bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Accessory auricle: Classification according to location, protrusion pattern and body shape
Authors: Hwang Jungil , Cho Jaeyoung , Burm Jin Sik
Published: September 2018

Background Accessory auricles (AAs) are common congenital anomalies. We present a new classification according to location and shape, and propose a system for coding the classifications.

Methods This study was conducted by reviewing the records of 502 patients who underwent surgery for AA. AAs were classified into three anatomical types: intraauricular, preauricular, and buccal. Intraauricular AAs were divided into three subtypes: intracrural, intratragal, and intralobal. Preauricular AAs were divided into five subtypes: precrural, superior pretragal, middle pretragal, inferior pretragal, and prelobal. Buccal AAs were divided into two subtypes: anterior buccal and posterior buccal. AAs were also classified according to their protrusion pattern above the surrounding surface: pedunculated, sessile, areolar, remnant, and depressed.Pedunculated and sessile AAs were subclassified as spherical, ovoid, lobed, and nodular, according to their body shape. Cartilage root presence and family history of AA were reviewed. A coding system for these classifications was also proposed.

Results The total number of AAs in the 502 patients was 1,003. Among the locations, the superior pretragal subtype (27.6%) was the most common. Among the protrusion patterns and shapes, pedunculated ovoid AAs were the most common in the preauricular (27.8%) and buccal areas (28.0%), and sessile lobed AAs were the most common in the intraauricular area (48.7%). The proportion of AAs with a cartilage root was 78.4%, and 11% of patients had a family history. The most common type of preauricular AA was the superior pretragal pedunculated ovoid AA (13.2%) with a cartilage root.

Conclusions This new system will serve as a guideline for classifying and coding AAs.
Appropriateness of low cost sensor network for environmental monitoring in a tropical country: Experience and lessons learnt from real world deployment
Authors: Sudantha B H , Warusavitharana Emeshi J , Ratnayake Rangajeewa , Mahanama P K.S. , Cannata Massimiliano , Strigaro Daniele
Published: September 2018

Despite the advances in low cost open hardware and open software IoT (Internet of Things) enabled devices, their application in regional scale environmental monitoring has not been explored until the launch of 4ONSE (4 times Open and Non-conventional technology for Sensing the Environment) project, which is an ongoing research project between University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka and University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland (SUPSI). The project has paved the path for deploying low cost, open technologies based, non-conventional environmental monitoring systems in Deduru Oya river basin area of Sri Lanka. This research presents the selection process of appropriate sensors suitable for tropical climatic condition of Sri Lanka, issues encountered and remedies taken during the design and deployment phases.
Discovering pathway and cell-type signatures in transcriptomic compendia with machine learning
Authors: Way Gregory P , Greene Casey S
Published: September 2018

Pathway and cell-type signatures are patterns present in transcriptome data that are associated with biological processes or phenotypic consequences. These signatures result from specific cell-type and pathway expression, but can require large transcriptomic compendia to detect. Machine learning techniques can be powerful tools in a practitioner’s toolkit for signature discovery through their ability to provide accurate and interpretable results. In the following review, we discuss various machine learning applications to extract pathway and cell-type signatures from transcriptomic compendia. We focus on the biological motivations and interpretation for both supervised and unsupervised learning approaches in this setting. We consider recent advances, including deep learning, and their applications to expanding bulk and single cell RNA data. As data and compute resources increase, opportunities for machine learning to aid in revealing biological signatures will continue to grow.
Nuevos retos de la política exterior latinoamericana frente al siglo XXI
Authors: Drekonja-Kornat Gerhard
Published: September 2018

In this article the evolution of Latin American foreign policy during the last several decades is examined. Both the outstanding junctures of regional foreign policy, as well as those factors that have affected its development are highlighted. In turn, the author attempts to situate the possibility of a common Latin American foreign policy at present within the framework of the transformations created through the generalized adoption of the Washington Consensus, and in general, by the new post-Cold War global order. Finally, a series of alternatives that could plausibly increase the region's margins for action and autonomy on the global stage are identified.
Las agendas de seguridad: Argentina, el Cono Sur y el hemisferio
Authors: Diamint Rut
Published: September 2018

This article examines the ways in which distinct approaches to security influence Latin America and Southern Cone interpretations of this problem, while highlighting that at present the realist, state-centric view competes with an approach based upon cooperation and reciprocal commitments. In turn, different conceptions of defense and national interest in Latin America are analyzed, in which the military has played a central role. Finally, a series of hypothetical regional scenarios for the region are developed based upon the different approaches discussed.
Un acercamiento al actual éxodo colombiano al exterior
Authors: Ayala Gloria , Bermúdez Suzy , Mason Ann , Murcia Pilar
Published: September 2018

