Instructions: Rewrite into your own words Do not rewrite anything in BOLD. Question 3: 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 t.

1. Instructions:
Rewrite into your own words
Do not rewrite anything in BOLD.
Question 3:
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

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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

13. 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

14. 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

15. 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

16. 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,

17. 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

18. 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

19. 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

20. 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

21. 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-

22. 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

23. 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-

24. 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

25. Escola, program that was started under cardoso.