Latin American Policy最新文献

The article provides a backdrop to citizen security in Mexico, presenting a critique that challenges the democratic bases of citizen security and offering an alternate genealogy of its analytical and practical implementations. On the one hand, citizen security emerges not only from a violent legacy of national security but also amid larger international and domestic trends. Internationally, citizen security is consistent with shifts toward human security that prioritize individual existence over territorial integrity. Locating the citizen as its referent object, citizen security forwards a universal citizen situated against an ever-expanding list of threats. Domestically, citizen security coincides with wider neoliberal reforms premised on public–private partnerships and a reliance on individual responsibility. On the other hand, a separate genealogy of citizen security in present-day Mexico is offered, wherein its application is drawn from three interconnected themes—how citizen security emerges amid a political legacy of national security, how it develops from analytical limitations in human security, and how it operates in a context of neoliberal governance.

This article problematizes the concept of “security” within the concept of “citizen security” employed by Mexico, through a feminist security studies critique. Considering feminist security studies critiques that often see security as ultimately tied to militarization, regardless of the security referent, this article shows how this problem surfaces in Mexico's National Action Plan for Women, Peace, and Security and in the claim that Mexico has adopted a feminist foreign policy. Not only do these initiatives largely ignore high rates of femicide and other forms of state and nonstate violence in Mexico, but they are also reproductive of violence, particularly militarized violence, in their attachments to security. The article delves into the literature on how Mexico and other states domestically inimical to feminist movements have instituted national action plans that militarize the women, peace, and security agenda, embraced feminist foreign policies as they have further militarized, or both, often promulgating plans with little or no input from civil society. Mexico is revealed as a Janus-faced example where seemingly liberal feminist values are promoted abroad but are not implemented at home. Thus, the nation is refashioning itself as a “good global citizen” at the expense of implementing and expanding citizen (and noncitizen) rights and protections within its borders.

Cholula, Puebla, Mexico, July 2023

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This is a story of how the smallest actions and interactions in our daily lives are enmeshed in the largest systems that channel the social world's energies—systems that have their logic but that, at various junctures, just might be self-defeating. Ask for the bill at the end of a restaurant meal, call an Uber, grumble with a friend about the bean counters who are complicating your life unnecessarily, try to decide if you should be having a beer with your tacos—as tiny and mundane as these situations are, they participate of our world's broadest social, political, and economic currents.

Say that, as part of your work, you are spending money in Mexico that a local institution is supposed to reimburse. You may be Mexican, or you may be a foreigner like I am. It makes no difference. The institution may be an employer or an organization that will pay travel expenses in exchange for an otherwise unpaid lecture or consultation—or something. It is going to get complicated fast, and you are going to get a tutorial in the intricacies of Mexico's public finances.

This situation may seem banal and boring, but it is not; it provides a revealing, ground-level window into some of the difficulties the country faces in its economic, social, and political development. Mexico is hardly alone in these difficulties, but every country has its own way of struggling. As Leo Tolstoy wrote about families in Anna Karenina, “… each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”¹ When it comes to taxes and such, it is hard to find a truly happy country.

Mexico is plagued with the worst fiscal capacity among the 38 member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), at 16.7% of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2021—a marked improvement from 2005, when it was just over 11%. The only other member country that is at less than 20% is Colombia, at 19.5%.² Broadly speaking, fiscal capacity refers to a government's ability to generate revenues, and the primary means to do so is the levying of taxes of various kinds. Nobody likes taxes, but without them, a government in a capitalist economy will be unable to function.³ For a government to have a chance to enact programs that will play some dynamic part in improving the lives of people, it needs a healthy tax base—strong fiscal capacity. It may squander that chance through waste, inefficiency, corruption, or in other ways, and we will see that this concern plays a part in Mexico's quandaries, but without income, a government cannot even be corrupt.

