Literatura científica selecionada sobre o tema "Autonomy and indepednence movements"

Social movements have become an important part of the political realm in Latin America, overthrowing and installing leaders as well as challenging capitalism and the state itself. This study attempts to classify social movements into four different categories by the amount of autonomy they exercise from the state and then look at the effectiveness of each of these different groups. Through examining different strategies and outcomes from social movements in Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador and Mexico, I attempt to ascertain which degree of autonomy is most effective. This study finds that while the weakened state has made autonomous movements more effective, engaging the state can still be beneficial for social movements with achieving their objectives.

Since the 1960s, Manipur has been plagued by Meitei secessionist movements demanding/striving for independence from India. However, in the 1990s, following the upsurge of Naga ethnicity-based autonomy movement within the state and its counter movements by other groups, the secessionist movement was embroiled in internal feuds. In this process, grouping and regrouping of tribal communities had taken place, impinged by the predatory elites for their political and economic interests. Unfortunately, the state’s interventions failed to contain protracted conflicts; they rather compounded the situation, gave rise to hybrid ethnic identities and led to the recurrence of demands for internal autonomy.

Soon after independence, India's northeastern region was swamped in a series of conflicts starting with the Naga secessionist movement in the 1950s, followed by others in the 1960s. The conflicts intensified and engulfed the entire region in the 1970s and 1980s. However, in the 1990s, following reclamation of ethnic identities amid gnawing scarcities, the conflicts slowly turned into internal feuds. Consequently, alliance and re-alliance among the ethnic groups transpired. In the 2000s, it finally led to the balkanization of ethnicity-based autonomy movements in the region. Unfortunately, the state's ad-hoc measures failed to contain protected conflicts and, instead, compounded the situation and swelled hybrid ethnic identities.

Can national liberation movements envisage self-rule without statehood? This research examines the politics of a national liberation movement that claims to do just that. The research focuses on the incessant quest for self-rule in Kurdistan in general and the politics of dominant Kurdish liberation movements in Turkey and Syria in particular – with regard to the kind of political community they aspire to found. The research reveals that a salient aspect of Kurdish politics has been its detachment from state-building, and that this aspect dominates the politics of Kurdish movements in Turkey and Syria. Likewise, their project for self-rule in Kurdistan envisages a political community that differs greatly from its competitors; i.e. the hegemonic nation-state and its main opposition Islamic Ummah. I note that the Kurdish model draws heavily on the growing literature in political theory about the inadequacy of representative institutions and the risks of appealing to the notion of national sovereignty. I emphasize that the project shifts the origin of sovereignty from 'the imagined community', i.e. the nation, to residential communities (note the plurality). I also highlight that the Kurdish model of political community is built upon the exercise of political power through direct and semi-direct forms of democracy. Popular councils and assemblies within municipalities appear as the ultimate regulatory institutions. Sovereignty, thus, is dispersed and fragmented throughout autonomous, yet co-existing, and ideally horizontally organized political entities such as towns and cities. Accordingly, the primary form of political organization is not territorial state, but autonomous municipality. I argue that the claim to self-rule in the model is not in the name of the nation, but of communities of settlement, e.g. villages, neighbourhoods, towns, and cities. In a world of nationstates, the Kurdish movements' politics is an interesting example of post-nationalist and post-sovereign claims.

Can institutions successfully reduce ethnic conflict? Institutions such as autonomy and federalism are often advocated as a means to prevent ethnic conflict, however empirical evidence is largely mixed with regards to their effectiveness. In a similar manner, political parties have begun to receive more scholarly attention in determining their relationship with ethnic conflict, but their evidence is also mixed. In this research I examine autonomy, federalism, and the banning of political parties within ongoing ethnic group self-determination movements. While I do not find evidence for a relationship between autonomy and conflict, I do find that federalism increases the likelihood of ethnic conflict. Additionally, the banning of ethnic political parties indicates a strong increase the likelihood of ethnic conflict, while the banning of regional political parties significantly reduces the likelihood of ethnic conflict.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego, 2007.
Title from first page of PDF file (viewed Aug. 13, 2007). Available via ProQuest Digital Dissertations. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 197-204).

