bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Occipital Nerve Stimulation: Technical and Surgical Aspects of Implantation
Authors: Trentman Terrence L. , Zimmerman Richard S.
Published: August 2010

The objective of this article is to review the surgical aspects of occipital stimulation. Since 1999 there has been a growing interest in neuromodulation of the distal branches of C2‐3 in an effort to treat refractory headache disorders. This is accomplished via implantation of subcutaneous electrodes to stimulate peripheral nerves in the occipital region. “Occipital nerve stimulation” is a term generically used to describe the technique. Mechanisms and outcome of this modality are beyond the scope of this review, which will focus on the technical aspects of the procedure with its associated complications such as lead migration, localized pain, and infection. The history of peripheral nerve and spinal cord stimulation as pain treatment modalities will be briefly reviewed. The equipment and surgical technique for both trial and permanent implantation of occipital nerve stimulators will be described, in addition to patient selection considerations. The available literature will be summarized and a discussion of future directions will be provided. Occipital nerve stimulation may be an effective minimally invasive treatment modality for refractory headache disorders; clearly, further studies are needed.
Ibogaine and Noribogaine: Comparing Parent Compound to Metabolite
Authors: Zubaran Carlos
Published: August 2010

Ibogaine is one of the psychoactive alkaloids found in the West African shrubTabernanthe iboga.Since the 1980s, a series of US patents have claimed efficacy for ibogaine in the treatment of drug addiction. Since then, more than 60 scientific publications on ibogaine and drug addiction have been published. Ibogaine has an acute and a prolonged effect on neurochemistry and behavior. Its metabolite, noribogaine (12‐hydroxyibogamine), is produced through metabolic demethylation soon after oral ibogaine administration. Although, they share similar chemical structures, ibogaine and noribogaine display different binding profiles. In rodents both, ibogaine and noribogaine, decreased morphine and cocaine intake and modulated dopaminergic transmission. In rats trained to discriminate ibogaine from saline, complete generalization to noribogaine was obtained. Attempts to correlate brain levels of both, the parent compound and the metabolite indicate that noribogaine is primarily responsible for ibogaine discriminative stimulus. Ibogaine‐induced neurotoxicity tends to occur at doses much higher than the proposed dose for humans, but caution is important when extrapolating data from ibogaine's effects observed in rodents. Although a definitive clinical validation of purported ibogaine effects is still unavailable, ibogaine has opened new perspectives in the investigation of pharmacotherapies for drug addiction.
RX 821002 as a Tool for Physiological Investigation of α2‐Adrenoceptors
Authors: Clarke R. W. , Harris J.
Published: August 2010

RX 821002 is the 2‐methoxy congener of idazoxan. In binding and tissue studies it behaves as a selective antagonist of α2‐adrenoceptors, with at least 5 times greater affinity for these receptors than any other binding site. It does not select between the different types of α2‐receptor. Although this drug probably has no future as a therapeutic agent, it remains a good probe for physiological activity at α2‐adrenoceptors in animal experiments. A particularly useful feature of this compound is its lack of binding at I1and I2imidazoline receptors. However, it has relatively high affinity for 5‐HT1Areceptors (at which it acts as an antagonist) and a tendency to behave as an inverse agonist at α2A‐adrenoceptors in some cell culture systems. These potential drawbacks may be overcome by careful design of experiments, and the greater selectivity of RX 821002 renders it much superior to yohimbine or idazoxan as a tool for probing physiological actions at α2‐receptors. It can be compared favorably with other selective antagonists such as atipamezole.

In physiological studies, RX 821002 augments norepinephrine release in the frontal cortex and increases drinking behavior in rat. In rabbit, intrathecal administration of this drug enhances somatic and autonomic motor outflows, showing that tonic adrenergic descending inhibition of withdrawal reflexes and sympathetic pre‐ganglionic neurons is strong in this species. The potentiation of reflexes may be considered a pro‐nociceptive action. In the same model, RX 821002 antagonizes the inhibitory effects of the μ opioid fentanyl, indicating that exogenous opioids synergize with endogenously released norepinephrine in the spinal cord. Thus, the careful use of RX 821002 has revealed several aspects of the physiological activity of α2‐adrenoceptors in rabbit spinal cord and rat brain. We recommend that RX 821002 and/or compounds with similar selectivity for α2‐adrenoceptors (atipamezole, MK‐912, RS‐79948) should be used in preference to yohimbine or idazoxan in all future studies of this type.
LY404187: A Novel Positive Allosteric Modulator of AMPA Receptors
Authors: Quirk Jennifer C. , Nisenbaum Eric S.
Published: August 2010

