Bernd Reiter

Fighting exclusion with culture and art Examples from Brazil

English This article demonstrates that artistic activity is an important tool for deepening democracy, because it provides a vehicle for the excluded to reach the public sphere, thus making it more heterogeneous. As artists, they become active citizens and step out of the invisibility into which racism and exclusion has forced them. French Cet article montre que l’activité artistique est un important outil d’enracinement de la démocratie, parce qu’elle offre aux exclus un moyen de joindre la sphère publique, la rendant ainsi plus hétérogène. En qualité d’artistes, les exclus deviennent des citoyens actifs et ils émergent de l’invisibilité où le racisme et l’exclusion les avaient confinés. Spanish Este artículo demuestra que la actividad artística es una herramienta importante para la profundización de la democracia porque la expresión artística constituye un vehículo para que los excluidos lleguen a la esfera pública, con lo que ésta se enriquece y se hace más heterogénea. Como artistas, se convierten en ciudadanos activos y salen de la invisibilidad a la que el racismo y la exclusión los ha empujado.

The perils of empire: nationhood and citizenship in Portugal

After the demise of the Portuguese empire and even more after joining the European Union, the Portuguese state redefined the borders of national belonging. The shift was one from a multi-continental nation, which included parts of Africa, to a more restricted definition of nationhood, one that stressed Portugals connection to Europe and thus defined belonging by descent. This article, based on research conducted in Lisbon, Portugal in 2003, discusses the impact of this shift on Portuguese citizens of ethnically diverse backgrounds. The Portuguese state, media, academia, and civil society are all involved in constructing, disseminating, and hence consolidating a notion of nationhood that treats ethnically diverse minorities as foreigners, placing them outside the national community. Not producing or disseminating information on ethnic minorities, the Portuguese academia, media, and the state are all actively involved in reproducing a process that perpetuates exclusion and obstructs the construction of political alliances to confront widespread discrimination.

Portugal: National Pride and Imperial Neurosis

Portugal’s journey, from a minor colonising power to a member of the European Union, transformed its sense of national belonging and citizenship. African colonial possessions, which under the Salazar-Caetano regime had been formally incorporated into the nation as a ruse to offset international criticism of Portugal’s prolonged imperialism, were later disavowed, along with those Africans who had become Portuguese citizens under the earlier arrangement. As a result, Portugal has failed to recognise the existence within its borders of a black community, its history and its exclusion, which continues to the present day.

The Limits of Popular Participation in Salvador, Brazil

This article focuses on the changing nature of state-society interactions in the state of Bahia, Brazil and on the factors that condition democratic participation. During several research trips, conducted between 2001 and 2006, I collected data on participatory budgeting and on participatory urban planning in the city of Salvador. I was therefore able to compare two thematic sites where local states interacted with society in general, and with civil society speci?cally. In both cases, I found a very wide gap between the de jure mandate of citizen participation and the de facto state of affairs. The examined empirical cases point to some of the conditionalities of democratic participation at the local level. The existence of this gap between law and reality can, in part, be explained by the continued importance of ‘Carlismo’ as a way of doing local politics in Bahia and therefore, to the persistence of local political regimes persisting despite changes in political leadership.

Civil Society and Democracy: Weimar Reconsidered

This article argues that such authors as Sheri Berman and Ariel Armony have overstated the importance of the state when explaining the relationship between civil society and democracy. They have done so because no theoretical framework is currently available to assess civil societys democratic potential, which led them to focus rather on the state as the central explanans. Furthermore, Bermans incorrect interpretation of Weimars civic organizing led her to draw erroneous conclusions about civil society in general. This article seeks to correct this view on Weimars civil society and offers a theoretical framework able to capture the relationship between civil society and democracy by focusing on civil societys internal diversity and the quality of democratic representation and procedure.

What’s New in Brazil’s New Social Movements?

The concept of “new social movements,” characterized by a focus on identity, cannot readily be transferred to a Latin American context. Latin America never experienced the postmaterialist turn that led some to call certain European social movements “new.” In addition, as the case of black organizing in Brazil demonstrates, identity-based Latin American social movements are much older than the literature suggests. What was indeed a Latin American novelty of the 1980s was the massive emergence of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). In the case of Brazil, these organizations emerged in response to new financial opportunities provided by international donors and the coercive and paternalistic actions of states, a reality that the concept of new social movements is unable to capture. Both the long history of identity-based organizing and the emergence of NGOs can be explained by focusing on political opportunities and changing protest repertoires.

The Importance of Inclusion Policies for the Promotion of Development in Brazil and Colombia

This article argues that investment in social inclusion policies is an economically efficient option for developing countries. It analyzes different social inclusion policies, particularly those practiced in Brazil and Colombia, as they demonstrate, among other things, the racial dimension of exclusion and the corresponding economic contribution of race-based social inclusion policies to sustained economic growth and development. These cases also demonstrate that educational policies are central to social inclusion programs, because they render the highest economic medium and long-term return. Evidence supporting this argument comes from Conditional Cash Transfers (CCTs), a Brazilian social policy that has become a landmark in social policy, as well as from Brazil’s Affirmative Action (AA) policies.

