Elections in many contemporary Latin American democracies unfold in a setting that complicates traditional political communication strategies. Indeed, many countries in the region are characterized by weak political parties, high levels of institutional distrust, and growing disdain for political elites. While a large body of literature has sought to explain which factors weaken parties and increase institutional distrust, less attention has been paid to the question of how these characteristics shape political communication. Drawing on the content of television advertisements created for Chile’s constitutional plebiscite campaigns, and original interviews with the creative and political teams that designed the ads, we explore how each side communicated with voters; the issues they focused on; and to what extent they relied on partisan, policy, generic, or emotional appeals. The analysis identifies important changes in messaging across the three electoral contests and probes an explanation for this variation. We find that in the absence of partisan messages, the constitutional campaigns relied first on policy-based appeals but then transitioned to generic appeals, ultimately opting for “antipolitics” messaging. These changes resulted from the expansion of the electorate and growing distrust in the constitutional convention. The analysis also underscores that pro–status quo plebiscite campaigns are more likely to deploy negative emotional language than campaigns centered on change.

This article examines the diplomatic strategies of Revolutionary Guatemala between 1944 and 1951, situating them within the broader continental realignments that occurred at the onset of the Cold War. Contrary to prevailing interpretations that emphasize covert warfare or ideological rhetoric, it argues that Guatemala’s revolutionary governments pursued a deliberate, multilateral diplomatic agenda aimed at reshaping inter-American relations. Drawing on research in multiple archives in the Americas and Europe, the article demonstrates how Guatemala engaged in initiatives such as the nonrecognition of coup regimes, support for the Larreta Doctrine, and campaigns against Francoist Spain while forging alliances with Mexico, Venezuela, Cuba, and Southern Cone democracies. These efforts reveal both the agency and the limitations of states seeking to promote democracy amid shifting geopolitical pressures. By reframing Guatemala’s role, the article contributes to ongoing debates about Latin American agency, the contested nature of early Cold War alignments, and the evolution of inter-American diplomacy.

This article traces the history of how two generations of US archaeologists navigated their relationship with the Guatemalan government, from the Jorge Ubico dictatorship in the 1930s through the democratic opening of the 1940s and 1950s and the subsequent CIA-sponsored coup. Critiques of modern archaeology have focused on the discipline’s history of ideological and material collusion with different projects of US and European imperialism in the Global South. While the archaeologists discussed here benefited from US hegemony in the region, their own correspondence reflects an ambivalent relationship to formal frameworks of international law and a desire to function as autonomous nonstate actors. Rather than reflecting the political context of a given moment, the archaeologists’ behavior was often determined by a generations-old professional culture based on pragmatism and collective entitlement to the control of antiquities.

This paper documents a new, unique annual database of global wine markets covering 1835–2023. The database expands enormously the opportunities for conducting studies on national and global wine production, consumption and trade from an historical and comparative perspective for the world as a whole and for most relevant countries. The combination of this basic information with other economic variables such as real GDP, population, total merchandise trade, total crop area, and the consumption of other alcoholic drinks has enabled us to generate myriad derived variables that are helpful for comparative analyses as well as for studying the two waves of globalization.

This article focuses on how Peruvian elites mobilized representations of masculinities as part of discourses on national progress and as essential elements in their assertions of hierarchy. By addressing intellectual elites’ discourses in two cultural magazines, El Perú Ilustrado and Variedades, and various literary works during the 1884–1912 period, the article presents three arguments. First, elites’ diagnosis of the country’s backwardness emphasized Peruvian men’s deficient masculinity, which included the elites’ own white creole masculinity. Thus, intellectual elites placed great importance on catching up with European “masculine” traits as pathways to progress and modernization. Second, discourses on masculinity were central elements by which elites asserted their legitimacy. Elites mobilized discourses on masculinity selectively—either as self-restraint or as physical prowess—to reinforce their hierarchical status vis-à-vis subaltern men. Third, intergenerational conflicts between the elites’ younger and older cohorts also transpired in terms of masculinity. Each generation depicted the other as embodying abject effeminacy. As a whole, by incorporating the analytical lens of masculinity, the article provides new insights into the construction of elites’ identities and of long-standing hierarchies in Latin America.

Populist presidents often mobilize popular support for their institutional reforms by claiming to promote a democracy that is genuinely responsive to the majority. However, most of the time, they are doing the exact opposite—undermining democracy. Voters, then, should decide whether to support the incumbent’s undemocratic behavior and reforms. In this article, I argue that voters will embrace the gradual subversion of democracy when they approve of the executive’s performance in office, particularly when the populist president is a prominent and influential figure. I test this argument using survey data collected in Mexico under Andrés Manuel López Obrador—an influential populist leader who enjoyed widespread approval and advanced autocratization in the name of democracy. The results indicate, indeed, that López Obrador’s presidential approval not only reinforced the belief that Mexico is a democracy but also increased voters’ support for the president if he decided to disregard the rule of law, curb the opposition’s rights, or cancel the separation of powers. These findings suggest that populist presidents might be able to persuade voters to embrace the subversion of democracy disguised as democratic improvement.

