Hellinger on Chavez
10.30.2006Tonight was another Clarke Center lecture at Dickinson. This one was about Venezuela & the problem of "petropolitics". The lecturer was Dan Hellinger, who's written extensively on the subject. Actually, I'm using a book he co-edited w/ Steve Ellner (Venezuelan Politics in the Chavez Era: Class, Polarization, and Conflict) in my Latin American populism course next semester. Before the lecture, I attended a dinner; we had a pleasant conversation.
Continue reading "Hellinger on Chavez"MAS meltdown
10.26.2006Technorati tags: Bolivia politics Evo Morales
MAS — which isn't really a "party" (in the institutionalized sense) but rather a broad coalition of different social movements — seems headed for a meltdown. The latest episode occurred yesterday as masistas battled each other in La Paz yesterday over their pegas ("spoils" jobs).
Continue reading "MAS meltdown"The local Halloween parade
10.25.2006Monday night was a pleasant surprise on our block. For several days, we'd seen "No Parking Monday 5-10pm" signs going up along our street. But we weren't quite sure what these were for. I suspected a parade, but I wasn't quite sure.
We came home from our weekly (and now frigid) soccer pick-up w/ other Dickinson faculty to find that, indeed, there was a parade schedule that evening. So. After a pleasant dinner & some wine, we made our way up to our balcony to watch the Carlisle Halloween Parade. Sadly, we both left our cameras elsewhere (me in my office, K8 in Chicago).
But there were various assorted groups of children in costumes. The younger Saint Patrick School kids were dressed as "smart cookies" & were followed by the middle schoolers who showed their pride by shouting their school colors (green & white) as they made their way down the block. There were local beauty queens (from "little misses" to Miss Cumberland County). There were several marching bands from area high schools. Parades of scouts & brownies, nursery schools & kindergartens, church youth groups, and a host of others. The whole thing lasted at least 40 minutes, all working its way down our street before turning down Hanover (the city's main thoroughfare).
I know J. Edmund & Bay Jo would've heartily approved of such costumed exuberance. And it was certainly fun to watch.
Uruguay, not Bolivia
10.25.2006Technorati tags: Bolivia politics Evo Morales
MABB posted his reaction to the suggestion by (Venezuela's) Chavez that Bolivia should fill the UN Security Council seat. Overall, I agree w/ his assessment: This seems to confirm speculation that Evo is a Chavez pawn. Worst, I think Evo publicly referring to "el Comandante Chavez" suggests a subservient relationship. That's just bad PR.
Continue reading "Uruguay, not Bolivia"The most boring race
10.23.2006A brief blurb about the November elections. Just because I promised. Frankly, I'm not too familiar yet w/ Pennsylvania politics. And so far our home hasn't been heavily targeted one way or the other. But I've got a decent handle on the senatorial contest for November. And I'm not impressed.
Continue reading "The most boring race"Heading into November
10.21.2006Planning a wedding (really, helping to plan a wedding, K8's doing most of the heavy lifting) while finishing a dissertation while teaching a full load of courses is tiring. Wow. But, rewarding, too. Today I drive to the Philadelphia airport to pick K8 up. And yet much of this weekend will be spent grading blue book exams & short papers (topic statements & annotated bibliographies).
At least fall is in the air. I ♥ sweater weather.
Also, it's an election year. More on that later. But I highly recommend picking up the latest issue of Reason. Particularly the series of articles on why "attack ads are good for you" (here's an online version).
Pegas
10.21.2006Technorati tags: Bolivia politics Evo Morales
There's been pressure, recently, on Evo's government to provide pegas ("spoils" jobs) to MAS supporters. Today, it seems, the government agreed. What does this mean? It means two things:
Continue reading "Pegas"Whew
10.17.2006Substantial revisions? Yes. But successfully defended. I'm a step closer to being a full-fledged "doctor" (of political science, not the kind that can "really help you").
