Athenian ostracism has long captured democratic imaginations because it seems to present clear evidence of a people (demos) routinely asserting collective power over tyrannical elites. In recent times, ostracism has been particularly alluring to militant democrats, who see the institution as an ancient precursor to modern militant democratic mechanisms such as social media bans, impeachment measures, and lustration procedures, which serve to protect democratic constitutions from anti-democratic threats. Such a way of conceptualizing ostracism ultimately stems from Aristotle’s “rule of proportion,” (...) or the removal of “outstanding” individuals in a polity who threaten to disturb the achievement of communal eudaimonia (Aris. Pol. 1284a). However, this way of interpreting the institution only presents a truncated view, one which is overly centered on the ultimate expulsion of an individual from the polity, rather than on its broader contextual telos—the transformation of the ostracized individual and of the community. To move past this simplified view, this paper considers all elements of ostracism with equal force, and argues that ostracism offered a shared opportunity and shared space for all members of the polis—citizens, non-citizens, and elite members alike—to reform the character of the subject individual and to instill and reaffirm democratic values in the community. (shrink)

En este artículo se presenta una descripción del sistema fonológico del mapudungun hablado por escolares pehuenches de la VIII Región del Bío-Bío. Este sistema fonológico se compara con el que se presenta en las descripciones fonemáticas existentes del mapudungun en general y de la variante pehuenche en particular. Los colaboradores corresponden a un grupo de 20 escolares de entre 12 y 15 años que cursan 7° y 8° año básico en escuelas rurales adscritas al Programa de Educación Intercultural Bilingüe (PEIB) (...) de la comuna de Alto Bío-Bío. Para la recolección del material fonético-fonológico, se elicitó una lista léxica de 64 ítemes y se solicitó a los niños relatar en mapudungun un cuento mapuche. El marco de referencia escogido para el análisis de los datos fue el método descriptivista norteamericano. Esta presentación finaliza con el resumen de los aspectos prominentes de la fonología descrita, una evaluación de los instrumentos utilizados y dos proyecciones a partir de la investigación realizada. This paper presents a description of the Mapudungun’s phonological system spoken by Pehuenche students from the 8th Bío-Bío region. This phonological system is compared to the one that is present in the phonemic descriptions that exist in Mapudungun in general and in the Pehuenche variant in particular. The participants correspond to a group of 20 seventh and eighth graders whose age ranges between 12 and 15, from rural schools that are part of the Programa de Educación Intercultural Bilingüe (PEIB) in Alto Bío-Bío. For the phonetic and phonological data, a 64 lexical item list was gathered and participants were requested to tell a short story in Mapudungun. The reference framework selected for the data analysis was the North American descriptive method. This paper ends up with tprominent aspects of the described phonology, an evaluation of the utilized instruments and two projections based on the conducted research. (shrink)