This thesis assesses several theories about the social basis of the Quebec independence movement. The most prevalent of these theories locates the core of support for Quebec independence in the Francophone new middle class. The Marxist perspective offers a closely related hypothesis, according to which the independence movement is based in the Francophone new petite bourgeoisie. A third theory sees the new class as at the helm of the new social movements, among which is the Quebec independence movement. Finally, a fourth hypothesis is that the Francophone intellectuals and professional intelligentsia are the foremost separatists.
The results of tabular and logistic regression analysis of data on referendum support for sovereignty-association refute the new middle class and new petite bourgeoisie hypotheses. The analyses indicate considerable support for sovereignty-association among a narrow variant of the new class. Within this narrow new class, or professional intelligentsia, support for sovereignty is most heavily concentrated among the Francophone intellectuals. The most discriminating predictor of separatism is not class, but the opposition between those in intellectuals vs. the business/managerial occupations. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

Tent cities date back to the 1930s; however, the past decade has seen a rise in formalized camps, many attempting to function as democratic communities. Here, democratic communities refer to temporary spaces in which people without homes (PWH) live together with the goal of governing their own affairs (horizontal rather than top-down). Findings of the first “village” for the homeless indicate mixed results with self-governance among PWH in terms of the autonomy of individuals or as a method to mitigate homelessness. Given decline of social welfare budgets, as well as criticisms that shelterization and criminalization try to control the poor, government-sanctioned camps have provided safe, legal, dignified spaces for PWH. Studies of tent cities are growing, yet few follow their attempt to implement self-governance within the first few years of existence. This ethnography of a transitional “village” in the Pacific Northwest fills a gap by uncovering socio-cultural and organizational processes that facilitate and impede self-organization. The village is collaborative; a nonprofit provides oversight to residents dwelling in tiny houses. The village is neither run exclusively by the homeless nor directly managed by housed “outsiders.” Using participant-observation, interviews, and documents, I study the development of the village’s vision, rooted in Occupy yet influenced by neoliberal principles. Some view this village as a safe, stable place in which to secure future housing while providing dignity and autonomy; residents themselves were divided in how they experienced autonomy. For some, living there can be difficult since they have the authority to enforce community rule violations on fellow residents but often do not out feeling threatened or uneasy about putting a fellow resident in check. Some residents perceive a lack of power in regulating others. The authority of the nonprofit board is inadvertently reproduced even as it seeks to relinquish that authority. My work also has implications for research on relations between “housed” and “homeless”, and for decoupling processes that focus on divergence between stated organizational policies and actual practices. Materials related to this work (Appendices A-E) are included as supplemental files with this dissertation.

In nationalism studies, there has been insignificant analysis of the politics of imagining nations. This thesis addresses this lacuna in an examination of the form and design of imagined nations in Scotland and Quebec. I argue that the Scottish National Party and the Parti Quebecois have, since their advent in the 1960s, created a political-civic image of the nation that breaks with previous cultural conceptions. However, cultural images of the nation, propagated by centralist institutions, remain entrenched in contemporary Scotland and Quebec. The juxtaposition of centralist cultural images and nationalist political images of the nation have led to a dualistic, or what I have termed a 'Jekyll and Hyde', national consciousness in both countries. This exercise indicates that images of the nation are subject to multitudinous interpretations and (re)construction by various actors in the competitive state-nation political arena.

The fact that it took so long, in spite of successive waves of invaders and spirited yet sporadic resistance, to fashion a united national front, points out an anomaly in Algerian society: a divided identity. It took a cruel French occupation, the incompetence of colonial authorities, and the infiltration of European nationalist ideology to fashion a united front, but it was only a front, for immediately after independence, the unity was shown to be a temporary one.
The Berber majority found itself excluded, both culturally and politically, from the new Algerian state. Strangers in their own land, Berbers were faced with a new, more insidious colonialism: Arabization.

