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Page 1. HUMAN RIGHTS QUARTERLY The Right to Food and United States Policy in Guatemala Charles D. Brockett Guatemala has been a notorious violator of human rights in recent years. From the gunning down of prominent ...
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... As he elaborates his argument, Tilly writes the richest theoretical chapter concerning the repression/mobilization relationship, providing the reader a good preface to his book on the subject, The Politics of Collective Violence... more
... As he elaborates his argument, Tilly writes the richest theoretical chapter concerning the repression/mobilization relationship, providing the reader a good preface to his book on the subject, The Politics of Collective Violence (Cambridge University Press, 2003). ...
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For approximately the last two-and-a-half decades it has been a stated goal of both Honduran and U.S. policy to improve the welfare of the Honduran people, both directly through the provision of services and indirectly through the... more
For approximately the last two-and-a-half decades it has been a stated goal of both Honduran and U.S. policy to improve the welfare of the Honduran people, both directly through the provision of services and indirectly through the promotion of economic development. The need is great; Honduras has the lowest per capita GNP in Central America ($660 in 1984) and the highest population growth rate (3.4%). It also has the second highest percentage of its population living in rural areas (61%). Consequently, rural development has been a primary concern of development programs.
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Widespread malnutrition persists in Guatemala despite substantial economic growth since 1960. Indeed, there was a deterioration in the living standards of many (for example, the Indians in the Western highlands) even prior to the... more
Widespread malnutrition persists in Guatemala despite substantial economic growth since 1960. Indeed, there was a deterioration in the living standards of many (for example, the Indians in the Western highlands) even prior to the destruction caused by the government's pacification campaigns of the early 1980s. Chronic and widespread malnutrition has not been the result of just “natural causes”; to the contrary, it is the intent of this study to document that Guatemala's extraordinarily high level of malnutrition is the result of structural transformations and public policy, as well as demographics.This argument has been documented best, in a Central American context, by two excellent works on El Salvador. Durham (1979: 21-51) presented a thorough analysis that demonstrates that land scarcity has not been primarily the result of a high rate of population growth (although that certainly contributes) but, instead, of increasing land concentration.
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Many people [in Guatemala] did begin to join the guerrillas, while many more were sympathetic or quietly supportive. The guerrillas are the only remaining source of defense left to a community or family. I know of villages that... more
Many people [in Guatemala] did begin to join the guerrillas, while many more were sympathetic or quietly supportive. The guerrillas are the only remaining source of defense left to a community or family. I know of villages that experienced actual massacres against innocentcampesinos, who were not even members of coops. The survivors of these massacres would often turn to the guerrillas. With all their anger about the murders of their kin and neighbors, there was nowhere else to turn.—quoted in S. Davis and J. Hodson,Witnesses to Political Violence in GuatemalaCentral american events of recent decades show human behavior at both its most courageous and its most barbaric. The opposing phenomena of popular mobilization and state terrorism pose some of the most profound questions that can be asked by social science. How can we explain the willingness of political elites and their agents to slay thousands—tens of thousands—of their fellow human beings, even when their victims are unarmed? Conversely, how do we account for ordinary people undertaking collective action under circumstances so dangerous that even their lives are at risk?
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AGRIS record. Record number, US8921294. Titles, Agrarian reform in reverse: the food crisis in the Third World. Personal Authors, Yesilada, Birol A.,Brockett, Charles D.,Drury, Bruce. Publisher, Westview Press. Publisher Place, Boulder... more
AGRIS record. Record number, US8921294. Titles, Agrarian reform in reverse: the food crisis in the Third World. Personal Authors, Yesilada, Birol A.,Brockett, Charles D.,Drury, Bruce. Publisher, Westview Press. Publisher Place, Boulder (USA). Publication Date, 1987. AGRIS Subj ...
