Hope in a Land of War and Want

In war-ravaged Afghanistan, a modest shelter provides sanctuary to animals who have never known freedom from fear—and plants seeds of change in a culture where pity is scant for the creatures wandering the streets

Reaching for the Stars? Astronomy and Growth in Chile

While scholars and policy practitioners often advocate for science and technology transfer as a motor for economic growth, many in Latin America have long warned of the pitfalls of such top-down, North-South transfers. To many in Latin America, scientific aid or cooperation from the North has often reproduced hierarchies that perpetuate dependency. Large astronomy observatories located in Chile – with a high price tag, cutting-edge technology, and seen to answer seemingly arcane research questions – seem ripe for reproducing precisely these kinds of hierarchical relationships. Using data from documents, interviews, and a site visit to Gemini South, one of several large telescopes in Chile, this paper takes a historical perspective to examine how resilient these hierarchical relationships are. Over forty years, astronomy in Chile grew thanks to new policies that fostered cooperation among universities and gave locals privileged access to the telescopes. But the community also grew in ways that reproduced dependency: foreign science benefits significantly, the Chilean state operates in top-down ways, and its support for science leaves it blind to the benefits high-tech telescopes deliver to Chile, which are not linked to export-led growth. The state appears as both an obstacle and an enabler to the growth of a national scientific community

O papel das pesquisas de opinião pública na consolidação da democracia: a experiência latino-americana

Desde inícios dos anos 80, as pesquisas políticas e de opinião pública na América Latina têm se constituído num evento central ao processo de democratização. Quase todos os dias, os principais jornais e redes de TV da cada país nos informam sobre estudos focados sobre assuntos vinculados ao desenvolvimento político das novas democracias. Grande parte do que conhecemos sobre essas instituições é produto de pesquisas. Mas, qual têm sido as conseqüências disso? Este artigo mostra que essas pesquisas definem interações centrais entre elites políticas e cidadania nesses países, e que têm um papel central no seus processos de democratização.<br>Since the beginning of the eighties the political surveys in Latin America have a central role in the process of democratization. Almost everyday the main newspapers and tv broadcastings of each country inform us the results of studies that focuses on the political development of the new democracies. Most of what we know about these democracies is due to these studies. But what are the consequences of this role? This article argues that the public opinion surveys define central interactions between the political elites and the citizenship in these countries, and that they have a central role in their democratization processes