Limits of Abductivism About Logic

I argue against abductivism about logic, which is the view that rational theory choice in logic happens by abduction. Abduction cannot serve as a neutral arbiter in many foundational disputes in logic because, in order to use abduction, one must first identify the relevant data. Which data one deems relevant depends on what I call one's conception of logic. One's conception of logic is, however, not independent of one's views regarding many of the foundational disputes that one may hope to solve by abduction

The Presidency and the Executive Branch in Latin America: What We Know and What We Need to Know

The presidential politics literature depicts presidents either as all- powerful actors or figureheads and seeks to explain outcomes accordingly. Th e president and the executive branch are nonetheless usually treated as black boxes, particularly i n developing countries, even though the presidency has evolved into an extremely complex branch of government. While these developments have been studied in the U nited States, far less i s known in other countries, particularly in Latin America, where presi dential systems have been considered the source of all goods and evils. To help close the knowledge gap and explore differences in policymaking characteristics not only between Latin America and the US but also across Latin American countries, this paper s ummarizes the vast literature on the organization and resources of the Executive Branch in the Americas and sets a research agenda for the study of Latin American presidencies.Fil: Bonvecchi, Alejandro. Universidad Torcuato Di Tella. Departamento de Ciencia Política y Estudios Internacionales; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Scartascini, Juan Carlos. Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo; Estados Unido

Attempt to Estimate Total Number of Inhabitants in Kalnik Archdeaconry from the End of 16th - beginning of 18th cent

Autor na osnovi objavljenih i neobjavljenih izvora i literature pokušava rekonstruirati ukupni broj stanovnika na teritoriju koji je obuhvaćao Kalnički arhiđakonat - od Medvednice i Ivančice na zapadu, Kalnika na sjeveru, Bilogore na istoku i rijeke Cesme (Cazme) najugu. Krajem 16. stoljećaje na prostoru Kalničkog arhidakonata zivjelo 745 katoličkih obitelji, a vjerojatno je broj katolika ostao isti i početkom 17. stoljeća. Pribrojimo li ovom broju 616 pravoslavnih Vlaha, dobivamo podatak da je početkom 17. stoljeća na tom prostoru zivjela 1361 obitelj. U članku je donesena procjena prema kojoj je na istrazivanom području živjelo oko 5420 pravoslavnih Vlaha te oko 5500 stanovnika ka-toličke vjere. Po ovoj procjeni bi na istrazivanom području živjelo oko 10.000 popisom procijenjenih stanovnika, a prema tome, omjer izmedu katoličkog i pravoslavnog popisanog stanovnistva je početkom 17. stoljeća bio približno podjednak. Pravoslavno stanovnistvo je u pravilu bilo koncentrirano na istoku, a katoličko na zapadu istrazivanog područja, iako ima i iznimaka. Treba spomenuti da dio stanovnistva u spomenutim popisima nije zapisan, kao npr. nepoznati broj katoličkih Slavonaca Hi Slovenaca koji su zivjeli pomijesani s pravoslavnim vlaskim stanovnistvom, te stanovnika Križevaca i okolice koji očito povećavaju procijenjeni broj stanovnika i mijenjaju omjer izmedu katolika i pravo¬slavnih. U razdoblju odkraja 16., odnosno početka 17. stoljeća do početka 18. stoljeća broj katolika je gotovo upeterostručen, dokje broj pravoslavnog stanovnistva porastao za 2,5 puta. Prema tome, rast katoličkog stanovnistva u odnosu na pravoslavno, bio je duplo veći.The author tries to reconstruct total number of inhabitants on the territory of Kalnik Archdeaconry that spread from Medvednica and Ivančica in the west, Kalnik in the north, Bilogora in the east and the river Česma (Čazma) in the south. At the end of the 16th century 745 Catholic families lived in the area. Their number probably did not change at the beginning of the 17th century. If 616 Orthodox Vlach/Morloc families are added, the number of families in¬creases to 1361. It is estimated that about 5420 Orthodox Vlachs and 5500 Catholics lived there, which, according to the census of the time makes around 10.000 people almost evenly distributed in two religious groups. Orthodox population mostly settled in the east, whereas the Catholics went to the west, with some exceptions.Not all inhabitants were registered in the census, though: for example an unknown number of Slavonians or Slovenians who mixed with Orthodox population or some inhabitants of Križevci and neighbouring villages were not included. The number of Catholics increased from the end of the 16th century to the beginning of the 18th century five times compared to only 2,5 times bigger number of Orthodox population

The Political Economy of Fiscal Reform in Latin America: The Case of Argentina

This paper investigates the political economy of fiscal reform activism in Argentina since the late 1980s. Between 1988 and 2008, tax legislation was changed 83 times, fiscal federal rules 14 times, and budgetary institutions sixteen times. Tax and budgetary reforms moved from centralizing revenue sources and spending authority in the federal government to mild decentralization lately. Fiscal federal rules combined centralization of revenues and management in the federal government with short-term compensations for the provinces. This paper contends that reform activism can be explained by the recurrence of economic and policy shocks while reform patterns may be accounted for as consequences of the decreasing political integration of national parties in a polity whose decisionmaking rules encourage the formation of oversized coalitions. The decrease in political integration weakened the national party leaderships ability to coordinate intergovernmental bargaining, and strengthened the local bosses and factions needed to form oversized coalitions