This thesis examines the construction of ethnic identity, autonomy and indigenous citizenship in plurinational Bolivia. In 2009, the Kallawayas, an Andean indigenous nation, took advantage of legislation in Bolivia's new constitution to begin a process of legally constituting themselves as autonomous from the state. The objective of Indigenous Autonomy in the constitution is to allow indigenous nations and peoples to govern themselves according to their conceptions of ‘Living Well'. Living well, for the Kallawayas is understood in terms of what it means to be runa, a person living in the ayllu (the traditional Andean community). The Kallawayas are noted as healers, and sickness and health is understood as related to the maintenance of a ritual relationship of reciprocity with others in the ayllu, both living humans and ancestors, remembered in the landscape. Joint ritual relations with the landscape play an important role in joining disparate Kallawaya ayllus with distinct traditions and languages (Aymara, Quechua and the Kallawaya language Macha Jujay are spoken) together as an ethnic group. However, Kallawaya politics has followed the trajectory of national peasant politics in recent decades of splitting into federations divided along class and ethnic lines. The joint ritual practices which traditionally connected the Kallawaya ayllus adapted to reflect this new situation of division between three sections of Kallawaya society. This has meant that the Kallawayas are attempting political autonomy as an ethnic group when they have never been more fractured. This thesis then examines the meaning of autonomy and the Good Life for a politically divided and ethnically diverse indigenous people.

AbstractIn the twentieth century traditional alternative to capitalism—socialism—suffered a catastrophic defeat. However, although emancipatory movements developed many new practices to tackle domination, injustice and exploitation, they have not found a new societal alternative and therefore struggle to develop a consistent approach to make capitalism history. From a bird’s eye view, many movements try to reform capitalism, revive traditional socialist ideas or remain vague about an alternative. To investigate an alternative to capitalism and real socialism, this chapter begins with a critic of capitalism and state socialism. With Marx and other critical theorists, the authors develop capitalism as an exchange- and market-based society. Capitalism produces a logic of exploitation, destruction and exclusion that even left-wing, ecologically oriented governments can only marginally limit, because the state has only a relative autonomy vis-à-vis the dominant economy. But state socialism is no real alternative either, because—like the market economy—it is based on wage labour and money and thus acts much more like an inefficient, more egalitarian, authoritarian brother, subject to many similar logics and defects.

AbstractThis second chapter explores the dynamics of individualization in China across time to unravel the complexities of the individualization process in a rapidly transforming society.The pre-Maoist period, often mischaracterized as solely group-oriented, is reevaluated through the lens of Chinese sociologist Fei Xiaotong. It not only reveals a society rooted in individual autonomy within a network of personal relationships, but it also sheds light on how the transformative intellectual movements of the early twentieth century sought to redefine the “Chinese national character” to modernize the country, challenging traditional family structures and promoting individual autonomy. The May 4th movement marked a peak in this reformist wave, introducing elements of individualism that clashed with Confucian morals.Furthermore, the chapter reveals that during the Maoist period, despite a shift towards collectivism, Maoist policies contributed to a partial disembedding of individuals from traditional solidarities, particularly for women.In a last movement, the chapter shed light on the subsequent economic reforms from the late 1970s and how it marked a new phase. While the Party-State maintains strong political and economic control, it enjoins individuals to take responsibility for their life-course. It supports individualization in the labor market while rejuvenating family obligations and solidarities.

Donning and doffing procedures are among of the five basic activities of daily living that define the degree of autonomy and independence. In this paper, we produce an analysis of the movements performed in donning/doffing procedures and identify which are the main difficulties in patients with frozen shoulder. Therefore, we utilized five pieces of clothing for the upper body with different characteristics that we consider relevant for the evaluation of movement and to identify range of motion limitations: poncho, tank-top, blouse with long sleeves, batwing blouse and front-opening blouse. Then, we observed a group of women during donning/doffing procedures, connecting the performed movements to the characteristics of those garments. As main results, we verified that the poncho and the batwing blouse are more appropriate for users with a frozen shoulder. Among the possible conclusions, we infer that the inclusion of users before and during the design process, through the methodology of participatory design, provides greater interaction in the whole process and increases the chances of success of the product to the real needs of the targeted user. In association, the inclusion of a kinesiological study in the design of clothes increases efficiency donning/doffing procedures, ensuring greater autonomy to the user.