One of the important flip sides of fiscal capacity for a country like Mexico is the magnitude of its “informal” or “underground” economy. The informal economy is that slice of economic activity that escapes official supervision, regulation…and taxes. The bigger the informal economy, the more potential the tax revenue that never mat

The concept of international order has undergone significant evolution, but the dominant voices of great powers have often overshadowed regional perspectives, particularly in Latin America. Still, this region has played a crucial role in shaping the contemporary discourse on the international order. Today, the term is used in various contexts within Latin America, reflecting the increasing presence of nonstate actors and the interdependent nature of societies and the planet overall. This article focuses on Latin American diplomacy and civil society's understandings of international order, contending that the region has developed analytical and practical approaches that converge into a normative vision centered on international justice. Both the analytical and practical approaches view the international order as a normative concept. Civil society especially perceives the international order as a practice concept, utilizing its voice and actions as instruments for change. Yet, civil society is not monolithic, and various groups seek different outcomes. This article reviews critically analytical and normative perspectives of the international order, providing a comprehensive understanding of Latin American viewpoints through various data collection methods.

关于国际秩序的概念已经发生了重大变化，但大国的主导性观点往往掩盖了地区观点，特别是在拉丁美洲。尽管如此，该地区在影响当代国际秩序话语方面发挥了至关重要的作用。如今，该术语被用于拉丁美洲的各种情境，反映了非国家行动者越来越多的存在以及社会和整个地球的相互依存性质。本文聚焦于拉美外交、以及公民社会对国际秩序的理解，认为该地区已提出了一系列分析方法和实践方法，这些方法汇聚成一个以国际正义为中心的规范愿景。分析方法和实践方法都将国际秩序视为一个规范概念。公民社会尤其将国际秩序视为一个实践概念，利用其观点和行动作为变革的工具。然而，公民社会并不是单一的整体，不同群体寻求不同的结果。本文批判述评了国际秩序的分析观点和规范观点，并通过不同的数据收集方法，对拉丁美洲的观点进行了全面理解。

El debate sobre el concepto de orden internacional ha experimentado una notable evolución en las últimas décadas, aun cuando las voces predominantes basadas en las grandes potencias continúan eclipsando a las perspectivas regionales, particularmente aquellas provenientes de América Latina. Sin embargo, cabe destacar que la región ha desempeñado un papel crucial en la configuración del discurso contemporáneo sobre el orden internacional. En la actualidad, el término se emplea en diversos contextos dentro del área, reflejando la creciente presencia de actores no estatales y la naturaleza interdependiente de las sociedades y el planeta en su conjunto. Este artículo se enfoca en analizar las perspectivas de la diplomacia y de la sociedad civil latinoamericanas acerca del orden internacional, argumentando que la región ha desarrollado enfoques tanto analíticos como prácticos que convergen en una visión normativa del orden, centrada en la justicia internacional. En particular, la sociedad civil percibe el orden internacional como un concepto práctico, utilizando su voz y acciones como instrumentos para el cambio. No obstante, no hay una concepción uniforme y, tanto en la sociedad civil como en la diplomacia latinoamericanas, existen diferentes narrativas. Teniendo en consideración esas realidades, se realiza una revisión crítica de las perspectivas anal

Central American countries have been described as highly exposed to the negative effects of climate change (CC). Policies dedicated to CC and climate policy integration—mainstreaming—into sectoral policies have been considered key strategies. Previous research has documented the progress made in this region regarding dedicated policies, but regarding policy integration, information is limited or nonexistent. This article aims to address this gap by studying the level of integration of climate-change adaptation considerations into three prioritized sectors—general development planning, risk management, and land-use planning—by applying three criteria for policy integration—inclusion, consistency, and weighting. The results show a progressive trend to integrate adaptation into the policy outputs of the three sectors in all countries. Still, the operational level of instruments in some cases fails to fulfill the mandates to mainstream climate adaptation, and consistency is limited. These failures are indicators of lower levels of organizational maturity, which has also been detected in other developing countries and is connected to conflict and tradeoff avoidance behaviors as a filtering strategy to ensure progress at the cost of leaving key issues outside the mainstreaming process.

