The doctrine of human rights was concretized after a process of development of more than three centuries after the end of the Second World War and has changed the institutional panorama and the relations between actors at the international level.

The conflict between a liberal economic agenda and a politics of repression appeared throughout the Argentine military dictatorship. Tensions between the junta’s pro-market and political agendas surfaced in various economic policies, such as international trade. During the dictatorship, Argentina increased trade with countries in the Soviet sphere: of the ninety-nine bilateral economic agreements signed between 1976 and 1983, thirty were with Soviet countries, China, or Cuba. Cases such as that of the military dictatorship suggest how domestic politics—especially the politics of human rights—can become intertwined with, opposed, and shaped by economic interests.

The internal competitiveness of the 2013 primary elections (PASO) was very low, indicating that parties/alliances remain far from a political opening that involves citizens in the selection of candidates for general elections. In that regard, with the purpose of evaluating compliance with the objectives of the law which enabled the PASO elections to take place, the following is an index that measures the competitiveness of the primaries this year.

This document seeks to study the UPR corresponding to the Cuban regime, which took place during the fourth working session of the UPR Working Group, in the period February 2nd-13th 2009, and its corresponding context. The focus is comparative between two regions of the world: Latin American governments and European governments.

This document intends to analyze the functioning of the “economic model” in the provinces, reflecting on the political impact which the current economic crisis could have there. The leading argument is that, since the country overtook the 2002 crisis, the provincial governments adopted a pro-cyclic model that is based upon a constant increase of public spending and public sector employment, which will enforce a cutback on expenditures, starting on June 28th.

The most alarming issue within the President’s speech is her conception of economics: “Economics – as you all know - is, precisely, to administer with the disposable resources and the contributions at hand. Always within economy it occurs that what some people receive is taken from others, because the only one who could multiply fish and bread was Jesus Christ, the rest has to make decisions based on the disposable resources.”

Few ideas generated more adhesion and sympathy during the whole 20th century than these of socialism and nation. And nothing else within History triggered off bigger disasters than the attempt to unify both of them to one singular political project.

A lot of “Argentine ideas” have been floated in Serbia of late. As Serbia looks at experiences of other countries, it must realize that the key to growth and development lies in generating the kind of economic competitiveness that allows the country to succeed in the global marketplace. Most importantly, it must realize that there is no global conspiracy led by international fi nancial institutions, and that the blame for failure, as well as praise for success, should be directed towards domestic reformers, rather than anyone else.

This Document is part of a program of activities between the Center for the Opening and Development of Latin America (CADAL) and the Center for Liberal-Democratic Studies (CLDS), with the support of the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE).