When who and how matter: explaining the success of referendums in Europe

This article aims to identify the institutional factors that make a referendum successful. This comparative analysis seeks to explain the success of top-down referendums organized in Europe between 2001 and 2013. It argues and tests for the main effect of three institutional factors (popularity of the initiator, size of parliamentary majority, and political cues during referendum campaigns) and controls for the type of referendum and voter turnout. The analysis uses data collected from referendums and electoral databases, public opinion surveys, and newspaper articles. Results show that referendums proposed by a large parliamentary majority or with clear messages from political parties during campaign are likely to be successful

21st Century citizenship: human rights, global civil society and the pushing of boundaries : The role of civil society in the refugee crisis: the case of the Swedish Red Cross.

In the last few years, migration towards Europe has intensified as a result of poverty and war in other parts of the world. Now, the European Union finds itself in a “refugee crisis” that has brought about contrasting reactions from within European societies. While many civil society organizations have mobilized for the inclusion of asylum seekers and undocumented migrants, governments have increasingly focused on restricting access and limiting their numbers. This study seeks to understand and explain the role of civil society in the refugee crisis. To this end, citizenship and framing theories are applied to the case of the Swedish Red Cross. Specific “acts of citizenship” carried out by the Red Cross in Sweden, and in Europe more generally, are analyzed. The study’s findings suggest that this civil society organization/movement acts as both a “denationalizing” (Sassen 2002) and a “post-nationalizing” (Bosniak 2006) force as it pushes the boundaries of citizenship from within and beyond the borders of the nation-state. It does this by calling upon international humanitarian and human rights laws and principles and by positioning itself inside and outside the political system at the same time.

Políticas sociales en América Latina y el Caribe : escenarios contemporáneos, inversiones y necesidades

Este Proyecto buscó responder a las demandas sociales y económicas de la región latinoamericana y el Caribe a través de dos ejes de análisis. El primero, llamado Relaciones Internacionales con China se dedicó a monitorear el estado de las relaciones entre América Latina y China; mientras que el segundo, titulado Políticas Sociales en la región, tuvo como objetivo elaborar un estado del arte sobre las políticas sociales en América Latina que permita dar una visión cualitativa y cuantitativa de las respuestas formuladas por los Estados Latinoamericanos a los beneficiarios de las políticas sociales, a través de la identificación, comparación y evaluación de las principales buenas prácticas así como los alcances y limitaciones en las políticas sociales implementadas en la región

Dendroecology of Prosopis species in the world: Secular traces of natural and anthropic events and their effects on Prosopis growth

Prosopis genus comprises 44 species which grow in arid and semiarid environments of America, Asia and Africa and in Oceania as introduced species. Of those 44 species, 30 grow in America. Argentina is supposed to be the origin center of the genus Prosopis, and that could explain the fact that this country has the highest species variability. Prosopis species are of great ecological and social value providing goods such as firewood, food, feed for livestock and medicines as well as services acting as watershed stabilizers and nitrogen and carbon sequesters. In this chapter, we address the new insights that dendrochronological studies have provided about Prosopis genus worldwide with main emphasis in Latin America. Many studies provide information about growth dynamics which are later on applied to develop management plans, to quantify the increment in dead and alive biomass throughout time or to estimate growth changes linked to social and political events. Rainfall is the main growth driver of Prosopis throughout the Andes from Peru to central Argentina, whereas in the flat Pampas temperature is the main tree-ring width driver. Climate variables are hard to separate from other factors affecting growth such as geomorphology, anthropogenic impact and groundwater depth. Outside of Latin America, dendrochronology of Prosopis has been used for the analysis of anthropogenic contamination. Fire, the main disturbance factor in arid and semiarid environments, showed a regional dynamic as a result of human activities. Most dendroecological studies on Prosopis species, which allowed determining these species dynamics, concluded that Prosopis do not present an encroaching behavior. This review demonstrates the avant-garde and influential value of Prosopis genus for dendroecological research as it allows reconstructing past disturbances as fire, anthropogenic impact and changes in groundwater depth for the last 50–100 years and up to 356 years in the case of Prosopis caldenia Burkart in the Pampean Region.Fil: Cangiano, Maria Laura. North Carolina State University; Estados UnidosFil: Cendoya, Maria Alicia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - San Luis; Argentina. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro Regional La Pampa-San Luis. Estación Experimental Agropecuaria San Luis; ArgentinaFil: Risio Allione, Lucia Veronica. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - San Luis; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de San Luis. Facultad de Ingeniería y Ciencias Económico Sociales. Departamento de Ciencias Agropecuarias; ArgentinaFil: Bogino, Stella Marys. Universidad Nacional de San Luis. Facultad de Ingeniería y Ciencias Económico Sociales. Departamento de Ciencias Agropecuarias; Argentin