Coms were down
10.16.2006My blog was down for a few days. Sorry about that. But I'm in Kalamazoo now, only a few hours away from my dissertation defense. It's already clear that I'll have to make some revisions to the draft. Though that's pretty normal, I do hope they're few in number. Or at least relatively painless.
But it's been a pretty hectic week. There was a documentary about Chile's human rights abuses under Pinochet, followed by a dinner & presentation the next night by the documentary maker. The next evening was an information session w/ students interested in Dickinson's Latin American Studies Certificate. So basically lots of activities on campus. I finally got to pack on Friday, before heading out Saturday morning for the three hour drive to Dulles airport.
Landed in Chicago. A whilrwind evening of drinks & dinner w/ K8's family, before catching a 7:50am train to Kalamazoo. Even if it's only a brief visit, it's a good one. Brunch at Food Dance, chess at Rocket Star, beer (Leinenkugel) at the University Roadhouse.
Now I'm up & awake, puttering around before I head up to campus. I need a quick trip to the library, then sit for a while & prepare for my two hour defense. An hour later, I'm off to the train station. It really is a snap trip.
The start of a long week
10.09.2006The last few days I've been trying to catch up. After finishing my dissertation, I took a day to relax, coast, and celebrate. Then it suddenly realized that the weekend was ending, that I still didn't have my defense presentation ready, that I had an exam to write, and make preparations for my trip back to Kalamazoo. Plus all the daily/weekly duties of teaching. Yikes.
In the meantime, I was keeping up w/ the Bolivia news. Two rival groups of miners got into an armed confrontation, which Evo's government failed to prevent, left a dozen dead. I realize he's not personally to blame for what crazies do on their own time. But accusing both sides of the conflict of being his potential enemies seems ridiculous. Does he think the strategy of his political opponents is to kill each other. Yes, that'll show him! Let's kill each other. Oh, Evo's gonna be so embarrassed by that!
Today La Paz is shut down by a transit strike because the city's mayor (Juan Del Granado) wants to renovate the downtown area to avoid bottlenecks. Yes, I know it's crazy to want to rationalize the street patterns. So now there's a major transit strike in the Andean capital.
Oh, and North Korea has a nuclear weapon. I guess all that diplomacy & negotiation didn't pay off. Let's hope being patient & diplomat works out differently in the Iranian case. We'd hate for them to pursue the exact same strategy under the exact same institutional constraints. Right?
Otherwise, life in Carlisle is settling down. Except for driving. K8 & I failed — twice — to find a restaurant using the Pennsylvania highway system. Which, btw, is an absolute mess. This is not an "explorer-friendly" area. Not at all. You must know exactly where you are going & how to get there. You'd think you could just drive along the highway & find an interesting restaurant. But you are wrong. The highways around Harrisburg are a black hole from which you only escape if you're incredibly lucky.
On Saturday, we drove an hour towards Lancaster. Then an hour back towards Carlisle. Only to end up eating (a very late) lunch at Market Cross. Which is on our block. Sad, isn't it?
But after this week, I should be caught back up. And then I head off to Dulles for a flight to Chicago to catch an Amtrak to Kalamazoo. At least two days in Kalamazoo, w/ familiar places & faces is just what I need.
Oh, but the highlight of the week: Battlestar Galactica is back, baby! And the two-hour season three premier did not disappoint.
Thoughts on the leaked draft constitution
10.04.2006Technorati tags: Bolivia politics Evo Morales
The following is the proposed new constitution (as summarized at Hoybolivia.com). My comments are in [brackets]. You can also look at my outline of the 2004 Constitution.
Continue reading "Thoughts on the leaked draft constitution"Technorati tags: Bolivia politics Evo Morales
No time now (I've class in 20 minutes), but MABB just posted what seems like a legitimate look at what may be Bolivia's new constitution. I'll come back to this after class/lunch & look at it carefully. But at first glance, it looks overly complicated & not likely to be well received. It also begs the question: "Hey, wasn't the constituent assembly supposed to, you know, deliberate on the possible text of the constitution before writing & then voting on it?"
Posted by Miguel at 10:06 AM | Permalink