Introducción: ¿Es eficaz el terrorismo?

La cuestión de la eficacia del terrorismo es de gran relevancia política para los perpetradores, las víctimas y la sociedad en general. Evaluar la eficacia de la violencia política requiere analizar con detalle la gama de objetivos de los grupos terroristas y distinguir entre los niveles estratégicos y tácticos. Si bien la mayoría de las organizaciones clandestinas no logra alcanzar sus objetivos a largo plazo, sí consigue algunos éxitos durante el proceso. La capacidad del terrorismo para producir los efectos deseados dependerá también de otras variables y parámetros contextuales. El éxito táctico y estratégico de una campaña violenta depende de: 1) la capacidad y la fuerza de los perpetradores; 2) el tipo de objetivos, y 3)la capacidad y la resistencia de la sociedad objetivo. Este artículo presenta el debate teórico sobre la eficacia del terrorismo, analiza los obstáculos metodológicos y proporciona una guía de los argumentos desarrollados este número monográfico

The Spanish government must find a positive message for Catalonia if it is to reduce support for Catalan independence

In April, the Spanish parliament rejected a request by Catalan authorities to hold a referendum on Catalonia’s independence from Spain, which had been proposed for November this year. Diego Muro and Martijn Vlaskamp argue that the Spanish government requires a more positive message for the people of Catalonia if it is to reduce public support for independence

Persistent unemployment poses a substantive threat to democracy in Southern European countries

The purpose of competitive elections is to reward good politicians and punish bad ones, but what happens if elections can no longer fulfil this role? Diego Muro and Guillem Vidal write that developments in Southern European countries since the start of the financial crisis have undermined the legitimising role of elections. Suffering from persistent unemployment rates, citizens’ frustration has been indiscriminately projected onto the key political institutions: the government, parliament, and political parties. They illustrate that the unemployment rate is the measure that best forecasts rising levels of political disaffection in these countries, and that voting for a change of government has little impact on citizens’ trust in politics

Spanish nationalism

In recent years, it has been a common complaint among scholars to acknowledge the lack of research on Spanish nationalism. This article addresses the gap by giving an historical overview of ‘ethnic’ and ‘civic’ Spanish nationalist discourses during the last two centuries. It is argued here that Spanish nationalism is not a unified ideology but it has, at least, two varieties. During the 19th-century, both a ‘liberal’ and a ‘conservative-traditionalist’ nationalist discourse were formulated and these competed against each other for hegemony within the Spanish market of ideas. In the 20th-century, these two discourses continued to be present and became backbones of different political regimes. However, after the emergence of the Basque and Catalan nationalist movements, Spanish nationalists unified as a counter-force to these regional sources of identity. In fact, one can see 20th-century Spanish nationalism as a dialectical struggle between the centre and the periphery

Ethnicity and violence: The case of radical Basque nationalism.

The aim of this thesis is to study the role of ethnicity in ETA's 35 year campaign of political violence. I argue that both Francoism and a long tradition of Basque radical nationalism are important in understanding ETA's emergence. In this tradition Spain and the Spaniards (regardless of their political regime) are blamed for the continuous decline of the Basque nation. In order for the Basque nation to return to its glorious Golden Age, it is argued, the Basques need to expel the Spaniards using whatever means are necessary. I maintain that Basque radical nationalism precedes ETA by at least 60 years. It was the founder of Basque nationalism, Sabino Arana, who looked nostalgically at the Basque past and first proposed a racially pure Basque nation with his motto 'Euzkadi is the land of the Basques'. He also drew on a previous tradition of myths, memories and symbols which depicted Basques as a chosen and noble people who spoke a divine language. All these myths, which gave the Basques a distinct sense of identity, were mobilised by Arana in order to construct a radical project for the secession of the Basque Country. The nationalist discourse they created was based on a Basque Golden Age which was followed by a long period of decline caused by Spaniards. Finally, a renewal of the nation would come when Basques achieved their political independence. This radical discourse was in a minority until 1968 when ETA committed its first killing. However, Francoist repression 'proved' to all Basques that Arana was right: the Basques were oppressed by the Spaniards and in order to be free they needed to get rid of the Spaniards, by violent means if necessary. Following the teachings of Sabino Arana, members of ETA started a campaign to liberate the glorious Basque nation from the decadent Spanish nation. By promoting a Manichean dichotomy between Basques and Spaniards, ETA managed to use violence as an effective ethnic boundary. Nowadays, radical Basque nationalism has an estimated support of 13% of the Basque electorate. There is nothing to suggest that this is going to change radically in the short-term

