Silvia Diana MERCADO. «El inventor del peronismo: Raúl Apold, el cerebro oculto que cambió la política argentina». Buenos Aires: Planeta, 2013. 360 pp. ISBN: 9789504931614.

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NEGRETTO, Gabriel. «Making Constitutions: Presidents, Parties, and Institutional Choice in Latin America». Nueva York: Cambridge University Press, 2013. 292 pp. ISBN: 978-110-702-652-0.

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Democratic survival in Latin America (1945-2005)

Why do democracies survive or break down? In this paper, it returns to this classic question with an empirical focus on Latin America from 1945 to 2005. The argument deviates from the quantitative literature and a good part of the qualitative literature on democratic survival and breakdown. It is argued that structural variables such as the level of development and inequalities have not shaped prospects for democratic survival in Latin America. Nor, contrary to findings in some of the literature, has economic performance affected the survival of competitive regimes. Instead, it is focused on the regional political environment and on actors’ normative preferences about democracy and dictatorship and their policy radicalism or moderation. It is argued that 1) a higher level of development did not increase the likelihood of democratic survival in Latin America over this long time; 2) if actors have a normative preference for democracy, it is more likely to survive; and 3) policy moderation facilitates democratic survival

Instituciones políticas, procesos de diseño de políticas y resultados de políticas en Paraguay, 1954-2003

(Documento disponible en idioma inglés) En este trabajo se describe la evolución del proceso de diseño de políticas de Paraguay (PMP, por sus siglas en inglés) entre 1954 y 2003. Se presenta una panorámica general del PMP durante el gobierno de Alfredo Stroessner (1954-89) y se analiza el entorno institucional después de 1989. Se trata la manera en que el Partido Colorado se fue dividiendo progresivamente en varias facciones y se describen los patrones que caracterizan el proceso de diseño de políticas que surgieron tras la adopción de la Constitución de 1992. Se plantea la hipótesis de que la presencia de una gran cantidad de factores con poder de veto ha dificultado el proceso de cambio de políticas y que los legisladores parecen inclinarse por políticas particularistas. A fin de comprobar esas hipótesis empleamos una base de datos que contiene prácticamente todos los proyectos de ley presentados al Congreso desde abril de 1992. Las conclusiones sugieren que el PMP actual de Paraguay puede ser flexible en cuanto a la prestación de beneficios particularistas pero rígido en cuanto a la aprobación de políticas amplias de regulación o redistribución.

Oversight or Representation? Public Opinion and Impeachment Resolutions in Argentina and Brazil

Why do legislators introduce impeachment resolutions against the president, even though most of these resolutions never succeed? We explore two possible answers to this puzzle, which are linked to the legislative functions of oversight and representation. First, legislators initiate impeachment procedures to expose (real or alleged) presidential misdeeds, an action that may weaken the president's approval rates, even if an impeachment process remains unlikely. Second, legislators introduce impeachment resolutions to express their constituents' outrage in the context of corruption scandals or poor economic performance- that is, in response to an exogenous decline in presidential approval. To test these hypotheses, we analyze 274 impeachment resolutions introduced against the presidents of Argentina and Brazil since the transition to democracy. We estimate models predicting presidential approval and impeachment resolutions using time-series and simultaneous equations estimators. Our results strongly support the representation hypothesis

A statistical learning based approach for parameter fine-tuning of metaheuristics

Metaheuristics are approximation methods used to solve combinatorial optimization problems. Their performance usually depends on a set of parameters that need to be adjusted. The selection of appropriate parameter values causes a loss of efficiency, as it requires time, and advanced analytical and problem-specific skills. This paper provides an overview of the principal approaches to tackle the Parameter Setting Problem, focusing on the statistical procedures employed so far by the scientific community. In addition, a novel methodology is proposed, which is tested using an already existing algorithm for solving the Multi-Depot Vehicle Routing Problem.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Reduced kinetic mechanisms for modelling LPP combustión in gas turbines

Reduced kinetic mechanisms for modelling LPP combustión in gas turbine