Rewrite Part 2

1. As a member of a delegation of the United Nations visiting El Salvador, you have to write

a report evaluating the peace process. Your report must address the following points: a)

what are the main historical stages and who are the main actors (national and

international) of the peace process, b) what are the most important agreements (mention

as many as you can), c) how would you evaluate the results of the peace process.

The peace process at El Salvador has political, social and economic significance as it is going to

play a great role in ending the prolonged civil war, in fact, this agreement is beyond just achieving the

cease-fire between two parties. This peace accord is considered as the most important part of the

negotiation process that has just entered the final phase of signing the Geneva Accord in April 1990.

The objectives of that accord are to end the armed conflict using the political means, promote the

democratization, raise the importance of human rights and let the Salvadoran society become reunited.

The peace accord states that sustained economic and social development is the prerequisite for the

democratic reunification of the Salvadoran society. A set of agreements is needed with minimum

commitments to end the conflict and promote the development of the population. The government of

El-Salvador and Frente Farabundo Marti de Liberacion National (FMLN) signed the peace accord

referred by United Nation (UN) in January 1992. In 1994 the guerrilla forces of FMLN for the first

time took part in elections. (CRUZ, 2003)

what are the main historical stages

National and International Actors in Peace Process

The international actors of this peace process included. international organizational such as UN

Security Council, the UN general assembly. Domestic includes representatives of the Salvadoran

government, the rebel movement FMLN, and political parties, with observers from the Roman Catholic

Church and United Nations. endorsed the document. The presidents of some other countries like

Uruguay, Peru, Argentina, and Brazil create Support group or Lima group to participate in the peace

process. The national actors of this peace process include civil society organizations such as Catholic

Church, universities and trade unions etc. These national actors lobbied the government, armed forces

and the international community to support the peace accord. Moreover, the labor organizations, trade

unions, indigenous groups, human rights organizations, cooperatives, women’s groups and other small

and medium enterprises support the peace process. (Stahler-Sholk, 1994)

some of the most important agreements are

(1) human rights, with an international Truth Commission to investigate and redress the abuses of the

past 12 years; (2) demilitarization, relinquishing of arms by the FMLN as well as reform and

reduction of the armed forces; The National Guard and Treasury Police, previously attached to the

armed forces, were to be dissolved, along with the special counter-insurgency battalions, and the total

size of the military/ security forces was to be reduced: from about 55,000 to 31,000. The military was

to be clearly subordinated to civilian control, and its role strictly limited to national defense. (3) police

reform, replacing the old police and security apparatus with a new Civilian National Police; nternal

security was to be clearly separated from the military. Reforming the police reform was a most

important part of the Salvadoran transition because (1) elimination of the former PN represented a

dismantling of the counter-insurgency state, (2) the new PNC would represent, and provide a graphic

symbol of, the ascendancy of civilian over military rule, and (3) more concretely, the PNC would

provide the best guarantee of security for the demobilized former FMLN guerrilla troops. (4) judicial

reform, which would overhaul the Supreme Court and establish a Human Rights Ombudsman office. It

would establishing a new National Council on the Judiciary, which would have more independence

from the Supreme Court. The Council was supposed to assume the task of naming judges to the lower

courts, previously a function of the Supreme Court. The Council would also be empowered to submit

nominations for the Supreme Court (half of them proposed by Salvadoran bar associations). (5) land

reform, The fifth area under consideration, which was perhaps the most complex , involved land

ownership and other socioeconomic issues. The inequality of land distribution was a central factor that

contributed to the polarization of Salvadoran society and served as one of the underlying causes in its

long-drawn-out armed conflict. The accords called for implementing agrarian reform provisions,

already in existence, that committed the government to transfer properties exceeding 245 hectares to

the landless, on favorable credit terms, along with other national lands or lands voluntarily sold to the

state Land Bank.

how would you evaluate the results of the peace process.

How I would evaluate the peace process, is one that has not been effective. This is due to El Salvador

not living in peace despite the end of the war and some progress in the fight against crime. Social and

economic equality has not improved despite—or, in fact, because of—structural adjustment programs.

And reunification has not taken place despite the rhetoric about a new country. Instead, in some ways

Salvadoran society is more fragmented now than before.