Abstract Full use of the upper limb is necessary to carry out most tasks of daily life. Upper limb deficiencies, whether through complete or incomplete paralysis, inevitably lead to a loss of autonomy. Assistive orthoses are a potential method for restoring some autonomy. Pronation and supination, the turning of the wrist relative to the elbow, receives less focus than other joint movements in the arm. First, the utility of this degree-of-freedom in the arm is less obvious. Second, when compared to flexion and extension of the elbow, wrist prono-supination has no clear center of rotation due to the combined movement of the ulna and the radius bones as they cross and uncross in the forearm. This paper presents initial work in the design of a mechanism for a portable assistive orthosis that is expected to include powered prono-supination. The component proposed in this work is based on a spherical mechanism architecture. The capacity of these mechanisms to have a hollow center and to produce paths that follow arcs on spheres make them worth consideration in this application. A MATLAB optimization was used to perform path generation of a single spherical four-bar with the intent of replicating it three times to create the device proposed in this work. The concept was modeled in SOLIDWORKS and printed to gauge its potential.

The influence of early use of technological innovation in learning and independence/dependence of children is focused on positive and negative impact in teaching and developing of their independence. We analyzed the responses obtained from 200 parents from 5 primary schools and three preschools in the city of Novi Sad, Serbia. With the method of focus groups, it was analyzed impact of early use of technological innovations adjusted to children, their autonomy in performing everyday schools and after-school activities. Analyzes shows that the perception of the real picture of the situation of independence can be obtained very quickly after the first use of technological innovation. Regardless of the developmental age of the children, recognizes the distinct coordination of small hand movements, the motivation to win, a high level of concentration and focus of attention. Severe progressiveness, in terms of education, reflected to the children in higher grades possessing advanced knowledge in relation to their peers, which is in direct correlation with the early use of of technological innovation in independent study. On the other hand, looks at the "lack" of motivation for mastering the skills important to reflect the independence of children to a certain age, such as binding of shoelaces, wear, loosening the cap, using a pencil, ball handling, storage bags for the school, editing workspace, purchase and etc. Based on these results it is concluded that there is so-called "conflict of interest among parents" when it comes to the use of of technological innovation of children in early calendar age period, because it borders on the traditional system of values that do not follow the interests and needs of children. On the other hand, parents perceived advantages associated with technological innovation, and are directly related to: independence, self-confidence and self-creation of time.

In his Deconstruction of Christianity, the contemporary French philosopher Jean-Luc Nancy described Christianity as “the exit from religion and the expansion of the atheist world”. Inspired by this assertion, we will reassess the traces of atheism in Christianity and its secular supplements. We will examine the broad context of Christianity and some seemingly external factors such as the Enlightenment and the development of science. Several features of Christianity, such as the emphasis on spirituality, individual faith, and the deinstitutionalization of religious experience, have prepared the ground for the rise of atheism. First, Christianity, most clearly in the Protestant denominations, places great emphasis on the inner spiritual experience of the believer, the conscience as the inner presence of God. The subjective personal relationship with God and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit are central tenets of Christian theology. However, this emphasis on individual, private spirituality can inadvertently lead to a devaluation of external religious structures and communal rituals and even pave the way for atheistic isolation. Moreover, throughout its history, Christianity has repeatedly produced its own critics, movements that have challenged institutional authority and hierarchical structures within the church. From the Hussites to the Protestant Reformation to today's movements advocating spiritual autonomy, the goal has always been to decentralize religious authority, separate it from worldly powers (secularization) and empower individual believers. While this deinstitutionalization is certainly meant to promote a more authentic and personal faith that is closer to God's will, it can also create room for doubt and scepticism, which in turn can lead to atheism. Furthermore, Christianity has grappled more than other religions with the tension between faith and reason, two completely different areas of our relationship with reality and the world. This relationship has completely changed with advances in science and philosophy, as traditional religious doctrines and supernatural explanations are increasingly challenged and even rendered obsolete. The struggle to reconcile faith and reason has led some people to the practical solution of rejecting religious faith altogether in favour of a purely secular worldview. We should also mention that even the pervasive influence of Christianity on Western culture may have inadvertently facilitated its own decline. Because Christianity is deeply embedded in societal norms, people who have grown up in Christian cultures may take their faith for granted, not as something out of the ordinary, but as something normal, leading to complacency or indifference toward religious beliefs. Over time, this cultural familiarity with Christianity can erode the foundations of religious belief and eventually contribute to the rise of atheism. Given this internal dynamic, it is clear that Christianity itself has played a crucial role in its own atheization. This paper will highlight some of the key features of Christian atheism and one of its most notorious examples, socialist atheization.

