Most of the thesis is devoted to studying the collapse of the Mexican peso in December 1994 using empirical methods that allow shifts in regimes, as well as a small theoretical model based on the escape clause approach. Also, we present a study of the consumption boom observed in Mexico in the period 1989-1994 to highlight the importance of taking into account structural breaks in co-integration modelling. We use a series of realignment expectations, as well as linear and non-linear methods, to look for evidence that helps to characterise the Mexican crisis. Contrary to the predictions of first-generation models of currency crises, we find that the credibility of the peso did not experience any steady deterioration before its devaluation, and there was no stable relationship between realignment expectations and economic fundamentals. By using a Markov-switching regression model, we show that realignment expectations shifted over time between regimes of relatively high and low credibility, and that these shifts were more frequent during the troubled 1994. This evidence makes it problematic to endorse explanations of the collapse of the peso based on models of speculative attacks, and suggests using the approach of second-generation models of currency crises to study the Mexican experience. The theoretical model is designed to illustrate some specific features of the Mexican experience. We argue that the substitution of peso denominated assets for dollar denominated and indexed assets in investors’ portfolios helped policymakers to resist recurrent periods of confidence crisis during 1994, but it also made it more difficult to eliminate a potential self-fulfilling devaluation. In particular, the sterilisation of reserve losses during 1994 seems to be more important in the onset of the devaluation of the peso than the increase in the stock of dollar indexed bonds. We use an index of pressure in the foreign exchange market and mean-variance Markov- switching models to study the timing and causes of the shifts of the Mexican economy between states of calm and crisis. Models with time-varying transition probabilities do not yield conclusive results. Hence, we adopt a two step approach to obtain the probability of the state of crisis at each date in the sample, and then model this series as a function of economic fundamentals and political events. We find that the reduction of the debt-output ratio and positive political events maintained the economy in the state of calm up to 1994, despite a continuous real appreciation of the peso. However, the end of the declining path of the debt-output ratio and negative political shocks produced a shift towards the state of crisis for most of 1994 that finally led to the collapse of the peso. The study of the consumption boom observed in Mexico in the period 1989-1994 illustrates that structural breaks in long run relationships can be dated and evaluated if we allow regime shifts in co-integration modelling. The available data rejects a stable co-integration relationship between consumption and income. Meanwhile, using Markov- switching models, we find that there was a marked shift in the co-integration vector after the implementation of the program for stabilisation and economic reform in December 1987. The program caused the former unitary income elasticity of consumption to increase by almost 30 per cent, but later the shift was reversed when the currency and financial crisis erupted at the end of 1994.

The subject matter of this thesis is the analysis of implementation of three of the programmes of the National Solidarity Programme-PRONASOL. A study of the implementation of PRONASOL is essential because the relationship between policy success or failure and policy implementation has been poorly studied for the Mexican context This thesis aims to provide a detailed analysis of the process of implementation of three of the programmes of the PRONASOL in the state of Campeche, Mexico, which will be used to test relevant theoretical assumptions about policy implementation. In terms of policy implementation the dissertation explores empirically the link between individual behaviour and the political, economic and legal context in which the action takes place by considering contextual variables. The thesis uses the case study method to test the adequacy of theory of policy implementation to explain the cases under analysis. This method was useful first, because it allowed to emphasise contextual conditions which may have significant influence on the phenomenon under study. Second, because the research aimed to describe cases in which the conclusions of national studies based on aggregated data were not helpful. A contrasting strategy was used to extent the explanatory potential of the case study method which was achieved through the selection of programmes and also through the selection of municipalities and localities in which the study was carried out The dissertation contributes to the understanding of the link between concrete and immediate day-to-day decisions by particular actors with the longterm structural features of Mexican society and so, to shed light on the historical trends, institutional processes, and political decisions that are interwoven in the implementation of public policies.