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Abstract:Privately owned lands adjacent or close to publically protected lands of great ecological value are widely recognized as playing a crucial role in either protecting or degrading those lands. This buffer role is especially... more
Abstract:Privately owned lands adjacent or close to publically protected lands of great ecological value are widely recognized as playing a crucial role in either protecting or degrading those lands. This buffer role is especially important for the Reserva Forestal Golfo Dulce (RFGD) on Costa Rica’s Osa Peninsula, which connects two national parks, one of which (Corcovado) is often referred to as the “crown jewel” of the country’s park system. We have obtained the results of a recent land use survey of parcel owners along with related geocoded data for all parcels in the northern half of the RFGD and many in the southern half. The paper explores the factors that drive the spatial pattern of deforestation in the forest reserve buffering the two parks and examines how institutional complexity influences deforestation there. It concludes that overlapping institutional jurisdiction in two sub-regions of the reserve does affect their rate of deforestation.
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Review of Enrique Desmond Arias and Daniel M. Goldstein's Violent Democracies in Latin America .
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Violence has plagued Latin America for centuries and, accordingly, has long been central to its academic study. Violent Democracies in Latin America seeks to make a significant contribution to our understanding of the region by not just... more
Violence has plagued Latin America for centuries and, accordingly, has long been central to its academic study. Violent Democracies in Latin America seeks to make a significant contribution to our understanding of the region by not just analyzing the perpetuation of violence among consolidating democracies but more importantly by proposing theoretical explanations for its perplexing continuation-and in some countries even increase-alongside the region's democratization. This is an edited volume with many of its chapters drawn from papers first presented at conferences in 2004 and 2006. The case
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This study analyzes whether Guatemalan success with the kingpin decapitation strategy of bringing major drug traffickers to justice has accomplished its greater objectives of reducing cocaine trafficking and drug-related violence. The... more
This study analyzes whether Guatemalan success with the kingpin decapitation strategy of bringing major drug traffickers to justice has accomplished its greater objectives of reducing cocaine trafficking and drug-related violence. The analysis finds little evidence of success for the first objective in Guatemala but notable success for the second. One of the few studies to examine the application of this strategy outside Mexico and Colombia, its findings are interpreted in light of their contrasting experiences. The article provides an overview of drug trafficking in Guatemala and concise studies of two of its most important organizations targeted by the kingpin strategy.
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... and Juvenal Valerio, to mean "the cultivation and exploitation of timber and non-timber forest resources for ... landholders might still choose to sell out after high-grading the forest (removing only ... both example and... more
... and Juvenal Valerio, to mean "the cultivation and exploitation of timber and non-timber forest resources for ... landholders might still choose to sell out after high-grading the forest (removing only ... both example and extension services, the supply of timber and nontimber goods will ...
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... cooperative management strategies among landowners under the guidance of state officials in areas where these efforts could have impor-tant implications for biodiversity con-servation at the landscape lvel. ... Managing natural... more
... cooperative management strategies among landowners under the guidance of state officials in areas where these efforts could have impor-tant implications for biodiversity con-servation at the landscape lvel. ... Managing natural resources: A plan-ning guide j3r Franklin County. ...
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Friendly relations between the United States and Costa Rica were strained during the early 1970s as the latter sought the recall of the US ambassador and CIA station chief amidst rumours of coup plots against influential social democratic... more
Friendly relations between the United States and Costa Rica were strained during the early 1970s as the latter sought the recall of the US ambassador and CIA station chief amidst rumours of coup plots against influential social democratic president José Figueres. Figueres’s efforts to normalise relations with the Soviet bloc while legalising the Communist Party at home provided the broader context. Secret US intelligence about a pact between Figueres, local communists, and the Soviet Union drove the conflict. Drawing on declassified US documents, this study seeks the right balance between Latin American agency and US hegemony during the Cold War.
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The value of cross-national quantitative studies of the relationship between mass political violence and land inequality is challenged along three lines. First, gross and systematic errors in the political violence data of the World... more
The value of cross-national quantitative studies of the relationship between mass political violence and land inequality is challenged along three lines. First, gross and systematic errors in the political violence data of the World Handbook of Political and Social Indicators (the usual data source for empirical studies) render them worthless for Central America at least and probably much of the Third World as well. Second, conceptualizations of land inequality have been too simplistic to be of much theoretical value. Third, the temporal nature of this relationship has been inadequately considered. Responding to such deficiencies, I elaborate a broader understanding of land inequality and provide a fuller discussion of the temporal nature of its relationship to political violence. Throughout, the five nations of Central America are utilized for appropriate case material.
