Stefan Rinke

Alemanha e Brasil, 1870-1945: uma relação entre espaços

Relations between Germany and Brazil were influenced by different spatial orders which co-existed and influenced each other between 1870 and 1945. The article discusses the idea of living in different worlds, and being worlds apart. It argues that the concept of distance changed slowly, but surely, with the rise of modern communication technologies. Hierarchically structured spatial orders of centers and peripheries dominated the relationship in this period. Not only the Germans considered their own space superior, and on a higher level than the Brazilian, many Brazilians of the time agreed with this point of view, but also, since the First World War, were not willing to accept this allegedly natural order of the globe any longer.

Politische Systeme Amerikas: Ein Vergleich

Seit dem 19. Jahrhundert haben einheimische und auswartige Beobachter die Ursachen fur die unterschiedlichen Entwicklungswege der Amerikas gesucht, die dazu fuhrten, dass die Vereinigten Staaten in steigendem Mas als Hort der Demokratie und politischen Stabilitat und dam it auch als das eigentliche „Amerika“ galten, wahrend das „erste Amerika“ (Brading 1991) im Suden als geradezu endemischer Krisenherd und Sinnbild der Instabilitat und des Autoritarismus gesehen wurde. Bereits zur Zeit eines Thomas Jefferson und Simon Bolivar fiel die problematische politische Desintegration Lateinamerikas auf, die im Gegensatz zur Einheit der Vereinigten Staaten zu stehen schien. Daraus hat sich dann in den Interpretationen der Komparatisten von Alexis de Tocqueville bis zur heutigen vergleichenden Geschichts- und Politikwissenschaft die Betonung der gegensatzlichen Entwicklungswege der Amerikas entwickelt, die im Gegensatzpaar von Erfolg und Misserfolg gipfelt, wobei der eine Zustand die Projektionsflache des anderen war und ist. Oft war die Darstellung der lateinamerikanischen historischen Erfahrungen nichts anderes als eine Liste von Defiziten, die vom „Normalfall“ des angloamerikanischen Erfolgsmodells abwichen, was dann nicht selten zur Diagnose eines spezifischen „Morbus Latinus“ fuhrte. Uberspitzt gesagt sei Lateinamerika aufgrund seiner „schlechten Geschichte“ zur Wiederholung verdammt gewesen, wahrend die USA aufgrund ihrer „guten Geschichte“ immer das Neue hatten suchen konnen (Hartz 1955).

Lateinamerika im globalen Wendejahr 1917

Der Krieg, der im August 1914 in Europa begann, hatte sich bereits lange vor 1917 zu einer globalen Konflagration ausgeweitet. Der lateinamerikanische Subkontinent nahm daran durch den Wirtschaftsund Propagandakrieg indirekt teil. Nicht zuletzt der Export seiner kriegswichtigen Rohstoffe, insbesondere des Salpeters, sorgte dafür, dass das Morden im alten Kontinent weitergehen konnte. 1917 wurde aber auch für Lateinamerika zu einem Jahr des Umbruchs, denn mit dem Eintritt der USA in den Krieg änderten sich die Vorzeichen ganz erheblich, kam der Krieg auch direkt in die eigene «Hemisphäre».1

‘Perfidies, Robberies and Cruelties’: Latin America and Napoleon in the Age of Revolutions

In 1809, a pamphlet circulated in the viceroyalty of Peru, a major center of the old, tired Spanish empire in America. As its title promised, it described in detail the ‘perfidies, robberies and cruelties’ that the French Emperor Napoleon had committed since becoming a general of the French Revolution in the 1790s. In the final paragraph of his text the anonymous author prayed that the knowledge of these misdeeds would incense his readers and instil them with the patriotic fervor necessary to take revenge on the infamous Frenchman.1 Reading this example of the many anti-Napoleonic diatribes produced at this time in Latin America, one gets the impression that there had never been a more mortal enemy for the people of Spain and Portugal than the great Corsican, and that the antagonism had been deeply ingrained in the colonial elite from the very beginning of Napoleon’s rise to power.

Trocas intelectuais entre Alemanha e América Latina: entrevista com Stefan Rinke

Current and former students of the Casa de Oswaldo Cruz/Fiocruz interviewed German historian Stefan Rinke, of the Freie Universitat Berlin, who specializes in examining the historical development of Latin America as it fits into the international context. Rinke’s work uses dimensions such as economic and diplomatic relations, migratory flows, and ethnic conflict as tools in his analyses of the networks of interdependence that have tied Latin America to Europe and the USA. His lens goes beyond the Latin American continent to approach globalization as a historical process, with national and regional contexts placed within a general framework. In this interview, Rinke talks about his academic career, global and transnational history, and joint projects between Germany and Latin America.

Rumour Propagation as a Form of Social Control. A Case from Dictatorial Chile

Rumour Propagation as a Form of Social Control. A Case from Dictatorial Chile The following article discusses the role of media and civilian organisations in downplaying the role of rumour propagation in the Chilean dictatorship. After outright repression failed to control popular unrest during the national protests that took place between 1983 and 1984, the military regime attempted to keep people inside their homes by playing on their fears and prejudices. We focus here on an episode that occurred in September 1983, when residents of a working class neighbourhood were led to believe that they would be attacked by the populace of the surrounding area. After the protest was over, the actions of state agents and unknown civilians in propagating the rumour were publicised through the opposition press and widely condemned by relevant national figures. In the end, the effectiveness of this sort of social control by the military government was greatly jeopardised by the existence of relatively strong independent media and civil organisations with considerable resources for gathering and verifying information. In this article, we not only discuss how the rumour was propagated and why it worked, but also consider the question why rumour placement as a policing strategy finally failed to produce its intended effects in the late dictatorial period.