Revista Conjuntura Austral

4 - 11

Authors: Ala Al-Hamarneh

Contemporary feminist novelists in Jordan are raising issues of emancipation, patriarchal society, violence against women and social attitudes in unaccustomed ways unknown earlier in the country. This is embedded within the political and socio-economic developments taking place in the country since 1990. The main aim of this scenario is to explore and to re-think the space-gender nexus in the new women’s novel using geo-hermeneutical approaches.

26 - 38

Authors: Lucca Viersa Barros Silva

Nos últimos anos os países os países emergentes adquiriram certo protagonismo até então inédito no sistema internacional. Este artigo centra-se naqueles países que receberam o nome de BRICS, buscando responder a questão se eles estariam lutando em prol da democratização do sistema internacional, ou se eles apenas procuram ascender hierarquicamente.

58 - 70

Authors: Alexandre San Martim Portes

This research intended to analyze the effectiveness of the regime for democracy protection created by Mercosur. Analyzing the impeachment processes that took place in Paraguay and in Brazil, and the activation of the democratic clause in each case, an inconsistent behavior of the members of the group is identifiable, demonstrating ineffectiveness.

86 - 105

Authors: Kingsly Awang Ollong

Since the mid-1980s, tobacco companies have intensified market expansion strategies in several African countries. They have used music to target youths and children. They organised fashion shows to entice women into smoking. They offered kids free cigarettes on the streets and for a very long time undermined efforts by governments to put in place effective tobacco legislation. They actively participated in the smuggling of tobacco products into the continent. Worse still, tobacco companies persuaded some African governments to promote tobacco cultivation as a major source of foreign earnings. And in recent years, the tobacco industry has resorted to using Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to massage its image and cover its tracks. British American Tobacco (BAT), which is the focus of this paper, had a virtual monopoly in parts of Africa, both in terms of tobacco manufacturing and sales of cigarettes. In eleven African countries BAT had more than a 90% share of the cigarette market. This paper examines some of the health, social and economic impacts of BAT’s activities in Africa from 1985 to 2010 using Cameroon as a case study. The paper concludes that though the full effects of rising tobacco consumption (namely a steep rise in smoking-induced illness and premature death) was at the dawn of the 21st century, Africa was already in the grip of a major tobacco epidemic. There is no doubt therefore that, BAT’s heavy footprint on the African continent wreaked havoc on the economy, health and welfare of the people, thus partially contributing to the non-realisation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that were designed to help the world’s poorest people.