This article offers an analysis of the current migration situation in Colombia from four ~* distinct angles. First, it situates this phenomenon within the global context, while explaining the ways in which some internal causes of migration are exacerbated by an international framework that criss-crosses national borders. Second, the article establishes some historical precedents, including a review of those studies conducted previously on the topic. Third, it explores more recent problems of national migration, offering several explanations for increases in migration flows. Andfinally, the article highlights a series of implications ofthe current exodus in light ofthe absence of a Colombian governmental migration policy.
La soberanía perdurable
Authors: Krasner Stephen D.
Published: September 2018

This article examines the ways in which current processes of globalization undermine the sovereignty of the nation-state. Within this context, four types of sovereignty are analyzed(interdependence, internal, Westphalian and legal-international). It is concluded that new processes and actors generated by globalization have yet to affect all types of sovereignty in a determínate fashion, while they have alsofaüed to créate new structures capable ofreplacing the state.According to the author, both sovereignty and the nation-state have confronted more serious threats throughout history than those being faced at present, with which the articleconcludes that prognoses concerning the death of the nation-state in the current international system may well be mistaken.
Una aproximación constructivista a la guerra estadounidense en contra de las drogas
Authors: Borda Guzmán Sandra
Published: September 2018

Notwithstanding the faüures of United States counternarcotics policy, this article explains the reasons why different administrations continué to insist upon its preservation, making use of a legitimating discourse. According the author, the analysis of anti-drug policy requires a historical approach to the causal and constitutive elements ofthe campaign against illegal substances, and an overview of the ways in which this problem has been defined in public discourse. If policy is based upon a prohibitionist strategy or ifdrugs are identified as a security problem, a logic of appropriation prevails. On the other hand, ifpolicies are based upon instrumental strategies, a logic of expected consequences becomes operational. The article defines these two logics and evaluates themfrom the Nixon to Clinton administrations.
La tercera guerra del Golfo: los Estados Unidos contra Iraq, 2003
Authors: Bosemberg Luis E.
Published: September 2018

From a longue duree perspective the third Gulf War is examined as the confrontation between tuvo states in a struggle for power. The , nicle utilizes a historical framework to present the conflict between the United States and Iraq, not as a simple exercise of U.S. imperialism, but rather as process with unique dynamics and common interests in the región that build upon the logic of territorial expansión characterizing earlier periods. The author adopts an analytical posture regarding the conflict characterizedby a dual argument in which official versions ofthe war are contrasted with critical ones in order to then analy zethe feasibility ofa democratic order in the región.
Dimensiones políticas y económicas del conflicto armado en Colombia: anotaciones teóricas y empíricas
Authors: Guáqueta Alexandra
Published: September 2018

Given the correlation between conceptual interpretations of armed conflict and the formulation ofpolicies or legal routesfor its resolution, this article explores a new academic agenda in which individual and collective dynamics ofresource appropriation and economic viability lead to the reconceptualization of conflict and its resolution. In this sense, the rational economic functions ofactors in conflict constitute an important contribution to the theoretical debate in that they introduce new analytical tools.
Diez años de política exterior argentina: de Menem a Kirchner
Authors: Diamint Rut
Published: September 2018

The autor explores the primary characteristics of Argentine foreign policy during the past ten years, as well as the evolution of Argentina’s relations with the United States and Latin America. It is argued that although the country’s foreign policy has undergone change in some concrete aspects, the defense of democratic principles has constituted the central foundation of all of the governments examined. The text concludes by formulating a series of observations concerning the recently inaugurated government of Nestor Kirchner.
Ideología y pragmatismo: la política externa brasilera del Gobierno Lula
Authors: Ramalho da Rocha Antonio Jorge
Published: September 2018

This text analyzes the central aspects of Brazilian foreign policy during the first six months of the Lula government. After identifying a series of continuities in the country's foreign policy, the principal initiatives of the Worker's Party that distinguish the Lula administration from its predecessor are highlighted. Finally, the author discusses the ways in which foreign policy has been used to satisfy domestic objectives.
La política exterior de los gobiernos de la Concentración
Authors: Verónica Milet Paz
Published: September 2018

This article discusses the foreign policies of the different governments of the Concertación Democrática in Chile. Following the end of the dictatorship in 1990, the reestablishment of democracy became the centerpiece of all administrations. This was also reflected in Chilean foreign policy, in which the central objective of the country has been its positive reinsertion within the global system. The strengthening of external commercial relations, as well as the creation of a multilateral policy capable of providing legitimacy to Chile on both the regional and international levels, have been fundamental in pursuing this goal.
The Dark Side of Democratization: “Dysfunctional” Democracies in South America?
Authors: Whitehead Laurence
Published: September 2018

