The Bicentennial: Lessons and opportunities, 1910-2010

This project has been designed to provide a critical evaluation of the road followed by Argentina, Colombia, Chile and Mexico over the last hundred years. Its aim is to identify common aspects as well as the differences that have characterized the historical evolution of these countries from 1910 to 2010. The research work will have five main axes: politics, economy, society, international relations, and thought and culture. Additionally, the project aims to provide an overview of current and future trends and prospects in each of the four countries in a number of fields.

With this objective in mind, the Grupo Vidanta Foundation is financing over forty studies to be concluded by the end of 2009. And, for this purpose, it has entered into an association with the Fundación Democracia y Desarrollo presided by Ricardo Lagos. The national coordination of the projects in each of the four countries mentioned, has been entrusted to renowned international universities and academic institutions.

Participating countries and institutions

Argentina	Universidad Torcuato Di Tella
Chile	Fundación Democracia y Desarrollo
Colombia	Universidad Externado
México	Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas

National coordinators

Argentina	Natalio Botana Roberto Russell
Chile	Ricardo Lagos Eugenio Lahera  Alfredo Riquelme
Colombia	María Teresa Calderón Isidro Vanegas
México	María Amparo Casar Guadalupe González Erika Ruiz Sandoval

Awaited results

The contributors will write original essays, of an analytical and proactive nature, on the subjects mentioned, addressing a broad spectrum of the public. These essays will be compiled in eight books to be published in Spanish by Editorial Taurus..

International seminars

In order to ensure the comparative nature of the project and to strengthen the articulation between the analyses and proposals of the different countries, on August 24 and 25, 2009, meetings were held in Santiago, Chile, with a number of contributors who reported on the progress made. The final versions of their papers will be presented during an International Seminar in Mexico City to be held on October 14, 2010.

Cooperation agreement

In January 2009, the Grupo Vidanta Foundation signed a cooperation agreement with Spain’s Fundación Carolina, Chile’s Fundación Democracia y Desarrollo, and Spain’s Fundación Real Instituto Elcano. The objective of the agreement, held in Spain, was to encourage the signatory institutions to join forces for the development of the Bicentennial Project. Specifically, the Fundación Carolina financed the international seminar held in Santiago in August 2009 and will make a partial contribution to the October 14, 2010, meeting in Mexico City.

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National chapters

Argentina

Chile

Colombia

Mexico

Carlos Altamirano, CONICET, University of Buenos Aires
Responsible for the chapter on thought in Lessons of the Bicentennial.
CONICET researcher. Director of the Program on Intellectual History and teacher at the National University of Quilmes. Konex Prize for political essay (2004) and for merit in Political Science (2007). Was awarded a John S. Guggenheim scholarship (2004). Author of numerous publications in the field of cultural sociology and the history of social and political thought in Argentina and Latin America.

 

Natalio Botana, Torcuato di Tella University
Coordinator of the Opportunities section: Argentine Bicentennial projection, and responsible for the chapter on politics.
Doctorate in Political and Social Sciences, University of Lovaina, Professor Emeritus of the Torcuato Di Tella University. Full Member of the National Academy of Moral and Political Sciences and of the National Academy of History, and Doctor Honoris Causa, National University of Salta, Argentina.

 

Roberto Cortés Conde, University of San Andrés.
Responsible for the chapter on economics of the Opportunities section: Argentine Bicentennial projection.
Professor Emeritus of the Department of Economics at the University of San Andrés and Honorary President of the International Economic History Association. He is a full member of the National Academy of Economic Sciences and of the National Academy of History.

 

Guillermo Jaim Etcheverry, Former Rector of the University of Buenos Aires
Responsible for the chapter on education of the Opportunities section: Argentine Bicentennial projection.
Director of the Carolina Foundation in Argentina. Doctor of Medicine, University of Buenos Aires. He was awarded a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation scholarship to work at the Salk Institute, La Jolla, California, U.S.A. Rector of the University of Buenos Aires from 2002 to 2006.