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The Osa Peninsula and its Golfo Dulce Forest Reserve, which contain the largest remaining forest on Costa Rica's Pacific coast, currently experience great pressures from smallholders clearing for agriculture and gold mining. The paper... more
The Osa Peninsula and its Golfo Dulce Forest Reserve, which contain the largest remaining forest on Costa Rica's Pacific coast, currently experience great pressures from smallholders clearing for agriculture and gold mining. The paper compares the sustainability of Costa Rjca's current model of extensive government intervention on the Osa, combined with natural forest management, to a proposed relatively free-market approach also promoting the same package of technological change and industrial promotion. Concluding that the current approach fails to promote sustainable development, the authors propose an alternative free-market-oriented approach that, while not without its own risk, represents a much more feasible and, therefore, potentially more successful approach to the country's deforestation problems. The authors point out that it might not be possible to provide a sustainable income on the Osa for all the residents of the peninsula and to maintain secondary forest cover at the same time. Policymakers must be clear about what they want to sustain, who receives the benefits, and who bears the costs of their sustainable development efforts.
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This study evaluates the impact of state policies on forest cover in Costa Rica, focusing on the influence of public policies on private incentives for preserving forest cover. Three periods are analyzed: the "laissez-faire period" when... more
This study evaluates the impact of state policies on forest cover in Costa Rica, focusing on the influence of public policies on private incentives for preserving forest cover. Three periods are analyzed: the "laissez-faire period" when high rates of deforestation were largely unrestrained; the "interventionist period" when state policies created protection for some wildlands, especially with the creation of parks and reserves, but when many regulatory policies produced mixed results at best; and the current "hybrid period" featuring major policy changes and mixing market-oriented and interventionist approaches but not always in a coherent design. Despite significant successes, current policies appear unlikely to provide sufficient incentive to maintain the desired amount of forest cover unless the international community compensates Costa Ricans for the benefits that their forests provide the world.
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The differing perspectives and actions of US government, business and labour towards the Guatemalan government and Guatemalan trade unionists themselves in the half-decade or so following the overthrow of the Arbenz administration in 1954... more
The differing perspectives and actions of US government, business and labour towards the Guatemalan government and Guatemalan trade unionists themselves in the half-decade or so following the overthrow of the Arbenz administration in 1954 are the focus of this study. Few areas were more important to the US project for Guatemala following the Castillo Armas invasion than helping the Guatemalans to create a ‘free’ and ‘democratic’ labour movement – and few areas would prove more frustrating. Part of the problem was the intransigent stance of Guatemalan elites. An additional challenge was strong opposition from the major US-based companies operating in Guatemala, most notably the United Fruit Company and its affiliates. This work contests interpretations that regard US policy towards countries like Guatemala at the time as simply beholden to business interests or as seeking domination. Rather, as Washington's interest in the transition diminished, officials in the US embassy and representatives of US labour in Guatemala were left isolated, unable to fulfil their vision for a democratic labour movement in the teeth of such opposition.
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Based primarily on declassified U. S. government documents, this study analyzes the U. S. effort to build a “showcase for democracy” in Guatemala following the U. S.-engineered regime change of 1954. The effort was doomed, for the U.S.... more
Based primarily on declassified U. S. government documents, this study analyzes the U. S. effort to build a “showcase for democracy” in Guatemala following the U. S.-engineered regime change of 1954. The effort was doomed, for the U.S. government lacked both unity of purpose and the necessary continuous commitment at the top. The documents
also demonstrate limited consideration of the sociopolitical constraints that U. S. policy objectives would face. This is clear from examining three key U. S. objectives: to eliminate the “communist threat”; to create a stable, legitimate, democratic government; and to develop a free, independent labor movement. Domination and the limits of power are equally central to understanding the relationship between the Eisenhower administration and Guatemala, a case study that also has more general utility.
also demonstrate limited consideration of the sociopolitical constraints that U. S. policy objectives would face. This is clear from examining three key U. S. objectives: to eliminate the “communist threat”; to create a stable, legitimate, democratic government; and to develop a free, independent labor movement. Domination and the limits of power are equally central to understanding the relationship between the Eisenhower administration and Guatemala, a case study that also has more general utility.