The objective of this thesis is to analyze three key aspects of the long-term relationship between energy policy and overall economic policy in Mexico: (1) energy- industrialization; (2) energy-labour force; and (3) energy-foreign debt. The importance of the energy sectors in the general economy is evaluated from a historical perspective. Some of the most representative energy studies, both theoretical and empirical are reviewed. Also, the structure and specification of some general equilibrium (GE) models constructed for Mexico are compared within a SAM-type conceptual framework. The SAM approach is then used to formulate the one-period version of the model. An optimizing intertemporal GE model is constructed and implemented to analyze the interdependence between the decisions of the various economic agents, and to explore the sensitivity of optimal policies with respect to such key parameters as elasticities of substitution and world oil prices. The starting point of the model is the work by Blitzer and Eckaus (1986a). However, given the different nature of the present study, five types of improvements have been introduced: (i) the objective function and the terminal constraints are formulated in a way that leads to more attractive price structures; (ii) the model contains truly price-sensitive endogenous choices; (iii) there is a greater degree of disaggregation of the accounts; (iv) the data base is more updated; and (v) a much improved software is employed for solving the model. The following are some of the main conclusions derived from the various solutions of the model: - Both the real and dual sides of the model capture a structural adjustment process towards expansion of nonoil tradeable producing sectors. Manufacturing exports replace oil and gas revenues and external capital inflows as the main source of foreign currency. - Foreign exchange is the most serious constraint of the system, so that foreign debt reduction is considered as the most profitable way of allocating current income. - This calls for a portfolio switching effect among the assets that constitute Mexico's wealth: foreign debt reduction affects investment in real capital assets, which, in turn, means that the economy grows below the labour force growth. Moreover, in the majority of the experiments, oil and gas extraction levels are constrained by the ceilings imposed by the government. - Skilled labour force shortages also restrict the economy significantly. Yet, the economy is not constrained in its ability to absorb oil revenues.

This study analyses the invisible forms of repression in the Bolivian art system by interpreting Roberto Valcárcel’s artwork in the light of Herbert Marcuse’s ideas on repression and liberation as expounded in Eros and Civilization. It considers, on the one hand, Valcárcel’s artwork in relation to the liberating role that Marcuse attributes to art (via phantasy, polymorphous eroticism, and Orphic paradigm). On the other hand, it explores the strategies devised by Valcárcel against repression, such as self-promotion, multiple texts, play, humour and unmasking certain repressive truths. The reading of Valcárcel’s work via Marcuse is supported by archival research from contemporary newspapers, exhibition documentation and Bolivian art history, which provide relevant information about the sorts of latent repression to which Valcárcel’s artworks responds. The dissertation is organised in five chapters in which examples of repressive beliefs are unveiled. Chapter One examines El Movimiento Erótico (The Erotic Movement, 1983) and the manifold strategies used by Valcárcel to escape the traps of a presumed type of sexual liberation (sexist and genital oriented) and capitalism’s culture industry. Chapter Two discusses artworks where the intentional construction of open meaning challenges the norm of a univocal creation and consumption of art. Chapter Three studies some of Valcárcel’s humorous identities in contrast with the dramatic, and overly serious self-perception of Bolivians artists. Chapter Four explores Valcárcel’s use of play, black humour and deceit as effective devices to escape hidden authoritarianism in society during dictatorial regimes. Chapter Five analyses how Valcárcel’s work unveils the latent repression in the idealisation of indigenous heritage through play and anti-thesis. The dissertation introduces a new topic into the study of art in Bolivia – veiled repression – at the same time that it sheds light on the potential of the artwork of Roberto Valcárcel to open new ways of historicizing and thinking about art in Bolivia.

