Proyecto Nacional

A setenta años de su fundación, El Colegio de México publica esta serie de dieciséis volúmenes, titulada Los grandes problemas de México, en la que se analizan los mayores retos de la realidad mexicana contemporánea, con el fin de definir los desafíos que enfrentamos en el siglo XXI y proponer algunas posibles respuestas y estrategias para resolver nuestros problemas como nación. Serie: Los grandes problemas de México. Vol, XII Relaciones internacionales, diecinueve estudiosos y diplomáticos con amplia experiencia en la conducción de las relaciones con el exterior abordan algunos de estos asuntos y problemas, los retos que han implicado para México y la forma en la que se ha intentado hacerles frente. Se analizan algunos de los grandes temas de las relaciones internacionales, incluyendo aquellos que tiene o pueden tener repercusiones más significativas en México. También se abordan las principales relaciones con países o grupos de países, poniendo énfasis en la conducción de las mismas por parte del Estado mexicano, así como asuntos relacionados con el funcionamiento de algunos organismos internacionales y las posiciones que al respecto hemos mantenido hasta ahora ay las que podemos o debemos adoptar.

This book examines the functions of sculpture during the Preclassic period in Mesoamerica and its significance in statements of social identity. Julia Guernsey situates the origins and evolution of monumental stone sculpture within a broader social and political context and demonstrates the role that such sculpture played in creating and institutionalizing social hierarchies. This book focuses specifically on an enigmatic type of public, monumental sculpture known as the "potbelly" that traces its antecedents to earlier, small domestic ritual objects and ceramic figurines. The cessation of domestic rituals involving ceramic figurines along the Pacific slope coincided not only with the creation of the first monumental potbelly sculptures, but with the rise of the first state-level societies in Mesoamerica by the advent of the Late Preclassic period. The potbellies became central to the physical representation of new forms of social identity and expressions of political authority during this time of dramatic change.

The two volumes of the central Tikal ceramic reports (Tikal Reports 25A and 25B) present the information gathered from the analysis of all ceramics recovered by the University of Pennsylvania research project at Tikal between 1956 and 1970. Tikal Report 25A (Culbert 1993) contains illustrations and brief descriptive captions for all whole vessels recovered from burials, caches, and problematical deposits. Because Tikal Report 25A illustrates the often-spectacular decorated vessels from major burials, it is of the most general interest for comparative purposes. This volume, Tikal Report 25B, presents the Tikal sequence of nine ceramic complexes (the analysis of the small sample of Postclassic Caban ceramics was not completed), describes the ceramics from each complex, presents the data for all counted lots, and illustrates the material from sherd collections. It is a specialist volume, primarily of interest to those actively involved in research with Maya ceramics. The material is complemented by data in the Tikal Reports devoted to excavations and by the analysis of nonceramic artifactual material in Tikal Reports 27A and 27B (Moholy-Nagy and Coe 2008; Moholy-Nagy 2003).

If constitutional legitimacy is based on violence, what does this mean for democracy? Almost every state in the world has a written constitution and, for the great majority, the constitution is the law that controls the organs of the state. But is a constitution the best device to rule a country? Western political systems tend to be 'constitutional democracies', dividing the system into a domain of politics, where the people rule, and a domain of law, set aside for a trained elite. Legal, political and constitutional practices demonstrate that constitutionalism and democracy seem to be irreconcilable. Antoni Abat i Ninet strives to resolve these apparently exclusive public and legal sovereignties, using their various avatars across the globe as case studies. He challenges the American constitutional experience that has dominated western constitutional thought as a quasi-religious doctrine. And he argues that human rights and democracy must strive to deactivate the 'invisible' but very real violence embedded in our seemingly sacrosanct constitutions.

To better address the impacts from climate change, OECD countries are increasingly making climate change adaptation a policy priority. Assessing progress in the implementation of national adaptation policies is a critical step in understanding how adaptation efforts contribute to strengthening climate resilience, and whether they are effective. Experience in policy design and implementation has grown significantly, however measuring progress remains a challenge for countries. Building on a cross-country survey and country case studies carried out in Chile, Korea, the Slovak Republic and the United Kingdom, this report provides insights into current OECD country practices in measuring climate adaptation. It proposes a framework that can guide countries on what needs to be measured and how, and discusses the role that adaptation indicators and a conducive institutional environment can play in strengthening adaptation measurement.