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		<title>Recent News</title>
		<link>http://politicalscience.cos.ucf.edu</link>
		<description>5 News Articles</description>
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		<copyright>Copyright 2010, Political Science</copyright>
		<pubDate>Fri, 12 Mar 2010 08:40:33 -0500</pubDate>
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		<category>Political Science</category>
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			<guid>http://politicalscience.cos.ucf.edu/content/news/index.html&amp;id=342</guid>
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			<title>Costa Rica Politicians Seek History in Ballot </title>
			<pubDate>Mon, 22 Feb 2010 15:40:00 -0500</pubDate>
			<description><![CDATA[ Costa Rica boasts a pair of firsts in its national elections Sunday. The front-runners in the contest include a woman aiming to become the country's first female president and a man who could be its first Libertarian one.
Most polls show the centrist Partido Liberaci&oacute;n Nacional's Laura Chinchilla Miranda, who was a vice president in this tiny Central American country before starting her campaign, is close to winning the job. She holds a 20-percentage-point lead over her closest opponent, Otto Guevara of the Partido Movimiento Libertario, according to polls published this week in La Naci&oacute;n newspaper.
Ms. Chinchilla, who is open to free-market policies, has promised to continue the legacy of her mentor &Oacute;scar Arias, Costa Rica's president who pushed through the Central American Free Trade Agreement in a 2007 national referendum that barely passed amid concerns the deal was lopsided in favor of the U.S.



Mr. Guevara, a Harvard-educated lawyer and a former congressman, has developed from a dark horse into a serious challenger. According to the poll, Mr. Guevara, leader of his libertarian party, has the support of 23% of voters, threatening to drive the race to a runoff.
If Ms. Chinchilla's campaign champions the status quo in Costa Rica, Mr. Guevara's could drive the opposite: a movement to shake up the social programs that have made the country one of Latin America's most successful welfare states.
Running behind the two are Ott&oacute;n Sol&iacute;s of the left-leaning Citizen's Action Party who polls around 20%, and Luis Fishman of the Social Christian Unity Party, with 5.7%. Pollsters, however, caution about the accuracy of multiparty surveys. In 2006, for example, Mr. Arias was expected to win by double digits and ended up scratching out a narrow victory margin of 0.4%.
If Ms. Chinchilla wins, she would join a coterie of recent female Latin American chief executives including Argentina's Cristina Kirchner and Chile's Michelle Bachelet, who leaves office in March.
"We're seeing enough examples of major parties nominating a woman as a candidate that it strikes me that Latin American party elites and voters see women as real contenders," says Michelle Taylor-Robinson, a political science professor who specializes in Latin America at Texas A&amp;M University.
A win for Ms. Chinchilla could signal a consolidation of power for Mr. Arias's left-leaning PLN, which is poised to take more congressional seats. Mr. Arias is a towering figure in Costa Rican politics&mdash;a Nobel laureate and two-term president. Some of Ms. Chinchilla's critics portray the 50-year-old politician and antiabortion advocate as a puppet of Mr. Arias, who would continue to rule from behind the scenes.
Ms. Chinchilla might be able to rule with something Mr. Arias didn't have: A majority for her party in Congress, which polls suggest is a possibility.
Boris Segura an economist at the Royal Bank of Scotland, says political squabbles have delayed much-needed changes in Costa Rica such as repairing its decaying infrastructure of roads, ports and railroads. "It would be a key moment in terms of governability" if one party had full control of the government, he said.
Mr. Segura said a Chinchilla administration would likely seek fiscal reforms to collect more from its tax base&mdash;something favorable to foreign investors interested in government debt. Taxes represent about 14% of gross domestic product now, a low rate given Costa Rica's wealth. Were reforms enacted, "we could see Costa Rica becoming the next investment-grade country" in the region after Panama, Mr. Segura said.
Mr. Guevara's presence shows the topsy-turvy nature of modern politics in Costa Rica, once a stable duopoly dominated by two centrist parties, including Ms. Chinchilla's PLN. Mr. Guevara's party is a relative newcomer, founded just 15 years ago.
Libertarianism runs against the grain in Costa Rica, a countryknown for welfare programs such as a constitutional right to education and subsidies for the poor.