This article situates the Manchukuo Red Cross Society (MRCS) within the historiography of the Kwantung Army’s project to create an independent state in Northeast China, friction with Japanese interest groups already established in Manchuria, and the participation of ordinary Manchurians in state-sponsored organizations. It argues that the Kwantung Army’s sponsorship of a Manchukuo “national” Red Cross society reflected the accelerating pace of the Shinkyō government’s institutional development and pursuit of international recognition as a sovereign state. It also shows that the MRCS project encountered, and only partially overcame, opposition from on the one hand, the Japanese Red Cross Society (JRCS), which, since the Russo-Japanese War had established a strong institutional presence in Manchuria that it was reluctant to relinquish and, on the other hand, from the Geneva-based International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), whose president deferred to the Swiss Foreign Ministry and overrode senior staff in refusing the MRCS membership status. Nevertheless, once established, the MRCS developed into a multi-ethnic and multi-national humanitarian organization that mobilized both the Chinese population and the Japanese immigrant community, engaged with local governing authorities, and enlisted thousands of common people in the movement, and to this extent, furthered the Kwantung Army’s nation-building project.

Production of seafood has received relatively little attention in agri-food debates despite the fact that, since the 1960s, seafood production has been transformed through the industrialization of fisheries and globalization of seafood commodity chains. Intensive aquaculture emerged as a new industry in response to declining fish catches. Global commodity chains of seafood and capital accumulation processes changed tremendously, leading to complex international trade dynamics and rising inequalities. The Turkish aquaculture sector has also been transformed via government subsidies, and a few vertically integrated aquaculture companies started to produce farmed sea bass and sea bream (SBSB) in Turkish waters, while organizing their operations both upstream (processing of fish feed in Africa) and downstream (sales and distribution in Europe) in the global SBSB value chain. We adopted a single commodity approach to uncover how seafood production has been transformed via expanding commodity frontiers of capital-intensive SBSB production by focusing on the strategies of Turkish aquaculture enterprises, trade dynamics, and socio-ecological implications of SBSB production via in-depth interviews with key stakeholders and a review of legislative documents and trade data. Our analysis offers critical insights into the agrarian-change debate in Turkey by analyzing the global and regional socio-ecological inequalities created by Turkish SBSB production.

This essay reviews the following films:

Cuando las aguas se juntan. Dir. Margarita Martínez Escallón. Prod. La Retratista. Colombia, 2023. 85 minutes. Distributed by Cineplex.

Cantos que inundan el río. Dir. Luckas Perro (also known as Germán Arango Rendón). Prod. Pasolini en Medellín. Colombia, 2022. 72 minutes. Distributed by Briosa Films.

Del otro lado. Dir. Iván Guarnizo. Prod. Gusano Films, Salon Indien Films, RTVC Play. Colombia-Spain, 2021. 83 minutes. Distributed by DOC:CO Agencia de Promoción y Distribución.

The procedure for mandatory reviews, also known as confirmations, has existed in Malawi since the colonial period. It requires that when a subordinate court convicts a person and imposes a punishment that passes a prescribed threshold, the case record be forwarded to a higher court for review. This article examines the evolution of this procedure in Malawi from the colonial era to how it is being currently understood and applied. It argues that the understanding that courts have recently attached to the procedure does not align with how this procedure has historically developed. Moreover, this understanding diminishes the procedure’s effectiveness in its function of protecting convicts’ rights. The article suggests ways of improving the procedure to ensure it remains relevant and suitable for the purpose for which it was originally established.

This essay reviews the following works:

Flaco’s Legacy: The Globalization of Conjunto. By Erin E. Bauer. Champaign: University of Illinois Press, 2023. Pp. viii + 290. $30.00 paperback. ISBN: 9780252087158.

Indigenous Audibilities: Music, Heritage, and Collections in the Americas. By Amanda Minks. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2023. Pp. 256. $28.99 paperback. ISBN: 9780197532492.

Fernando Ortiz on Music: Selected Writing on Afro-Cuban Culture. By Robin D. Moore. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2018. Pp. ix + 282. $69.50 hardcover. ISBN: 9781439911730.

Sounding Latin Music, Hearing the Americas. By Jairo Moreno. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2023. Pp. x + 364. $35.00 paperback. ISBN: 9780226825687.

La conquista discográfica de América Latina. By Sergio Ospina Romero. Buenos Aires: Gourmet Musical, 2024. Pp. 314. Paperback. ISBN: 9789873823954.

A Respectable Spell: Transformations of Samba in Rio de Janeiro. By Carlos Sandroni. Translated by Michael Iyanaga. Champaign: University of Illinois Press, 2021. Pp. xxxix + 275. $28.00 paperback. ISBN: 9780252086083. Originally published as Feitiço decente: Transformações do samba no Rio de Janeiro (1917–1933). Rio de Janeiro: Jorge Zahar and Editora UFRJ, 2001.

Decolonial Metal Music in Latin America. By Nelson Varas Díaz. Bristol, UK: Intellect, 2021. Pp. 256. $34.95 paperback. ISBN: 9781789387568.

Inca Music Reimagined. By Vera Wolkowicz. New York: Oxford University Press, 2022. Pp. xvi + 272. $97.00 hardcover. ISBN: 9780197548943.