LY404187 is a selective, potent and centrally active positive allosteric modulator of AMPA receptors. LY404187 preferentially acts at recombinant human homomeric GluR2 and GluR4 versus GluR1 and GluR3 AMPA receptors. In addition, LY404187 potentiates the flip splice variant of these AMPA receptors to a greater degree than the flop splice variant. In both recombinant and native AMPA receptors, potentiation by LY404187 displays a unique time‐dependent growth that appears to involve a suppression of the desensitization process of these ion channels. LY404187 has been shown to enhance glutamatergic synaptic transmission bothin vitroandin vivo.This augmentation of synaptic activity is due to the direct potentiation of AMPA receptor function, as well as an indirect recruitment of voltage‐dependent NMDA receptor activity. Enhanced calcium influx through NMDA receptors is known to be a critical step in initiating long‐term modifications in synaptic function (e.g., long‐term potentiation, LTP). These modifications in synaptic function may be substrates for certain forms of memory encoding. Consistent with a recruitment of NMDA receptor activity, LY404187 has been shown to enhance performance in animal models of cognitive function requiring different mnemonic processes. These data suggest that AMPA receptor potentiators may be therapeutically beneficial for treating cognitive deficits in a variety of disorders, particularly those that are associated with reduced glutamatergic signaling such as schizophrenia. In addition, LY404187 has been demonstrated to be efficacious in animal models of behavioral despair that possess considerable predictive validity for antidepressant activity. Although the therapeutic efficacy of AMPA receptor potentiators in these and other diseases will ultimately be determined in the clinic, evidence suggests that the benefit of these compounds will be mediated by multiple mechanisms of action. These mechanisms include direct enhancement of AMPA receptor function, secondary mobilization of intracellular signaling cascades, and prolonged modulation of gene expression.
XIVth World Congress of Pharmacology, San Francisco, CA, USA July 7–12, 2002 New Drugs for the Treatment of Central Nervous System Disorders
Authors: Scriabine Alexander
Published: August 2010

The XIVth World Congress of Pharmacology took place on July 7–12 in Moscone Convention Center, San Francisco, CA. Over 4,000 scientists, exhibitors and guests attended the Congress. It consisted of 40 symposia, 11 workshops, 18 plenary lectures and ca. 1400 posters. The Congress was sponsored by the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, Inspire Pharmaceuticals, and GlaxoSmithKline. The major financial donors were: Eli Lilly and Company, Servier, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, Novartis, Roche, Schering‐Plough, Wyeth, and Yamanouchi Foundation. This report covers only posters or presentations on new drugs affecting the central nervous system that were viewed or attended by the author.
Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) and the Aging Brain: Flipping a Coin in the “Fountain of Youth”
Authors: Racchi Marco , Balduzzi Carla , Corsini Emanuela
Published: August 2010

The physiological role of dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) and its sulphated ester DHEA(S) has been studied for nearly 2 decades and still eludes final clarification. The major interest in DHEA derives from its unique pattern of activity. Its levels exhibit a dramatic age‐related decline that supports significant involvement of DHEA(S) in the aging process. Particularly relevant to the aging process is the functional decline that involves memory and cognitive abilities. DHEA is derived mainly from synthesis in the adrenal glands and gonads. It can also be detected in the brain where it is derived from a synthesis that is independent from peripheral steroid sources. For this reason DHEA and other steroid molecules have been named “neurosteroids.” Pharmacological studies on animals provided evidence that neurosteroids could be involved in learning and memory processes because they can display memory‐enhancing properties in aged rodents. However, human studies have reported contradictory results that so far do not directly support the use of DHEA in aging‐related conditions. As such, it is important to remember that plasma levels of DHEA(S) may not reflect levels in the central nervous system (CNS), due to intrinsic ability of the brain to produce neurosteroids. Thus, the importance of neurosteroids in the memory process and in age‐related cognitive impairment should not be dismissed. Furthermore, the fact that the compound is sold in most countries as a health food supplement is hampering the rigorous scientific evaluation of its potential. We will describe the effect of neurosteroids, in particular DHEA, on neurochemical mechanism involved in memory and learning. We will focus on a novel effect on a signal transduction mechanism involving a classical “cognitive kinase” such as protein kinase C. The final objective is to provide additional tools to understand the physiological role and therapeutic potentials of neurosteroids in normal and/or pathological aging, such as Alzheimer's disease.
Piracetam: A Review of Pharmacological Properties and Clinical Uses
Authors: Winblad Bengt
Published: August 2010

