The Mérida Initiative may be dead, but restarting US-Mexico security cooperation will be crucial

If Joe Biden and Andrés Manuel López Obrador are to rescue moribund US-Mexico security cooperation, they will need to meet each other halfway in any new agreement, write Yulia Vorobyeva (Florida International University) and Ryan Berg (American Enterprise Institute)

How Regimes Shape Organized Crime: Mexico and Russia during Political Transitions

The cases of Russia and Mexico, where deadly and violent organized crime erupted during transitions from authoritarian rule, suggest that political regimes may determine the type of organized crime in a society. This assertion runs counter to the common view of organized crime as a powerful corrosive force that undermines the vitality of democratizing regimes. Why did not democratization strengthen the rule of law in Mexico and Russia, two countries where concurrent processes of economic and political liberalization occurred in the last decade of the 20th century? Why did Russian organized crime become less violent and more controllable after Russia reverted to authoritarianism after 2000? This research suggests that the driving forces behind these criminal transformations are the capacity of state coercive institutions and criminal opportunity structures created by shifting market incentives. Organized crime becomes more fragmented, more violent and less controllable while democracies are taking hold but have not yet consolidated. Put differently, the forces of organized crime are frequently more stable and cohesive, but less violent and more subject to state elites, under more authoritarian regimes.</p

Explaining the killing of journalists in the contemporary era: The importance of hybrid regimes and subnational variations

Explanations for an increase in the killing of journalists worldwide over the last quarter century include the dangers of war coverage and unsafe conditions in formally democratic countries. Analyzing 1812 killings of journalists from 1992 to 2016, we find that countries with hybrid political regimes mixing liberal and illiberal elements create by far the most dangerous context for journalists, while a particular spatial configuration within those countries, subnational authoritarianism, clarifies the logic of the killings. In short, the study finds that most journalists died in countries where formal democratic norms and practices at the national level encourage investigative reporting in local arenas where powerholders have incentives to violently suppress critical press coverage. On a theoretical level, the synthesis of spatial analysis, comparative politics and journalism studies opens a fruitful path for theorizing anti-press violence and journalist safety. In terms of policy, international action should increase costs to national governments that overlook local misbehavior in return for political support. Discourse spotlighting local journalists’ contributions to human rights and democratic accountability may also be helpful

La nueva cara de las pandillas callejeras : el fenómeno de las pandillas en El Salvador

El estudio se centró en los siguientes temas: Entender el contexto de las pandillas y de la violencia de pandillas en El Salvador; Examinar el perfil de los pandilleros; Comprender por qué los individuos se unen a las pandillas; Evaluar la posibilidad de dejar una pandilla; Determinar qué factores ayudarían a motivar a los individuos a abandonar una pandilla; Identificar los mecanismos para dejar una pandilla y el papel de la sociedad para facilitar la desistencia de las pandillas. Este informe se divide en cuatro secciones principales. La primera sección ofrece una visión general del contexto de la investigación, la situación actual de violencia en el país, el papel de las pandillas y las políticas adoptadas para combatir a las pandillas y a la violencia relacionada con las pandillas. La segunda sección describe las características demográficas básicas de la muestra de la encuesta. Es importante señalar que, dada la naturaleza del diseño muestral, este estudio no hace afirmaciones de representatividad de la población de pandillas en El Salvador. Por lo tanto, los perfiles demográficos se refieren exclusivamente a los sujetos incluidos en la encuesta. La tercera sección presenta los resultados que tratan de la dinámica de la vida de las pandillas: por qué los encuestados se unieron a la pandilla, los beneficios de la vida pandillera y los determinantes del compromiso del miembro con la organización pandillera. La cuarta sección aborda la cuestión central de esta iniciativa de investigación: ¿cuáles son las condiciones que facilitan la desistencia de las pandillas en El Salvador? Por lo tanto, la sección analiza los resultados del estudio sobre el proceso de abandonar la pandilla

PERSISTENCE AND ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE IN NATURAL SCIENCES STUDENTS

The article discusses the results of empirical study of the association between variables of persistence and academic achievement in foreign languages. The sample includes students of the Faculty of Physics, Mathematics and Natural Science at the RUDN University ( n = 115), divided into 5 subsamples, two of which are featured in the present study (the most and the least successful students subsamples). Persistence as a personality trait is studied within A.I. Krupnov’s system-functional approach. A.I. Krupnov’s paper-and-pencil test was used to measure persistence variables. Academic achievement was measured according to the four parameters: Phonetics, Grammar, Speaking and Political vocabulary based on the grades students received during the academic year. The analysis revealed that persistence displays different associations with academic achievement variables in more and less successful students subsamples, the general prominence of this trait is more important for unsuccessful students. Phonetics is the academic achievement variable most associated with persistence due to its nature, a skill one can acquire through hard work and practice which is the definition of persistence. Grammar as an academic achievement variable is not associated with persistence and probably relates to other factors. Unsuccessful students may have difficulties in separating various aspects of language acquisition from each other which should be taken into consideration by the teachers

The New Face of Street Gangs: The Gang Phenomenon in El Salvador

Can a member of a Salvadoran youth gang, locally known as “maras,” leave the gang and start a new life away from crime and violence? To answer this question, the Kimberly Green Latin American and Caribbean Center and the Jack D. Gordon Institute for Public Policy at Florida International University, with the support of the Fundación Nacional para el Desarrollo (FUNDE), conducted a study with Salvadoran gang members and former gang members across the country. The study, which is based on a survey with a combination of a convenience and purposive sample of 1,196 respondents with record of gang membership and 32 in-depth interviews, reveals that desistance from the gang is possible in El Salvador but, in the short-term, it depends on two factors. First, it depends on the individual and active commitment of gang members to abandon gang life and stop partaking in violent activities. Second, it depends on the tacit or explicit consent of the leaders of the gang organization. Hence, in El Salvador, gang desistance—which, according to some authors, is the declining probability of gang membership—involves the acquiescence of the group

Precision Neuronutrition: Personalized Approaches for Optimizing Brain Health

Leveraging advancements in metabolomics and other cutting-edge technologies, precision neuronutrition aims to identify personalized nutrient requirements to optimize brain health outcomes and prevent neurological disorders. The main pathological mechanisms of brain health disruption include neuroinflammation, oxidative stress, gut–brain disturbances and nutrient deficiencies. Recent studies have identified biological markers for all those mechanisms. Precision interventions for maintaining brain health and optimizing outcomes include omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin B12, vitamin D, magnesium, coenzyme q10, polyphenols, l-carnitine, prebiotics and probiotics. Precision neuronutrition offers a promising approach to optimizing brain health through personalized nutrient interventions. Continued research in this field holds great potential for improving brain health outcomes