At his party's inception, Mr. Guevara cowrote a Libertarian "manifesto" decrying taxes as robbery. "I think it's a fundamentally odd combination: Libertarians and Costa Ricans," said Bruce Wilson a political-science professor at the University of Central Florida said, who has monitored elections in the country. He added: "It's really hard to pin down what his party is about because they've never had the power to do anything yet."
In the current campaign, Mr. Guevara, who once suggested legalizing drugs, said he has backed down from some of more extreme views of the past. He has pegged his candidacy to an anticrime campaign and criticizes the PLN's inability to stanch rising crime rates in the capital, San Jos&eacute;, and elsewhere. In one eye-catching campaign commercial, a man walks through the street in his underwear. "Why are you walking around naked?" the man is asked. "Because it's the only way they can see that I don't have anything and they don't assault me," the man replies.
Write to  Nicholas Casey at nicholas.casey@wsj.com








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			<guid>http://politicalscience.cos.ucf.edu/content/news/index.html&amp;id=341</guid>
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			<title>Costa Rica Victor Girds for Gridlock </title>
			<pubDate>Mon, 22 Feb 2010 15:31:00 -0500</pubDate>
			<description><![CDATA[ Costa Rican President-elect Laura Chinchilla spent her campaign pledging to continue the legacy of President &Oacute;scar Arias with a pro-business approach that emphasized free trade.
But the country's first female president-elect also inherits another legacy: the uphill battle to enact legislation in this tiny Central American republic.
Ms. Chinchilla won by a landslide on Sunday, notching nearly 47% of the vote. However, Costa Rica presents an unwieldy paradox for its presidents, even those who enjoy a wide victory margin: While considered Latin America's most stable democracy, the country has also become one of the least governable.





Because presidents are barred from seeking consecutive terms, some are perceived as lame ducks early in the job. Small groups of congressional lawmakers can overturn bills that passed with big majorities. And the two-party duopoly that once streamlined the political process has been swallowed into a multiparty free-for-all.
"It's one of the fundamental problems in Costa Rica: The president is incredibly weak," says Bruce Wilson, a professor of political science at the University of Central Florida who writes often about Costa Rican politics. "If you rank the powers of presidents [in the region], Costa Rica is at the bottom."
Ms. Chinchilla won more votes than her two main challengers combined: Otto Guevara of the Libertarian Movement Party won 20.8% and Ott&oacute;n Sol&iacute;s of the Citizen's Action Party drew 25.1%. She campaigned with promises to reduce the crime rate, create jobs and increase government transparency. "We have to make decisions at the highest levels to ensure the greatest welfare for Costa Ricans," Ms. Chinchilla said Monday.
Now she must figure out how to do her job despite major obstacles such as the length of her term. Under Costa Rican law, presidents can't be elected to consecutive four-year terms. They may run for office again, but only after sitting out a term. Many Latin American countries barred consecutive presidential terms to safeguard against dictators, although many nations have since overturned those restrictions.
That means Costa Rican leaders aren't around for very long, narrowing their window to push reforms, and weakening their ability to twist the arms of colleagues in the legislature.
"The president doesn't have a very useful cudgel," says Michelle Taylor-Robinson, a Latin America political scientist at Texas A&amp;M University. "And Congress has never made a habit of catering to the whims of the president, nor has the president's own party."
Legislative wrangling over the Central American Free Trade Agreement, which opened most of the region to trade with the U.S., offers a useful illustration. Costa Rica reached a deal on the pact with the U.S.in 2004, but foes in the Costa Rican congress stalled ratification, in hopes that the U.S. might eventually drop Costa Rica from it altogether. Even with the election of Mr. Arias, who won narrowly on a platform to push CAFTA through in 2006, Congress wouldn't budge, saying the trade pact favored the U.S.
President Arias ended up bypassing lawmakers completely, calling a popular referendum to put the choice to voters. In 2007, it narrowly passed in a bitter contest, hardening the country's political divisions.