Piracetam, a derivative of the neurotransmitter γ‐aminobutyric acid (GABA), has a variety of physiological effects that may result, at least in part, from the restoration of cell membrane fluidity. At a neuronal level, piracetam modulates neurotransmission in a range of transmitter systems (including cholinergic and glutamatergic), has neuroprotective and anticonvulsant properties, and improves neuroplasticity. At a vascular level, it appears to reduce erythrocyte adhesion to vascular endothelium, hinder vasospasm, and facilitate microcirculation. This diverse range of physiological effects is consistent with its use in a range of clinical indications. Its efficacy is documented in cognitive disorders and dementia, vertigo, cortical myoclonus, dyslexia, and sickle cell anemia. While high doses are sometimes necessary, piracetam is well tolerated.
Bremazocine: A κ‐Opioid Agonist with Potent Analgesic and Other Pharmacologic Properties
Authors: Dortch‐Carnes Juanita , Potter David E.
Published: August 2010

Bremazocine is a κ‐opioid receptor agonist with potent analgesic and diuretic activities. As an analgesic it is three‐ to four‐times more potent than morphine, as determined in both hot plate and tail flick tests. Bremazocine and other benzomorphan analogs were synthesized in an effort to produce opiates with greater κ‐opioid receptor selectivity and with minimal morphine‐like side effects. Unlike morphine bremazocine is devoid of physical and psychological dependence liability in animal models and produces little or no respiratory depression. While bremazocine does not produce the characteristic euphoria associated with morphine and its abuse, it has been shown to induce dysphoria, a property that limits its clinical usefulness. Similarly to morphine, repeated administration of bremazocine leads to tolerance to its analgesic effect. It has been demonstrated that the marked diuretic effect of bremazocine is mediated primarily by the central nervous system.

Because of its psychotomimetic side effects (disturbance in the perception of space and time, abnormal visual experience, disturbance in body image perception, de‐personalization, de‐realization and loss of self control) bremazocine has limited potential as a clinical analgesic. However, its possible utility for the therapy of alcohol and drug addiction warrants further consideration because of its ability to decrease ethanol and cocaine self‐administration in non‐human primates. In addition, the ability of bremazocine‐like drugs to lower intraocular pressure and to minimize ischemic damage in animal models suggests their possible use in the therapy of glaucoma and cardiovascular disease.
Personalization and Institutional Constraints: Pinochet, the Military Junta, and the 1980 Constitution
Authors: Barros Robert
Published: August 2010

The standard account of military dictatorship in Chile (1973–1990) portrays the case as a personalist regime, and uses the dynamics associated with this type of regime to explain General Pinochet's control of the presidency, the enactment of the 1980 Constitution, and the longevity of military rule. Drawing on records of the decisionmaking process within the military junta, this article presents evidence for a different characterization of the dictatorship. It shows that Pinochet never attained the supremacy commonly attributed to him, that the commanders of the other branches of the armed forces retained significant powers, and that the 1980 Constitution was not enacted to project Pinochet's personal power. More generally, this study suggests that personal power is not a necessary condition for regime longevity; collective systems can also produce cohesion and stability.
The OAS and the Summit of the Americas: Coexistence, or Integration of Forces for Multilateralism?
Authors: Rosenberg Robin L.
Published: August 2010

Fifty years after the creation of the OAS, political power is not centralized in that organization but variously diffused throughout the interamerican system. Meanwhile, the Summit of the Americas process has slowly acquired its own institutionality outside the OAS, and is sometimes perceived as challenging the primacy of the ideal of the OAS as the principal institution of interamerican relations. Even with its own weaknesses, the Summit of the Americas has become the most important force for reform of the OAS. As the hemisphere prepares for the third full summit in Quebec, this essay assesses the relationship of these two institutions and their future prospects.
Agricultural Property Rights and Political Change in Nicaragua
Authors: Everingham Mark
Published: August 2010

This study focuses on Nicaragua's transition from a revolutionary state to one oriented toward democracy and the market, through the political lens of agricultural property rights. The national agenda on property rights after 1990 was dominated by elaborate arrangements to accommodate kinship-based factions of the agroindustrial elite, core Sandinista constituents, rural labor groups, and demobilized peasant combatants. Bargains, legislative initiatives, and constitutional reforms failed to clarify legal ambiguity over coveted assets. Persistent conflict thereby became embedded in official efforts to design a robust property regime. The case of Nicaragua suggests comparisons with other countries where protracted confrontation and social violence over property rights pose serious threats to unconsolidated democratic institutions.
Learning the Limits of Power: Privatization and State-Labor Interactions in Mexico
Authors: Williams Mark Eric
Published: August 2010

Despite repeated conflict with organized labor, the government of Carlos Salinas de Gortari (1988–94) pushed an aggressive divestment agenda that transformed Mexico into Latin America's leading privatizer. Explanations of Salinas's achievements typically emphasize centralized presidential power (including control over the ruling party) and autonomy; technocratic and political savvy; and weak labor opposition. This article questions such a pure “capacity-outcome” approach. Of equal importance are the learning effects of repeated interaction between the state and labor, which changed the course of divestment struggles and thereby influenced their outcomes. Lessons learned in successive confrontations led to patterns of interaction conducive to widescale privatization. The article develops this argument through comparative analysis of major divestment episodes in the aviation, mining, steel, and telecommunications sectors.
Globalization and Migration: The Impact of Family Remittances in Latin America
Authors: Orozco Manuel
Published: August 2010