En este artículo describiremos la vitalidad del sistema fonológico del mapudungun hablado por escolares pewenches de la Provincia del Biobío, VIII Región. Específicamente, nos hemos propuesto: a) Determinar los fonos/fonemas, y su fonotaxis, que se relevan como indicadores de vitalidad, b) Identificar las transferencias fonético-fonológicas presentes en la fonología del pewenche hablado por estos escolares y c) Interpretar las transferencias encontradas en términos del grado de vitalidad de la fonología de la lengua. La muestra está conformada por un grupo de (...) 20 escolares bilingües de entre 12 y 15 años de edad, que se encuentran cursando 7° y 8° año básico en escuelas rurales pertenecientes a dos comunidades pewenches del valle del Queuco, en la comuna de Alto Biobío. Para la recolección del material fonológico, se aplicó a los participantes una lista léxica de 65 ítems, material que se complementó con la narración oral en mapudungun de un cuento. Según nuestros datos, hemos podido constatar la existencia de una serie de rasgos fónicos en el mapudungun hablado por los escolares pewenches que obedece a la influencia de las estructuras fonológicas del castellano. Sin embargo, el grado y la difusión de los fenómenos de transferencia se desarrollan de manera heterogénea en ambas comunidades en estudio, debido, entre otros factores, a la intensidad del contacto. In this article we will describe the vitality of the phonological system Mapudungun spoken by Pewenche schoolchildren from the Biobío province, VIII Region. We intend: a) To determine the phones/phonemes, and their phonotactics, which are revealed as vitality markers. b) To identify the phonetic-phonological transferences which are present in the Pewenche spoken by these schoolchildren, and, c) To interpret the transferences found in terms of the degree of the language phonological vitality. The sample is composed of 20 bilingual schoolchildren from 12 to 15 years old, who are in 7th and 8th grade in rural primary schools belonging to two Pehuenche comunities from Valle del Queuco, in the city of Alto Biobío. To collect the phonological material, we applied a 64-item lexical list, which was complemented with the oral narration of a tale in Mapudungun. According to our data, we have been able to verify the existence of a series of phonic features in the Mapudungun spoken by Pewenche schoolchildren, which originate because of the influence of the Spanish phonological structure. However, the degree and spread of the transference phenomena develop in a heterogeneous way in both of the studied communities. due to the contact intensity, among other possible factors. (shrink)

This work, in English "Struggle for power, organic crisis and judicial independence", has its origin in research academics of the IAEN carried out to provide expert advise to the Inter American Court of Human Rights in the case Quintana and others (Supreme Court of Justice) vs the State of Ecuador. The research is about the nature of the evolution of the ecuadorian state, the dynamics of its institutions, its players, parties, laws, its factors of instability, the way rights have been (...) deployed since the return to democracy in 1979, those who have benefited from neoliberal democracy and those who have paid the costs, and where in all this was the Supreme Court of Justice. The Introduction takes a look at this origin of the work and its intellectual import, provides a brief characterization of the Inter American Sistem of Human Rights Protection, how the Quintana Case fits within it, and an overview of the chapters and their logic. The first chapter analyzes the institutional and sociological factors that have contributed to Ecuador's historically unstable state, based primarily in an antagonistic struggle for power between the Executive and Legislative branches. The second chapter analyzes the economic and political factors that provoked an organic crisis, or crisis of hegemony, between 1997 and 2007 in Ecuador. The third chapter analyzes the evolution of the way in which judges are selected in Europe, the outcomes they have generated, and how they compare with the ecuadorian systems of judge selection in terms of securing judicial independence. The fourth chapter develops a theory of judicial independence in democracy and analyzes how Ecuador measures up to that standard, from when it became a neoliberal minimal democracy in 1981, to when it became a neoliberal false democracy as a consequence of instalation of a system evidently lacking in the people's support under the guise of the 1998 Constitution and its system of judge selection, and the new democratic horizons set by the 2008 Constitution, and the judicial system that springs from it. (shrink)

Esta investigación presenta los fonemas segmentales y realizaciones alofónicas del mapudungun hablado en Los Álamos, VIII Región del Biobío. Es un estudio de carácter descriptivo, realizado de acuerdo con el formato estándar del descriptivismo norteamericano. Los datos fueron entregados por seis adultos hablantes de las localidades rurales de Pangue y Sara de Lebu. Los instrumentos utilizados fueron dos listas léxicas ad hoc. Luego de presentar el inventario de fonemas y alófonos, este artículo se focaliza en los segmentos de estatus controversial (...) [t̟]/[n̟]/[l̟], [ʃ]/[tʃ], [ɣ], [v]/[f] y [ð]/[θ]. Los principales resultados obtenidos incluyen la ausencia de estatus fonémico de [n̟] y [l̟]; el estatus fonémico de [t̟], [ʃ] y [ɣ]; la tendencia a realizar con sonoridad los segmentos fricativos labiodental e interdental ; y la ocurrencia de algunos segmentos que podrían ser atribuidos de manera plausible a la influencia de la fonología segmental del español. (shrink)