Question 4:

1. What have been the changes and continuities since the transition to democracy in El

Salvador until the present? Please take into consideration political, judicial, military,

economic and social factors.

There have been several changes and continuities since the transition to democracy in El

Salvador. Among the most notable changes the country has since experienced are the FMLN’s

conversion into a political party and its electoral participation, judicial reforms, demilitarization, the

abolition of the old security forces, and the creation of a new Policia Nacional Civil (PNC). Civil

society enjoys greater freedom of expression than before, and declining poverty rates point to

apparently greater prosperity. Despite these appreciable advances El Salvador’s democracy remains

weak and exhibits important continuities with past practices. Neoliberal policies intensified economic

inequalities, and poverty reduction is chiefly attributable to out-migration and remittances. Social

exclusion remains pervasive and feeds the country’s gang problem. Deficient investigative procedures

permit high levels of impunity, and PNC members have been implicated in criminal activities, human

rights violations, the torture of detainees, and death squads. 5 The homicide rate has reached such

alarming levels that El Salvador now ranks among the most violent nations in Latin America. Much

has changed since the conflict of the 1980s, and winning control of the state is different today than it

would have been a quarter of a century ago. El Salvador has become a vibrant democracy, with a

reasonably strong set of political institutions and a political culture that places the rule of law above

both charismatic individuals and favored political parties. A wide variety of institutions serves as a

check on ambitious proposals for change, even those that emerge from the president’s office. Moreover,

the economy of the country has evolved in ways that make it decidedly less susceptible to political

control—and thus to politically driven changes. El Salvador, has two political par-ties that are truly

institutionalized, with both the leaders and rank and file committed to the welfare of their country.

Moreover, El Salvador’s business community is well integrated into politics—overwhelmingly through

its ties to Arena—and is engaged in entrepreneurial activities (as opposed to rent-seeking behavior). In

terms of economic, its structure was reshaped during the civil war while in 1992 the GDP reaches to

over 36 percent which was 20-25 percent before the war. Nonetheless, a negotiated peace settlement

not only ended the civil war in1992 but brought democratizing reforms to the regime and state,

culminating in the country’s first inclusive elections in 1994. Since then, political competition has

increased as the guerrilla movement gradually solidified its new identity’s a political party, winning

control of 28 percent of the country, municipalities and becoming the leading party in the national

legislature in the 2000 elections. The required reforms to military, police, judicial, and electoral

institutions have been carried out to a significant degree. And in some areas of the countryside, an

unprecedented civil society actively pursues campesino interests. In short, political democracy appears

alive (if not at all healthy) in El Salvador. Moreover, voter turnout in elections since the founding 1994

elections has been low and decreasing. Before the war, the country was governed by political parties

controlled by the military that came to power through noncompetitive electoral process in which wither

other parties could not compete or it they did, they were not allowed to win. In contrast after the war,

the electoral process was very competitive locally as well as nationally, there were no ideological

constriction on political party formation and the police force was separate from the military. Elite

compromise occurred because the changes in the political econmy of the country lessen the elite

depensdance on coercive labor institution and because the elite political leader had learned they could

compete well in elections. A major change was the withdrawal of the military from politics and the

inclusion of the political left in the democratic political competition for electoral offices. Democratic

values such as political tolerance and support for the democratic system. The degree of electoral

competition is increasing at the nation and the municipal levels. The short coming are low and

declining rates of voting, institutional weakness that appears to undermined the value of democracy to

the ordinary people, extraordinarily high rates of crime. Advances in ideological pluralism and

political tolerance, declining rates of poverty m increasing political competitions and the gradual

strengthening of the new institutions founded by the peace agreement.

historically, El Salvador has had a mono-export economy, and the good was always a commodity. In

the colonial era, it was indigo for producing blue dye. With the advent of synthetic dyes, El Salvador

came to depend on coffee. In the early twentieth century, coffee accounted for 90 percent of the

country’s export earnings. Today, Salvadorans lament that all the country has is “Salvadorans”—that is,

labor. The country’s most important source of foreign exchange, by far, is remittances—money sent

home by relatives living abroad, washing dishes in Los Angeles, cleaning offices in Maryland, and the

like. El Salvador receives close to $4 billion a year in remittance

Question 7:

Patricio Aylwin claimed that “Chile enjoys a democratic system to the extent possible.” Do you

agree or disagree with this statement? Please provide support your argument with facts. In this

essay, you will have to analyze the (positive and/or negative) characteristics of the Chilean

democracy (from 1990 until the present.) In answering this question, you should read Patricio

Navia’s article.