Taking as its point of departure the relationship between migration and globalization, this article highlights the salience of remittances in the national economies of Latin America, especially Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean. It looks at the various actors that participate in the transfer of remittances and suggests that incorporating migrant labor dynamics as a category of economic integration will reveal a distinct landscape in the economies of Latin America.
Cuba in Transition? The Civil Sphere's Challenge to the Castro Regime
Authors: Otero Gerardo , O'Bryan Janice
Published: August 2010

This article assesses how much the emergence of civil society and private market activities are challenging Cuba's ruling communist regime. The assessment is based on a conceptualization of a “civil sphere,” constituted by civil society and private market activities (or the “second economy”), and how this affects democratic transitions from state-socialist societies, using Cuba as a case study. Examining the multiple sectors at play reveals an increasingly organized and vocal opposition, but one hampered by continued government repression. Considering several theoretical and historically possible scenarios, this study concludes that under current conditions, the civil sphere's significant challenge is still not enough for a regime change in the Cuban state.
Brazil's Agrarian Reform: Democratic Innovation or Oligarchic Exclusion Redux?
Authors: Pereira Anthony
Published: August 2010

The government of Fernando Henrique Cardoso (1995–2002) redistributed a surprising amount of land to Brazil's landless. Assessing that reform, this study argues that an adequate appreciation of land redistribution must transcend the debate about the number of beneficiaries and place the reform in the larger context of state policies toward land and agriculture. It then asks to what extent such policies under Cardoso represented the dismantling of past state practices in the countryside. Although the Cardoso administration enacted some significant and democratizing changes, it missed other opportunities to benefit the rural poor, and its policies essentially maintained the agricultural model of the past two decades.
Social Correlates of Party System Demise and Populist Resurgence in Venezuela
Authors: Roberts Kenneth M.
Published: August 2010

Considering its strong, highly institutionalized two-party system, Venezuela was surely one of the least likely countries in Latin America to experience a party system breakdown and populist resurgence. That traditional party system nevertheless was founded on a mixture of corporatist and clientelist linkages to social actors that were unable to withstand the secular decline of the oil economy and several aborted attempts at market liberalization. Successive administrations led by the dominant parties failed to reverse the economic slide, with devastating consequences for the party system as a whole. The party system ultimately rested on insecure structural foundations; and when its social moorings crumbled in the 1990s, the populist movement of Hugo Chávez emerged to fill the political void. This populist resurgence both capitalized on and accelerated the institutional decomposition of the old order.
Limits to Hegemonic Influence in the Organization of American States
Authors: Shaw Carolyn M.
Published: August 2010

Although powerful states have the ability to dominate the international system to achieve their policy preferences, such dominance has limits in the Organization of American States. Even though the United States, its most powerful member state, has considerable influence over OAS actions, institutional factors also affect decisionmaking and produce more varied outcomes than one might anticipate. Adapting three different perspectives from organizational sociology, this study constructs an analytical framework to explore the impact of structural, normative, internal relational, and environmental factors on the level of U.S. influence in the OAS. Four hypotheses are tested on 30 cases of regional conflict management from 1948 to 2002. The organizational variables also reveal incentives for the United States to act multilaterally rather than unilaterally in most instances in the post-Cold War era.
Neoliberalism and Democracy in Latin America: A Mixed Record
Authors: Weyland Kurt
Published: August 2010

This essay argues that neoliberalism has strengthened the sustainability of democracy in Latin America but limited its quality. Drastic market reform seems to have abetted the survival of competitive civilian rule through its external and internal repercussions. By opening up Latin American countries to the world economy, neoliberalism has exposed them to more of the international pressures for preserving democracy that intensified with the end of the Cold War. At the same time, the move to market economics has weakened leftist parties, trade unions, and other proponents of radical socioeconomic reform, reassuring elites and preventing them from undermining democracy. But tighter external economic constraints limit governments' latitude and thereby restrict the effective range of democratic choice; and the weakening of parties and interest associations has depressed political participation and eroded government accountability. The available evidence therefore suggests that neoliberalism has been a mixed blessing for Latin American democracies.
The Socioeconomic Implications of Dollarization in El Salvador
Authors: Towers Marcia , Borzutzky Silvia
Published: August 2010