A close analysis of the period from 1921 to 1940 is essential for any understanding of the present Mexican political system and its relationship to the revolutionary upheaval of 1910-1917. No such analysis can be really adequate without detailed research on local and sectional politics - the growth of peasant leagues, trade unions and professional groups, and the reaction of landlords and employees. The present study will examine the role of one key professional group, the teachers, as catalysts of social change, agents of Government policy, popular organisers and agitators. Since this can only be done on the basis of detailed local knowledge, a substantial part of the thesis consists of regional studies of the teacher's role in two States: Michoacán and Campeche, while simultaneously presenting the overall national picture. Part I outlines the national framework and the teachers' place in it: the complex political developments of the period, the direction and execution of Government educational policy, and the part played by the teachers' unions. Where possible pedagogical theory and technical aspects of education are avoided, but the broad outlines of educational policy are essential to any examination of the teachers' activities, especially in view of the originality of Mexican rural education as developed in the liberal flowering of the 'twenties and the paradoxical experiment of "Socialist Education" after 1934. Part II attempts to reveal the reality behind official rhetoric about the social role of the teachers, as shown in their efforts to help solve the most fundamental problem of rural Mexico: the agrarian question. Encouraged from the beginning to identify with the rural population, many teachers took the initiative in organising peasant leagues, formulating petitions for land, and waging the subsequent legal battles. The Cárdenas administration encouraged them in this, but many teachers went beyond the Government's intentions and became important local popular leaders and agitators. Because of this they fell foul of vested interests, and in the 'thirties many were attacked and murdered by agents of landlords or local political bosses. Unfortunately, because of the religious persecution imposed by the Government from 1926 to 1934, the teachers also faced the hostility of large sections of the population in some areas, with very negative consequences. Parts III and IV consist of the two regional studies of the teachers' role. The emphasis is on their participation in peasant organisations, trade unions and State politics. In Campeche a left-wing teachers' union played the major part in organising an independent peasant and labour movement which came near to toppling the State Government; in Michoacán the teachers' contribution was less dramatic, but they did have considerable influence in the main "cardenista" labour federation there. In conclusion, the influence of the teachers as a radical pressure group and cadre force agitating for land reform, organising unions and pressing for left-wing policies is seen to be very important. Many of them joined the Communist Party, and they contributed powerfully to the revolutionary movement in rural Mexico. But they also served to rally support for the Government and in the long run helped to subordinate the peasant and labour movements to an increasingly bourgeois and corporatist regime - a paradox symptomatic of the fate of the Mexican Revolution.

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In March 1985 Mikhail Gorbachev became General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU). By 1985 relations between the Soviet Union and Cuba had been in existence for over 25 years and were extremely close in both ideological and trade terms. Soon after coming to power, Gorbachev implemented the policies of perestroika and glasnost while Fidel Castro introduced the campaign for rectification of errors in Cuba. There were great differences in these campaigns since the Cuban one was much more ideologically driven than its Soviet counterparts. This study is an examination of the period from March 1985 to the end of 1991. This is done in three broad areas: official Soviet policy towards Cuba; the unofficial Soviet policy towards Cuba (an examination of academics and social/political commentators work on Cuba) and the Cuban perception and reaction to the events in the Soviet Union. This study also attempts to establish whether a rethinking, with the benefit of hindsight, has taken place in the years since 1991. In 1985 official and unofficial Soviet policy towards Cuba were identical but as the Gorbachev period continued this began to change. Official policy began to become contradictory in style since Moscow started "veiled" attacks against aspects of its relationship with Cuba while at the same time still defended the island in the face of continuing US hostility. Moscow also stated that the differences in Soviet and Cuban policies were because each campaign was designed for conditions specific to each country but that both had the same goal: the improvement of socialism. Although official policy became more outspoken, at no point during the Gorbachev era did it call for the termination of relations with Cuba. Unofficial Soviet policy started to change as the effects of glasnost permeated Soviet society. This became noticeable from 1987 onwards and reached the point that an open debate on the relationship was taking place. By 1991 unofficial policy was vastly different from the official Soviet line towards Cuba. The Cuban government also stated that the programmes were for situations specific to each country but that both had the same goal, that being the improvement of socialism. The unofficial Cuban line mirrored the official one but by 1990 this started to change as it started to criticise Soviet policies. In 1991 the Cuban government also started to do this. Due to the difficult situation in the socialist world the Cuban government from 1989 had been trying to increase its hard currency markets. A general re-thinking with the benefit of hindsight has not taken place on either side but an examination of participants' memoirs is still a valuable study to conduct. Although it offers very little new evidence for this period it does, however, give more credence to the events that took place between March 1985 and December 1991.

