Abstract, Aftershocks of Pinochet’s Constitution: The Chilean Postearthquake Reconstruction

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Aftershocks of Pinochet’s Constitution: The Chilean Postearthquake Reconstruction
by Ignacio Arana Araya                           


The criticism of the reconstruction that followed the cataclysm in Chile in 2010 has centered on contingent factors including the performance of politicians. An examination of the way structural factors conditioned the governmental response to the 8.8 earthquake shows that the constitution created by the military regime shaped the reconstruction through provisions that limited vertical and horizontal accountability in intrastate and state-society relations. The subsidiary state, executive-legislative power relations, the binomial electoral system, and the appointment rather than election of regional authorities favored a recovery effort that has been underinstitutionalized, privatized, characterized by scant participation of victims, and marred by irregularities. An analysis of governmental reports, media outlets, polls, and semistructured interviews conducted with legislators, social leaders, and scholars sheds light on the relation between the constitution and the recovery.

Abstract, Migration Policy in the New Ecuadorean Constitution: Toward the Formation of a Transnational Nation-State by Jacques P. Ramírez G.

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Migration Policy in the New Ecuadorean Constitution: Toward the Formation of a Transnational Nation-State 
by Jacques P. Ramírez G.

Ecuador’s new constitution, approved in 2008, establishes the basis for a new model of the nation-state, characterized as progressively transnational, that attempts to protect both Ecuadoreans living abroad and foreigners residing in the country. It recognizes the right to migrate and the transnational family and advocates universal citizenship, the free movement of all inhabitants of the planet, and the eventual end of the status of foreigner as an element of the transformation of unequal relations between countries.

Abstract, Migration Policy in the New Ecuadorean Constitution: Toward the Formation of a Transnational Nation-State by Jacques P. Ramírez G.

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Migration Policy in the New Ecuadorean Constitution: Toward the Formation of a Transnational Nation-State 
by Jacques P. Ramírez G.

Ecuador’s new constitution, approved in 2008, establishes the basis for a new model of the nation-state, characterized as progressively transnational, that attempts to protect both Ecuadoreans living abroad and foreigners residing in the country. It recognizes the right to migrate and the transnational family and advocates universal citizenship, the free movement of all inhabitants of the planet, and the eventual end of the status of foreigner as an element of the transformation of unequal relations between countries.

Political Report # 1050 Honduran Democracy Still in Crisis 6 Years After Coup By teleSUR

Honduran women protest violence and human rights abuses. (photo: Reuters)

Six years ago Sunday, a U.S.-backed military coup ousted democratically elected President Manuel Zelaya, flying him to exile in Costa Rica in the early hours of the morning on June 28. Zelaya had planned to hold a non-binding poll on whether to hold a referendum in the upcoming election on convening a constituent assembly to rewrite the Honduran constitution. Zelaya, of the Liberal Party, showed a progressive turn during his presidency by raising the minimum wage, negotiating land deals with campesino movements, and joining the Venezuelan-led regional energy alternative ALBA, in addition to opening the conversation on a constituent assembly. Coup-backers accused Zelaya of attempting to manipulate the Honduran constitution to extend his presidency, which was limited to one term in Honduras before the recent Supreme Court ruling to change the wording in the constitution. The non-binding poll under Zelaya would not have changed the fact that he could not run for re-election in the November 2013 general election. The coup against Zelaya was widely condemned by governments across Latin America, the European Union, the Organization of American States and other regional blocs.