This study argues that the costs associated with El Salvador's dollarization clearly outweigh the benefits and that the decision to dollarize was prompted not only by the need to promote economic growth, but also by the impluse to serve the interests of the financial sector and the large entrepreneurs who control the ruling ARENA party. Although the policy facilitates investment and international financial transactions, it has a negative effect on the poor by increasing inequality. To develop this argument, the authors discuss the socioeconomic and political situation in El Salvador at the time of dollarization, examine the Law of Monetary Integration, and analyze die effect of the dollarization policy on the poor.
Telecommunications Reform in Mexico from a Comparative Perspective
Authors: Mariscal Judith
Published: August 2010

This paper examines the process of reform in the Mexican telecommunications sector and makes comparisons with similar processes in the United States, New Zealand, and Brazil. Differences in policy responses are explained by the structure of the political institutions and the policy context in any given country. The policy lessons to be drawn from the regulatory experiences examined are that the sequence and the pace of reform influence policy outcomes. The speed with which the Mexican reform was carried out led to a lack of the institutional and legal support necessary to create a level competitive playing field. The permanence of a vertically integrated firm in the Mexican market, moreover, introduced consequential costs to the regulation of the industry. The results of this paper support the theoretical argument that privatization, in itself, does not guarantee the development of the sector and point to the need to attain a more effective regulation of competition in telecommunications.
Moving beyond the Policy of No Policy: Emigration from Mexico and Central America
Authors: Rosenblum Marc R.
Published: August 2010

Do Caribbean Basin states influence U.S. immigration policy? Although the terrorist attacks of September 2001 eventually derailed migration talks, before that time Mexico and the United States appeared poised to negotiate a major bilateral agreement, largely on Mexico's terms. Drawing on 88 detailed interviews conducted with Mexican and other Caribbean Basin elites, this article examines sending-state preferences for emigration and their capacity to influence policy outcomes. The informants considered migration to be the most problematic issue on the bilateral agenda, but also saw migration policy as relatively open to source-state influence. A case study of Mexican emigration policymaking details the national and transnational changes that make migration increasingly an inter-mestic policy issue.
Ideas, Economic Pressures, and Pension Privatization
Authors: Madrid Raúl L.
Published: August 2010

This article maintains that the recent wave of pension privatization has been spurred largely by rising pension expenditures and chronic capital shortages. Many policymakers in Latin America and around the world believed that privatizing their public pension systems would boost their domestic savings rate and resolve the systems' financial problems, thereby reducing their dependence on unstable foreign capital and freeing resources for other, more productive uses. There is no clear evidence that pension privatization will bring these economic benefits, however. To understand why policymakers held these beliefs, we must examine how ideas about pension privatization have formed. Two particularly important factors are the Chilean model and the World Bank's growing influence on pension policy. A probit analysis of the determinants of pension privatization provides support for these arguments.
Indigenous Parties and Democracy in Latin America
Authors: Madrid Raúl L.
Published: August 2010

In recent years, important indigenous parties have emerged for the first time in Latin American history. Although some analysts view this development with trepidation, this essay argues that the indigenous parties in Latin America are unlikely to exacerbate ethnic conflict or create the kinds of problems that have been associated with some ethnic parties in other regions. To the contrary, the emergence of major indigenous parties in Latin America may actually help deepen democracy in the region. These parties will certainly improve the representativeness of the party system in the countries where they arise. They should also increase political participation and reduce party system fragmentation and electoral volatility in indigenous areas. They may even increase the acceptance of democracy and reduce political violence in countries with large indigenous populations.
Undermining the Rule of Law: Democratization and the Dark Side of Police Reform in Mexico
Authors: Davis Diane E.
Published: August 2010

This article asks whether democratization, under certain historical conditions, may relate to the deteriorating rule of law. Focusing on Mexico City, where police corruption is significant, this study argues that the institutionalized legacies of police power inherited from Mexico's one-party system have severely constrained its newly democratic state's efforts to reform the police. Mexico's democratic transition has created an environment of partisan competition that, combined with decentralization of the state and fragmentation of its coercive and administrative apparatus, exacerbates intrastate and bureaucratic conflicts. These factors prevent the government from reforming the police sufficiently to guarantee public security and earn citizen trust, even as the same factors reduce capacity, legitimacy, and citizen confidence in both the police and the democratically elected state. This article suggests that when democracy serves to undermine rather than strengthen the rule of law, more democracy can actually diminish democracy and its quality.
Democrats, Dictators, and Cooperation: The Transformation of Argentine-Chilean Relations
Authors: Parish Randall R.
Published: August 2010