Ms. Chinchilla, who is expected to take office early in May, will need to make tough decisions, particularly about taxes. Costa Rica is known for tax-funded social welfare programs that are some of the region's best. However, despite the country's relative wealth compared with its neighbors, its infrastructure, such as ports and roads, has been in disrepair for decades.Boris Segura a Latin America economist with the Royal Bank of Scotland says he expects Ms. Chinchilla to try to "push ambitious fiscal reform through Congress," likely in the form of tax increases, to replenish the government's coffers.
But an unusual legislative rule stands to make reform as challenging for the next president as it has for her predecessors. Any 10 members of Congress may appeal a bill to the Supreme Court, even before it becomes law. Many laws have been thrown out through this process; others never reach a vote.
Mr. Guevara, who lost to Ms. Chinchilla andwhose party controls nine congressional seats after Sunday's election, has boasted of using his "ability to obstruct new legislation" if he "can muster up 10 colleagues." ]]></description>
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			<guid>http://politicalscience.cos.ucf.edu/content/news/index.html&amp;id=337</guid>
			<link>http://politicalscience.cos.ucf.edu/content/news/index.html&amp;id=337</link>
			<title>Leading Expert on China and Taiwan to Speak at UCF</title>
			<pubDate>Tue, 16 Feb 2010 13:54:00 -0500</pubDate>
			<description><![CDATA[ Minxin Pei, a leading expert on China, Taiwan, East Asia and democracy, will speak Thursday, Feb. 18, at the University of Central Florida.
Pei will give a presentation entitled &ldquo;China-Taiwan Relations: The Next Step&rdquo; at 3 p.m. in the Cape Florida Ballroom of the Student Union. The event is free and open to the public.
Pei is the author of &ldquo;China&rsquo;s Trapped Transition: The Limits of Developmental Autocracy.&rdquo; He is also the Tom and Margot Pritzker Professor of Government and Roberts Fellow, as well as the director of the Keck Center for International and Strategic Studies, at Claremont McKenna College in California.
Pei&rsquo;s research focuses on democratization in developing countries, economic reform and governance in China, and U.S.-China relations. He has been published in Foreign Policy, Foreign Affairs, The National Interest, Modern China and many books. Pei is a frequent commentator on BBC World News, Voice of America and National Public Radio; his op-eds have appeared in the Financial Times, New York Times, Washington Post and other major newspapers.
Sponsors include the UCF Global Perspectives Office, UCF China-Taiwan Cross-Strait Program, C.T. Hsu and Associates, UCF Political Science Department, UCF International Services Center, UCF LIFE and the Global Connections Foundation. ]]></description>
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			<guid>http://politicalscience.cos.ucf.edu/content/news/index.html&amp;id=306</guid>
			<link>http://politicalscience.cos.ucf.edu/content/news/index.html&amp;id=306</link>
			<title>Mock Trial Team will have the home court advantage</title>
			<pubDate>Wed, 03 Feb 2010 15:48:00 -0500</pubDate>
			<description><![CDATA[ UCF will be the courthouse for a battle royale of competitive litigation later this month.
Twenty-six teams from 16 schools will stand trial in classrooms and administration rooms in the Health &amp; Public Affairs and Engineering II buildings when The Mock Trial Team at UCF hosts the Nation Law Firm Mock Trial Regional Tournament. The tournament, one of 24 in the country, will take place on Feb. 20 and 21.
&ldquo;People can come and watch and let us show them what we are actually doing, because there seems to be a great confusion as to what exactly the trial team does,&rdquo; Michael Koeltzow, president of the UCF Mock Trial Team said.
Mock trials allow students to practice and witness the real rules of law in a courtroom environment, said Margarita Koblasz, adviser for the UCF Mock Trial Team.
Koeltzow said six team members play either the prosecution or defense each round.
Teams present cases from both sides for two rounds each. Each round lasts three hours. Three attorneys and three witnesses argue for the prosecution or the defense each round, Koeltzow said. Judges are representatives from non-participating schools. Trial rooms will be staged like an actual court rooms, complete with desks for the prosecution, the defense, and the judge.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;re a bit of a unique animal because &hellip; competition is what we&rsquo;re based around, so we&rsquo;re a cross between a competitive team and a social organization,&rdquo; Koblasz said.
The Trial Team at UCF registered four teams with the American Mock Trial Association. The teams are assigned numbers for the competition to avoid bias.