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This study analyzes whether Guatemalan success with the kingpin decapitation strategy of bringing major drug traffickers to justice has accomplished its greater objectives of reducing cocaine trafficking and drug-related violence. The... more
This study analyzes whether Guatemalan success with the kingpin decapitation strategy of bringing major drug traffickers to justice has accomplished its greater objectives of reducing cocaine trafficking and drug-related violence. The analysis finds little evidence of success for the first objective in Guatemala but notable success for the second. One of the few studies to examine the application of this strategy outside Mexico and Colombia, its findings are interpreted in light of their contrasting experiences. The article provides an overview of drug trafficking in Guatemala and concise studies of two of its most important organizations targeted by the kingpin strategy.
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Sharing the Burden of Repair: Reentry After Mass Incarceration A Wising Up Listening Project Heather Tosteson and Charles D. Brockett This book describes a six-year listening project on reentry that took place at the crest of... more
Sharing the Burden of Repair:
Reentry After Mass Incarceration
A Wising Up Listening Project
Heather Tosteson and Charles D. Brockett
This book describes a six-year listening project on reentry that took place at the crest of an unusual wave of bipartisan criminal justice reform in Georgia, one of our most punishing states. Its primary intended audience is common citizens, like us, concerned about the reality of mass incarceration but unsure how to engage. Its aim is to expand, individual story by individual story, our understanding of the importance of successful reentry after an age of mass incarceration and help us take on those difficult questions: Where and how do we fit in? What can we change?
We listened to over 200 people: formerly incarcerated men and women, families, defense lawyers, activists, employers, chaplains, juvenile courts and justice officials, diversion courts, prosecutors, judges, community supervision officers, commissioners of corrections and community corrections, and legislators involved with criminal justice reform. We heard stories people within our adversarial criminal justice system rarely share directly with one another, each with a wisdom to it that we all need.
By bringing them together here, we hope that new stories—more complex, compassionate, inclusive ones—can come into being, stories that acknowledge the lasting harms of both mass incarceration and crime and our capacities for remorse and change as individuals and as a society.
Reentry After Mass Incarceration
A Wising Up Listening Project
Heather Tosteson and Charles D. Brockett
This book describes a six-year listening project on reentry that took place at the crest of an unusual wave of bipartisan criminal justice reform in Georgia, one of our most punishing states. Its primary intended audience is common citizens, like us, concerned about the reality of mass incarceration but unsure how to engage. Its aim is to expand, individual story by individual story, our understanding of the importance of successful reentry after an age of mass incarceration and help us take on those difficult questions: Where and how do we fit in? What can we change?
We listened to over 200 people: formerly incarcerated men and women, families, defense lawyers, activists, employers, chaplains, juvenile courts and justice officials, diversion courts, prosecutors, judges, community supervision officers, commissioners of corrections and community corrections, and legislators involved with criminal justice reform. We heard stories people within our adversarial criminal justice system rarely share directly with one another, each with a wisdom to it that we all need.
By bringing them together here, we hope that new stories—more complex, compassionate, inclusive ones—can come into being, stories that acknowledge the lasting harms of both mass incarceration and crime and our capacities for remorse and change as individuals and as a society.
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This ebook meant for the common citizen portrays trends in public opinion about immigration in 21 easily read graphs, many of which extend into late 2019 and some through 2020. This report also relates these trends in public opinion to... more
This ebook meant for the common citizen portrays trends in public opinion about immigration in 21 easily read graphs, many of which extend into late 2019 and some through 2020. This report also relates these trends in public opinion to their broader context, such as the successful immigration reforms of 1965 and 1986 and the failures during the administrations of George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Donald Trump. The often sharp differences between Democrats and Republicans that are portrayed through the report highlight the difficulties that face compromise in this area. Will President Biden succeed where his last three predecessors failed? Certainly it will be a big challenge, but it can be done if we let the public show the way.