This article explores how Argentina and Chile put aside a century-long rivalry to form a dynamic regional partnership in the years after 1984. Their experience suggests that interstate behavior is more complex than many theories admit. Cooperation increased during and after the Cold War, with severe and moderate debt burdens, between economic liberalizers and statists, and under authoritarian and democratic regimes. This study uses institutional analysis to argue that executives were the indispensable actors who combined institutionally focused incentives and the ability to forge cooperative agreements. Previous attempts between Argentina and Chile, as well as elsewhere on the continent, failed when weak executives in one or both countries could not sustain cooperation over domestic opposition. Two crucial points are Alfonsín's and Pinochet̂s foundation-building agreements in 1984–85 and Menem's and Aylwin's deepening institutionalization of the relationship in 1990–91.
Revolution's Legacy: Residual Effects on Nicaraguan Participation and Attitudes in Comparative Context
Authors: Booth John A. , Richard Patricia Bayer
Published: August 2010

A longstanding scholarly debate asks what lasting changes revolution makes in political attitudes and behaviors. Scholars generally regard revolution as transformative, but research on revolution's behavioral and cultural legacies after transfers of state power has been limited. This study explores revolution's residual impact on individuals' electoral participation, civil society engagement, and social capital by comparing postrevolutionary Nicaraguans to their Central American neighbors. Using survey data on comparable samples of urban Central Americans, the research found higher electoral engagement in Nicaragua than in the other nations in the region that experienced major insurgencies but not revolution. It also found among Nicaraguans greater support for civil disobedience, greater school and union activism, and more frequent leftist political identification. Although revolution did leave residual effects in Nicaragua, more significant influence appears to have decayed rapidly.
Minority Presidents and Democratic Performance in Latin America
Authors: Negretto Gabriel L.
Published: August 2010

A widely accepted argument among scholars of Latin American presidential regimes is that interbranch cooperation is impaired when the president's party falls short of a majority of seats in the legislature. This argument fails to consider three factors that affect the performance of minority presidents: the policy position of the president's party, the president's capacity to sustain a veto, and the legislative status of the parties included in the cabinet. This article argues that the greatest potential for conflict in a presidential regime occurs when the president's party lacks the support of both the median and the veto legislator and no cabinet coalition holding a majority of legislative seats is formed. This hypothesis is supported using data on executive-legislative conflicts and on interrupted presidencies in Latin America during the period 1978–2003.
Does It Take a Village? Policing Strategies and Fear of Crime in Latin America
Authors: Dammert Lucia , Malone Mary Fran T.
Published: August 2010

How can policymakers reduce public fear of crime in Latin America? This study compares the effectiveness of “zero tolerance” and community-based policing strategies in Argentina, Brazil, and Chile. At the micro level, it assesses the links between fear of crime and social identity characteristics, contextual factors, the media, community participation, and other insecurities. It finds that citizens' economic, political, and social insecurities are the main determinants of their fear of crime. At the macro level, the study compares levels of public insecurity and finds that cities that employ community-based strategies to fight crime register lower levels of public fear of crime.
Contradictions and Constraints in Chile's Health Care and Education Decentralization
Authors: Kubal Mary Rose
Published: August 2010

Proponents of social service decentralization often claim that transferring service administration to lower levels of government facilitates increases citizen participation and governmental accountability while improving allocative efficiency and equity in service distribution. Using the cases of health and education decentralization in Chile, this article evaluates whether and under what conditions social service decentralization programs are likely to deliver on these promises. It discusses the tensions between equity and efficiency goals and how these may play out given different accountability mechanisms in local public choice, principal-agent, and real-world “hybrid” decentralization models. The case studies illustrate the difficulty of balancing the need for central standards and funding with local autonomy, but suggest that accountability mechanisms that emerged following Chile's transition to democracy in 1990 led to improvements in both equity and efficiency in decentralized service administration.
Fragmentation of Power and the Emergence of an Effective Judiciary in Mexico, 1994–2002
Authors: Ríos-Figueroa Julio
Published: August 2010

Legal reforms that make judges independent from political pressures and empower them with judicial review do not make an effective judiciary. Something has to fill the gap between institutional design and effectiveness. When the executive and legislative powers react to an objectionable judicial decision, the judiciary may be weak and deferential; but coordination difficulties between the elected branches can loosen the constraints on courts. This article argues that the fragmentation of political power can enable a judiciary to rule against power holders' interests without being systematically challenged or ignored. This argument is tested with an analysis of the Mexican Supreme Court decisions against the PRI on constitutional cases from 1994 to 2002. The probability of the court's voting against the PRI increased as the PRI lost the majority in the Chamber of Deputies in 1997 and the presidency in 2000.
The Politics of Police Violence in Democratic Brazil
Authors: Ahnen Ronald E.
Published: August 2010

More than a decade after Latin America's most recent turn to democracy, unchecked police violence and torture continue and in some cases have increased. This study examines police killings in 19 Brazilian states from 1994 to 2001 and finds that democracy has not substantially reduced these types of human rights violations, for two reasons. First, underlying social conflict has continued to exert a significant impact on the lethal use of force by police officers. Second, pro-order political coalitions, generally represented by right-wing politicians, have blocked effective measures to control police violence and have implemented public safety measures that stress the use of force. The analysis emphasizes the nonteleological nature of democratization processes and demonstrates the strength of political forces working to maintain “illiberal democracy.”
Barrio Women and Popular Politics in Chávez's Venezuela
Authors: Fernandes Sujatha
Published: August 2010

