Roberto Espíndola

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Roberto Espíndola

Head of Department and Senior Lecturer in Politics; Chair, Politics Subject Group; Coordinator, Research Unit on European-Latin American Relations

Cobden Building, Room 01

tel: 01274-233823; fax: 01274-235550;

e-mail: R.Espindola@bradford.ac.uk

Publications

One of the main areas of research activity has been the study of processes of democratisation taking place in Latin America and Europe, with particular reference to conceptual frameworks used for understanding those processes. Initially work focused on poverty as an obstacle to democratic governance, but the emphasis has expanded to encompass the broader issue of political participation, taking as examples the role elections and electoral campaigns play in new democracies. Critical work on conceptual frameworks used in democratisation studies and research on the effects of poverty on democratic governance led to Problems of Democracy in Latin America, other publications, and to papers presented at conferences of the Society for Latin American Studies-SLAS (St Andrews, 1997), the Midwest Association for Latin American Studies (St Louis, 1997) and Canning House (1997). A further edited volume is to be published by Macmillan.

The study of elections in new democracies stems from a paper presented at Harvard in 1995 and now to be published in Representation; it has focused on Latin America, but drawing on comparisons with Central and Eastern Europe. Papers have been presented at the 1995 International Congress of the Latin American Studies Association (Washington DC), and at a 1995 conference on ‘Democracy and Electoral Reform’ in Montevideo, and at conferences of the Political Studies Association-PSA (Ulster, 1997), SLAS (Leeds, 1996, and St Andrews, 1997), the European Consortium for Political Research's Joint Workshops (Berne, 1997). Another area covered within the study of democratisation has been the role of the armed forces in processes of democratisation, leading to a keynote paper presented at the conference on Armed Forces, Democracy and Human Rights, jointly organised by the Inter-American Institute for Human Rights and the US Army Southern Command (Miami, 1997).

The other main research focus relates to changes in the international system and their effects on Europe and Latin America. Alternatives for Latin America in the new world order have been discussed in a paper published by the Truman Institute in Jerusalem, and in papers presented at the Second Pan-Europe an Conference in International Relations (Paris, 1995), at the 25th Anniversary Conference of Millennium, LSE, 1996 and at conferences of the International Studies Association (San Diego, 1996) and the Midwest Association for Latin American Studies St Louis, 1997). The effects of changes in the international order on processes of integration and disintegration taking place in Europe were discussed in a paper presented in Genova (1996).

In terms of dissemination of research activity, lectures and seminar papers were presented at Universities of Essex, Guatemala City, Leeds, Mar del Plata, Rosario, at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Centre for the Study of European-Latin American Relations EURAL (Buenos Aires, 1996) and the National Centre for Strategic Affairs (Guatemala, 1997). Besides regular reviews for International Affairs, some ten articles were published in Revista Hoy and several interviews given to the BBC World Service, BBC Scotland, Radio 4 and Latin American newspapers. External contacts were also developed through membership of the Editorial Boards of the Bulletin of Latin American Research, Cahiers des Ameriques Latines (Paris), and Cahiers Cercal (Brussels).

Publications:

‘The limits of democratisation’, Conference of the Midwest Association for Latin American Studies, Southern Illinois University, 30 October-1 November 1997.

‘What do elections decide in Latin America’, Annual Conference of the Political Studies Association (PSA), University of Ulster, 8-10 April 1997.

‘New democracies and electoral participation’, Annual Conference of the Society for Latin American Studies (SLAS), University of St Andrews, 4-6 April 1997.

‘Elections in Latin America’, Joint Sessions of Workshops of the European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR), Bern, Switzerland, 27 February-4 March 1997.

‘Democracy and national security: the role of the armed forces in a new democracy’, Conference on Armed Forces, Democracy and Human Rights, jointly organised by the Inter-American Institute for Human Rights and the US Army Southern Command, Miami, US, 4-6 February 1997.

‘Between integration and conflict: Latin America in the new world order’, 25th Anniversary Conference of Millennium, London School of Economics, 18-19 October 1996.

‘Democracia y gobernancia en America Latina’, in Situacion, Bilbao, 1996, pp. 158-174.

‘Latin America in the New International System’, Annual Conference of the International Studies Association, San Diego, April 1996.

‘The Media and Elections in Latin America’, Annual Conference of the Society for Latin American Studies, University of Leeds, March 1996.

‘Adrift between trading blocs’, Working Paper No. 7, Harry S Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, March 1996.

‘Democracy and redistribution: the problems of governance in Chile’ in Hojman, DE (ed) Neo-liberalism with a human face? The politics and economics of the Chilean model (Liverpool: University of Liverpool, 1995) pp. 64-73.

‘Processi di integrazione e disintegrazione in Europa’ in Atti del Convegno Internazionale dedicato all'Unione dell'Europa (Genova: Universit degli Studi di Genova, 1995).

‘The role of elections in democratisation processes’, XIX International Congress of the Latin American Studies Association, Washington DC, September 1995.

‘Latin America and the New International Order’, Second Pan-European Conference of International Relations, Paris, September 1995.

(ed) Problems of Democracy in Latin America (Stockholm: Institute of Latin American Studies, University of Stockholm, 1996); ‘Introduction’, pp. 1-8, and ‘Dimensions and limits of democracy: the cases of Chile and Cuba’, pp. 159-172.

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