Latin America is a region that has deep roots in Spanish colonialism. Since its independence, many countries in the region have heavily depended on agriculture exports to industrialized states to support their economies. This has led to political theorists to label Latin America as an area full of "periphery" countries that are exploited for resources by "core countries. Costa Rica, Panama, and Nicaragua were not the exception. In recent years, however, a noticeable difference between the economies of the countries has helped Costa Rica and Panama become more successful than Nicaragua, on the basis of GDP, GNI, and other similar measures. This thesis attempts to explain this economic difference by analyzing what type of relationship the three countries have had with the United States (which has acted as a regional hegemon) and analyzing how each country has handled economic dependence on agriculture. Through this comparative case study, the thesis tries to add to development and dependency theory literature.

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With the success of a leftist revolution in Nicaragua and a civil war against a strong revolutionary movement in El Salvador, Central America has become one of the flash points of world politics. The two revolutionary movements, which adhere to similar ideologies, emerged in countries with similar historical roots and similar socio-economic background. This thesis analyzes the question why the Nicaraguan revolution was successful after one and a half years of general insurrection, whereas the Salvadorean revolutionary movement has failed so far in gaining power. The author looks at four major factors which seem crucial for revolutionary success: Breadth of the Revolutionary Coalition, Military Strength and Strategies, Role of the Church, and External Influences. The comparative analysis shows that three of these four factors favor the Nicaraguan revolutionaries. In contrast to El Salvador, the Nicaraguan revolutionary coalition included all major classes, not only the lower classes and parts of the middle class. When compared to the government forces, the Nicaraguan guerrillas were stronger than the Salvadorean. Furthermore, the counterstrategy of the Nicaraguan government was not as systematic and sophisticated as in El Salvador. In contrast to Somoza, the Salvadorean government has gotten strong U.S. support and the Salvadorean movement does not get the same support from other states that the Nicaraguan revolutionary movement received. Only the role of the Church is in favor of the Salvadorean revolutionaries. The Salvadorean Church was more active in promoting Liberation Theology and thereby helped to make the people conscious about the social injustices prevailing in the country and to organize the lower classes. / Master of Arts

<p>The aim of this thesis was to explore the impact of physical, sexual and emotional violence against women of reproductive age and the level of controlling behaviour in marriage on child health and survival in two different cultural settings: Bangladesh and Nicaragua. </p><p>Data were acquired from four quantitative community-based studies. In two studies, a cohort including a prospective two year follow-up of 3164 mother-infant pairs in rural Bangladesh was investigated. A third study was a case-referent study in Nicaragua including mothers of 110 cases of under-five deaths and 203 referents, and in a forth study an other cohort of 1048 rural Bangladeshi women and their 2691 children was followed until 5 years of age. </p><p>Maternal exposure to any form of violence, including physical, sexual, emotional, and controlling behaviour was independently associated with lower body size at birth, increased risk of stunting and under-weight at 24 months of age, slower growth velocity during the first two years of life and a higher incidence of diarrhoeal episodes and respiratory tract infections. In the Nicaraguan setting, the children of women who experienced any history of physical violence had a two-fold increase in risk of death before the age of 5 years, and those whose mothers experienced both physical and sexual violence had a six-fold increase in risk of death. In Bangladesh, an association between violence against women and under-five mortality was found among daughters of educated mothers who were exposed to severe physical violence or a high level of controlling behaviour in marriage. In all four studies, lifetime violence experience among participating mothers was high (37-69%), and the timing was less relevant than the exposure to violence <i>per se</i>. </p><p>In conclusion, this investigation revealed that violence against women severely affects child health and survival. The findings are especially relevant in a context of high level of child under-nutrition, morbidity and under-five mortality. Efforts for protecting women from all forms of violence are needed as part of the interventions for improved child health.</p>