Since President Hugo Chávez came to power in Venezuela in 1998, ordinary women from the barrios, or shantytowns, of Caracas have become more engaged in grassroots politics; but most of the community leaders still are men. Chávez's programs are controlled by male-dominated bureaucracies, and many women activists still look to the president himself as the main source of direction. Nevertheless, this article argues, women's increasing local activism has created forms of popular participation that challenge gender roles, collectivize private tasks, and create alternatives to male-centric politics. Women's experiences of shared struggle from previous decades, along with their use of democratic methods of popular control, help prevent the state from appropriating women's labor. But these spaces coexist with more vertical, populist notions of politics characteristic of official sectors of Chavismo. Understanding such gendered dimensions of popular participation is crucial to analyzing urban social movements.
Poner el Cuerpo: Women's Embodiment and Political Resistance in Argentina
Authors: Sutton Barbara
Published: August 2010

This article explores the relationship between women's embodiment and political resistance in Argentina during 2002–2003. This was a time of socioeconomic crisis, influenced by neoliberal globalization. In this tumultuous context, women's bodies became embattled sites, shaken by the crisis but also actively engaged in constructing a new society and new forms of womanhood. Bodies are important to understanding political resistance, as reflected by the meanings attached to poner el cuerpo, a common expression in contemporary Argentine social movements. This article analyzes how women construct embodied subjectivities through their activist practices and how they define poner el cuerpo in terms of collective protest and daily activist work, coherence between words and actions, embodied sacrifice, and risk taking and struggle. As life in Argentina deteriorated because of the crisis, women's bodies represented not only suffering but also resistance and renewal.
You Win Some, You Lose Some: Constitutional Reforms in Chile's Transition to Democracy
Authors: Heiss Claudia , Navia Patricio
Published: August 2010

Chile's 1989 constitutional reforms constituted a trade-off: the military gave up protected democracy provisions but acquired greater autonomy. The democratic opposition could accept or reject, but not modify, constitutional changes proposed by the outgoing dictatorship. This study addresses a very limited time period in the transition to democracy: the moment after the transition has been secured and transitional rules have been established. The dynamics of this period differ markedly from those in the larger democratic transition. The approach in this study complements alternative explanations of why the 1989 reforms benefited the outgoing dictatorship more than the incoming democratic government. Although the outgoing regime granted several opposition demands by reducing restrictions on political pluralism and eliminating barriers to political party activity, it also secured provisions that made the military more independent of civilian authorities than originally conceived in the 1980 Constitution.
Civil Society Engagement in Trade Negotiations: CAFTA Opposition Movements in El Salvador
Authors: Spalding Rose J.
Published: August 2010

This article analyzes civil society participation in the free trade debate by focusing on networks that opposed the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) in El Salvador. Drawing on documents, direct observation, and semistructured interviews with civil society leaders, two kinds of opposition coalitions are identified. “Critic negotiators,” emphasizing active engagement and policy research, used the limited participation space opened by authorities to push for reform. “Transgressive resisters,” repudiating the formal consultation process, deployed confrontational tactics and posed more fundamental challenges. This work uses social movement theory to explore coalition resource mobilization, the role of movement entrepreneurs, strategic decisionmaking, mechanisms linking local and transnational activists, and the dynamics of intramovement competition.
Transnational Strategic Networks and Policymaking in Chile: CORFO's High Technology Investment Promotion Program
Authors: Nelson Roy C.
Published: August 2010

Once prey to government patrimonial practices, the Corporación de Fomento de la Producción (CORFO), Chile's economic development agency, overcame this problem in the early 1990s. In 2000 CORFO established a High Technology Investment Promotion Program to promote foreign direct investment in high technology and other nontraditional sectors. This article applies concepts of political survival and cooperation to explain how CORFO moved from patrimonialism to technocratic independence. Then it demonstrates that governments possessing technocratic independence but lacking other characteristics typically associated with successful investment promotion efforts can develop transnational strategic networks of individuals, business associations, and universities to facilitate their learning process in order to devise more effective strategies to promote nontraditional FDI.
Candidate Recruitment and Selection in Latin America: A Framework for Analysis
Authors: Siavelis Peter M. , Morgenstern Scott
Published: August 2010

