Schools and cultural organisations have collaborated together to develop arts-based learning programmes in schools. At a first glance, this model seems beneficial as these initiatives increase students’ opportunities to access the arts and foster their creative expression, whilst pupils also acquire soft skills and strengthen their ability to work collaboratively. However, as one examines this matter closer, it becomes evident that certain aspects involved in the development of these partnerships are animated by motivations that transcend the ones circumscribed in widening students’ opportunities in creative learning. This dissertation is the result of an ethnographic study of a music and a dance initiative delivered in partnership between cultural organisations and schools across Greater London. Through constant comparison of the data, three themes surfaced as the principal categories animating arts-based learning in schools developed in partnership with cultural organisations: - Artistic partnerships maximise the creative potential and soft-skills acquisition of students. - Cultural organisations established an asymmetric relationship with their educative partners. - The motivations of cultural partnerships are dictated by priorities that transcend educational objectives. The analysis adopts Bourdieusian theory, mainly Bourdieu’s notion of cultural capital, to examine the way in which creative learning is introduced in schools. Furthermore, a Bernsteinian framework is employed to analyse the pedagogy that arts initiatives under the direction of artist-teachers enforce in the classroom. Moreover, the study contributes to arts learning and creative partnerships by providing recommendations that encourage participatory and collaborative practice in future endeavours.

This paper examines how certain structural factors can hinder policy learning. Public management scholars have found that learning has an important role in shaping policy, that learning plays a role in shaping the types of policy solutions that policy actors devise, that learning is a desirable goal for policy analysis and even that learning is a foundation for improving policy-making. A developing literature argues that there are several factors influencing policy learning such as structural factors (differentiated functions, decentralized structures of decision-making, leaders, etc.), social dynamics (trust, tolerance, level of conflict, etc.), technological factors (ambiguity of the technical domain, adequacy of information systems, etc.), and other exogenous factors (political, social and economic changes). However, little is known about the precise role of bureaucrats and organizational structures as facilitators or inhibitors of policy learning in the public sector. Moreover, studies on policy learning in certain policy areas, such as transport policy, are yet to be completed. This paper therefore analyses how two structural factors (centralised structures of decision- making restricting the dissemination of information and high staff turnover) hindered policy learning in three generations of road concession programmes implemented in Colombia. The author argues that in formal institutional settings in which decision-makers permanently receive an updated evaluation of the programmes that are being implemented, centralised structures of decision-making (undermining the dissemination of information) and high turnover of top civil servants (negatively affecting the role of leaders) can impede policy learning. Hence, inflexible configurations of bureaucracy in the structures of decisionmaking and high turnover of top civil servants are important enemies of policy learning and good friends of policy failure. Este documento examina cómo algunos factores estructurales pueden afectar el aprendizaje en materia de políticas públicas. Los estudios académicos en gerencia pública han encontrado que el aprendizaje tiene un importante protagonismo en la forma de diseñar políticas públicas, que el aprendizaje juega un papel esencial en definir los tipos de soluciones que los actores observan sobre las problemáticas que afrontan las políticas públicas, que el aprendizaje es un objetivo deseable para el análisis de las políticas públicas, e incluso, que el aprendizaje es un elemento básico para mejorar la forma en la que se hacen las políticas públicas. Recientemente se venido desarrollando una línea de estudios académicos bajo la que se argumenta que existen numerosos factores que influencian el aprendizaje en materia de políticas públicas, tales como factores estructurales (funciones diferenciadas, estructuras descentralizadas para la toma de decisiones, el papel de los líderes, etc.), dinámicas sociales (niveles de confianza, niveles de tolerancia, niveles de conflicto, etc.), factores tecnológicos (ambigüedades en el ámbito técnico, idoneidad de los sistemas de información, etc.) y otros factores externos (cambios políticos, sociales y económicos). Sin embargo, muy poco se conoce sobre el papel específico que juegan los burócratas (servidores públicos, etc.) y las estructuras organizacionales como facilitadores o inhibidores de los procesos de aprendizaje en materia de políticas públicas en el sector público. Adicionalmente, los estudios sobre el aprendizaje en materia de políticas públicas realizados en relación con áreas específicas (ej. políticas públicas en temas de transporte) están en proceso de completarse y son aún objeto de investigación. Por lo tanto, esta tesis analiza cómo dos factores estructurales (estructuras centralizadas en la toma de decisiones que restringen la trasferencia de información y la alta rotación de personal) afectaron los procesos de aprendizaje en materia de políticas públicas en tres generaciones de concesiones viales implementadas en Colombia. El autor sostiene que en un contexto institucional formal, en el que quienes toman las decisiones reciben información permanente y actualizada sobre la evaluación de los programas implementados, la adopción de estructuras centralizadas para la toma de decisiones (que afectan la trasferencia de información) y unas altas tasas de rotación en los servidores públicos de mayor jerarquía (que afecta negativamente el papel de los líderes) pueden impedir los procesos de aprendizaje en materia de políticas públicas. Así, configuraciones inflexibles de la burocracia en las estructuras de toma de decisiones y las altas tasas de rotación en los servidores públicos de mayor jerarquía son importantes enemigos del aprendizaje y buenos amigos del fracaso de las políticas públicas.