В статье анализируется становление австрийского федеративного государства в 1918–1920 гг. В течение этого времени Австрия прошла путь от классической империи с монархической формой правления к федеративной республике. Государство возникло на части территории Австро-Венгрии в результате ее распада осенью 1918 г., причиной которого стал рост национально-освободительных движений населявших ее народов. Становление австрийского государства происходило двумя путями: «сверху», через взаимодействие политических партий, и «снизу», благодаря инициативе земель. Законами от 30.10 и 12.11.1918 провозглашалось создание республики Немецкая Австрия как части немецкого государства. В 1920 г. была принята демократическая конституция, закрепившая федеративное государственное устройство. Поскольку принятию Конституции предшествовали переговоры между представителями политических партий и земель, ее можно характеризовать как договор. Важнейшим источником австрийской конституции стал Сен-Жерменский мирный договор, которым утверждалась независимость Австрии. В соответствии с ним государство стало называться «Республика Австрия». Автор приходит к выводу об успешности создания австрийского федеративного государства в годы Первой республики. Федерализм как принцип государственного устройства предотвратил дезинтеграцию собственно австрийских земель и заложил основы государственности Австрии. Одновременно он способствовал развитию самостоятельности, инициативы и культурного многообразия австрийских земель. Социал-демократы, придя к власти в Вене, получили возможности проведения там социальных реформ «Красной Вены». The article analyzes the formation of the Austrian federal state in 1918-1920. During this time, Austria went from a classical empire with a monarchical form of government to a federal republic. The state was created on a part of the territory of Austria-Hungary, which disintegrated in the autumn of 1918, due to the growth of national liberation movements of the peoples dwelling in the empire. The formation of the Austrian state took place in two ways: through the interaction of political parties, and thanks to the initiative of the lands (Länder). The acts of 30.10 and 12.11.1918 proclaimed the foundation of the republic of German Austria as part of the German state. In 1920 a democratic constitution was adopted, which created the Austrian Federation. The Constitution can be characterized as a contract, because its adoption was preceded by negotiations between representatives of political parties and lands. An important source of the Austrian constitution was the Saint-Germain Peace Treaty, which consolidated the independence of Austria. In accordance with it, the state became known as the "Republic of Austria". The author comes to the conclusion about the success of the creation of the Austrian federation in the years of the First Republic. Federalism as a principle of state structure prevented the disintegration of the Austrian lands and laid the foundations of Austrian statehood. At the same time, it promoted the development of autonomy, initiative and cultural diversity of the Austrian lands. The Social Democrats who came to power in Vienna were given the opportunity to carry out social reforms of the "Red Vienna" there.