 

Karina Galperín, Torcuato di Tella University
Responsible for culture, Opportunities section: Argentine Bicentennial projection.
Ph.D in Romance Languages & Literature, Harvard University. Professor of the Department of Political Science and International Studies, Torcuato Di Tella University. Visiting professor at the Center for Latin American Studies, Stanford University.

 

Pablo Gerchunoff, Torcuato di Tella University
Responsible for economics, the Bicentennial: Lessons and Opportunities section.
Degree in Economics, University of Buenos Aires. Full-time professor and researcher at the Torcuato Di Tella University. Former Cabinet Advisor to the Minister of Economy on privatizations and the reform of the public sector and the labor market (1986-1989).

 

Osvaldo Guariglia, University of Buenos Aires
Responsible for the chapter on ethics, Opportunities section: Argentine Bicentennial projection.
Degree in the Classic Arts, University of Buenos Aires; PhD in Philosophy, University of Tübingen, German Federal Republic; former recipient of a scholarship from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. Senior lecturer at the University of Buenos Aires and honorary professor at the La Plata National University. He is also a CONICET researcher. Among other awards, he received an Antorchas Scholarship and a First National Prize in Philosophy.

 

Manuel Mora y Araujo, President of the Manuel Mora y Araujo Consultancy.
Responsible for the chapter on society, Opportunities section: Argentine Bicentennial projection.
Sociologist and political analyst. Member and Vice President of Mora y Araujo Grupo de Comunicación. President of IPSOS/Mora y Araujo. Vice President of the Torcuato Di Tella University.

 

Carlos Pérez Llana, Universidad Siglo XXI
Universidad Siglo XXI.
Current Vice-Rector for Development and International Relations, Universidad Siglo XXI, Córdoba, Argentina, and professor of International Contemporary Politics, Torcuato Di Tella University. Former Argentine Ambassador to France.

 

Luis Alberto Romero,  CONICET, University of Buenos Aires
Responsible for the chapter on politics in Lessons of the Bicentennial.
Head researcher at CONICET and senior lecturer on General Social History at the School of Philosophy and Arts, University of Buenos Aires. Director of the Center for the Study of Political History at the School of Politics and Government, National University of San Martín. Was awarded a Special Mention on the occasion of the 1994 Grand National Prize for History, and the Konex Prize for History in 2004.

 

Roberto Russell,Grupo Vidanta Foundation
Responsible for the chapter on international relations in Lessons of the Bicentennial.
PhD in International Relations, The Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, The Johns Hopkins University. Current Director of the Masters’ in International Studies at the Torcuato Di Tella University and President of the Grupo Vidanta Foundation. In 2006 he received the Konex 2006 Humanities Award, Mention in Political Science.

 

Juan Carlos Torre – Torcuato Di Tella University
Responsible for the chapter on society in Lessons of the Bicentennial.
PhD in Sociology, L’Ecole des Hautes Études, Paris; Professor of the Department of Political Science and Government, Torcuato Di Tella University and Director of Desarrollo Económico magazine since 1994. In 1996 he received the Konex Platinum Award for Sociology.

Héctor Aguilar Camín
Historian, journalist and writer. Founder, past director and member of the Editorial Board of Nexos magazine. Host of the Zona Abierta television program. He has a PhD in History from the Colegio de México, and a degree in Communication Sciences and Techniques, Ibero-American University.

 

Francisco Suárez Dávila
Degree in Law, National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). Master in Economics, Cambridge University. Federal Deputy, LIX legislative body, where he was Secretary of the Treasury and Public Credit Committee.

 

María Amparo Casar
Political scientist and analyst. Teacher and researcher at the Center for Research and Teaching in Economics (CIDE), Mexico. PhD in Political and Social Sciences, University of Cambridge, where she was awarded the King’s College Prize. She is a specialist pioneering in the study of Mexico’s Congress, in the field of presidential systems and executive-legislative relations.

 

José Ramón Cossío Díaz
Minister of the Supreme Court of Justice of Mexico and professor of Constitutional Law at the Autonomous Technological Institute of Mexico. Doctor in Law, Complutense University of Madrid; Master in Constitutional Law and Political Science, Center of Constitutional Studies, Madrid; and a Degree in Law, School of Law, University of Colima.