Yes, I agree with Patricio Aylwin’s statement that Chile was enjoying a democratic system to the extent

possible. Today, democracy in Chile is more consolidated and inclusive than ever before. The 4 times

elected Concertación governments have helped heal social and political

problem of the past. It has also been in charge of the most successful period of growth and progress

in the nation’s history. The defeat of Pinochet in 1988 opened the road toward democracy. Chile enjoys

a democratic system to the extent possible in so many unimaginable ways. Considering their history of

military dictatorship, the 1973 coup de tat and Pinochet’s acts of dictatorship have remained a defining

moment in Chile, the Concertación of governments that have been in place since the formation of the

constitution have made commendable steps in retaining, maintaining, improving and amending the

constitution to date. This has made tremendous positive changes in social, political and economic

aspects of Chile hence aiding democratic process. Checks and balances designed by institutional

system created a sense of security that those who would succeed in power the Constitution would have

a chance to protect private property and solidify a neoliberal economic model. The Concertación

proved that democracy would not inevitably lead to polarization and social upheaval. After twenty

years in power, the Concertación has done well bringing about economic growth, reducing inflation,

and producing the conditions for more and better employment. Chileans living in poverty decreased

from 38.6 percent in 1990 to27.7 percent in 1994. Democracy under the Concertación has

resulted in increased welfare, better living conditions for all, less poverty. While, Chile’s results have

been much better in reducing poverty

than fighting inequality, Concertación governments successfully combined a market-friendly economic

model with a strong emphasis on poverty-alleviating programs more social and political inclusion, and

growing levels of participation. Indicators of civil and political liberties have also shown robust results

since the restoration of democracy.

On the human rights front, The Concertación government sought to secure Pinochet’s return and use

the arrest to improve on the insuff cient progress that had been made to right

the wrongs of the past. He was tried, he was never sentenced for human rights violations

Frei started round table talks with the military and human-rights victims that produced a report that

built on the signifcant progress. President Lagos also launched initiatives to advance transitional justice

and reparation. The Valech Commission on Torture investigated human rights violations that did not

result in deaths. Most recently, President Bachelet, actively participated in symbolic acts of reparation.

Chile has experienced signifcant progress in protection of civil rights. The Freedom House Index of

Civil Liberties shows that restrictions to civil liberties increased under the dictatorship but quickly

beganto decline after 1990. Although Chile had more civil liberties restrictionsthan average for Latin

American countries during the seventeen-year-olddictatorship, in the new democratic period, Chile has

scored systematically better than Latin America overall. In fact, Chile reached the lowestpossible level

of restrictions to civil liberties in 2002 and has remained atthe best possible standing in respect for civil

liberties and political rights

The quality of Chile’s democracy is far superior than that observedbefore 1973. The institutional

setting is more consolidated, and there is more transparency and accountability in campaign funding,

government spending, lobbying, and interest groups’ influence of the government and access to

government information. when measured as percentage of registered voters, electoral participation has

remained remarkably stable and high since 1988. Nine of every ten registered voters cast ballots in

each of the f ve presidential elections held since 1989. Among those registered, participation is fairly

high

NEGATIVE:

Several authoritarian enclaves that survived the 1989 reforms made it difficult for the Concertación to

carry out its policies. This was due to nonelected senators, whom the outgoing military regime

appointed, stripped the Concertación of its electoral majority in the upper chamber. The nonelected

senators gave the right-wing opposition an effective veto power that constrained the Concertación

beyond the already-strict limits of the 1980 Constitution. A set of constitutional reforms

passed under President Lagos in 2005 eliminated most remaining authoritarian enclaves, but there was

a lack of agreement on how to replace the binominal system.