When does terrorism fail? The role of counter-terrorism, organizational fragmentation and individual costs in the end of Terra Lliure

When do terrorist campaigns end? Why do terrorist groups decline? What are the causes of terrorist disbandment? What are the explanatory factors that account for individual and collective disengagement? This paper analyzes the case of Terra Lliure, a Catalan terrorist group active between 1979 and 1995, in order to identify the independent variables that determine the success or failure of terrorist groups. In accordance to the literature on political violence, the paper develops a multi-level argument that distinguishes three explanatory variables: (1) counter-terrorism; (2) organizational dynamics; and (3) individual factors. The article concludes that a counter-terrorist policy (macro level) based on increasing the cost of participation in an insurgent group is most successful when it coincides with organizational fragmentation (meso level) and individual burnout (micro level).</p

Who is to Blame? Political Mistrust and the Great Recession in Southern Europe

The Southern periphery of the European Union has experienced a profound transformation since 2008. The rapid economic deterioration of Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain was accompanied by a substantial increase in citizens&apos; mistrust towards national political institutions. This paper combines existing models about the relationship between citizens and government in democracies to provide an explanation for the increasing mistrust in Southern Europe. On the basis of the responsibility-responsiveness dilemma we argue that the governments of these countries were unable to reconcile citizens preferences (responsiveness) with a set of pressures from international actors (responsibility) during the economic crisis. At the same time, we argue that the constrains brought about by the multi-level governance structure of the EU have blurred responsibility for policy outputs thus preventing citizens to reward or punish incumbent governments accordingly. The perception that accountability mechanisms were rendered ineffective thus resulted in high levels of political mistrust

Alexitimia y sexismo ambivalente en estudiantes de secundaria de una institución educativa pública de la provincia de Chiclayo

El presente trabajo de investigación tuvo como objetivo establecer relación entre alexitimia y sexismo ambivalente en estudiantes de secundaria de una Institución Educativa pública de la provincia de Chiclayo. Se utilizó un tipo de investigación cuantitativo el diseño de investigación que se empleó, fue no experimental con un diseño correlacional. Se seleccionó una muestra de 245 adolescentes que tienen entre 12 a 17 años de edad, a quienes se les aplicó el test de Alexitimia ESCALEX de Pfocco y Sexismo. Los resultados evidencian la existencia de correlación entre alexitimia y sexismo ambivalente, dicha correlación resulta ser directa, significativa y con un tamaño de efecto bajo. N=150; **p<.01. Asimismo, se observa que existe correlación entre la dificultad para identificar sentimientos y sexismo ambivalente, dicha correlación resulta ser directa, significativa y con un tamaño de efecto bajo Nota: N=150; **p<.01. También se observa que existe correlación entre la dificultad para describir sentimientos y sexismo ambivalente, dicha correlación resulta ser directa, significativa y con un tamaño de efecto bajo N=150; **p<.01. Finalmente, se observa que existe correlación entre el pensamiento orientado al exterior y sexismo ambivalente, dicha correlación resulta ser directa, significativa y con un tamaño de efecto bajo N=150; *p<.005.TesisComunicación y desarrollo human

Lava Volume from Remote Sensing Data: Comparisons with Reverse Petrological Approaches for Two Types of Effusive Eruption

Five effusive eruptions of Piton de la Fournaise (La Réunion) are analyzed to investigate temporal trends of erupted mass and sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions. Daily SO2 emissions are acquired from three ultraviolet (UV) satellite instruments (the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI), the Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite (OMPS), and the Tropospheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI)) and an array of ground-based UV spectrometers (Network for Observation of Volcanic and Atmospheric Change (NOVAC)). Time-averaged lava discharge rates (TADRs) are obtained from two automatic satellite-based hot spot detection systems: MIROVA and MODVOLC. Assuming that the lava volumes measured in the field are accurate, the MIROVA system gave the best estimation of erupted volume among the methods investigated. We use a reverse petrological method to constrain pre-eruptive magmatic sulfur contents based on observed SO2 emissions and lava volumes. We also show that a direct petrological approach using SO2 data might be a viable alternative for TADR estimation during cloudy weather that compromises hot spot detection. In several eruptions we observed a terminal increase in TADR and SO2 emissions after initial emission of evolved degassed magma. We ascribe this to input of deeper, volatile-rich magma into the plumbing system towards the end of these eruptions. Furthermore, we find no evidence of volatile excess in the five eruptions studied, which were thus mostly fed by shallow degassed magma