In view of the surge in short-term private capital flows to Colombia and other emerging markets in recent years, housing-price and stock market bubbles have emerged; therefore, the study of the relative effectiveness of controls on private capital flows is a timely and important topic to undertake. Did the nonremunerated reserve requirement imposed on private capital inflows in Colombia decrease the total stock of flows? Following the empirical work of Cárdenas and Steiner (2000), this study modifies their work by adding a second period of controls for Colombia, as well as undertaking a unit root and vector error cointegration analysis. The study finds that controls were not capable of decreasing the total amount of private capital inflows in the short-run, but they were able to do so in the long run. These findings demonstrate that, in the case of Colombia, the careful and nuanced use of controls can (and should) be used by policymakers as an important instrument to prevent volatility in the real exchange rate in a world of increasing financial integration.

This paper summarizes the results of a case study examining policy advocacy activities developed by the Fundación Esperanza (Hope Foundation) and the Plataforma Social HERMES (HERMES Social Platform) in support of Colombian Draft Law 070 of 2009 (creation of a National System for Migration and other regulations). It maps the actors and interests involved in efforts taking place between February and May 2010, to promote public policy in the field. The conclusion drawn from this research is that there are at least three ways of highlighting the relationships between civil society actors, government servants, grassroots and international cooperation agencies in the field of migration: instrumentalization (between NGOs and International Cooperation), complementarity and capture (between NGOs and local government) and impersonation (between NGOs and migrant population). The paper ends by presenting these three principal reflections within the framework of Migration NGOs’ accountability, an issue described as a challenge in the current law and development literature.

Tree planting and natural regeneration are the main approaches to achieve global forest restoration targets, affecting multiple hydrological processes, such as infiltration of rainfall. Our understanding of the effect of land use history and vegetation on the recovery of water infiltration and soil attributes in both restoration strategies is limited. Therefore, we investigated the recovery of top-soil saturated soil hydraulic conductivity (Ks), soil physical and hydraulic properties in five land use types: (i) a secondary old-growth forest; (ii) a forest established through assisted passive restoration 11 years ago; (iii) an actively restored forest, with a more intensive land use history and 11 years of age; (iv) a pasture with low-intensity use; and (v) a pasture with high-intensity use, in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. For these land use types, we determined the historical land use patterns and conducted soil sampling, using the Beerkan method to determine Ks values in the field. We also measured tree basal area, canopy cover, vegetation height, tree density and species richness in forest covers. The Ks decreased when land use was more intense prior to forest restoration actions. Our results indicate that land use legacy is a crucial factor to explain the current difference in soil and vegetation attributes among study sites.