Microfinance in Ghana: An Exploratory Case Study

This article presents the findings from a 5-week exploratory research project on micro-finance in Ghana. The aim of this project was to develop initial hypotheses that can be tested in a follow-up systematic research project. Our preliminary findings are that informality is a major roadblock to successful lending; that lenders redirect loans to other, non-explicit needs and wants thus indicating a different set of priorities than the lenders; and that the most successful component of microfinance is not lending, but saving. We also found that gender and religion constitute important factors interfering with and potentially distorting successful microfinance practices.

Transferencias Condicionales y Políticas de Acción Afirmativa en Latinoamérica: La Diferencia que Políticas de Inclusión pueden hacer

El termino “desierto alimentario” son a aquellas areas que se caracterizan por la escasez o ausencia de comercios de alimentacion. Los primeros estudios localizaron tales areas en los barrios socialmente desfavorecidos de las ciudades, cuyo limitado acceso a los supermercados condicionaria la dieta y la salud de sus residentes. Sin embargo, estas afirmaciones no han estado exentas de polemica. El objetivo de este trabajo es realizar una aproximacion teorica al concepto de “desierto alimentario”. Para ello, en primer lugar, se definen que son y cuales han sido las principales aportaciones a su estudio. En segundo lugar, se exponen las criticas y el debate que han surgido en los ultimos anos en diferentes paises. Las conclusiones muestran la complejidad del estudio del acceso a la alimentacion debido a los multiples factores que intervienen en la oferta y el consumo alimentario.Resumen Despues de que en 1995 la Union Europea comenzara las negociaciones para un acuerdo de asociacion con el mercosur , finalmente, ha sido el proceso de integracion centroamericano el primero en consensuar un acuerdo historico con el bloque europeo, que se constituye en el primer pacto inter-regional de la historia, que engloba tres pilares: el dialogo politico, el comercial y de inversiones y la cooperacion para el desarrollo. Se trata de un acuerdo que no deja indiferente a nadie, no solo por sus diferencias con el rd - cafta , sino por la apertura a nuevos mercados que satisfacen las necesidades de unos, mientras empeoran los problemas de otros. Sin duda, servira de modelo para los convenios sucesivos entre la Union Europea y el mercosur , la Comunidad, la asean o el ccgResumen El articulo presenta una reflexion acerca de las decisiones tomadas en relacion con la politica y la economia de Irak desde el momento de la invasion de Estados Unidos y el Reino Unido. Mas alla de centrarse en la discusion sobre la legitimidad de la invasion, se presenta un debate sobre las consecuencias que las contradicciones en las decisiones tomadas y la ausencia de una estrategia economica, social y politica han ocasionado en el pais. Se ponen de manifiesto los actores, intereses, relaciones de poder y decisiones tomadas en diferentes momentos del llamado proceso de transicion que se pone en cuestion. Abstract The article deals with a reflection about the decisions taken in relation to Iraq politics and economy from the moment of USA and United Kingdom invasion. Beyond focusing on the discussion about the legitimacy of the invasion, a debate is presented about the consequences originated by the contradictions in the decisions taken and the absence of a political, social and economic strategy. Actors, concerns, power relationships and decisions taken in different moments of the so called transition process that is questioned, Guerra, sociedad civil, politica internacional.come into scene.RESUMEN Los principales aciertos y desaciertos del programa de becas ALBAN son considerados, en este articulo, como representativos de la dinamica de cooperacion entre la Union Europea y America Latina. Sobre esta base, se analizan de forma sintetica, sus resultados mas importantes. Siendo asi, el presente articulo pretende contribuir con el diseno de instrumentos mas eficaces de cooperacion que dinamicen las relaciones entre estas dos regiones durante el periodo 2014-2020.Social protest is characterized by coordinated efforts and new organization red performance that emphasized cultural codes and communitarian roles. Theses mobilization and organization forms call attention of mass media, people in general and stimulating academic thinking with different approaches as well as new social movements (NSM). Different forms social organization has been presence in last decade in Tandil city, Argentina. Protest related with environmental effect mine’s activity, or actions against polluted activities, and so on. Particularly, we characterized water’s fight process a local level since historiography and documental information. This allowed us detecting conceptual analogy with similar process globally called new social movements.

Framing Non-Whites and Producing Second-Class Citizens in France and Portugal

The quality of contemporary democracies hinges on the breadth and depth of the citizenship regimes on which democracy ultimately rests. This article argues that, to assess citizenship, two important dimensions are of crucial interest, namely to what extent formal citizens are able to live and practice substantive citizenship roles and, secondly, how access to citizenship rights is used by different societal groups in order to defend privilege. Having conducted a comparative case study of Portugal and France, I then argue that political elites are contributing to a framing of non-whites as foreigners and immigrants because it serves their purpose and that of the majority of their electorate. I also demonstrate how academia contributes to this framing, as many scholars seem unable to free themselves from biased academic traditions, some of which are clearly racist.