The electoral system tends to favor large coalitions at the expense of smaller ones. Critics of the

system point to the fact that smaller parties are left without representation (Huneeus 2006), yet

that cannot be considered antidemocratic. Single-member majoritarian systems punish minority parties

but are not antidemocratic. The electoral system does have some clearly negative features, but they

have more to do with the structure of incentives on the political system. There

are areas in which more democratic reforms could be implemented—such

as the direct election of regional intendentes or voting rights for those residing abroad.

Although there are areas in which there has not been sufficient progress, such as plurality in the printed

media or influence by citizens’ rights groups and unionized workers the depth and reach of Chile’s

democracy in the post-Pinochet erais commendably superior to that which existed before the

authoritarian period. a growing number of people are not registered to vote. Thus, the real unique

electoral participation phenomenon has to do with a flawed institutional design. The Constitution

formally makes voting mandatory, yet in practice, registration is optional. To be eligible to vote,

Chileans must first register. Ever after, they are legally compelled to vote, though penalties are seldom

applied to those who abstain.

CONCLUSION

Since its transition to democracy in 1990, Chile has made signif cantprogress in economic

development, poverty reduction, and democraticc onsolidation. The country enjoys a consolidated

democracy, as there isno fear of reversal to authoritarianism. Chileans value democracy,

andautonomous institutions with a working balance of power have stabilizedthe political system.

Elections are the norm, and respect for individual rights is widespread. Yet as in most democracies,

Chile does face significance cant challenges.

Question 9:

Compare the presidencies of Fernando Henrique Cardoso and Ignacio Lula Da Silva in Brazil.

Please take into consideration economic, social and political aspects. For this question, you must

read the articles by De Souza, Hunter, Hunter and Power, Power and Morais and Saad-Filho.

I will explore the presidencies of Fernando Henrique Cardoso and Ignacio Lula Da Silva in Brazil in

the political, economic and social aspects.

For presidency of Fernando Henrique Cardoso (January 1, 1995 – January 1, 2003), in the political

aspects, He forged a majority coalition in Congress, that passed fundamental legislative reforms during

his first two years in office. This was deu to resorting to using state resources to “buy”the legislative

support of the political class on a number of key occasions. His political career was marked by

democratic stability. Due do his major success in revitalizing the economy and popularity, the

legislature in Brazil’s passed a constitutional amendment in 1997 allowing the president to run for his

second, four-year term in 1998. Cardoso abolished separate ministries for the army, navy, and air force

and transferred many of their functions to a civilian-run defense ministry. Cardoso administration

created independent regulatory agencies in nine sectors, including telecommunications, energy, and

petroleum. Was political natural. adept at negotiation and coalition-buildingIn the Economic front, He

passed a law on government expenditures, which reduced government involvement in the economy.

This included the privatizing of major state enterprises, including the telecommunications. He also

allowed unlimited amount of money that international companies could invest in Brazil. Under his term

is when the Asian markets crisis of 1997 hit, which had a global effect. The Brazil’s government

response was to introduced cuts to program that reduced federal spending which temporarily restored

foreign confidence in the economy. The Brazilian economy received another hit in 1998 after Russia

defaulted on its debts. This made investors to withdraw their money from Brazil. Cardoso began

negotiated an economic bailout with foreign lenders through the (IMF), The IMF and Brazil announced

a loan package to protect the economy of Brazil. In 1999, in order to increase exports and reduce the

cost of Brazilian products overseas markets the government devalued the national currency. However,

The devaluation failed.When it came to Social front, Cardoso worked hard on class tensions that had to

do with land. In 1995, 1% of the population owned 45 percent of the land. This was a major issue that

needed to be solved as the inequality had led to many violent confrontations. With this in mind,

Cardoso signed a decree that took of 250,000 acres of land from estates and gave it to more than 3,600

poor families. In another move that Cardoso made, was that in 1996, he signed another decree that

allowed allow non-Native Americans to appeal land allocation to indigenous people. This move was

high controversial and was condemned by several domestic and international organization. In terms of

a more personal social aspect. Cardoso was the son and grandson of army generals and was a

distinguished academic who had spent part of his career teaching social sciences at Stanford and

Cambridge universities.