ITALIANO La città colombiana di Santiago di Cali è stata catalogata come zona di alta pericolosità sismica. Diversi scuotimento di alti livelli di intensità nel passato hanno registrato effetti significativi sull’infrastruttura della città. In conseguenza, uno studio di pericolosità sismica è stato fatto dall’Istituto Geologico e di Mine Colombiano (INGEOMINAS), dove diverse zone di comportamento dinamico omogeneo sono state caratterizzate. Per migliorarne la conoscenza sulla risposta del sottosuolo, Otálvaro et al., (2010) hanno sviluppato diverse prove geofisiche nel campus della Pontificia Universidad Javeriana (PUJ Cali), localizzata nella zona omogenea 4e. Come risultato delle prove e dell’analisi di informazione indiretta (pozzi di estrazione nelle vicinanze), un profilo sismo-geotecnico tipico è stato proposto. L’obiettivo della presente ricerca è stato la determinazione della pericolosità in superficie, in termini di Spettro di Risposta a Pericolosità Uniforme (UHS) per la PUJ Cali, conoscendo la pericolosità di base dall’Analisi Probabilistica della Pericolosità Sismica (PSHA) e valutando la Risposta Sismica Locale (RSL) del deposito di terreno. La metodologia seguita per la definizione dello spettro UHS in superficie intende, prima, la determinazione di un numero sufficiente di accelerogrammi rappresentativi della pericolosità di base per l’analisi del comportamento sismico del deposito di terreno in PUJ Cali, tramite RSL. I risultati dalla RSL si presentano in termini di funzioni di amplificazione, ovvero l’entità dell’amplificazione subita dal profilo di terreno per diversi periodi spettrali, in funzione del livello di scuotimento. Come ultimo passaggio, bisogna integrare tali funzioni con lo spettro UHS in condizioni di riferimento (roccia), dalla PSHA. La strada scelta per questa operazione è stata il Metodo della Convoluzione (Bazzurro & Cornell, 2004b), un metodo consistente con la natura probabilistica della PSHA che intende superare le limitazioni dei “Metodi Ibridi”, dove la PSHA si integra con la RSL semplicemente tramite moltiplicazione periodo a periodo dell’UHS in roccia per dei valori deterministici di amplificazione. Inoltre, la variabilità nel profilo delle velocità delle onde di taglio (Vs) è stata introdotta tramite simulazioni Monte Carlo. I risultati per il presente caso di studio, in termini di UHS per periodi di ritorno di 475 e 1000 anni, segnalano come il metodo della convoluzione, contrario a quanto riportato in letteratura, prevede accelerazioni spettrali consistentemente minori di quelle in corrispondenza dei metodi ibridi. Tale differenza è ancora più significativa all’aumentare del periodo di ritorno. Inoltre, è stato evidenziato come l’effetto della variabilità nel profilo di Vs si tradurre in minori amplificazioni per quasi tutti i periodi spettrali, questo dovuto al fatto della non-linearità indotta nei profili randomizzati meno rigidi. Tuttavia, in termini di UHS, l’inclusione dell’incertezza genera uno spettro più conservativo dello spettro nel caso deterministico poiché il metodo della convoluzione tiene in conto della deviazione standard delle funzioni di amplificazione, significativamente maggiore considerando randomizzazione. Finalmente, è da notare come lo spettro UHS in superficie proposto per PUJ Cali in questo elaborato prevede accelerazioni spettrali minori di quelle corrispondenti agli spettri riportati da INGEOMINAS (2005a) e Otálvaro et al., (2010) sapendo che tali spettri sono inviluppi e non risposte medie. ENGLISH Colombian city Cali has been classified as a high seismic hazard zone. Several recorded ground motions have registered significant effects on the city’s infrastructure. In consequence, a seismic hazard analysis was developed by the Institute of Geology and Mines in Colombia (INGEOMINAS), where dynamically homogeneous zones were characterized. To improve the knowledge regarding the seismic response from the soil, Otálvaro et al., (2010) performed a number of geophysical surveys on the campus of Pontificia Universidad Javeriana (PUJ Cali), located on the homogenous zone 4e in Cali. The outcome from the tests and some indirect information was a proposed typical soil profile. This study aims to determine the hazard in surface, in terms of Uniform Hazard Spectrum (UHS) for PUJ Cali, knowing the UHS for rock conditions from the Probabilistic Seismic Hazard Analysis (PSHA) and evaluating the soil’s Local Seismic Response (RSL). The methodology followed to define the UHS in surface consists in first determining enough ground motions coherent with the base hazard for then performing the seismic behavior analysis for the subsoil, by RSL. Results from RSL are presented as amplification functions, that is, the entity of the amplification suffered by the soil for diverse spectral periods, as a function of the level of strain induced. The last step consists in merging said functions with the PSHA. For this operation, the Convolution Method (Bazzurro & Cornell, 2004b) was chosen, a method consistent with the probabilistic nature from the PSHA which aims to overcome the limitations from “Hybrid Methods”, where PSHA is merged with RSL by a simple multiplication, period by period, of UHS in rock and deterministic values for amplification. Furthermore, the soil’s profile variability is accounted as uncertainty in the shear-wave velocity (Vs) profile, implementing Monte Carlo simulations. Results, in terms of UHS for return periods of 475 and 1000 years, show how spectral accelerations from the convolution method, contrary as reported in literature, are consistently lower than those corresponding to hybrid methods. This difference becomes more significant as return period increases. Discussing the effect of uncertainty in Vs, it is noted how lower amplifications are experienced for most periods when considering a stochastic situation, this because of non-linearity induced in less rigid randomized profiles. Nevertheless, the UHS considering Vs variability is more conservative than the UHS from the deterministic profile due to the inclusion of standard deviation of amplification functions in the convolution method, significantly higher than those corresponding to the base profile. Finally, it is noted how the UHS proposed for PUJ Cali for this study predicts lower spectral accelerations than those spectrums reported from INGEOMINAS (2005a) and Otálvaro et al., (2010), acknowledging that these last spectrums are envelopes and do not represent a median response.

