Lately, the Colombian government has opted for military oppression as the main route towards national security. However, recent events have shown that new post-conflict regions in Colombia are not necessarily violence- nor conflict-free scenarios. The institutional, social and economical instability of these post-conflict zones, as well as the high profitability of drug production, have promoted the reappearance of violent groups, generally led by previous mercenaries. In addition, under the actual Colombian peace-policies, the environmental security in post-conflict regions is not as secure as it should be. Many authors have argued that the economic reactivation in post-conflict scenarios could impose more threats to natural ecosystems than the economic stagnation typical of times of war. Then, it is important to look for new and effective alternatives to development, seeking to promote “sustainable peace” (i.e. social, economic and environmental long-term peace-conditions) in post-conflict regions in Colombia. This exploratory research suggests that natural resources in Colombia -besides bolstering belligerent groups- could be the medium for facilitating and maintaining peace. It proposes, for instance, that the correct management of natural resources through Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) schemes have a threefold potential. Firstly, to provide social, environmental and economic stabilization in post-conflict regions in Colombia. Secondly, to displace illegality and violence; and thirdly, to promote environmental citizenship for the alleviation of marginalization and as an alternative way toward national security.

Con ocasión de la discusión sobre el alcance de las conclusiones a las que algunos neurocientíficos han arribado tras experimentos relativamente recientes con respecto a temas que, como el de la posibilidad de la libertad individual, son cruciales para la legitimidad de cualquier sistema de atribución de responsabilidad, los juristas suelen afanarse por determinar si el Derecho –y, en particular, el Derecho penal- ha quedado sin un sustento sólido sobre el cual fundar un juicio de reproche. En la ejecución de esta tarea, suelen moverse al vaivén de los avances de las “ciencias duras” sin detenerse a contemplar el trasfondo filosófico que le da sentido y contexto a la discusión. La verdad es que conceptos como voluntad, conciencia y libertad dependen, sin duda, de cómo entendamos la relación entre la mente y el cerebro: para algunos, son una misma cosa; para otros, son tan distintas que los descubrimientos sobre el funcionamiento del uno no alteran las propiedades de la otra. Este escrito reseña el estado actual de la cuestión, al tiempo en que lo evalúa con base en las herramientas que ofrece la Filosofía de la mente y propone una aproximación desde un enfoque funcionalista que permite integrar los aportes de las neurociencias al sistema jurídico-penal, así como ubicarlos adecuadamente y definir sus alcances.

This paper explores the relationship between land inequality and inclusive growth in light of land policies for growth and poverty reduction. Contrasting traditional redistribution with inclusive rural growth shows the importance of land as an economic, social and political asset for achieving sustainable development. Analysing the Brazilian case, the paper suggests that inclusive growth strategies do not effectively counteract structural conditions of inequality and rather than attacking exclusionary growth patterns merely address immediate exigencies. Hence, returning to redistribution is fundamental for including the rural poor in modern economies, not just in terms of economic efficiency but for constructing equitable and approachable markets that enable the expansion of individual freedom. 

Energy Union (En Un) is a program released by the European Commission intended to create a single energy market between the European Union in order to have secure, affordable and sustainable energy. This way the imports will be reduced and the final price should be lower (theoretically) increasing the energy security for all the countries. The first communication was in February 2015 and is a very new topic for all the energy stakeholders in the EU. This is why a dissertation for the implications of this policy in UK was developed as part of the Master in Energy, Environmental Technology & Technology from City University London. UK is currently catalogued as an Energy Island (less than 10% of cross-border interconnection), with 30% of the generation based in coal, 30% in gas and 20% renewable, a liberalised market that varies with changes in gas or wind availability and the third highest kWh price from the EU. More than 20 energy policies and Conservative government with a constraint view against renewables’ subsidies. The implication for the UK and the En Un are divided into three: Infrastructural, Political and Economical. In the middle a map of the new cross-border grids proposed by this policy some of the findings are. The Energy Union in the UK will happen even if there’s no political wiliness or if they decide to not be part of the EU, mainly because the new infrastructure is already being developed (UK-Belgium) additional to the four current cross-border interconnectors. The wholesale market in UK is already liberalized and some cross border trades are being done with clean and cheap electricity from France and Holland; the key development is UK-Ireland, because UK, instead of being a 100% exporter to Ireland, will flip the coin with an import-export relationship with 8 interconnectors, electricity generated in Euros and close distance. Now it will not really matter if you generate electricity from Fossil Fuels, Nuclear or Renewable; the country will purchase from where is cheapest and available, independently from the source. Shale Gas, Nuclear, Gas and coal with CCS will be the important investment in the next years, not only in PPP (private public partnership) schemes but with R&D. New Universities courses will be develop (energy traders / brokers, cross border trade supervisors, etc) and more women should get involved. The £/ kWh for domestic and small companies will not be significantly reduced (albeit the low cost of it), those companies more engaged with the market will have very good deals and low £/ kWh.