Presidents and their ideologies have long been thought to be important explanatory variables in Latin American foreign policy, but little is known about how presidential breakdowns, a common form of leader change, affect foreign policy. I use a qualitative structured comparison to analyze the effects of nine presidential ousters on their successors’ foreign policies. I focus on cases in which the legitimacy of the process is in a gray zone, when narrative disputes are more likely to emerge. The findings indicate that incumbents politicize foreign policy when they use it to attain public support but accommodate it to congressional interests when they need support of Congress; meanwhile, international peers respond to presidential breakdowns according to their strategic and ideological rather than normative concerns. Even though Latin America is dominated by weak states, domestic politics, especially during crises, play a major role in explaining their foreign policies. Considering the role played by presidents in foreign policymaking, understanding this kind of presidential succession is essential.

长期以来，总统及其意识形态一直被认为是拉美外交政策的重要解释性变量，但几乎没有研究聚焦于总统罢免（领导人更迭的常见形式）如何影响外交政策。我使用定性结构化比较，分析了九次总统罢免对其继任者外交政策的影响。我聚焦于程序合法性处于灰色地带的案例，这些案例中更有可能出现叙事争议。研究结果表明，现任者在需要公众支持时对外交政策加以政治化，但在需要国会支持时又将外交政策进行调整以符合国会利益；与此同时，其他国家会根据它们的战略及意识形态关切（而非规范关切）来应对总统罢免。尽管拉丁美洲由弱国主导，但国内政治（尤其是在危机期间）在解释其外交政策方面发挥着重要作用。鉴于总统在外交决策中发挥的作用，理解这种总统继任方式至关重要。

Se acepta ampliamente que los presidentes y sus ideologías son variables explicativas importantes en la política exterior latinoamericana, pero se sabe poco sobre cómo afectan a la política exterior las rupturas de mandatos presidenciales, una forma común de cambio de liderazgo. Utilizo una comparación cualitativa estructurada para analizar los efectos de nueve destituciones presidenciales en la política exterior de sus sucesores. Me centro en los casos en los que la legitimidad del proceso se encuentra en una zona gris, cuando es más probable que surjan disputas de narrativa. Los resultados indican que los presidentes politizan la política exterior cuando la utilizan para lograr el apoyo público, pero la acomodan a los objetivos políticos del Congreso cuando necesitan su respaldo; mientras tanto, los pares internacionales responden a las rupturas presidenciales según sus preocupaciones estratégicas e ideológicas, más que a partir de criterios normativos. Aunque América Latina está dominada por Estados débiles, la política interior, especialmente durante las crisis, desempeña un papel importante a la hora de explicar sus políticas exteriores. Teniendo en cuenta el papel que desempeñan los presidentes en la elaboración de la política exterior, resulta esencial comprender este tipo de rotación presidencial.

How should we analyze democratic participation mechanisms created to end a civil war? This article examines participation in the design and ratification of Colombia's 2016 peace settlement. By analyzing theoretical participation approaches and reviewing official reports, proceedings, and formal rules engendered by the peacemaking, we consider the ways in which the stakeholders participated to formalize the agreement between the government and rebels in the Revolutionary Armed Forced of Colombia–People's Army. The case argues that inclusion does not necessarily mean control of civil society over the peacemaking process; the participation of the political society and insurgency groups is a precondition.

我们应该如何分析为结束内战而建立的民主参与机制？本文研究了哥伦比亚 2016 年和平解决协议的设计和批准过程中的参与情况。通过从理论上分析参与方法并审视由调解产生的官方报告、会议记录和正式规则，我们考量了利益攸关方通过何种方式参与“政府与哥伦比亚革命武装力量（人民军）叛乱分子正式建立协议”这一过程。该案例认为，包容性并不一定意味着公民社会对调解过程的控制；政治社会和叛乱集团的参与是先决条件。

¿Cómo debemos analizar los mecanismos de participación democrática creados para poner fin a una guerra civil? Este artículo examina la participación en el diseño y ratificación del acuerdo de paz de Colombia de 2016. Mediante enfoques teóricos de participación y revisión de informes oficiales, procedimientos y reglas formales engendradas por la etapa de pacificación, consideramos las formas en que las partes interesadas participaron para formalizar el acuerdo entre el gobierno y los rebeldes en las Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia-Ejército del Pueblo. El caso sostiene que la inclusión no significa necesariamente el control de la sociedad civil sobre el proceso de pacificación ya que la participación de la sociedad política y los grupos insurgentes es una condición previa.