This article analyzes the apparently dysfunctional democracies that haven become common in Latin America. Although democratic in the conventional sense that national leadership is periodically contested and renewed through standardized electoral procedures, such regimes also exhibit systematic political dysfunctionality. The author evaluates experiences with democracy in Argentina, Colombia, and Venezuela in order to illustrate this concept, and examines their comparative and theoretical implications.
La insuficiencia de la “doble transición”: aproximación crítica a dos enfoques de política comparada
Authors: Orjuela Escobar Luis Javier
Published: September 2018

This article develops a critical analysis of studies of democratic transition and consolidation, and neoliberalism in Latin America. In addition to evaluating the validity of these studies, the author examines the implications of ignoring structural factors in studying democracy and the state in the region. In turn, the text problematizes the reduced concept of democracy used by United States academia to analyze Latin American politics.
Justicia sin la Rama Judicial. Estado de Derecho y desigualdad como desafíos para el fortalecimiento de la democracia brasilera
Authors: Lemos-Nelson Ana Tereza
Published: September 2018

In this article the author argues that the scant existence of state agencies equipped to carry out legal actions in Brazil - described by Guillermo O’Donnell as the inoperance of accountability - is attributable to the weakness of the state of law in this country. The implications of a weak state of law for the quality and sustainability of democracy in Brazil are analyzed in two of the most grave cases of judicial impunity: racial discrimination and public security.
¿Colapso parcial o presencia diferenciada del Estado en Colombia?: una mirada desde la historia
Authors: González Fernán E.
Published: September 2018

The text argues that the problem of democratic viability can be approached through three perspectives. The first two, the Western ideal model of democracy and the idealization of the past as a period of harmony and order, lead to interpretations of the Colombian state as failed or collapsed. On the contrary, the third perspective, which refers to a gradual process of state-building, suggests that the Colombian state is reformulated on a daily basis. The author examines the democratization process in Colombia in order to refute the failed state thesis.
Visa USA: fortunas y extravíos de los migrantes colombianos en los Estados Unidos
Authors: Gaviria Alejandro
Published: September 2018

This paper attempts to answer three questions about Colombian emigrants living in the United States: (i) how many are they? and when did they arrive?, (ii) what are their socioeconomic characteristics? and how do they compare to those of Colombian residents?, and (iii) how large are the differences in earned incomes between Colombian immigrants and Colombian residents? The results show, first, that the Colombian population in the United States is well below the one-million mark despite a large increase in migration flows during the late 1990s. And second, that Colombian emigrants have at least three more years of schooling than Colombian residents and that their earnings are at least twice as large as those of their counterparts in Colombia. Overall, the results suggest that migration is a plausible option for struggling middle income households, but not for poor and disadvantaged individuals.
Los colombianos en Estados Unidos y la creación de una comunidad transnacional: por una nueva política de la lengua en Colombia
Authors: Saavedra Becerra Alcira
Published: September 2018

This article presents a series of arguments concerning the need for a new politics of language in Colombia within the context of Colombians living in the United States, and based upon the idea of a transnational community as a new political, social and cultural commitment with the country. In addition to considering the difficulties that, from the linguistic point of view, most Colombians face in the process of identity readjustment in a new sociocultural environment in the United States and the consequences of those difficulties for future political commitment to Colombia, the article proposes plurilinguism as a condition for building a transnational community.
Percepções no Brasil sobre o conflicto colombiano e de seus reflexos regionais e nas relações bilaterais: uma visão preliminar
Authors: Costa Vaz Alcides
Published: September 2018

This article analyzes the growing importance that regional issues have acquired for the Brazilian government during the past several years. In particular, the author discusses this country’s concerns with the Colombian conflict in terms of its effects upon bilateral relations and the growing regional influence of the United States. The text is divided into three sections that attempt to identify the principal governmental and societal perceptions in Brazil about the Colombian conflict; to examine the main concerns that the conflict raises in terms of border regions and defense issues; and to discuss perceptions concerning the implications of the conflict for Brazilian-Colombian bilateral relations and regional dynamics in general.
La estrategia Uribe de negociación del TLC
Authors: Reinel Pulecio Jorge
Published: September 2018

This article analyzes the intentions and results obtained in the negotiation of the Free Trade Agreement between Colombia and the United States. The preeminence of the executive and the concessions offered by the Colombian government due to its precarious negotiating strategy serve as the backdrop for this discussion. The author highlights the power of the private sector and political elites within this process, to the detriment of the role of the Congress, political parties and public opinion. The analysis presented leads the author to conclude that Colombia’s strategy has been flawed, given that in addition to worsening the internal environment, it has tended to fragment and weaken the country’s relations with the other Andean countries.
El acuerdo de libre comercio Chile – Estados Unidos
Authors: Agüero Felipe
Published: September 2018