 

Guadalupe González González
Political internationalist and Comments. Professor-researcher at the International Studies Division of the Center for Research and Teaching in Economics (CIDE). Coordinator of the México y el Mundo project, a pioneering study on public opinion and foreign policy. She has a degree in International Relations from El Colegio de México and a Master in Political Sociology from the London School of Economics. She is a candidate for a doctorate in political science (University of California, San Diego) and is a founding member of the Mexican Council on International Affairs (COMEXI).

 

Federico Reyes Heroles
Writer, political scientist, political Comments and university professor. Founder and president of the governing council of Transparencia Mexicana. Founding director, past president and honorary advisor to the Administrative Board of Este País: Tendencias y Opiniones magazine. Founder and President of the Board of the Fundación Este País. Professor and researcher in Humanities Coordination and at the School of Philosophy and Arts of the National Autonomous University of Mexico.

Jesús Silva-Herzog Márquez
Professor-researcher, Academic Department of Law, Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM). Has a Degree in Law from the National Autonomous University of Mexico and a Master in Political Science, University of Columbia, New York. Guest researcher at the University of Georgetown and the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars.

 

Fausto Hernández Trillo
Professor-researcher and Director of the Economics Division of the Center for Research and Teaching in Economics (CIDE). PhD in Economics, Ohio State University, U.S.A., and researcher Level III, Mexican National System of Researchers.

 

Alejandro Moreno

Professor-researcher, Academic Department of Political Science, Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM). PhD in Political Science (1997) and Master in Political Science (1995), University of Michigan. He has a Degree in Social Sciences (ITAM, 1991). His fields of interest are: Comparative Politics, Public Opinion and Electoral Behavior.

 

Érika Ruiz Sandoval

Visiting professor-researcher at the International Studies Division of the Center for Research and Teaching in Economics (CIDE). Former Editorial Director of Foreign Affairs Latinoamérica. She is preparing her thesis on International Relations and European Integration for the doctoral program of the University Institute of European Studies, Autonomous University of Barcelona. Internationalist, El Colegio de México; Master in Public Politics, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University; specialist in European Integration Studies, Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM); and Master in International Relations and European Integration, Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB).

 

Nicolás Alvarado

Writer, author of the books Con M de México (Norma, 2006) and La Ley de Lavoisier (Norma, 2008), as well as the theatrical work Cena de Reyes (2009), based on texts by Alfonso Reyes. Director of El Huevo magazine from 2001 to 2008. He has contributed to numerous publications, among others, Letras Libres, Nexos, Gatopardo and Milenio Diario. He is currently the producer and presenter of the Channel 22 program ReVerso on poetry, and he participates in the same channel’s program La Dichosa Palabra on language and literature. He is a cultural Comments on Primero Noticias, a Televisiva news program. He is also a regular contributor to El Universal, Radio Fórmula and a variety of magazines published by the Grupo Editorial Expansión.

 

Pedro Salazar Ugalde

Researcher at the Institute of Juridical Research (IIJ), National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). PhD in Political Philosophy, University of Turín (Universitá degli Studi di Torino). A master’s professor at the Latin American School of Social Sciences (Mexico) and a degree lecturer at the School of Law of the UNAM, at the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM) and at the Center for Research and Teaching in Economics (CIDE).

 

Silvia Elena Giorguli Saucedo

Professor-researcher at the Center of Demographic, Urban and Environmental Studies, El Colegio de México. PhD in Sociology, Brown University and national researcher, Level I of the Mexican academic system. Her major fields of interest are: international migration and the impact of population change in Mexico. She recently completed a stay as Research Fellow at the Center for Advanced Studies in Behavioral Sciences, Palo Alto, California.