This thesis analyzes the possible influence of social capital on the levels of fear of crime perceived by residents of Bogotá. The thesis focuses on the potential role of social networks and the individual perception of collective efficacy of neighborhoods in the metropolitan area of the Colombian capital. According to current theoretical developments, people who belong to social networks and actively participate in them expect reciprocity from their peers in case of a criminal event. Thus, they will benefit from an inhibiting effect on their individual levels of fear of crime. Following the statistics, the security situation in the city of Bogotá has improved during the last years. For example, the homicide rates have ostensibly dropped in the last 20 years and other crimes, such as robberies and burglaries, have stabilized within normal occurrence rates compared to the historical average. Nevertheless, citizens of Bogotá feel more insecure and perceive higher risks of being a victim of crime than 10 years ago. This seemingly paradoxical situation suggests a gap between the subjective feelings of citizens and objective criminal rates registered by different authorities. As most of the theoretical and empirical research has focused on the study of facilitators of fear of crime, using quantitative methodologies, this thesis will focus on the study of inhibitors of fear. To understand levels of fear of crime in neighborhoods of Bogotá it adopts a qualitative methodology. In addition, it inquires for the most relevant factors that produce fear of crime and suggests policy recommendations to make people feel safer in the city. The results show that the role of social networks in inhibiting individual levels of fear of crime depends on the quantity and quality of pooled resources that a community has. Neighborhoods with more social, economic and institutional resources provide environments and milieus where people feel safer. This perception of collective efficacy to advance communal goals plays a pivotal role in the inhibition of fear of crime and is stronger in more cohesive and organized neighborhoods. Finally, high levels of fear of crime lead to less participation in neighborhoods where illegal armed groups exert de facto control of the territory, hampering the already low levels of social capital in these communities.

This dissertation project assesses the possibility of Colombia becoming an annex I country before 2020. This assessment assumes that the country will eventually have to define the year during which it will be required to start reducing its GHG emissions and by what amount. This project aims to answer the following questions; in which year Colombia should assume a GHG reductions cap? And how much GHG emissions should Colombia reduce? These two questions were answered by first projecting the growth of future emissions of the country based on economic parameters, population growth and energy consumption and secondly by calculating the cost of undertaking the GHG reductions to meet the target. Three separate analyses were performed in order to answer those questions; first a comparative analysis of the country’s conditions when the protocol was signed, second the concept of the Environmental Kunznets Curve was used and confronted with the available Colombian data and third it was necessary to project when Colombia will be responsible for percent of the world’s emission. The results showed that at least until the year 2020 Colombia will not be responsible for a share bigger than one percent of the world emissions; neither will it reach the peak of the EKC and lastly Colombia will not become a higher middle income country anytime before the year 2020. The main conclusion obtained in this dissertation is that Colombia should not undertake any GHG reduction targets under the continuation of the Kyoto protocol before the year 2020.

This paper is concerned with four aspects in the implementation of Article VI on domestic regulation in the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). First, the need to reach a better understanding of the scope of the GATS existing disciplines, particularly, the national treatment and the transparency rule. Secondly, the feasibility of the necessity test to reach the Article VI objectives. Third, the assessment of the international standard’s role in the facilitation of the trade. Fourth, the desirability to evaluate the sectoral testing exercises to determine whether the principles and disciplines developed are relevant and adaptable to other sectors. For GATS domestic regulation development, the mentioned factors are crucial accompaniment to future liberalization of services trade and to fulfil Article VI mandate. Whether this progress can be achieved within a time frame consistent with the duration of the current negotiations remains to be seen.