This document reconstructs the process that culminated in the signing of the Free Trade Agreement between Chile and the United States. It provides a historical and political context within which constants and ruptures in the Chilean political economy are identified. In particular, the effects of the democratic transition for the economic opening process initiated by Chile several decades ago are highlighted. The author concludes that the FTA is the result of an extended process of economic opening in Chile, on the one hand, along with Chile’s international reinsertion as a democratic nation.
Elementos para determinar la relación comercio y medio ambiente
Authors: Flórez Margarita
Published: September 2018

This text offers a series of reflections concerning the relationship between trade and the environment, in light of the effects that a Free Trade Agreement might have for environmental norms and institutions. The first part of the article examines the implications of extending intellectual property rights to the specific case of biological diversity. In the second second, the author analyzes existing multilateral agreements concerning the environment. Finally, the relation between environmental institutionality and citizen participation in this area is studied.
Poder (Trayectorias teóricas de un concepto)
Authors: Múnera Ruiz Leopoldo
Published: September 2018

The characterization of power presupposes confronting two basic dichotomies that define it as of one the fundamental concepts of political theory and political science: force versus consent, and capacity versus praxis. However, understanding these dichotomies and eventually overcoming them requires participation in the very exercise of power in which politics is symbolically defined. Debate over defining the concept of power inevitably forms part of the political game configured by its exercise. In consequence, in this text such debates are presented as a complex array of intellectual and cultural forces that are in permanent tension, conflict and contradiction.
El papel de los movimientos sociales en la consolidación democrática: reflexiones alrededor del caso ecuatoriano en perspectiva comparada
Authors: Massal Julie
Published: September 2018

In the 1990s, the theoretical and political debate focused on the role of social movements in democratic consolidation. This article seeks to analyze if social movements reached a better political insertion that resulted beneficial for the consolidation of democracy. For this aim, it is necessary to make a critical evaluation from two standpoints: first, from a comparative perspective, in reference to the persistent crisis of democracy and recent debates that have appeared around the different ways to obtain its consolidation; and second, grounded on the empirical evidence of the Ecuadorean experience, in reference to the effects ad limits of the political reforms implemented during the 1990s in order to reach this consolidation. In this sense, the Ecuadorean case poses many questions, since until 1997 it was considered as a succesful example of democratization, and afterwards it turned into a paradigmatic case of political inestability.
Comunidad y resistencia poder en lo local urbano
Authors: Perea Restrepo Carlos Mario
Published: September 2018

Two recent forces validate and construct old notions of community. One is the ancestral tradition that turns the community into a cultural value that belongs to the people. To people, the community operates as a collective “I” that mobilizes all sorts of energies. The other is the community’s presence in both modern social thought and in state discourse set on confronting popular demands. The first force is based on social and political utopias, and the second force is a governability referent. Can the community play a role in the urban popular resistance movement, at the crossing of these two forces?
Continuidades, cambios y desafíos democráticos en Chile (2006-2009)
Authors: Altman David
Published: September 2018

During December of 2005 and January of 2006 Chileans chose their new chief executive, Michelle Bachelet, and renewed Congress for period 2006-2009. The elections transpired without disruptions and granted the governing coalition “Concertación de Partidos por la Democracia” (CPD) its fourth uninterrupted mandate since transition to democracy in 1990. Given that the constitutional reforms of 2005 eliminated the designated senators, this administration enjoys the most comfortable majority in congress since 1990. Despite it is possible to see the Chilean government immersed in a context of institutional stability and booming prices of Chilean products at the international arena, this scenario could—paradoxically—manifest itself in a situation of social stress that might seriously complicate the agenda of President Bachelet and h r coalition.
El comportamiento electoral y de partidos en los comicios para Cámara de Representantes de 2002 y 2006: un estudio comparado desde la Reforma Política
Authors: Giraldo G. Fernando , López J. José Daniel
Published: September 2018

This article presents a preliminary assessment of the impact produced by the 2003 Political Reform on the Colombian electoral and political parties systems. The assessment is based on a comparative analysis of the electoral results for the House of Representatives in the 2002 and 2006 elections. Specifically, the article evaluates the effects of the new set of rules according to its main goals: reducing the number of political parties, strengthening the surviving parties and guaranteeing more representativeness in the seat allocation process. It must be noted that this article offers a preliminary balance of a reform adopted only 3 years ago; therefore, it can not be evaluated in a definitive way.
El diálogo entre la Comunidad Andina y la Unión Europea sobre drogas ilícitas
Authors: Molano Cruz Giovanni
Published: September 2018

