Antarctic climate, Southern Ocean circulation patterns, and deep water formation during the Eocene

We assess early-to-middle Eocene seawater neodymium (Nd) isotope records from seven Southern Ocean deep-sea drill sites to evaluate the role of Southern Ocean circulation in long-term Cenozoic climate change. Our study sites are strategically located on either side of the Tasman Gateway and are positioned at a range of shallow (Nd(t) = −9.3 ± 1.5). IODP Site U1356 off the coast of Adélie Land, a locus of modern-day Antarctic Bottom Water production, is identified as a site of persistent deep water formation from the early Eocene to the Oligocene. East of the Tasman Gateway an additional local source of intermediate/deep water formation is inferred at ODP Site 277 in the SW Pacific Ocean (εNd(t) = −8.7 ± 1.5). Antarctic-proximal shelf sites (ODP Site 1171 and Site U1356) reveal a pronounced erosional event between 49 and 48 Ma, manifested by ~2 εNd unit negative excursions in seawater chemistry toward the composition of bulk sediments at these sites. This erosional event coincides with the termination of peak global warmth following the Early Eocene Climatic Optimum and is associated with documented cooling across the study region and increased export of Antarctic deep waters, highlighting the complexity and importance of Southern Ocean circulation in the greenhouse climate of the Eocene

The Bolivian Decentralization Process and the Role of Municipal Associations

This discussion paper looks at the Bolivian decentralization model. The objective of Bolivian decentralization is to consolidate the process of popular participation, and to promote regional economic development by means of a more equitable distribution of national income and improved administration of public resources. The legal framework of Bolivian decentralization is established by two principled laws; firstly, the LPP, defines decentralization on the municipal level and represents a new dimension of governmental reform, creating an important link between the state and civil society. Second, the Law of Administrative decentralization (LAD-adm) organizes the structure of the executive power in each Department so as to underpin administrative decentralization. Overall the decentralization process in Bolivia can be seen as an important step towards restructuring the old centralized state into a more democratic one. However, as the social uprising and protests which took place in October 2003 show, the decentralization laws alone didn?t solve the economic and social problems in Bolivia

Bolivia\u27s Popular Participation Law: A case of decentralized decisionmaking

This dissertation examines how changes in local governance affect participation in decisionmaking and development in the context of neoliberal reform in Bolivia. My research analyzes how, and to what extent, decentralized decisionmaking, implemented to make neoliberalism more palatable, has changed local political institutions and what have been the results in terms of behavior and power relations between citizens and their elected officials.Because of its 1994 Ley de Participacion Popular (Popular Participation Law, LPP), Bolivia was selected as a case study to better understand the intricate phenomena of decentralization, democratization, and economic development in a Latin American context. The LPP decentralized decisionmaking and budgetary control for health, education, irrigation, local roads, cultural activities, and sports to the municipal level. Based on personal interviews and other field research in provincial Bolivia, this dissertation considers the variation in outcome across types of communities, municipalities, and regions.My results indicate that newly created rural municipalities tended to benefit from decentralization through gains in political participation and access to funds, thereby improving decisionmaking and public services, while previously privileged urban centers with entrenched local elites showed little change in budgeting. For a variety of reasons discussed in the text, Popular Participation has been more readily accepted and taken advantage of in the eastern lowlands than in the western highlands.My research demonstrates that new funds were initially spent on cosmetic projects, followed by infrastructure, such as schools and health centers. More recently, there has been a trend toward more productive infrastructure investment, such as roads, irrigation, and programs to improve cattle ranching. Participation of indigenous persons increased with the legal recognition of traditional forms of governance, while female participation decreased in the face of increased male competition for office tiggered on by the availability of new resources. Entrenched local elites, and a traditional, exclusionary political culture, have constrained the decentralization program. Additional obstacles to increased participation in local level decisionmaking, which are discussed at length in the dissertation, include weak oversight, creation of parallel leaders, paternalism, corruption, border disputes, central government delays, increased costs, and politics. Despite these obstacles, Popular Participation has improved access to decisionmakers and addressed regional budget inequalities, making the case that it is possible, and feasible, to implement neoliberal reform without ignoring the urgent need to promote democratic participation

Pursuing the question of reflexivity in psychotherapy and qualitative methods: The contributions of David L. Rennie

Background: This article documents the intellectual contributions of the psychologist David Rennie to the fields of psychotherapy research, qualitative methods and humanistic psychology by tracing the central position of reflexivity across these bodies of work. This work had a profound influence on his field and led to his viewing the fostering of clients’ reflexivity as the central task of psychotherapy. Aims: It follows his path as a researcher, beginning with his advancement of grounded theory methods and their application within psychotherapy research. His development of a humanistic experiential person-centred approach to psychotherapy is described as an extension of this valuing of reflexivity and the recognition of the role of clients’ agency within sessions. In addition, the paper reviews the innovative methodological research that led him to propose a model of inferential processes that underlies qualitative research methods and that is rooted in the process of embodied reflexivity. His contextualising qualitative methods within a form of methodical hermeneutics permitted a unifying framework for understanding the logic of qualitative methods