El siglo XIX colombiano se caracterizó por las continuas guerras civiles que se desarrollaron a lo largo del territorio nacional. Una de las más importantes aconteció en 1860, cuando Tomás Cipriano de Mosquera y sus aliados se sublevaron contra el gobierno conservador de Mariano Ospina Rodríguez que pretendía consolidar el poder central en detrimento de la autonomía de los Estados Federales. En 1861 después de haber salido victoriosos de varias batallas, Mosquera y sus ejércitos se tomaron la capital derrocando al gobierno de Ospina. En cuanto llegó al poder, Mosquera subordinó a las autoridades eclesiásticas y al poder civil, expulsando a los jesuitas por su apoyo a los conservadores y declarando así la desamortización de bienes de manos muertas, a través de la cual se vendieron muchos bienes de la Iglesia en subasta pública. La guerra, sin embargo, no terminó hasta 1862, pues las guerrillas conservadoras seguían dando batalla. Hacia 1863, terminada la guerra civil se llevó a cabo la constitución de Rionegro que bautizó al país con el nombre de Estados Unidos de Colombia. El “Boletín Oficial” fue un periódico informativo a través del cual se puede seguir con detalle las eventualidades de la guerra desde la perspectiva del bando conservador. En sus páginas se publicaron informes, noticas de batallas, telegramas y cartas, provenientes de los diferentes Estados implicados en la guerra.

El 5 de febrero de 1991 se instauró en Colombia una Asamblea Nacional Constituyente. Los nuevos desafíos que enfrentaba el país en un contexto golpeado por la proliferación de los grupos armados y del narcotráfico, congregó a varios sectores políticos y civiles a solicitar una nueva constitución que reemplazara a la obsoleta Carta Magna de 1886. La Asamblea fue promovida en parte, por el movimiento estudiantil universitario conocido como “La Séptima papeleta”, el cual proponía incluir una papeleta de convocatoria a la constituyente, en las elecciones de concejales, representantes, senadores y autoridades regionales del 17 de marzo de 1990. Así, se conformó finalmente un grupo de setenta constituyentes entre los que se encontraban miembros de los partidos políticos tradicionales, nuevos partidos, representantes indígenas y universitarios, se nombraron como presidentes de la Asamblea a Horacio Serpa Uribe, Álvaro Gómez Hurtado y Antonio Navarro Wolff. Igualmente se organizaron cinco comisiones permanentes que discutieron 131 proyectos radicados. "La Gaceta Constitucional", fue una publicación periódica que sirvió como órgano divulgativo oficial de la Asamblea Nacional Constituyente. Su primer número salió al público el 5 de febrero de 1991 bajo el nombre de ‘Diario de la Asamblea Nacional Constituyente’, sin embargo, a partir del número 3 cambia su nombre a ‘Gaceta Constitucional’. En sus páginas se publicaron 64 actas de sesiones plenarias, 152 proyectos de ley, 152 ponencias, 112 actas de comisiones, 580 constancias, 76 intervenciones políticas, tres codificaciones de la constitución, el reglamento de la Asamblea, los perfiles profesionales de sus miembros y demás noticias referentes a la Constituyente. El domingo 7 de julio de 1991, la “Gaceta Constitucional “en su número 114, promulgó por primera vez la nueva Constitución Política de la República de Colombia, firmada y aprobada solo tres días antes, el 4 de julio de 1991. "La Gaceta" finalizó con 144 números que se distribuyeron hasta el 31 de diciembre de 1991. En su redacción participaron Edgar Moncayo como director, Jacobo Pérez Escobar como secretario general, Fernando Galvis Gaitán como relator de la Asamblea, Marleny Hernández, Gilberto Martín y Álvaro León Cajiao como periodista. Consulte la colección digital de la Asamblea Nacional constituyente de 1991 en: http://babel.banrepcultural.org/cdm/landingpage/collection/p17054coll28

El 28 de enero de 1849, circuló por primera vez en Bogotá el periódico “El Alacrán”, dirigido por Joaquín Pablo Posada y Germán Gutiérrez de Píñeres. Sin alguna filiación política, el periódico publicó en sus páginas fuertes críticas a la sociedad bogotana del momento, retratando con sátira y humor los excesos y opulencia de las élites capitalinas. En su primer número rezaba: “No pertenecemos a ninguno de los partidos políticos existentes, y nuestros tiros serán lanzados indistintamente contra todo lo que creamos merezca crítica”, sin embargo, apoyó la candidatura de José Hilario López a la presidencia de la República de 1849 y promulgó algunos principios comunistas. “El Alacrán” es considerado una de las publicaciones satíricas más relevantes de Colombia, no solo por su contenido, sino también por la crisis y conmoción que generó en la sociedad bogotana, su carácter crítico llevó a los directores a enfrentar un juicio bajo la acusación de sedición y difamación; en el número 4 del 11 de febrero de 1849, se anuncia a los lectores, que Posada y Gutiérrez serían juzgados por los jueces de la Nueva Granada el 27 de ese mismo mes. Este periódico se clausuró el 22 de febrero de 1849, con una duración total de siete números que fueron publicados semanalmente. Su primer número fue impreso por Vicente Lozada y los siguientes por la imprenta de Nicolás Gómez.