The present trend toward democratic regimes in Latin American countries raises the issue of their regime-determined capabilities. Democracy is generally defined in procedural terms and supported on moral rather than policy grounds (Schumpeter 1950, 242). Consequently, very little is known about the policy consequences, if any, of the adoption of democratic forms and procedures by Latin American political systems. One way to examine this question is to analyze the policy performance of the three democratic regimes in Latin America that are the most institutionalized: Colombia, Costa Rica, and Venezuela. These three nations, unlike Argentina, Chile, Peru, and Uruguay, were able to withstand the authoritarian trends of the 1960s and early 1970s. They have been democratic long enough (well over two decades) during a period when development issues were salient to indicate the policy-performance capabilities of democratic regimes operating within the cultural, economic, and political context of Latin America.

The overthrow of Nicaraguan strongman Anastacio Somoza Debayle by the Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional in mid-1979 promises to stimulate academic research on contemporary Central America just as the rise of Fidel Castro and Salvador Allende did for Cuba and Chile. As scholars and policymakers contemplate the future of post-Somoza Central America, they will inevitably consider the role of the armed forces in each country. In recent years the military institutions have occupied key positions in national politics as the Central American nations have attempted to reconcile the often conflicting demands of economic development, political order, and social reform. This note is intended to serve as a guide to the existing social-science literature on the Central American militaries. Costa Rica, having replaced its army with a civil guard or police force in 1948, is mentioned only in passing. Although historically considered a part of South America, Panama is included here because it shares many characteristics with the Central American countries. Not surprisingly, the available literature is sparse in comparison with the sophisticated studies of the armed forces of Brazil, Peru, Argentina, Chile, and Mexico. Only Guatemala has inspired a significant output of scholarly analysis. Millett's work (1977) on the Nicaraguan national guard is the only published monograph concerning one of the Central American military institutions, although several unpublished dissertations have appeared and at least one valuable article exists for each country.

The most politically sensitive question in studies of economic growth is: What is the optimal relationship for the distribution of income and wealth to economic growth? The rich often diversify their assets, and thus it is not easy to know the total wealth of an individual, or the distribution of wealth for a nation. For this reason, the analysis presented here for Argentina from 1914 to 1969 makes only brief reference to the influence of the distribution of wealth and focuses instead on the relationship between income distribution and economic growth. Income distribution in other nations also is discussed in order to evaluate the possibility of utilizing their experience to judge the Argentine case. The relationship between increases in workers' and entrepreneurs' income and those in investment is also examined, for an economy will grow only if investment takes place. Moreover, because funds spent on private consumption cannot be invested and much past economic analysis has studied the relationship between changes in income and in consumption, this relationship must be considered in the Argentine case. We will look at several categories of income, taking into account the effects of inflation and of ownership of selected categories of wealth.

Este artículo analiza el humor, la conflictividad social y el lenguaje en la literatura y el proyecto editorial de Washington Cucurto en consonancia con la poscrisis argentina del año 2001, un período de inestabilidad y cuestionamiento de la configuración sociopolítica, económica y cultural del país. Su humor se encarna en la combinación del habla oral con sintagmas que no son propios de la oralidad, abriendo el espacio a la parodia y la tragedia. Este estilo —al que el autor denomina realismo atolondrado—introduce una “extrañeza inquietante” en prácticas sociales automatizadas en las que se naturaliza la violencia, el racismo y la xenofobia social hacia los inmigrantes externos e internos del gran Buenos Aires. El realismo atolondrado está asimismo presente en su proyecto editorial Eloísa Cartonera, el cual construido a partir de lo que la sociedad deshecha mantiene una relación de familiar extrañeza con el curso de la industria cultural global y con el curso de la cultura de las artes en general.