Colombian relations with European Union on the issue of illicit drugs are mediated by the « Diálogo Especializado de Alto Nivel entre la Unión Europea y la Comunidad Andina sobre drogas », of which Colombia currently occupies the vice presidency. The underlying question that this articles tries to address is how cooperation between these two regional blocks contributes to combatting the illicit drug problem. The general orientations of the international political control structure for illicit drugs is presented, as well as the antidrug policies of the Andean Community and the European Union. Next, the actors, mechanisms and instruments used by the Euroandean dialoue on illicit drugs are presented in order to examine their dynamics and functions as an inter-regional space.
La internacionalización del conflicto armado después del 11 de septiembre: ¿la ejecución de una estrategia diplomática hábil o la simple ocurrencia de lo inevitable?
Authors: Borda Guzmán Sandra
Published: September 2018

The current U.S.war against international terrorism constitutes a superb scenario for the internationalization of the Colombian armed conflict, a strategy that the administration of President Uribe is advancing. The internationalization policy is an explicit and conscious decision to invite external actors—mainly the U.S.—to participate in the Colombian war.This decision is clearly conditioned by the international arena. Both rationalist and constructivist approaches in International Relations provide key elements to explain why the Colombian government decides to internationalize its conflict, and to identify what are the main components of this foreign policy strategy.
Efectos de la regionalización de la política de seguridad democrática para el desplazamiento en las fronteras de Colombia
Authors: López Rojas María Camila
Published: September 2018

This article argues the deep consequences of Plan Colombia and democratic security strategy over displacement, affecting mainly the frontiers with Ecuador,Venezuela and Panama. Its effects are visible not only in higher transfrontiers displacements but also in migratory policies adopted by neighbor countries against it. This analysis allows the article to conclude that Colombian refugees do not have legal and institutional support from Colombian foreign policy that could guarantee human rights protection under its immigrant condition, for each of those three studies countries.
¿Cómo se negocia un TLC en Colombia?
Authors: López Montaño Cecilia
Published: September 2018

Colombia is currently involved in the second phase of globalization, characterized by trade agreements. Contrary to common belief, bilateral trade negotiations are more political than technical. Thus, the author argues that the defense of the interests of the weak demands a more political focus, under the assumption that politicians do not defend the interests of the powerful but those of the poor. However, the analysis that the article offers of the negotiation of the free trade agreement with the United States shows that the way in which President Alvaro Uribe led this process caused the country to cede too much on strategic issues affecting the interests of Colombian society.
El socialismo del siglo XXI y los límites de las utopías en la racionalidad y la motivación humanas
Authors: Barreto Luz Marina
Published: September 2018

The author critiques the political project known as ‘21st century socialism’, developed by Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, from a Liberal perspective of moral pluralism (which should not be confused with neoliberalism). In opposition to such liberal ideas, totalizing utopias, such as Chavez’s socialism, do not acknowledge the nature of critical rationality, and therefore end up imposing on society as a whole a substantive idea of the good life that does not recognize individual autonomy and moral pluralism.
The Mutations of Globalization or When Financial Capitalism Steers Cognitive Capitalism: Challenges for Latin America
Authors: Costa Lima Marcos
Published: September 2018

The article proposes a sort of “state of the art” of the discussion of the following themes: What are scientific advance and technological innovation and how have they been produced? How do such advances and innovations relate to access inequalities, especially in the disadvantaged situation of peripheral countries? How has financial domination colonized technological innovation? The author intends to do this review mainly from the point of view of evolucionist and regulationist approaches.
La integración regional como instrumento de desarrollo para América Latina
Authors: Cancino Cadena Arturo , Albornoz Herrán Carolina
Published: September 2018

The article offers a view of the development process of Latin American countries in the framework of their relationship with the great industrial powers and the evolution of capitalism in a world scale. Regional integration arises as an option to overcome economic dependence by means of industrial strengthening and diversification, in a context of shared markets and value generation through the incorporation of technology into exports. National decisions are not made in a void, but in the middle of confrontations about opposite views on integration and in the midst of conflicts between powerful interests that indicate divergent paths to Latin American nations.
Izquierdas y derechas en Colombia. Una mirada rápida a los rasgos sociodemográficos del espectro ideológico del país
Authors: Rodríguez Raga Juan Carlos
Published: September 2018

The author describes some of the characteristics of Colombia’s current political spectrum based on a comparative view of the ideological positions of Colombian, Venezuelan and Uruguayan citizens. This shows that Colombians are closer to the right of the ideological spectrum than most Latin Americans, who have turned to the left. The 2006 Latin American Public Opinion Project survey (LAPOP) shows that on average, only Dominican and Honduran citizens are more inclined to the right than Colombians.
La “Gran Guerra” en Liberia como ejemplo clásico de conflicto armado persistente y economías de guerra en África
Authors: Muntschick Johannes
Published: September 2018

