The official attitude of the Spanish Bourbons towards scientific improvements was not as obscurantist and immutable as was generally supposed in northern Europe. If the enlightened ideas infiltrating Spain and America were normally regarded with fear and suspicion, information concerning the latest discoveries in the field of the ‘useful sciences’ was eagerly received and pondered, and, where it did not lead to undesirable economic emancipation, it was sometimes even applied.

Mexican agrarian philosophy has been characterised by remarkable consistency over the 70 years since the Revolution despite drastic changes in the overall economic context. The symbols of Revolutionary reform persist untarnished – ‘land and liberty’, Zapata and the ejido, an unique form of peasant land tenure. ‘El agro’ and agrarian policy remain a highly sensitive area shrouded in the mystique of past social struggles, so that the legacy of previous development decisions tightly constrains present-day options.

The Cuban Revolution of 1959 ushered in many radical changes, both socio-economic and political. Yet the macropolitical upheaval of the period also manifested in concrete ways in the lives of ordinary Cubans. The sudden scarcity of everyday medications, closely linked to diplomatic tensions with the United States, was one such outcome. This article traces the transnational battles provoked by the sudden disappearance of US prescription drugs from Cuban shelves. It seeks to understand pharmaceutical shortages not only as a political side effect but also as a social reality, which provided a venue for the articulation of new forms of sociability and body politics.

The 1970s was the most violent decade of the entire twentieth century for Argentina. Its first half was characterised by the rise of political radicalisation, and its second by the reign of state repression. Studies devoted to investigating the issue of violence in the 1970s have concentrated fundamentally on the protagonists. By contrast, this article offers an analysis of the symbolic terrain, shifting focus from the conscious to the unconscious plane, from the real to the imaginary world. Dealing with visual representations of violence in popular culture, especially advertising in mass-circulation magazines, it explores how violence became naturalised during the first half of the 1970s. In so doing it adds an additional layer to our understanding of the social mood that preceded the military coup of March 1976.

This article examines the internal structure and dynamics of the coffee economy in two districts of the southern Mexican state of Chiapas during the presidency of Porfirio Díaz (1876–1911). In both Palenque, in the northern highlands, and Soconusco, on the Pacific coast, production was oriented to international markets, direct foreign investment was a key aspect of coffee plantation development, and workers were recruited by the payment of wage advances (enganche), which they were then expected to pay off by labouring on coffee plantations. Yet, despite these similarities, the social relations that characterised coffee production in the two districts differed considerably. This article analyses those differences by comparing and contrasting the demographic factors, processes of land privatisation and the relationship between foreign investors, the national regime and local elites that influenced the nature and purpose of debt peonage in each district.

Honesty in high public office has always been difficult to enforce. Arguments of executive privilege often block prosecution of presidents who have illicitly enriched themselves; likewise, the divisiveness which accompanies judicial action against a head of state contributes to the reluctance of politicians to initiate such action. When the public official in question is living in exile, the task of the courts is compounded. Prosecution then may depend upon the existence of an extradition treaty in which the alleged crimes are specified and upon the good will of the country where the politician enjoys asylum.

This essay examines the shifting conceptions of the state and development through recent waves of Peruvian historiography. The broad structuralist-dependency interpretations of the 1970s and 1980s gave way to a more diffuse and creative ‘political turn’ during and after the 1990s. These changing historical ideas, which still defy synthesis, relate to distinctive global conceptions and phases of economic liberalism, the changing perceived role of states in development, and the integration and social disciplining of a vastly unequal Peruvian nation. Aspects of these Peruvian historical debates may help to shed light on similar controversies through much of the region.

Since 1982, most Latin American countries have witnessed slow economic growth and a persistent net transfer of funds to the rest of the world as a result of sharply reduced inflows of private international bank lending and large debt payment obligations. Against this background direct foreign investment (DFI) has received increasing attention as one important element in overcoming the present stagnation-cum-debt crisis as well as in contributing to renewed economic growth. This article explores the possible contributions of DFI to the future economic growth and development of the region.1

Throughout the Spanish–American wars of independence Britain's policy was to observe a strict neutrality between Spain and the colonial revolutionaries. This did not reflect an indifferent detachment or a commitment to even-handed justice, but was rather dictated by the pursuit of Britain's own interests, which necessitated the maintenance of good relations both with Spain and with Spanish America. During the period of the Peninsular War of 1808–14 Spain was a vital ally against Napoleon, and after the war was over she remained an important element in the European collective security system that Lord Castlereagh, the British Foreign Secretary, constructed to prevent the re-emergence of French dominance. Accordingly Britain refused requests from the revolutionary regimes in South America to recognise their independence or to help them to defend it against the mother country. At the same time Britain declined to assist her Spanish ally in recovering control over the rebellious territories, as she had no desire to imperil the important commerical links she was developing with the emergent states of Spanish America. Both parties continued to try to enlist British assistance, and both of them at times complained of breaches of neutrality by British officials. But for several years Britain walked her tightrope very successfully.