For presidency of Ignacio Lula Da Silva, (1 January 2003 – 1 January 2011)political aspects. The

president morphed into a jet-setting diplomat, with a focus on Foreign Policy. World Social Forum in

Brazil and the World Economic Forum in Switzerland, Lula has been actively engaged in efforts to

diversify Brazil’s export markets, to mediate conflicts within the region (such as those involving

Venezuela and Colombia), and to create political alliances with other developing countries. While

taking a tough stance regarding the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), the PT-led government

has remained committed to its FTAA negotiations with the United States. Lula government has also

safeguarded its reputation with the United Nations: In line with its desire to assume a greater role

within the UN system—and, to gain a permanent seat in the UN Security Council. Lula’s appointments

brought into the state hundreds of progressive political, trade union, and nongovernmental organization

(NGO) cadres, creating what was described as the “capture” or the “nationalization” of the social

movements. He alsocreate political alliances with otherdeveloping countries—especially large ones like

China, India, and SouthAfrica. Brazil has also played a key role in coordinating a “Group of 20”(G-20)

developing-world agricultural exporters that seek to address theenduring North-South divide by

establishing fairer trade rules. The G-20 made headlines when it successfully stood up against trade-

distortingagricultural subsidies at the 2003 ministerial conference of the WorldTrade Organization in

Cancún. Working for the South American unity (expanding Mercosur)Both executives have aimed to

secure governability (Legislative support for presidential initiatives) Cardoso wrote the user’s manual

for the new and improved variant of coalitional presidentialism, Lula clearly folled it .On the Economic

font, Lula continued most reforms intact and maintaining the basic lines of macroeconomic policy of

those of Cardoso. He agreed to continue inflation targeting and lent his support to the (IMF) agreement

that Cardoso had negotiated in August 2002 . Lula has also kept the economic team almost completely

insulated from politics. He also maintain initiation targets using the same aggressive interest-rate

policies of Cardoso. Both Cardoso and Lula pursued a consistent policyof wage hikes over and above

the inflation rate, such that the real minimum wage increased in every year from 1994 through 2009.

Industrial production was consistently one of Cardoso’s weakest points, and the Lula government is

well aware that renewed activity in this sector has a direct impact on the unemployment rate During

Lula’s first two years in office, inflation was running at under 8 percent yearly and the public debt has

been reduced from 62 percent to 53 percent of GDP, allowing the government to exceed the primary-

surplus target agreed to with the IMF. Moreover, with booming commodity exports, foreign reserves

have been healthy andrising, and the real has appreciated to the level of 2.60 to the U.S. dollar( further

appreciation will be discouraged to avoid cutting into the massive trade surplus) Lula tightened up the

“core” macroeconomic policies introduced by the previous administration, including inflation targeting,

Central Bank independence, large fiscal surpluses, free capital mobility, and flexible exchange rates.

Central Bank had raised interest rates in responseto the threat of inflation in 2004, and this had sharply

reduced GDP growth inthe following year. Sluggish economic performance was incompatible withthe

political stabilization of Lula’s government. Brazil repaid ahead of time the US$23.3 billion

Cardosoera International Monetary Fund loan that had helped it to weather the 2002balance-of-

payments crisis and that signaled Lula’s continuing commitment to neoliberal policies.8 Early in 2007,

the government introduced a “growth acceleration program” focusing on infrastructure, transport, and

energy that expanded public investment from 0.4 to 0.7 percent of GDP within a yearThe government

maintained the existing support for export-oriented agribusinesses, although subsidies were also made

available to family agriculture and welfare programs were expanded. No privatizations were reversed,

and progress on land reform was extremely slowIn the social front, He was the first working class

president. Lula is the son of hardscrabble tenant farmers from the poverty-stricken Northeast. He

stepped up effort to get rid of poverty.That gives money to low income gamilies that keeps there

children in school and make sure that there childern are health. By 2013 that program have reached 13

million families. In the Northeast area, he stepped up economic distribution. His polices not only help

the poor but he helped the middle class by budging more money towards higher education. Social

indicators have also improved considerably in the Cardoso-Lula era since 1995. Lula expanded Bolsa

Escola, program that was started under cardoso.

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