Banco de la República is celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2023. This is a very significant anniversary and one that provides an opportunity to highlight the contribution the Bank has made to the country’s development. Its track record as guarantor of monetary stability has established it as the one independent state institution that generates the greatest confidence among Colombians due to its transparency, management capabilities, and effective compliance with the central banking and cultural responsibilities entrusted to it by the Constitution and the Law. On a date as important as this, the Board of Directors of Banco de la República (BDBR) pays tribute to the generations of governors and officers whose commitment and dedication have contributed to the growth of this institution.1 Banco de la República’s mandate was confirmed in the National Constitutional Assembly of 1991 where the citizens had the opportunity to elect the seventy people who would have the task of drafting a new constitution. The leaders of the three political movements with the most votes were elected as chairs to the Assembly, and this tripartite presidency reflected the plurality and the need for consensus among the different political groups to move the reform forward. Among the issues considered, the National Constitutional Assembly gave special importance to monetary stability. That is why they decided to include central banking and to provide Banco de la República with the necessary autonomy to use the instruments for which they are responsible without interference from other authorities. The constituent members understood that ensuring price stability is a state duty and that the entity responsible for this task must be enshrined in the Constitution and have the technical capability and institutional autonomy necessary to adopt the decisions they deem appropriate to achieve this fundamental objective in coordination with the general economic policy. In particular, Article 373 established that “the State, through Banco de la República, shall ensure the maintenance of the purchasing power of the currency,” a provision that coincided with the central banking system adopted by countries that have been successful in controlling inflation. In 1999, in Ruling 481, the Constitutional Court stated that “the duty to maintain the purchasing power of the currency applies to not only the monetary, credit, and exchange authority, i.e., the Board of Banco de la República, but also those who have responsibilities in the formulation and implementation of the general economic policy of the country” and that “the basic constitutional purpose of Banco de la República is the protection of a sound currency. However, this authority must take the other economic objectives of state intervention such as full employment into consideration in their decisions since these functions must be coordinated with the general economic policy.” The reforms to Banco de la República agreed upon in the Constitutional Assembly of 1991 and in Act 31/1992 can be summarized in the following aspects: i) the Bank was assigned a specific mandate: to maintain the purchasing power of the currency in coordination with the general economic policy; ii) the BDBR was designatedas the monetary, foreign exchange, and credit authority; iii) the Bank and its Board of Directors were granted a significant degree of independence from the government; iv) the Bank was prohibited from granting credit to the private sector except in the case of the financial sector; v) established that in order to grant credit to the government, the unanimous vote of its Board of Directors was required except in the case of open market transactions; vi) determined that the legislature may, in no case, order credit quotas in favor of the State or individuals; vii) Congress was appointed, on behalf of society, as the main addressee of the Bank’s reporting exercise; and viii) the responsibility for inspection, surveillance, and control over Banco de la República was delegated to the President of the Republic. The members of the National Constitutional Assembly clearly understood that the benefits of low and stable inflation extend to the whole of society and contribute mto the smooth functioning of the economic system. Among the most important of these is that low inflation promotes the efficient use of productive resources by allowing relative prices to better guide the allocation of resources since this promotes economic growth and increases the welfare of the population. Likewise, low inflation reduces uncertainty about the expected return on investment and future asset prices. This increases the confidence of economic agents, facilitates long-term financing, and stimulates investment. Since the low-income population is unable to protect itself from inflation by diversifying its assets, and a high proportion of its income is concentrated in the purchase of food and other basic goods that are generally the most affected by inflationary shocks, low inflation avoids arbitrary redistribution of income and wealth.2 Moreover, low inflation facilitates wage negotiations, creates a good labor climate, and reduces the volatility of employment levels. Finally, low inflation helps to make the tax system more transparent and equitable by avoiding the distortions that inflation introduces into the value of assets and income that make up the tax base. From the monetary authority’s point of view, one of the most relevant benefits of low inflation is the credibility that economic agents acquire in inflation targeting, which turns it into an effective nominal anchor on price levels. Upon receiving its mandate, and using its autonomy, Banco de la República began to announce specific annual inflation targets as of 1992. Although the proposed inflation targets were not met precisely during this first stage, a downward trend in inflation was achieved that took it from 32.4% in 1990 to 16.7% in 1998. At that time, the exchange rate was kept within a band. This limited the effectiveness of monetary policy, which simultaneously sought to meet an inflation target and an exchange rate target. The Asian crisis spread to emerging