This article provides a theoretical framework for analyzing the recruitment and selection of legislative candidates in Latin America. It argues that political recruitment and candidate selection are undertheorized for Latin America yet have determinative impacts on political systems, often overriding the influence of more commonly studied institutional variables. The article elucidates a typology of legislative candidates based on the legal and party variables that lead to the emergence of particular selection methods, as well as the patterns of loyalty generated by those methods. It analyzes the recruitment and selection processes as independent and dependent variables, underscoring the significant effect these procedures have on the incentive structure and subsequent behavior of legislators. Those factors, in turn, have important consequences for democratic governability and the performance of presidentialism.
Free Traders and Drug Smugglers: The Effects of Trade Openness on States' Ability to Combat Drug Trafficking
Authors: Bartilow Horace A. , Eom Kihong
Published: August 2010

The theoretical literature presents conflicting expectations about the effects of trade openness on the ability of states to interdict drug trafficking. One view expects that trade openness will undermine drug interdiction; a second argues the opposite; a third argues that trade openness does not necessarily affect drug interdiction. This article assesses empirically the effects of trade openness on drug interdiction for countries in the Americas using a pooled time-series cross-sectional statistical model. It finds that trade openness decreases the interdiction capabilities of states in drug-consuming countries while increasing those of states in drug-producing countries. Greater openness to trade does not have a consistently significant effect on the interdiction capabilities of states in drug transit countries.
Electoral Systems in Latin America: Explaining the Adoption of Proportional Representation Systems During the Twentieth Century
Authors: Wills-Otero Laura
Published: August 2010

This article explains the twentieth-century Latin American shift from majoritarian to proportional representation (PR) electoral systems. It argues that PR was introduced when the electoral arena changed significantly and threatened the power of the dominant party. The adoption of PR was therefore an effort by the established party to retain partial power in the face of absolute defeat. Majoritarian systems remained in place when the incumbent party was strong enough to believe that it could gain a plurality of the votes despite electoral changes. An empirical analysis of 20 countries over 104 years (1900–2004) provides support for this argument.
The Value Priorities of the Political Elites: A Test of the Postmaterialist Thesis in the Puerto Rican Legislature
Authors: Cámara Fuertes Luis Raúl
Published: August 2010

The postmaterialist thesis has spurred a large body of literature and debates, yet postmaterialism has not been studied among political elites. Empirical studies of the legislatures and legislators of Latin American nations in general and Puerto Rico in particular, moreover, are sorely lacking. This article examines postmaterialist values among Puerto Rican legislators. It finds that Puerto Rican legislators have high levels of postmaterialism and that they order the components of the postmaterialism scale in ways similar to those of the mass publics of other countries, including those of Latin America. More important, the postmaterialist scale proves of little use in explaining the positions legislators take on a host of issues, many of which are closely associated with postmaterialism. An alternative explanation is that the scale really measures attachment to democratic norms.
Partisan Attachment and Democracy in Mexico: Some Cautionary Observations
Authors: Vidal D. Xavier Medina , Ugues Antonio , Bowler Shaun , Hiskey Jonathan
Published: August 2010

Party identification is a central concept in studies of parties and elections. Drawing from an extensive literature linking the concept of party identification to the understanding of Mexico's electoral politics, this article explores how the Mexican experience informs the understanding of party identification in general, especially in emerging democracies. There, voters' attachments to political parties are usually seen both as essential to and a positive sign of democratic development. This study finds evidence consistent with these arguments in the Mexican case but also identifies aspects of Mexican party identification that are not so clearly supportive of democratic politics; that indeed may delay or even undermine democratization. These findings illustrate the relevance of the Mexican experience to the wider literature on parties and elections, particularly the well-documented relationship between party identifications and democratization.
DSC Method for Determining the Liquidus Temperature of Glass‐Forming Systems
Authors: Ferreira Eduardo Bellini , Lima Moysés L. , Zanotto Edgar D.
Published: August 2010

We developed and successfully tested a differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) method to estimate the liquidus temperature (TL) of good glass‐forming systems, i.e., that are reluctant to crystallize. The method was first tested for several Li2O–B2O3 glasses. The onset, peak, and endpoint temperatures of DSC melting peaks were measured and compared with the liquidus in the phase equilibrium diagram. DSC runs were carried out at different heating rates and TL at equilibrium was estimated by extrapolation to 0°C/min. For glasses that do not crystallize during a typical DSC run, a previous heat treatment was necessary to induce crystallization. The liquidus of three multicomponent glasses were then obtained by DSC and compared with the TL obtained by a direct technique using optical microscopy. The endpoint of the DSC melting peaks measured at different rates and extrapolated to 0°C/min was the best estimate for the liquidus of such glasses. Most results differ by not more than 10°C. Because of the small amount of glass needed, the possibility of instrumental detection, simultaneous crystallization pretreatment of many different compositions, and the speed of the DSC analysis, the proposed technique may be a valuable option to estimate the liquidus of simple or complex multicomponent glasses.