Armed conflicts in less developed countries are often very persistent although one could expect the opposite due to lacking financial and material capacity in those areas. How can violent actors and warlords manage to continue warfare lastingly? The article presents, in its theory section, several assumptions regarding the longevity of these armed conflicts from the perspective of fragile statehood, collapse of neo-patrimonial networks, conflict-resources, social grievances and ethnicity. Additionally, the character of the “new” wars and particularly the design and functional logic of a typical wareconomy is analysed as the latter is assumed to fuel armed conflict significantly. The “Great War” (1989-2003) in Liberia is a classic example for persistent armed conflicts in connection with war-economies in Africa and thus suits well as empirical illustration to employ the preceding assumptions on.
Órdenes subsidiarios. Coca, esmeraldas: la guerra y la paz
Authors: Gutiérrez Francisco , Barón Mauricio
Published: September 2018

This article explains how the emerald and coca economies are ingrained in the Colombian conflict. We interpret the mechanisms that generate conflict or peace, order or disorder. Our analysis is supported on Richard Snyder’s model which offers analytical elements to understand how violent reaction and raw products exports correlate with each other. We conclude that the described economies have had very violent courses but have also opened up specific paths to peace, of which the prerequisites are the denial of democratic freedom, privatization of public economies, and the endorsement and strengthening of illegal or semi-legal actors. We also offer a critical assessment of Snyder’s model.
Palma de aceite y desplazamiento forzado en Zona Bananera: “trayectorias” entre recursos naturales y conflicto
Authors: Goebertus Juanita
Published: September 2018

This article describes the mechanisms through which the transition from banana to oil palm plantations in Zona Bananera, Magdalena, has been influential in forced displacement. Therefore it adds to the debate about the paths between resources and conflict in the literature on political economy of internal armed conflicts. The outcome of this qualitative research suggests that in the case in question the following “pathways” have operated: 1. The absence of a strong institutional presence has permitted the collection of extortions by illegal armed groups allowing their financing and generating forced displacement as a consequence of the threats; 2. The transition from banana to palm extraction reduced the intensity of manual labor and food security unleashing displacement processes; and 3. The institutional incentives for oil palm exploitation have promoted the usurpation of land by illegal armed actors who provoke the displacement in order to acquire land for their cultivation.
El uso del DEA para la estimación del factor X en la definición de tarifas portuarias
Authors: Duncan Gustavo
Published: September 2018

The X factor in price cap systems is useful to identify the inefficiencies of the costs of port services. However its determination can be controversial and rife with risks due to the asymmetry of information. In this article, a model is proposed to set the X factor with the maximum tariff schema based on the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). With this tool it is possible to estimate the efficiency rate of the different elements of a group of decision units by comparing their supply levels and visible products for the State regulatory agency. In the case of port infrastructure it is possible to analyze the efficiency of the technology and the time investment of the ports according to declared costs, so that the efficient ports can have their costs approved, while the rest would have their costs reduced according to their efficiency rate.
Evaluación del programa Proyectos Departamentales y Distritales de Atención Integral de Personas con Discapacidad del Ministerio de Protección Social
Authors: Mejía Guinand Luis Bernardo
Published: September 2018

This paper presents the conclusions of an evaluation process conducted on the Proyectos Departamentales y Distritales de Atención Integral de Personas con Discapacidad del Ministerio de la Protección Social Program. The evaluation centered on the operational features, results and products resulting from the Program. The evaluation’s findings suggest that the increment in public expenditure on the disabled population has not been accompanied by an improvement of the key social and quality of life indicators of the target population. Additionally, the evaluation sees, with concern, the fact that the information on the resources transferred is insufficient, unreliable and irregular. Also, there are no incentives to produce or use said information.
U.S. Human Rights Activism and Plan Colombia
Authors: Tate Winifred
Published: September 2018

Non-governmental organizations claim to play a central role in defining U.S. foreign policy, particularly in the field of human rights. Here, I will examine the role of human rights and humanitarian groups in the debates over U.S. foreign policy towards Colombia, focusing on the design and subsequent additional appropriations for Plan Colombia, a multi-billion dollar aid package beginning in 2000. I argue that NGOs were able to build on the legacy of prior human rights activism focusing on Latin America, but failed to achieve significant grassroots mobilization around this issue. I examine the structural issues limiting such mobilization, as well as exploring how NGOs did leverage legislative conditions placed on the assistance package to keep human rights concerns part of the debates over U.S. policy. This case study will contribute to the historical record of how policy is made and developed, adding to the growing literature exploring how human rights claims translate into specific governmental policies.
OING y derechos humanos en Colombia. Un golpe ineludible y vigoroso de la sociedad civil
Authors: Marín Aranguren Erli Margarita
Published: September 2018