‘El hombre más puro de la raza’. This opinion of the Chilean poetess Gabriela Mistral sums up the general feelings of all critics and historians who have studied Martí's life: both as a Cuban patriot and as a sincere human being Martí evokes admiration from all sides. The same cannot be said, however, about his copious writings – twenty-seven volumes in the latest edition (Editorial Nacional de Cuba) — which have led to many differences of interpretation: for some he is the embodiment of Marxist philosophy, while others have shown how little his views have in common with orthodox Socialism. Within Cuba itself, political leaders as diverse in their ideals as Carlos Prío, Fulgencio Batista and Fidel Castro have all claimed to be putting into practice the philosophy of Martí.

Throughout the Mexican Revolution, the ebb and flow of conflict in the north-central Laguna region (see Map 1) fed directly into the mainstream of national politics. From 1900, the Laguna's workers and peasants expressed economic and social discontent through insubordination, theft, banditry and sporadic – sometimes organised – demands for better wages and working conditions. Following the lead of a discontented, highly competitive and fractious landholding elite, they were among the first to revolt against the Porfirio Díaz government and continued to influence the direction of the revolution as the region was alternately fought over and administered by each of the north's principal factions. The ultimate triumph of any faction in the revolution required control of Mexico's north, and that required controlling the Laguna.

This article traces the development of the political controversy in Argentina over the resolution of border issues between Argentina and Chile during the 1990s, examining provincial opposition to the Menem government's proposals for the Hielos Continentales zone in the far southern Andes. It argues that territorial perceptions held by Argentine opponents of the proposals, whilst highly significant, are insufficient to explain domestic opposition to the territorial accords. Instead it suggests that the sensitivity and longevity of the controversy reflected both specific territorial perceptions and anti-Menem dynamics in Argentina. Whilst the article highlights citizen opposition to government policy, it also points to the key role of Néstor Kirchner, at the time governor of the province of Santa Cruz, and subsequently Argentina's president. Kirchner's role in the decade-long controversy highlights two key factors. First, the potential utility of foreign policy issues, and particularly those centred on territory, as a resource in the domestic political environment, and, second, the fact that Kirchner's opposition itself responded at least in part to disputes within Peronism during the 1990s.

A nation that demands from its government nothing but the maintenance of order is already a slave in the bottom of its heart; it is the slave of its wellbeing, and the man who is to chain it can arrive on the scene.

Using recent data, this study examines the affirmative action programme of the Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (UERJ), the first Brazilian university to implement admissions quotas. The article analyses admissions records and finds that both the ratio of applications per place and minimum admission scores are considerably lower among quota students; scores in the admissions test are associated principally with socio-economic factors rather than racial ones; preparatory courses for the university's admissions tests do not appear to be a substitute for the quota system in terms of improving access; few quota applicants would be admitted in the absence of the system; and the applicants who displace others come from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds. The article concludes that it is necessary to improve the quality of basic education in Brazil in order to enable disadvantaged applicants to compete.

No topic encapsulates better the fundamental contradiction in capitalist development in Porfirian Mexico than the turbulent history of the copper industry. Within the space of a few years, the industry simultaneously experienced rapid growth, labour conflict and political controversy with international implications. This historical dynamic was unleashed, in part, by the Mexican government's policy of attracting overseas investors to Mexico through generous concessions and tax breaks that facilitated foreign control over key industries. The privileged position that public policy afforded foreign companies resulted in a nationalist backlash and exacerbated tension between native labour and foreign capital. The famous strike at Cananea, Sonora, in 1906 brought to national attention the grievances of Mexican workers over wage scales that favoured foreign workers over natives, falling real wages, and the power and arrogance of United States companies in Mexico. The strike became a scandal when armed North Americans from nearby Arizona crossed the border and assisted local authorities in crushing Mexican workers. This violation of Mexican sovereignty caused a storm of protest from both liberals and conservatives and unsettled the Díaz regime on the eve of the Mexican Revolution.

A polarisation of foreign railroad, oil and other business interests in Mexico occurred during the early years of the Mexican Revolution. Some of the American interests resented Porfirio Díaz's favouritism towards Europe and supported Francisco Madero for a change, and later, Venustiano Carranza. There is evidence of limited logistical support by the US government in May 1911 for the Madero revolution, and of financial support by US railroad and oil magnate Henry Clay Pierce. The overthrow of President Madero at the instigation of General Victoriano Huerta and General Félix Díaz, with the tacit support of British railroad and oil magnate Weetman Pearson, had very strong repercussions through President Huerta's subsequent alliance with British interests in Mexico. The US military superpower intervention in Veracruz of April 1914 was the action involving US business lobbying which had the greatest impact on the outcome of the Mexican Revolution, in favour of Carranza.