economies and significantly affected the Colombian economy. The exchange rate came under strong pressure to depreciate as access to foreign financing was cut off under conditions of a high foreign imbalance. This, together with the lack of exchange rate flexibility, prevented a countercyclical monetary policy and led to a 4.2% contraction in GDP that year. In this context of economic slowdown, annual inflation fell to 9.2% at the end of 1999, thus falling below the 15% target set for that year. This episode fully revealed how costly it could be, in terms of economic activity, to have inflation and exchange rate targets simultaneously. Towards the end of 1999, Banco de la República announced the adoption of a new monetary policy regime called the Inflation Targeting Plan. This regime, known internationally as ‘Inflation Targeting,’ has been gaining increasing acceptance in developed countries, having been adopted in 1991 by New Zealand, Canada, and England, among others, and has achieved significant advances in the management of inflation without incurring costs in terms of economic activity. In Latin America, Brazil and Chile also adopted it in 1999. In the case of Colombia, the last remaining requirement to be fulfilled in order to adopt said policy was exchange rate flexibility. This was realized around September 1999, when the BDBR decided to abandon the exchange-rate bands to allow the exchange rate to be freely determined in the market.Consistent with the constitutional mandate, the fundamental objective of this new policy approach was “the achievement of an inflation target that contributes to maintaining output growth around its potential.”3 This potential capacity was understood as the GDP growth that the economy can obtain if it fully utilizes its productive resources. To meet this objective, monetary policy must of necessity play a countercyclical role in the economy. This is because when economic activity is below its potential and there are idle resources, the monetary authority can reduce the interest rate in the absence of inflationary pressure to stimulate the economy and, when output exceeds its potential capacity, raise it. This policy principle, which is immersed in the models for guiding the monetary policy stance, makes the following two objectives fully compatible in the medium term: meeting the inflation target and achieving a level of economic activity that is consistent with its productive capacity. To achieve this purpose, the inflation targeting system uses the money market interest rate (at which the central bank supplies primary liquidity to commercial banks) as the primary policy instrument. This replaced the quantity of money as an intermediate monetary policy target that Banco de la República, like several other central banks, had used for a long time. In the case of Colombia, the objective of the new monetary policy approach implied, in practical terms, that the recovery of the economy after the 1999 contraction should be achieved while complying with the decreasing inflation targets established by the BDBR. The accomplishment of this purpose was remarkable. In the first half of the first decade of the 2000s, economic activity recovered significantly and reached a growth rate of 6.8% in 2006. Meanwhile, inflation gradually declined in line with inflation targets. That was how the inflation rate went from 9.2% in 1999 to 4.5% in 2006, thus meeting the inflation target established for that year while GDP reached its potential level. After this balance was achieved in 2006, inflation rebounded to 5.7% in 2007, above the 4.0% target for that year due to the fact that the 7.5% GDP growth exceeded the potential capacity of the economy.4 After proving the effectiveness of the inflation targeting system in its first years of operation, this policy regime continued to consolidate as the BDBR and the technical staff gained experience in its management and state-of-the-art economic models were incorporated to diagnose the present and future state of the economy and to assess the persistence of inflation deviations and expectations with respect to the inflation target. Beginning in 2010, the BDBR established the long-term 3.0% annual inflation target, which remains in effect today. Lower inflation has contributed to making the macroeconomic environment more stable, and this has favored sustained economic growth, financial stability, capital market development, and the functioning of payment systems. As a result, reductions in the inflationary risk premia and lower TES and credit interest rates were achieved. At the same time, the duration of public domestic debt increased significantly going from 2.27 years in December 2002 to 5.86 years in December 2022, and financial deepening, measured as the level of the portfolio as a percentage of GDP, went from around 20% in the mid-1990s to values above 45% in recent years in a healthy context for credit institutions.Having been granted autonomy by the Constitution to fulfill the mandate of preserving the purchasing power of the currency, the tangible achievements made by Banco de la República in managing inflation together with the significant benefits derived from the process of bringing inflation to its long-term target, make the BDBR’s current challenge to return inflation to the 3.0% target even more demanding and pressing. As is well known, starting in 2021, and especially in 2022, inflation in Colombia once again became a serious economic problem with high welfare costs. The inflationary phenomenon has not been exclusive to Colombia and many other developed and emerging countries have seen their inflation rates move away from the targets proposed by their central banks.5 The reasons for this phenomenon have been analyzed in recent Reports to Congress, and this new edition delves deeper into the subject with updated information. The solid institutional and technical base that supports the inflation targeting approach under which the monetary policy strategy operates gives the BDBR the necessary elements to face this difficult challenge with confidence. In this regard, the BDBR reiterated its commitment to the 3.0% inflation target in its November 25 communiqué