Upon recognizing that there is a scarcity regarding the literature in the country on the civil society in general and the Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in particular, we ask the following questions in this article: What role does international NGOs play regarding human rights in Colombia? What tools do they have at their disposal? After a few contemplations on the human rights subject in terms of: 1) the international legal context, 2) the application mandate, and 3) the activism deployed by these organizations, this article concludes that international NGOs in Colombia further intense public action, in networks, that distinguishes them, more than as activities, but as resolute agents. A double momentum in their repertoire allows them to be assertive in the national as well as the international state. They censure when rights are vulnerated; when there is no national legislation, they appeal to international regulations so that violations are punished, and they are always striving to save lives.
Actores no gubernamentales y política exterior. A propósito del sector académico y el diseñode la política exterior migratoria colombiana
Authors: Ardila Martha
Published: September 2018

During the last few years non-governmental actors have gained strength in seeking, in many cases, to promote sensibility and influence foreign policy. In their specific case, and unlike in other countries, the Colombian foreign policy decision-makers seldom interact with entities other than the State. In this article, a case study is examined in which the academic sector has been consulted on the characteristics of migrants and the design of a migratory foreign policy. By doing so, it seeks to examine the influence of the academic sector in the design and execution of said regulations. It concludes that its participation has been circumstantial, punctual and intermittent.
Redes transnacionales de defensa. El caso reciente del Estado colombiano en el contexto de la intervención de la Corte Interamericana de Derechos Humanos
Authors: Ramírez Sierra Néstor Julián
Published: September 2018

This article seeks to analyze the impact which the operation of the Inter-American Court Of Human Rights had in the Colombian case during the 2001–2006 period, inside a context of a multiplicity of pressing actors, who conforms a Transnational Advocacy Network (TAN). Based upon statements of realism, liberalism and, mainly, constructivism, the article studies the relationship between the pressing actors and the reactions that the Colombian state shows against the actors’ pressure. Finally, a diagnostic of the human rights situation in Colombia is made.
Oil and Diamonds as Causes of Civil War in sub-Saharan Africa
Authors: Basedau Matthias , Wegenast Tim C.
Published: September 2018

Una investigación reciente ha incrementado el cuestionamiento sobre el vínculo entre los recursos naturales y el conflicto violento, haciendo énfasis en la importancia de las condiciones de contexto específicas a los recursos bajo las cuales se vuelven más probables los conflictos internos. Este trabajo se dedica a hacer un análisis sistemático de seis de estas condiciones específicas a los recursos comparando 15 países africanos productores de petróleo y diamantes. Empleando una lógica booleana, los resultados de nuestro análisis indican que, típicamente, un productor de petróleo o de diamantes agobiado por el conflicto depende altamente de los recursos, sus ingresos son poco utilizados en políticas de distribución y en el aparato de seguridad, y además, sufre de problemas entre sus comunidades en las regiones productoras. Pocos ingresos per cápita por los recursos y una producción sustancial de recursos saqueables en las regiones periféricas, parecen constituir las condiciones necesarias para una guerra civil. Por consiguiente, nuestras conclusiones implican que los modelos teóricos futuros y las estrategias empíricas deben integrar el juego completo de condiciones de contexto (específicas a los recursos). Parecen particularmente promisorios los esfuerzos para erigir un enfoque más integrador combinando diseños de investigaciones cuantitativos y cualitativos.
Drugs, Violence, and State-Sponsored Protection Rackets in Mexico and Colombia
Authors: Snyder Richard , Durán Martínez Angélica
Published: September 2018

Illegality does not necessarily breed violence. The relationship between illicit markets and violence depends on institutions of protection. When state-sponsored protection rackets form, illicit markets can be peaceful. Conversely, the breakdown of state-sponsored protection rackets, which may result from well-meaning policy reforms intended to reduce corruption and improve law enforcement, can lead to violence. The cases of drug trafficking in contemporary Mexico and Colombia show how a focus on the emergence and breakdown of state-sponsored protection rackets helps explain variation in levels of violence both within and across illicit markets.
Agroindustria y conflicto armado. El caso de la palma de aceite
Authors: Ocampo Valencia Sebastián
Published: September 2018

This paper analyzes palm oil production based on theories on the relationship between resources and armed conflict, which state that financing resources are necessary for a conflict to continue. At first a review of the relevant literature on resource typologies and on the relationship between agricultural production and conflict is made. After this, data on the process of palm oil production is presented. Next it is shown how, in response to the claims that link palm oil to land problems, the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) was created, and the case of Colombia, where there has been an association both between the crop and forced displacement as well as between palm oil and peace building processes. Based on the analysis of the data, the paper suggests that costs involved in the production process make the palm oil growers an easy target for armed groups. In addition, while the palm doesn’t produce forced displacement by itself, its process of production might generate incentives in that direction.
El problema de la subjetividad en la explicación sociológica. Una mirada a partir del debate Schutz-Parsons
Authors: López Daniela Griselda
Published: September 2018

