Brazil in the Era of Fascism: The “New State” of Getúlio Vargas

The New State established in Brazil by Getúlio Vargas (1937–1945) is the most important case of the institutionalisation of a dictatorship of the fascism era in Latin America. During this time, an impressive spectrum of authoritarian regimes was established, some of which were very instable and poorly institutionalised, while others were more consolidated. Roger Griffin coined the concept of para-fascism for some of them, and the “New State” of Getúlio Vargas in Brazil is a paradigmatic case. In this essay, we analyse the processes of institutional reform in 1930s Brazil paying particular attention to how domestic political actors look at institutional models of fascism and corporatism.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

State capture and decorporatization of financial elites in Ecuador

Objetivo/contexto: El artículo analiza la relación entre el Estado y las élites financieras en Ecuador durante el gobierno de Rafael Correa (2007-2014), enmarcado en lo que se conoce como giro a la izquierda. Este gobierno emprendió una lucha descorporativizadora para desacoplar la gestión estatal de los intereses privados que habían capturado al Estado durante el ciclo neoliberal. Esto implicó dos movimientos simultáneos: quebrar la institucionalidad vigente en distintos ámbitos de política pública (educación, finanzas, salud, medios de comunicación, entre otros) regentados por actores de veto con intereses particulares y, al mismo tiempo, edificar una nueva institucionalidad capaz de responder a intereses y demandas más amplias, en una clave democrática e inclusiva. Metodología: La exploración empírica de este caso se efectuó con una metodología cualitativa basada en el análisis hemerográfico y normativo y el rastreo de procesos, lo cual permitió ofrecer evidencia sobre mecanismos de captura y descorporativización del Estado, en el marco de gobiernos cuyos adversarios predilectos son las élites económicas comprometidas con el neoliberalismo. Conclusiones: La reconfiguración institucional llevada adelante por la Revolución Ciudadana en el ámbito de las finanzas consiguió mayores márgenes de autonomía estatal, a través de nuevos diseños institucionales de organismos del sistema financiero, como las Juntas Monetaria y Bancaria, para evitar que los intereses privados de los banqueros permeen la gestión estatal. Originalidad: El texto aportó elementos para suplir el vacío que se encuentra en los estudios sobre élites en América Latina y su relación con el Estado, específicamente, acerca de los mecanismos de captura y “des-captura” de la gestión estatal.Objective/context: The article analyzes the relationship between the State and financial elites in Ecuador during the government of Rafael Correa (2007-2014), framed by what is known as the turn to the left. This government carried out a decorporatizing fight to delink state management from private interests that had captured the State during the neoliberal cycle. This entailed two simultaneous movements: breaking the institutionality in force in different spheres of public policy (education, finance, health, communications media, among others) governed by actors with veto powers and special interests and, at the same time, building a new institutionality capable of responding to wider interests and demands, within a democratic and inclusive spirit. Methodology: The empirical exploration of this case was performed with a qualitative methodology based on an analysis of the press and regulations and the tracking of processes, which allowed offering evidence regarding the mechanisms for the capture and decorporatization of the State, within the framework of governments whose favorite adversaries are the economic elites committed to neoliberalism. Conclusions: The institutional reconfiguration carried out by the Citizen’s Revolution within the sphere of finance achieved greater margins of state autonomy, through new institutional designs of financial system bodies, such as the Monetary and Banking Boards, to keep the private interests of bankers from permeating state management. Originality: The text contributed elements to bridge the gap found in studies on elites in Latin America and their relationship with the State, specifically, regarding the mechanisms for the capture and “de-capture” of state management.Fil: Coronel, Valeria. Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales; EcuadorFil: Stoessel, Soledad. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones en Humanidades y Ciencias Sociales. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educación. Instituto de Investigaciones en Humanidades y Ciencias Sociales; ArgentinaFil: Guanche, Julio César. Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales; EcuadorFil: Cadahia, María Luciana. Pontificia Universidad Javeriana; Colombi

Anti-Inflammatory Activity of Exopolysaccharides from Phormidium sp. ETS05, the Most Abundant Cyanobacterium of the Therapeutic Euganean Thermal Muds, Using the Zebrafish Model

The Euganean Thermal District (Italy) represents the oldest and largest thermal center in Europe, and its therapeutic mud is considered a unique product whose beneficial effects have been documented since Ancient Roman times. Mud properties depend on the heat and electrolytes of the thermal water, as well as on the bioactive molecules produced by its biotic component, mainly represented by cyanobacteria. The investigation of the healing effects of compounds produced by the Euganean cyanobacteria represents an important goal for scientific validation of Euganean mud therapies and for the discovering of new health beneficial biomolecules. In this work, we evaluated the therapeutic potential of exopolysaccharides (EPS) produced by Phormidium sp. ETS05, the most abundant cyanobacterium of the Euganean mud. Specifically, Phormidium EPS resulted in exerting anti-inflammatory and pro-resolution activities in chemical and injury-induced zebrafish inflammation models as demonstrated using specific transgenic zebrafish lines and morphometric and expression analyses. Moreover, in vivo and in vitro tests showed no toxicity at all for the EPS concentrations tested. The results suggest that these EPS, with their combined anti-inflammatory and pro-resolution activities, could be one of the most important therapeutic molecules present in the Euganean mud and confirm the potential of these treatments for chronic inflammatory disease recovery