and expects it to be reached by the end of 2024.6 Monetary policy will continue to focus on meeting this objective while ensuring the sustainability of economic activity, as mandated by the Constitution. Analyst surveys done in March showed a significant increase (from 32.3% in January to 48.5% in March) in the percentage of responses placing inflation expectations two years or more ahead in a range between 3.0% and 4.0%. This is a clear indication of the recovery of credibility in the medium-term inflation target and is consistent with the BDBR’s announcement made in November 2022. The moderation of the upward trend in inflation seen in January, and especially in February, will help to reinforce this revision of inflation expectations and will help to meet the proposed targets. After reaching 5.6% at the end of 2021, inflation maintained an upward trend throughout 2022 due to inflationary pressures from both external sources, associated with the aftermath of the pandemic and the consequences of the war in Ukraine, and domestic sources, resulting from: strengthening of local demand; price indexation processes stimulated by the increase in inflation expectations; the impact on food production caused by the mid-2021 strike; and the pass-through of depreciation to prices. The 10% increase in the minimum wage in 2021 and the 16% increase in 2022, both of which exceeded the actual inflation and the increase in productivity, accentuated the indexation processes by establishing a high nominal adjustment benchmark. Thus, total inflation went to 13.1% by the end of 2022. The annual change in food prices, which went from 17.2% to 27.8% between those two years, was the most influential factor in the surge in the Consumer Price Index (CPI). Another segment that contributed significantly to price increases was regulated products, which saw the annual change go from 7.1% in December 2021 to 11.8% by the end of 2022. The measure of core inflation excluding food and regulated items, in turn, went from 2.5% to 9.5% between the end of 2021 and the end of 2022. The substantial increase in core inflation shows that inflationary pressure has spread to most of the items in the household basket, which is characteristic of inflationary processes with generalized price indexation as is the case in Colombia. Monetary policy began to react early to this inflationary pressure. Thus, starting with its September 2021 session, the BDBR began a progressive change in the monetary policy stance moving away from the historical low of a 1.75% policy rate that had intended to stimulate the recovery of the economy. This adjustment process continued without interruption throughout 2022 and into the beginning of 2023 when the monetary policy rate reached 12.75% last January, thus accumulating an increase of 11 percentage points (pp). The public and the markets have been surprised that inflation continued to rise despite significant interest rate increases. However, as the BDBR has explained in its various communiqués, monetary policy works with a lag. Just as in 2022 economic activity recovered to a level above the pre-pandemic level, driven, along with other factors, by the monetary stimulus granted during the pandemic period and subsequent months, so too the effects of the current restrictive monetary policy will gradually take effect. This will allow us to expect the inflation rate to converge to 3.0% by the end of 2024 as is the BDBR’s purpose.Inflation results for January and February of this year showed declining marginal increases (13 bp and 3 bp respectively) compared to the change seen in December (59 bp). This suggests that a turning point in the inflation trend is approaching. In other Latin American countries such as Chile, Brazil, Perú, and Mexico, inflation has peaked and has begun to decline slowly, albeit with some ups and downs. It is to be expected that a similar process will take place in Colombia in the coming months. The expected decline in inflation in 2023 will be due, along with other factors, to lower cost pressure from abroad as a result of the gradual normalization of supply chains, the overcoming of supply shocks caused by the weather, and road blockades in previous years. This will be reflected in lower adjustments in food prices, as has already been seen in the first two months of the year and, of course, the lagged effect of monetary policy. The process of inflation convergence to the target will be gradual and will extend beyond 2023. This process will be facilitated if devaluation pressure is reversed. To this end, it is essential to continue consolidating fiscal sustainability and avoid messages on different public policy fronts that generate uncertainty and distrust. 1 This Report to Congress includes Box 1, which summarizes the trajectory of Banco de la República over the past 100 years. In addition, under the Bank’s auspices, several books that delve into various aspects of the history of this institution have been published in recent years. See, for example: Historia del Banco de la República 1923-2015; Tres banqueros centrales; Junta Directiva del Banco de la República: grandes episodios en 30 años de historia; Banco de la República: 90 años de la banca central en Colombia. 2 This is why lower inflation has been reflected in a reduction of income inequality as measured by the Gini coefficient that went from 58.7 in 1998 to 51.3 in the year prior to the pandemic. 3 See Gómez Javier, Uribe José Darío, Vargas Hernando (2002). “The Implementation of Inflation Targeting in Colombia”. Borradores de Economía, No. 202, March, available at: https://repositorio.banrep.gov.co/handle/20.500.12134/5220 4 See López-Enciso Enrique A.; Vargas-Herrera Hernando and Rodríguez-Niño Norberto (2016). “The inflation targeting strategy in Colombia. An historical view.” Borradores de Economía, No. 952. https://repositorio.banrep.gov.co/handle/20.500.12134/6263 5 According to the IMF, the percentage change in consumer prices between 2021 and 2022 went from 3.1% to 7.3% for advanced economies, and from 5.9% to 9.9% for emerging market and developing economies. 6 https://www.banrep.gov.co/es/noticias/junta-directiva-banco-republica-reitera-meta-inflacion-3