The aim of the paper is to reconsider the Alfred Schutz and Talcott Parsons debate, taking the problem of subjectivity in sociological explanation as the axis of analysis. Schutz argues that Parsons correctly identifies the subjective point of view as the fundamental element of the theory of action, but he does not reach the root of the problem because he confuses subjective and objective categories. For Schutz, a theory of social action must maintain a subjective point of view in order to uphold its basics principals, which refer to the social world of experience and everyday life.
El truque: tradición, resistencia y fortalecimiento de la economía indígena en el Cauca
Authors: Tocancipá Falla Jairo
Published: September 2018

Bartering is a native practice that, while generally confined to remote periods, in recent decades has taken on a renewed significance in different contexts. In this paper, we present a case study where barter is practiced as part of the social memory of the Kokonuco people, an indigenous group in the department of Cauca, and among whom its meaning transcends the purely economic realm, something already suggested by the sociologists Marcel Mauss and Max Weber. We argue that the return to barter by this indigenous group is related to globalizing factors, established in treaties such as the Free Trade Agreement (FTA), and the need to strengthen their struggle for self-determination and food autonomy as well as instill indigenous values among new generations. The paper concludes with some questions that offer future challenges to this indigenous group.
La impronta de Carlos Lleras Restrepo en la economía colombiana de los años sesenta del siglo XX
Authors: Caballero Argáez Carlos
Published: September 2018

Carlos Lleras Restrepo is the emblematic Colombian president of the 1960s. The mark he made lasted until 1990, but his influence on the management of the Colombian economy started in the 1930s. This article focuses on the intellectual evolution of Carlos Lleras Restrepo between the 1930s and the 1960s. It examines the development of his concept of state intervention in the economy; describes the evolution of the Colombian economy in the second half of the 1960s while he was president; and provides details about two of his main contributions to the creation of Colombia’s economic institutions: the Foreign Exchange Code of 1967 and the Constitutional Reform of 1968, which made economic planning constitutionally mandatory. Lleras Restrepo’s presidential style and the role he gave technocrats in the management of the economy is also briefly discussed. The article confirms Lleras Restrepo’s important contribution to building a modern state in Colombia.
Lo romántico y el romanticismo en Schlegel, Hegel y Heine. Un debate de cultura política sobre el arte y su tiempo
Authors: Domínguez Hernández Javier
Published: September 2018

Given their literary and philosophical achievements, German Romanticism and German Idealism enjoy a good reputation, covering up the political and ideological virulence that its main protagonists – such as Schlegel, Hegel and Heine – had to face. This article distinguishes between Romantic and Romanticism. Schlegel devised a typology of Romantic art. This European art form, which developed under the preserve of Christianity, gradually lost its sacred character as it became modern. Romanticism, well characterized by Heine`s “Romantic School,” is the conversion of this Romantic aesthethic into a medievalizing and conservative ideology in the context of a political culture hostile to German Enlightenment, which was criticized by Heine for historical, political and social reasons, and by Hegel for philosophical reasons. In terms of philosophy, the Romantic thought criticized by Hegel was not that of Schlegel but that of Schelling.
¿Puede el uso de metáforas ser peligroso? Sobre las pastorales de monseñor Miguel Ángel Builes
Authors: Uribe Botero Ángela
Published: September 2018

In this text I attempt to answer the following question: How to shed light on the process that occurs between defending an ideology and producing dangerous perlocutionary acts? To answer this question I turn to a specific example, an actor in the recent history of Colombia, and specifically to his use of metaphors and the strength with which said use converted abstract into concrete and made the complex appear simple.
Las distancias del creer: secularización, idolatría y el pensamiento del otro
Authors: Cagüeñas Rozo Diego
Published: September 2018

Is it necessary to believe what the other believes to understand him? This paper explores different perspectives through which anthropology has addressed this question. The main argument is that because it is a discipline that arose alongside modernity and the secularization of the world, anthropology has tended to ignore what is specifically "religious" in believing so as to reduce it to a social and symbolic phenomenon. The importance of the problem of belief is reconsidered in respect to anthropology’s approach to the other once the researcher has dismissed the possibility of sharing the other’s beliefs. Turning to the ideas of distance and the defection of the sacred, I question the consequences that secularization brings to the exercise of ethnography and to the study of the problem of belief. Finally, I show that the return of the sacred responds to the logic of idolatry, which seeks to reinstate the authority of the orthodoxies that have been weakened with secularization. I conclude with a brief sketch of the kind of political action that could thwart the violent advance of idolatry in the political sphere.