 

José Antonio Ocampo
University of Notre Dame Economist and Sociologist. PhD in Economy, Yale University. In 2008 he was awarded the Leontief Prize for Advancing the Frontiers of Economic Thought, Tufts University, and in 1988 the “Alejandro Ángel Escobar” Colombian Award for Science. Current professor and director of the Program for Political and Economic Development of the School of Public and International Affairs (SIPA) and Member of the Committee on Global Thought, Columbia University. Former Deputy Secretary General for Economic and Social Affairs and Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). He has also held several posts in the government of his country, including those of Minister of Finance and Public Credit, Director of the National Planning Department and Minister of Agriculture. In the academic field, he is a former director of FEDESARROLLO and professor at the University of Los Andes, the National University of Colombia, Cambridge, Yale and Oxford. Author and editor of over 35 books, among them Stability with growth: Macroeconomics, liberalization and development and Reconstruir el futuro: Globalización, desarrollo y democracia en América Latina jointly with Joseph E. Stiglitz.

 

Rodrigo Pardo
Political scientist with an MA in International Relations. Former Minister of Foreign Affairs, advisor to President Virgilio Barco, Colombian Ambassador to Venezuela, professor of Colombian foreign policy. He is primarily active in the worlds of journalism and diplomacy. Former director of El Espectador, assistant director of El Tiempo, editorial director of Semana magazine and current director of Cambio magazine. In the diplomatic field he has published numerous articles on Colombian international politics and economics. He is also coauthor with Juan G. Tokatlian of the book Política exterior colombiana: ¿De la subordinación a la autonomía?

 

Daniel Pécaut

Professor at the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences of Paris. His research activity centers on the history of Brazil and Colombia. Among his main works we find: Política y sindicalismo en Colombia; Orden y violencia: Colombia 1930-1954; Crónica de cuatro décadas de política colombiana; Violencia y política. He has also published a great number of specialized articles.

 

Eduardo Posada-Carbó

PhD in Modern History, Oxford University. Current Departmental Lecturer at the Center for Latin American Studies, School of Area and Interdisciplinary Studies, and Research Fellow at St Antony’s College, Oxford University. He is a former visiting professor at several universities in Colombia, Chile, Spain, England, Portugal and the U.S.A. He has written a number of essays on the Colombian and Latin American history of elections, including papers published in the Hispanic American Historical Review, the Journal of Latin American Studies, Historia y Sociedad and the Boletín Cultural y Bibliográfico. He published Elections before Democracy. The History of Elections in Europe and Latin America (London, 1996) and with Anthony McFarlane coedited Independence and Revolution in Spanish America: Perspectives and Problems (London, 1999). His most recent book, Soñar la nación. Violencia, Liberalismo y Democracia en Colombia, was published by Editorial Norma in Bogota (2006). He is the Director of the series on the History of Colombia in the collection América Latina en la Historia Contemporánea, promoted by the Fundación Mapfre, and is also a weekly columnist in El Tiempo newspaper.

 

Renán Silva

Sociologist at the Universidad del Valle with a PhD in History from the Sorbonne, Paris. Currently professor at the Universidad de los Andes. He has published, among others: Saber, cultura y sociedad en el Nuevo Reino de Granada, siglos XVII y XVIII; Prensa y revolución a finales del siglo XVIII. Contribución a un análisis de la formación de la ideología de Independencia nacional; Universidad y sociedad en el Nuevo Reino de Granada; Los ilustrados de Nueva Granada 1760-1808: genealogía de una comunidad de interpretación; República liberal, intelectuales y cultura popular.

 

Juan Gabriel Tokatlian

Argentine sociologist (1978); Master (1981); PhD (1990) in International Relations, The Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, Washington, D.C. Currently Professor of International Relations at the Universidad Di Tella (Buenos Aires, Argentina). Former professor at the Universidad de San Andrés (Victoria, Province of Buenos Aires, Argentina) (1999-2008). Lived in Colombia for 18 years, from 1981 to 1998. Former Associate Professor (1995-1998) at the National University of Colombia (Bogota), where he was chief researcher at the Institute for Political and International Relations Studies (IEPRI). Co-founder (1982) and Director (1987-94) of the Center for International Studies (CEI) of the Universidad de los Andes (Bogota). He has published a number of books, papers and opinion articles on Argentine and Colombian foreign policy, United States-Latin American relations, the contemporary global system and drug trafficking, terrorism and organized crime.