Différents organismes internationaux se sont penchés sur l’école rurale des pays en émergence. La plupart de ces travaux de recherche montrent que ces écoles n’offrent pas une éducation adaptée au milieu dans lesquelles elles sont situées, du fait essentiellement qu’on y a implanté la structure administrative et pédagogique des écoles urbaines sans tenir compte des caractéristiques de la population infantile des zones rurales. Afin de tenter de remédier aux difficultés identifiées, ces organismes ont proposé diverses solutions ou préconisé des politiques adaptées à ce contexte particulier. Le but de cette recherche est d’étudier comment ces recommandations convergent-elles avec les politiques éducatives et dans le quotidien des écoles en milieu rural de deux pays de l’Amérique centrale, le Costa Rica et le Nicaragua. À cette fin, comme cadre d'analyse, nous avons établi six catégories : condition socio-économique, plan d'études et pédagogie, relation école et communauté, enseignants, technologie et finalement, gestion et gouvernance. Pour ce faire, nous analysons les recommandations globales formulées par diverses organisations internationales et d’autres organismes des pays développés à propos de l'éducation rurale. Nous comparons ensuite ces informations avec les décisions politiques prises ces dernières vingt années, dans les deux pays sélectionnés afin de favoriser le développement éducatif des zones rurales. Pour finir, nous observons sur le terrain le quotidien de quelques écoles rurales des deux pays retenus. En partant de l’hypothèse qu’il existe suffisamment d’information et de recommandations permettant l’élaboration des politiques éducatives appropriées pour améliorer les conditions des écoles rurales, le travail présente une analyse multiniveaux (recommandations globales, politiques nationales et pratiques scolaires) en établissant la convergence ou la divergence dans chacune des catégories. Les principaux résultats de la recherche démontrent qu'il existe une convergence entre les pratiques scolaires et les politiques éducatives émises par les pays étudiés, avec quelques exceptions. Quant à la convergence entre les recommandations globales et les politiques émises par ces pays, on ne peut pas parler de convergence de façon générale. La recherche propose l'élaboration de profil de politiques nationales pour chaque pays, en fonction de la manière par laquelle ils abordent la problématique de l'éducation rurale : soit par l’assignation des ressources pour étendre les services éducatifs normalisés pour tous les enfants, ou en produisant des politiques focalisées, créant des programmes spécifiques, faisant remarquer la différence du monde rural. / Various international organizations have studied rural schools in developing countries and the majority of the research shows that these schools do not offer an education adapted to the community in which they are located. This is primarily due to the fact that the schools are integrating administrative and teaching structures of urban schools without taking into consideration the characteristics of child populations in rural zones. In response to the identified difficulties, these organizations proposed various solutions or recommended policies adapted to this particular context. The goal of this research is to study how these recommendations translate into educational policies and their impact on daily life of rural schools in two Central American countries, Costa Rica and Nicaragua. For this purpose, we’ve created an analysis framework with six categories: socio-economic status, curriculum and pedagogy, school and community relationships, teachers, technology, and lastly, management and governance. With this intention, we’ve analyzed the recommendations made by various international organizations and other organizations from developed countries related to rural education. We’ve compared this information to the political decisions on educational development in rural communities made in the last twenty in these two countries. Lastly, we’ve completed the research with field observations, studying the day-to-day work in rural schools. Working from the hypothesis that there exists sufficient valid information and recommendations to issue appropriate policies that improve conditions in rural schools, this work presents a multi-level analysis (global recommendations, national policies and school practices) by determining convergences and divergences in each of these levels. The main results of the research show that there is a convergence between school practices and education policies created by the countries, with some minor exceptions. When it comes to convergence between global recommendations and the countries’ policies, we cannot speak of convergence in general. This research proposes the use of national policy profiles for each country, depending on how they deal with the challenges of rural education: assigning resources to extend standard educational services to all children, or generating targeted policies, creating specific programs that highlight the difference of the rural world.