A realização deste trabalho correspondeu à necessidade de reunir informações básicas e fundamentais sobre os arquivos privados no Rio de Janeiro. Seu objetivo consiste em elaborar um mapeamento de fontes documentais referentes ao Período Repúblicano da História do Brasil visando focalizar principalmente a etapa contemporânea iniciada com a Revolução de 1930. Este levantamento pretende basicamente fornecer pistas ao pesquisador para a localização de fontes primárias no Rio de Janeiro. A inexistência de critérios rígidos de organização, em muitas instituições, dificultou uma sistematização perfeita dos dados relevantes para descrição dos acervos. Por isso, optou-se por apresentar as informações possíveis, refletindo assim as condições oferecidas ao pesquisador para a consulta de documentos.

The visitor to Cuba cannot help but be struck by the overpowering presence of José Martí. Indeed, from the moment one arrives at Havana's Aeropuerto ‘José Martí,’ references to Martí are constantly encountered: the drive from the airport to the city center passes by the Biblioteca Nacional ‘José Martí,’ situated in the Plaza de la Revolución, which itself is dominated by an enormous statue of Martí; commemorative monuments and plaques are widely scattered throughout all Cuban cities, while even the smallest rural communities possess at least a bust of Martí; finally, as an illustration of the importance of Martí for the revolutionary leadership, pertinent quotations are continually exhibited at official congresses, and in all major museums of the island. In short, as any tourist soon discovers, Martí's image is projected everywhere: “en alguna medida Cuba es un país en torno a un hombre,” as one critic has correctly noted.

On the basis of data collected by the RETTRANS survey (2011–2012) on Bolivian migrants living in Spain, this article aims to identify the influence of the 2008 economic crisis on the determinants marking the migrants’ return intention. In this regard, there is a need to incorporate the concept of double embeddedness based on migrants’ social networks (meso level), the way migration is imbricated in persons’ lives (micro level); and how, at a macro level, economic and social transformations of different contexts affect these decisions. The article highlights that unexpected changes in living conditions trigger a reconfiguration of these mixed factors that condition return intentions.

Uruguay, once known as the “Switzerland of South America” for its advanced social and economic development, is a country in which it is surprisingly difficult to obtain statistical data, and quantitative demographic sources are little known and even less analyzed. Despite the fact that, at the turn of the century, Uruguay had a stable government and an advanced social system (the “welfare state” created by the administraciones batllistas), only five general population censuses had ever been taken (1852, 1860, 1908, 1963, 1975), and only the last three are reliable. However, these are not the only sources available, and it is necessary to survey other major existing demographic data, whether published or unpublished.

This essay reviews the following works:

Persuasive Peers: Social Communication and Voting in Latin America. By Andy Baker, Barry Ames, and Lúcio Rennó. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2020. Pp. xxiv + 369. $32.00 paperback. ISBN: 9780691205779.

Lula and His Politics of Cunning: From Metalworker to President of Brazil. By John D. French. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 2020. Pp. 520. $32.50 hardcover. ISBN: 9781469655765.

Modern Brazil: A Social History. By Herbert S. Klein and Francisco Vidal Luna. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2020. Pp. xv + 419. $36.99 paperback. ISBN: 9781108733298.

State-Sponsored Activism: Bureaucrats and Social Movements in Democratic Brazil. By Jessica A. J. Rich. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019. Pp. 256. $29.99 paperback. ISBN: 9781108456807.

From Revolution to Power in Brazil: How Radical Leftists Embraced Capitalism and Struggled with Leadership. By Kenneth P. Serbin. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2019. Pp. 462. $60.00 hardcover. ISBN: 9780268105853.

Religion and Brazilian Democracy: Mobilizing the People of God. By Amy Erica Smith. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019. Pp. 222. $105.00 hardcover. ISBN: 9781108482110.

Decadent Developmentalism: The Political Economy of Democratic Brazil. By Matthew M. Taylor. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2020. Pp. 340. $99.99 hardcover. ISBN: 9781108842280.

Dano colateral: A intervenção dos militares na segurança pública. By Natalia Viana. Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, 2021. Pp. 348. ISBN: 9788547001292.