The rise of the Latin American far-right explained: dependency theory meets uneven and combined development

ABSTRACT

Latin America is once again passing through a crisis. The so-called ‘pink tide’ of progressive governments gave place to a brown wave of peripheral-fascism. Short-range explanations for the ‘ebbing’ of the pink tide abound in the literature. They focus on the shortcomings of moderate-left administrations, failing to account for the cyclical nature of capitalist crises and for the authoritarian character of the administrations now coming to power. In search of a comprehensive, long-range explanation, this paper goes back to the core question posed by dependency theory half a century ago: is capitalist development even possible in Latin America? The key to answer this question – a concept of development that captures non-converging transformation – was not available to seminal dependency writers such as Frank, Marini, Bambirra and Dos Santos. In this paper, I suggest that the concept of uneven and combined development (UCD) allows for a renewed engagement with dependency's core problem. Conversely, the dependency literature can enrich the analysis of UCD with valuable mid-range concepts, such as ‘super-exploitation’, ‘dominated-dominant’ classes and ‘peripheral fascism’. After establishing the theoretical basis for a political economy of UCD, the paper illustrates the potentialities of this comprehensive theoretical perspective by providing and alternative narrative of the end of the pink tide and the rise of the brown wave in Latin America.     

Bayesian inference for power law processes with applications in repairable systems

Statistical models for recurrent events are of great interest in repairable systems reliability and maintenance. The adopted model under minimal repair maintenance is frequently a nonhomogeneous Poisson process with the power law process (PLP) intensity function. Although inference for the PLP is generally based on maximum likelihood theory, some advantages of the Bayesian approach have been reported in the literature. In this paper it is proposed that the PLP intensity be reparametrized in terms of (β,η), where β is the elasticity of the mean number of events with respect to time and η is the mean number of events for the period in which the system was actually observed. It is shown that β and η are orthogonal and that the likelihood becomes proportional to a product of gamma densities. Therefore, the family of natural conjugate priors is also a product of gammas. The idea is extended to the case that several realizations of the same PLP are observed along overlapping periods of time. Some Monte Carlo simulations are provided to study the frequentist behavior of the Bayesian estimates and to compare them with the maximum likelihood estimates. The results are applied to a real problem concerning the determination of the optimal periodicity of preventive maintenance for a set of power transformers. Prior distributions are elicited for β and η based on their operational interpretation and engineering expertise.     

The technical efficiency of the Japanese banks: Non-radial directional performance measurement with undesirable output

The paper analyses technical efficiency of the Japanese banks from 2000 to 2007. The estimation technique is based on the Russell directional distance function that takes into consideration not only desirable outputs but also an undesirable output that is represented by non-performing loans (NPLs). The results indicate that NPLs remain a significant burden as for banks' performance. We show that banks' inputs have to be utilised more efficiently, particularly labour and premises. We also argue that a further restructuring process is needed in the segment of Regional Banks. We conclude that the Japanese banking system is still far away from being fully consolidated and restructured.     

The personal is political: a feminist reflection on a journey into participatory arts-based research with sex worker migrants in South Africa

ABSTRACT

This article offers a personal reflection of my journey into participatory arts-based research with sex work migrants in South Africa. It begins by sharing some background information of how my own experience as a migrant woman, and my layered (sometimes conflicted) identities, have continued to shape and influence much of my scholarly work, including my commitment to engaging in research that supports (or at least tries to support) social justice. Through this article, I offer an example of how the ‘personal is political’ is entwined in feminist values of research and engagement. Those who experience the issues under investigation must be considered equal partners in research processes. Collaborative forms of knowledge production can support social justice, particularly if efforts strive to shift the centre from which knowledge is traditionally generated and disseminated.     

Reliability,Validity and Classification Accuracy of the South Oaks Gambling Screen in a Brazilian Sample

The purpose of this study was to examine the reliability, validity and classification accuracy of the South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS) in a sample of the Brazilian population. Participants in this study were drawn from three sources: 71 men and women from the general population interviewed at a metropolitan train station; 116 men and women encountered at a bingo venue; and 54 men and women undergoing treatment for gambling. The SOGS and a DSM-IV-based instrument were applied by trained researchers. The internal consistency of the SOGS was 0.75 according to the Cronbach’s alpha model, and construct validity was good. A significant difference among groups was demonstrated by ANOVA (F _(2.238) = 221.3, P < 0.001). The SOGS items and DSM-IV symptoms were highly correlated (r = 0.854, P < 0.01). The SOGS also presented satisfactory psychometric properties: sensitivity (100), specificity (74.7), positive predictive rate (60.7), negative predictive rate (100) and misclassification rate (0.18). However, a cut-off score of eight improved classification accuracy and reduced the rate of false positives: sensitivity (95.4), specificity (89.8), positive predictive rate (78.5), negative predictive rate (98) and misclassification rate (0.09). Thus, the SOGS was found to be reliable and valid in the Brazilian population.     

《福乐智慧》中所反映的早期苏非

对于一个正在谋求发展的政权,苏非的避世苦修、清心寡欲、淡泊名利、不问世事并不值得提倡,正如11世纪新疆喀喇汗王朝的著名文学作品《福乐智慧》所提到的日出国王统治的国度,伊斯兰教正统派信仰盛行并以积极的态度参与国家治理。当时苏非已经出现,处于发展的初期阶段,属于个人行为,未形成大的苏非教团,但显然在社会和统治阶层中得到了一定程度的认同。究其原因,苏非神秘主义以其虔诚的独特的思想体系和修行方式为穆斯林的宗教生活增加了直觉体验和宗教情感,是对穆斯林宗教生活的合理补充。     

Cognitive Factors and Male Genital Pain: A Preliminary Study

Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate how pain catastrophizing and sexually related thoughts help explain pain intensity in men with genital pain. Methods: Fifty men with genital pain completed an online survey. Results: Sexually related thoughts explained an additional 11.5% of variance of pain intensity, above and beyond the influence of pain catastrophizing and medical conditions. Conclusions: Overall, findings showed that cognitions during sexual activity also contribute to explain pain intensity in men with genital pain. Besides the severity of organic factors and pain catastrophizing, sexually-related thoughts should also be included in clinical evaluation and treatment of male genital pain.     

A General Approach To Nonparametric Histogram Estimation

We note that some classical functional estimation problems may be reduced to a general unique framework and study an estimator within this general framework that reduces to the classical histogram type estimators in various examples presented. The convergence in probability and the almost complete convergence of this general estimator are studied obtaining convergence conditions which reduce to the classical conditions in each case. Finally, this general framework provides conditions for the convergence of the finite dimensional distributions of the associated empirical process.