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-27T19:31:09Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Leticia Araujo Brandao.pdf: 1615355 bytes, checksum: d996c355e9ede6a5d4e46b65725a59c3 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-09-03 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / This thesis aims to research the literary trajectory of Ernesto Cardenal, as well as the political consequences of his thought during the period leading up to the Sandinista Revolution, during which this revolution was developed in Nicaragua. Throughout his life, Cardenal took on not only the role of a poet, whichbrought him worldwide fame as an intellectual, but also that of a religious man and a revolutionary committed to the fight against social inequality in his country. In this way, he united ethical-Christian values to the Sandinistacause and contributed decisively to the project of construction of a hegemonic Christian and revolutionary culture that, for ten years (from the triumph of therevolutionin 1979 until the elections that brought the oppositioncandidate, Violeta Chamorro,to power in 1989), gave legitimacy to the government of the Sandinista National Liberation Front. Every trace of his human and literary thought, therefore, can be seen in his role as a formerof opinion in the period when he founded the contemplative community of Our Lady of Solentiname; and during the Revolution, in his role as Minister of Culture. Understanding the faces of Love that emanate in his life and work is, therefore, of fundamental importance for a concrete analysis of the process of formation of an alleged revolutionary cultural hegemony in Nicaragua, a fundamental project of the SNLF government which Cardenalwas part of / Esta tese tem como objetivo a investigação da trajetória literária de Ernesto Cardenal, bem como das consequências políticas de seu pensamento durante o período que antecedeu, e no qual se desenvolveu, a Revolução Sandinista, na Nicarágua. Ao longo de sua vida, Cardenal assumiu não apenas a faceta de poeta, que o consagrou mundialmente enquanto intelectual, mas também a de religioso e de revolucionário comprometido na luta contra a desigualdade social em seu país. Dessa forma, uniu valores éticos-cristãos à causa sandinista, tendo contribuído de forma decisiva no projeto de construção de uma cultura hegemônica cristã e revolucionária que, durante dez anos (desde o triunfo revolucionário em 1979, até as eleições que levaram ao poder a candidata de oposição, Violeta Chamorro, em 1989), conferiu legitimidade ao governo da Frente Sandinista de Libertação Nacional. Cada traço de seu pensamento humano e literário, portanto, pode ser revelado em sua atuação enquanto formador de opinião no período em que fundou a comunidade contemplativa de Nossa Senhora de Solentiname e durante a Revolução, em sua atuação como Ministro da Cultura. Compreender as faces do Amor emanadas em sua vida e obra, portanto, revela-se de fundamental importância para uma análise concreta do processo de formação de uma pretensa hegemonia cultural revolucionária na Nicarágua, projeto elementar do governo da FSLN do qual Cardenal fez parte

A partir da Revolução Sandinista, ocorrida na Nicarágua em 19 de julho de 1979, esta pesquisa analisa a opção do Partido dos Trabalhadores (PT) por uma política internacionalista com foco na América Latina na década de 1980, quando da sua fase de formação e consolidação social. Também compila as ações de solidariedade e descreve a política externa do partido neste seu primeiro ciclo de existência, que coincide com o fim da Guerra Fria, a ascensão da era republicana nos Estados Unidos da América e o avanço do conservadorismo neoliberal. A pesquisa analisou documentos oficiais do partido e bibliografia especializada em arquivos públicos e privados, além de realizar entrevistas com dirigentes e militantes que participaram na definição e implementação dessa política. / Having the July 19th 1979 Sandinista Revolution in Nicarágua as its basis, this research analyses the option taken by the Worker´s Party (PT) for internationalistic policies focused on Latin America at the start of the 1980´s, when it underwent its creation and social consolidation. The study also actions of solidarity and this foreign policy adopted by the party, in its first cycle of existence, which coincided with the end of the Cold War, the ascension of the Republican Era in the U.S, and the advancement of neo-conservativism. The research analysed official party documents and biographies found in public and private archives, as well as interviewing party leaders and militants who participated in the implementation of these policies.