Mudejar Art, the architectural style that emerged in Spain during the Reconquista, is relatively common in Spanish Colonial architecture in America, but it was merely an echo of the contemporary buildings constructed in Spain during the years of the colony. The presence of completely Islamic structures, however, such as the Mosque-type chapels, defy that observation, because the hypostyle plan had not been used in Spain for at least a hundred years. This research compares five chapels built in Mexico during the sixteenth century that follow a hypostyle plan, which resemble mosques in almost every aspect. It also proposes that these Mosque-type churches were a creative solution to accommodate the indigenous population, their patterns of worship and their number during the early years of the colony. These Islamic-inspired designs precede the open-air chapels, which became a common feature in sixteenth century Mexican architecture. An additional transcultural element given by the main users and builders of these chapels enrich the panorama of Mudejar art, mixing Native American religion and culture with an already rich Spanish Mudejar taste.

This dissertation offers a comprehensive interpretation of the political philosophies of Thomas Hobbes, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and Immanuel Kant, and highlights some common principles of their theories of state legitimacy. While the respective parts of the dissertation can be read as freestanding monographs, they jointly illustrate the appeal of a specific understanding of the problem of political legitimacy. Hobbes, Rousseau, and Kant took legitimacy to be about the right to perform as a state—the right, that is, to be the sole entity authorized to act and speak in the people’s name. Notably, they believed that this right was conceptually independent from the quality of the state’s performance. For these early modern thinkers, legitimacy is a normative property that cannot be ascribed to states merely as a function of the degree to which they exercise their coercive power in accordance with principles of social justice. The distinction between legitimacy and justice as independent dimensions of political evaluation is exegetically illuminating in the context of Hobbes, Rousseau, and Kant. Furthermore, it is an important philosophical and practical insight in its own right. In this regard, Kant’s political philosophy stands out as a model for constructing a theory of legitimacy that captures the fact that a peaceful, orderly, and law-bound social world—a Rechtsstaat—is an enormous achievement worth protecting despite the injustices with which it can often coexist. Esta disertación plantea una interpretación exhaustiva de la filosofía política de Thomas Hobbes, Jean-Jacques Rousseau y Emmanuel Kant, y destaca algunos principios comunes sus respectivas teorías de la legitimidad del estado. Si bien cada parte de la disertación puede verse como una monografía independiente sobre el autor de que se trate, juntas ilustran los atractivos conceptuales de una manera puntual de entender el problema de la legitimidad. Hobbes, Rousseau y Kant concebían el problema de la legitimidad como concerniente al derecho de desempeñarse como estado, es decir, el derecho de ser la única entidad autorizada para obrar y hablar en nombre del conjunto de los ciudadanos. Es más, los tres entendían tal derecho como conceptualmente independiente de la calidad del desempeño del estado. Para estos pensadores de la modernidad temprana, la legitimidad es una propiedad normativa que no puede atribuírsele a un estado solamente en función de qué tanto utiliza este su poder coercitivo en pro de los principios de justicia social. La distinción conceptual entre legitimidad y justicia como dimensiones independientes de evaluación de las instituciones políticas tiene importantes implicaciones para la interpretación de Hobbes, Rousseau y Kant. Más allá de eso, es un postulado de gran importancia filosófica y práctica. Visto desde esa perspectiva, el pensamiento político de Kant sobresale como modelo para la construcción de una teoría de la legitimidad del estado capaz de dar la importancia debida al hecho de que un universo social pacífico, ordenado y regido por la ley—un Rechstaat, como él lo llamara—es un logro extraordinario que merece ser cuidado a pesar de las injusticias con las que frecuentemente coexiste.