This thesis is divided in two main parts. The first part compares and contrasts early experiments with non-slave labour in Cuba and Sao Paulo. The second part considers projects for the gradual abolition of slavery and the transition to free labour. The objective is to examine how Cuban and Brazilian planters solved the problem of labour supply triggered by a rapid growth of plantation exports during the nineteenth century. At this time sugar and coffee plantations came to characterize economic development in the two areas. Continued expansion was threatened by international pressures to end the trans- Atlantic slave trade. Challenged by international demands to terminate the "African trade" Cuba and Brazil sought to solve the labour problem by means of immigration. From the mid-century until the end of slavery in the 1880s, planters would experiment with several labour systems, involving a variety of labour relations. Besides slaves, Europeans, Chinese, Mexican Indians, Canary Islanders, and free domestic workers (white and coloured) would be employed on the plantations. Substituting "free" labour for slave labour was not simply a matter of labour supply. For Cuba there was the question of the relationship with Spain and its consequences for the defense of slavery and the impact on immigration. For Brazil there was the question of forging a national identity. What would be the place of slaves, freedmen and immigrants in the new nation. In both regions these considerations had a racial dimension. Also planters were anxious to secure a cheap disciplined workforce. What labour system would best meet these requirements? As this thesis demonstrates this was a time of experimentation. From the first, in Brazil alternative supplies of labour were regarded as a means of transition to free labour. In Cuba new supplies of workers were viewed as complementing slavery. But the first experiments with non-slave labour affected the processes of the abolition of slavery and the transition to free labour while the meaning of "free labour” and “transition” also changed over time.

The transformation of traditional gender ideology has been actively promoted in Mexican society over recent decades. While adults’ renegotiations of traditional ideals and their efforts to forge modern relations have received significant ethnographic attention, little is known about how children in Mexico engage with the contradictions inherent in the coexistence of old and new expectations. This thesis, based on twelve months of ethnographic fieldwork, explores children’s readiness to resist gender divisions and embrace gender equality in the Mexican village of Metztitlán in the state of Hidalgo. The research focused on the, often contradictory, information that was made available to children at home, in the neighbourhood and in the school setting and on how children, aged between six and eleven, negotiated expectations that concerned aggressive behaviour, toy use and the division of labour. The thesis asks whether children regarded gender divisions as problematic and, if they did, whether this translated into readiness to resist traditional expectations through everyday interactions. It pays particular attention to how different kinds of audiences both influenced and were influenced by children’s resistance to gender divisions. The finding is that in domains, such as toy use or the division of labour, in which egalitarian alternatives to traditional expectations were available (e.g. through schooling), most girls and boys, in conversations with the anthropologist, expressed their allegiance to gender equality. However, children did not put these attitudes to work through interactions with peers and adults unless they found personally meaningful advantages in egalitarian arrangements. When they recognised tangible benefits of equality, they not only showed readiness to resist traditional divisions themselves but also to encourage adults to do the same.

This thesis explores the implementation of a rights-based policy for children in Chile by examining progress within two programs: rights protection and juvenile imprisonment. By applying a combination of organisational and institutional theories, and relying on multiple sites, case-based, qualitative method, this study explores how organizational and cultural dimensions interact to support or hinder this fundamental shift in the framework for children’s policy. Findings showed the role of power as the major device affecting the implementation process. Structural power in organisational arrangements unveiled a prevalent model of top-down implementation, marked by patronage and symbolic implementation. Institutional power exerted in the cultural and normative Chilean context showed a persistent hierarchical society infused with conservative beliefs based in dichotomous conceptions of people. This resulted in policy implementers distinguishing strongly between those they considered worthy or not worthy, good or bad, service provider or user, either or, with no room for overlap and little appreciation of difference as a positive societal feature. Interplay between organisational and cultural variables evidenced the strong legacy of deep-rooted understandings of the place of child care services in family life. Until this legacy can be effectively challenged, the implementation of a rights-based approach will remain partial and ineffective.