Neo-liberal ruptures: Local political entities and neighbourhood networks in El Alto, Bolivia

In October 2003, hundreds of thousands of Bolivians took to the streets demanding the resignation of President Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada. After 20 years of neo-liberal policies - and the failures to improve the living conditions of the majority - the proposal to export natural gas via Chile was taken by the population as yet another step to sustain an unjust political order. Facing a direct challenge by the population the Sánchez de Lozada administration responded with indiscriminate military force. The result was 63 dead and over 300 wounded, which deepened and extended the social rage and eventually forced the resignation of the President. The neo-liberal project - promoted and defended by Sánchez de Lozada - collapsed. The city of El Alto was the epicentre of the challenges to the legitimacy of this political order. This article focuses on the role of local political entities and neighbourhood networks from El Alto in articulating political spaces that challenged the legitimacy of the institutional infrastructure and led to the October 2003 ruptures in the neo-liberal project. Furthermore, I make the case that the particular histories and memories (of “relocalized” miners and indigenous/peasants) that converged in and defined this city were pivotal in the organization of a “political subsoil” that surged to the surface during the October 2003 events.     

Deconstructing the best case scenario: lessons from water politics in La Paz-El Alto, Bolivia

For nearly a decade the La Paz-El Alto concession in Bolivia was heralded by donor organizations, the state and the commercial water industry alike as an emblematic ‘pro-poor’ water concession under the private sector model. Managed by one of the largest water multinationals in the world (the French company Suez), the network was extended beyond the new connections required by the original ‘pro-poor’ contract, acclaimed as a pioneer of new pro-poor technologies and frequently disseminated internationally as an example of best practice. This paper analyses the La Paz-El Alto concession’s pro-poor image focusing on issues of social exclusion and network extension, contract negotiation, participation and transparency. It documents the rise of social protest about the concession and critiques the failure of neoliberal regulatory systems to promote accountability to the poor. In the context of the continued transnationalisation of the water industry the paper highlights the need for new mechanisms and delivery models to ensure greater national control over private companies and the development of a framework for international water governance.     

流感世界大流行的气候特征

流感爆发与气候的剧烈变化有关。本文揭示了拉马德雷冷位相、拉尼娜、太阳黑子极值年、厄尔尼诺、低温冷害、沙尘暴、潮汐南北震荡异常与流行性感冒世界大流行相互对应的关系及其物理机制,对气候及其相关灾害的预测有重大科学意义。规律表明,在拉马德雷冷位相时期,全球强震、低温、飓风伴随拉尼娜、全球性流感伴随厄尔尼诺将越来越强烈。面对日益增大的全球灾害,长期气候预报意义重大。     

潮汐和地震对全球气候变化的影响

2004年12月26日印尼地震海啸后,全球低温冻害和暴雪灾害频繁发生。"潮汐调温说"和"深海巨震降温说"是一种合理的解释。根据"潮汐调温说"和"深海巨震降温说"理论,2005年全球气温将因为印尼地震海啸和强潮汐南北震荡而降低。美国国家航空航天局(NASA)的科学家认为,一个较弱的厄尔尼诺现象和人类排放的温室气体将使2005年成为人类有记载以来最热的一年。事实上,2005年的温度低于1998年。现在,西方科学家也承认了2005—2007年自然气候的变化抵消了全球气候变暖效应这一客观事实。     

AN EXPERIMENT WITH THE CONSENSUS FORECAST OF TYPHOON TRACK

Obvious results have been achieved in the forecast of typhoon track that is improved with a consensus procedure Forecast experiments were conducted with the analogue model (TSF) and the Markov type model (MTSF)that are widely used and the results show that there has been significant increase in the capability of forecasting with the improvement by the consensus procedure.     

El Nino事件当年和次年夏季低纬环流特征的初步分析

分析1950年以来中等强度以上的ElNiño和LaNina当年和次年夏季(7月)低纬度风场和500hPa高度距平场,发现有不同的特征。其中中-西太平洋近赤道地区850、200hPa上风场异常变化十分明显,这种异常变化与南北半球大气相互作用有密切关系。在500hPa高度距平场上,北半球中、高和低纬地区表现出不同的正、负距平分布型式。上述特点对气候短期预测有一定参考意义。     

Connections Between Different Types of El Ni~no and Southern/Northern Oscillation

It has long been acknowledged that there are two types of El Ni(n)o events,i.e.,the eastern Pacific El Ni(n)o (EE) and the central Pacific El Ni(n)o (CE),according to the initial position of the anomalous warm water and its propagation direction.In this paper,the oceanic and atmospheric evolutions and the possible mechanisms of the two types of El Ni(n)o events were examined.It is found that all the El Ni(n)o events,CE or EE,could be attributed to the joint impacts of the eastward advection of warm water from the western Pacific warm pool (WPWP) and the local warming in the equatorial eastern Pacific.Before the occurrence of CE events,WPWP had long been in a state of being anomalous warm,so the strength of eastward advection of warm water was much stronger than that of EE,which played a major role in the formation of CE.While for the EE events,most contribution came from the local warming of the equatorial eastern Pacific.It is further identified that the immediate cause leading to the difference of the two types of El Ni(n)o events was the asynchronous variations of the Southern Oscillation (SO) and the Northern Oscillation (NO) as defined by Chen in 1984.When the transition from the positive phase of the NO (NO+) to NO- was prior to that from SO+ to SO-,there would be eastward propagation of westerly anomalies from the tropical western Pacific induced by NO and hence the growth of warm sea surface temperature anomalies in WPWP and its eastward propagation.This was followed by lagged SO-induced weakening of southeast trade winds and local warming in the equatorial eastern Pacific.These were conducive to the occurrence of the CE.On the contrary,the transition from SO+ to SO- leading the transition of NO would favor the occurrence of EE type events.     

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海面温度异常时间序列的谱分析

利用了傅里叶功率谱和小波功率谱分析方法,分析了太平洋中、东部地区海面温度异常时间序列的时频特征,发现了海面温度异常信号具有2~6年左右的周期特征。     

Perturbed solution of sea-air oscillator for the E1 Ni(n)o/La Ni(n)a-Southern Oscillation mechanism

A class of coupled system of the E1 Ni(n)o/La Ni(n)a-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) mechanism is studied. Using the perturbed theory, the asymptotic expansions of the solution for ENSO model are obtained and the asymptotic behavior of solution for corresponding problem is considered.