Cuando tenemos la oportunidad de irnos a descansar en las riberas del océano, solemos decir que nos “bañamos en el mar”, así hayamos estado disfrutando de sus aguas en un pequeño recodo de la playa. La obra que a continuación te presento busca exactamente lo mismo: espera que la recorras en toda su amplitud, pero se conformaría con que caminaras por un tiempo a lo largo de sus orillas y permitieras que el vaivén de las olas en la arena llegara a acariciar los dedos de tus pies, para así obtener alguna idea de la experiencia consignada en el océano de significados que en esta ocasión se abre en tu camino. Por eso, te invito a buscar en estas líneas una playa que sea de tu agrado, y ojalá ello te motive a convertirte en sondeador y navegante frecuente de estas aguas abiertas a tu exploración, tu curiosidad y tus anhelos. Pero siempre, siempre, amigo mío, una vez que te hayas sumergido, podrás decir que te has bañado en el mar. Resumen en inglés: Generally studies about identity and consumption have assumed that individuals are immersed in a context of abundance, in which their possibilities to fulfil their needs and desires to purposefully construct a consumption lifestyle are granted. Within this context, studies from the Consumer Culture Theory perspective have described how individuals navigate consumer culture by developing enduring relationships with possessions that help them to build identities and a sense of self. However, this is not always possible during every individual’s life. Certain situational factors not only provoke the individual’s loss of what they have already built, but also lead them to a restricted consumption context. The present study focuses on forced and uncertain changing events, those whose severity and/or rapid change disrupts an individual’s entire life. Through a phenomenological approach of the homeless experience, this study attempts to understand individuals’ transition into a restricted consumption context. The empirical data obtained from a twenty two month ethnographic study evidences that experiencing homelessness, individuals’ loss of possessions and the perceived uncertainty that characterizes life on the streets, trigger not only a self-transformation process, but also alter their relationship with the material world. The findings are contrasted with the current literature extending previous work about transition and consumption by: a) Proposing a new transformational routine to describe the forced self-transformations and how consumption (or the lack of it) becomes an element that influences the deconstruction and construction of a new self. b) Identifying how in a restricted consumption context, individuals develop a different relationship with the material world, and how this changes their modes of consumption.

L'expérience dans le métro est le résultat d'un parcours de vie volontairement assumé, où se mêlent les logiques de l'immigration et l'exclusion. L'étranger qui va pour rester, et surtout le sans papiers, arrive dans une situation où il est dépourvu d'éléments pour s'insérer dans le pays d'accueil. Sur le plan social, tous les liens qu'il avait constitués dans son pays de provenance sont absents, sauf les amis et les parents éventuels ou la solidarité d'origine qui peut être un appui dans un moment donné. Malgré tout, le processus pour arriver à se faire une place dans la société réceptrice est longue et n'est pas exempte d'inconvénients. La situation de départ pour l'étranger est, ainsi, une situation de «marginalité». Mais cette perception ne doit pas être prise dans le sens négative d'anomie. La volonté de l'individu qui arrive dans un pays étranger est de chercher des mécanismes ou des formules pour s'intégrer au milieu. «Qu'est-ce qu'il faut faire?» «Où est-ce qu'il faut aller?». Dans plusieurs cas, l'individu n'est pas tout seul, et il peut s'appuyer sur son réseau. Dans des communautés ethniques plus constituées, il trouvera un appui plus fermé. Mais pour ceux qui n'appartiennent pas à un tel groupe, la constitution d'une socialité s'effectue ailleurs, et la recherche de modes de survie est généralement réalisée en dehors des cercles sociaux traditionnels.