court, especially in the sphere of mega-politics. The authors test whether judicial review of legislation serves as a tool for parliamentary opposition. The results show the decisive effects of a legislative majority in the lower house of the parliament. If the government lacks a majority, the use of judicial review of legislation as an oppositional tool fades. Also important is the weakness of the upper house, which makes senators more likely to resort to using judicial review of legislation. An especially crucial factor is the presence of independent and semi-independent senators who, without broader political backing, see judicial review of legislation as a welcome tool. The most frequent topics of the petitions were transitional justice, social policy, and the legislative process.


Subject Continuing violent protests. Significance The wave of demonstrations and violence that has rocked Santiago and most other Chilean cities over the past few days, shocking Chileans themselves, is essentially a protest against the “1%”, in other words the political and business elite. However, this does not mean, at least for now, that Chileans want a radical change in the predominantly neoliberal economic model, but rather a fairer share of its proceeds and opportunities. Impacts Repair of some sections of the Metro could take months, to the detriment of mostly lower-middle-class neighbourhoods of Santiago. The disruption of activity will pull down growth this year, which was already expected to drop to around 2.5% from 4.0% in 2018. Growing reports of police and army brutality and violations of the law are further polarising the situation. For the rest of its term the government will be at the mercy of events and will have to negotiate agreements with the opposition.


1985 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 483-505 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Hatchard

In recent years, many developing countries have undergone rapid and extensive socio-economic changes which generally have brought with them an increase in criminality. This is a trend which continues to cause grave concern. Indeed, the United Nations General Assembly in Resolution 35/171 of 15 December 1980 noted the significant increase in crime and recognised that this impairs the overall development of nations, undermines people's spiritual and material well-being, compromises human dignity, and creates a climate of fear and violence that erodes the quality of life. The response to criminality therefore becomes of the utmost importance and, indeed, the political and economic stability of any society can be seriously affected if the government is seen as being incapable of dealing with the problem.


PERSPEKTIF ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 36-46
Author(s):  
Bhakti Satrio Wicaksono

This article aims to find out what happened to digital democracy regarding the Dildo account case. This research uses descriptive qualitative research research methods. The type of observation method used is the non-participation observation method. The non-participant observation method is the method that researchers chose in conducting this research. The results of the study show that the view of digital democracy can be seen from two perspectives, namely the government and the people's point of view. Political parody basically offers a new way of engaging in the political world. The Dildo case shows that not everyone can freely express their opinion on social media. The freedom to voice opinions, especially through cyberspace, still cannot be said to be free. This can be seen with how when the Dildo account voices humor and national issues that are close to the public, it still gets contra opinions from other parties. The conclusion of the research is that political parody basically offers a new way of engaging in the political world. Dildo case shows that not everyone can freely express their opinion in social media. The existence of internet technology in terms of statehood can be a double-edged knife, especially on social media where information is spread so fast. Parody or current humor is treated wisely and is not necessarily considered a dangerous thing.


Author(s):  
D.A. Davydov

The idea of the post-capitalist society has long been associated with the “grassroots” struggle of the exploited classes for the society that is free from all forms of domination and exploitation. D.Davydov does not consider this approach scientific and proposes one should change the lens of research and focus on what is happening at the level of the elites, where the new world is slowly maturing and new relationships are often intertwined with the old ones. The article is devoted to the justification of the argument, according to which the development of the post-capitalist social relations has been going on for a relatively long time — as the rise of people who “possess a personality” (personaliat). The author demonstrates that the unfol ding processes can be explained by the deep economic changes — the transformation of creativity into the predominant source of consumer values. The author elabo rates the idea that the essence of the knowledge economy is not capitalist or even is anti-capitalist, but at the same time he suggests that it is the nature of social relations around creative activity that should be consi dered rather than creative activity per se. From his point of view, despite the fact that the consequences of such activities complicate the functioning of the capitalist economy, the demise of the old economy does not mean that somewhere beyond the horizon we will have a cloudless non-antagonistic future. It is much more relevant to view post-capitalist transformation as the gradual rise to dominance of those who possess power over public attention. The author starts the article with a brief “history of personality” and after that demonstrates how the depersonalized world was gradually “colo nized” by creative public figures. According to his conclusion, today we witness a large-scale transformation of the Political, which is associated with the trend that representatives of personaliat assumed roles of key actors in the political process. Power is transferred from those with money to those with persona lity. However, this shift in itself hardly guarantees the establishment of an egalitarian social order that has overcome all forms of alienation and inequality. Moreover, at the moment such prospect looks doubtful.


Significance The move, designed to help meet IMF loan conditions, triggered two weeks of protests by indigenous movements, trade unions, students and others, which brought the country to a halt and threatened to topple the government. Heavy-handed police and military action exacerbated the violence, which resulted in hundreds of arrests and at least eight deaths. Moreno’s U-turn has put an end to the unrest for now but deep divisions (and IMF requirements) remain. Impacts Correa and his supporters will seize on Moreno’s inability to maintain order and his decision to back down in the face of protests. Indigenous groups will be emboldened by Moreno’s U-turn and will continue resisting key elements of the government’s economic programme. Relations with the IMF have returned to centre stage and will shape the political landscape as the 2021 presidential elections approach.


Sexualities ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (7-8) ◽  
pp. 1182-1196
Author(s):  
Jessica Kean

In queer theory ‘heteronormativity’ has become a central tool for understanding the social conditions of our sexual and intimate lives. The term is most often used to shed light on how those lives are patterned in a way that shapes and privileges binary genders and heterosexual identities, lifestyles and practices. Frequently, however, ‘heteronormativity’ is stretched beyond its capacity when called upon to explain other normative patterns of intimacy. Drawing on Cathy Cohen’s (1997) ground breaking essay ‘Punks, bulldaggers and welfare queens: The radical potential of queer?’, this article argues that analysing the political landscape of our intimate lives in terms of heteronormativity alone fails to adequately account for the way some familial and sexual cultures are stigmatised along class and race lines. This article gestures towards examples of those whose intimacies are unquestionably marginalised and yet non-queer, or at least not-necessarily-queer, placing Cohen’s ‘welfare queens’ alongside examples from contemporary Australia public culture to argue for the critical efficacy of the concept ‘mononormativity’ for intersectional analysis.


Author(s):  
Sofia Idris

The chapter is a study of the democratic challenges faced and the local governance structures in Pakistan; how these two are intertwined and influenced by one another. The importance of local government elections and the issue of reinstatement of local government system in the current political scenario has also been the focus of the research. The role of political parties both in the government and in the opposition, in holding the local government elections that is also affecting the mainstream politics up to a significant level. Thus, the resultant situation is definitely affecting the democratic process in the country. The chapter will therefore study this cause and effect phenomenon occurring in the political landscape of Pakistan.


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