&ldquo;Anyone competing or in the audience cannot wear anything school-affiliated,&rdquo; Koeltzow said. &ldquo;All materials have to be removed from the room so there are no issues with judging.&rdquo;
The Mock Trial Team has been working on the case State of Midlands v. Jackie Owens since August of last year. All teams registered with the AMTA were given the same case to learn and practice.
&ldquo;[The AMTA uses] actual case law and statute that they just renamed and fixed, so from that standpoint [students] really are learning a lot,&rdquo; Koblasz said.
The AMTA is in place to educate students about the legal system and considers the educational function primary and competitive aspect secondary, according to the AMTA Web site.
AMTA tournaments are broken down into four rounds and each has a new presentation of the case from the teams. Teams play new competitors each round.
Each team of eight to 10 members prepares a prosecution and defense case for State of Midlands v. Jackie Owens.
&ldquo;We try to keep it as realistic as possible, but we do apply a bit of character,&rdquo; Koeltzow said. &ldquo;We have to keep people interested and keep the judges entertained.&rdquo;
The team tied for first with five other teams at Georgia Tech&rsquo;s Fifth Annual Ramblin&rsquo; Wreck Tournament on Jan. 23 and 24. One of the UCF teams was bumped to fourth after a tiebreaker, which was determined by the strength of schedule.
The Mock Trial Team practices several hours a night, four to five nights a week in the HPA building.
They have participated in several invitational tournaments throughout the year, giving them the opportunity to practice their case against competition.
&ldquo;We consistently do well and place well,&rdquo; Koblasz said.
&ldquo;We have pedigree because we&rsquo;ve been to so many competitions,&rdquo; Michael Garcia, a lead attorney said.&nbsp;
Only two teams per school can compete at the same regional, so AMTA divided the four teams from UCF. The stronger teams will stay at UCF and the two newer teams will go to the University of North Carolina.
Koeltzow explained the AMTA spreads the talent to separate mock trial tournaments and ensures the best teams advance.
The Mock Trial Team at UCF has defeated Yale and Harvard in the past, but considers Emory, Bellarmine and Furman universities its toughest competition. Koblasz said the strength of the mock trial team is determined by the individual members and their commitment, not by the school.
&ldquo;Just because it&rsquo;s Harvard doesn&rsquo;t mean it&rsquo;s a strong tournament,&rdquo; Koblasz said. &ldquo;Going to a tournament in Tennessee at little Tennessee State, we&rsquo;re going to find better teams and a much better tournament than Harvard.&rdquo;&nbsp;
In 2006, the trial team went to the national tournament in St. Petersburg, Fla., winning three individual awards: two for top attorney and one for top witness.
Following the Nation Law Firm Tournament, the top eight teams from UCF will advance to Furman University in Greenville, S.C., for one of eight opening rounds of the 2010 championship series.
The top eight from Chapel Hill and Birmingham will also advance to Furman&rsquo;s tournament in March.
Garcia is confident UCF&rsquo;s trial team will reach the national tournament.
&ldquo;I feel like we&rsquo;re in line to go to that competition again,&rdquo; he said. ]]></description>
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			<guid>http://politicalscience.cos.ucf.edu/content/news/index.html&amp;id=301</guid>
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			<title>'Against All Odds: Women Around the World Demand Justice'</title>
			<pubDate>Tue, 02 Feb 2010 13:29:00 -0500</pubDate>
			<description><![CDATA[ Paula Allen, a human rights activist and noted photojournalist, will speak Thursday, Feb. 4, at the University of Central Florida.
Allen will give a presentation entitled &ldquo;Against All Odds: Women Around the World Demand Justice&rdquo; at 3 p.m. in the Cape Florida Ballroom of the Student Union. She also will display some of her work as a photojournalist covering many global issues. The event is free and open to the public.
Allen began her career 30 years ago, photographing events such as the European nuclear disarmament movement and the Solidarity movement in Poland. She has also worked in the war zones of Northern Ireland, Lebanon, Angola and Afghanistan. Her photos have appeared in many magazines, including The New York Times Magazine, Newsweek, U.S. News and World Report, Paris Match and O: The Oprah Magazine.
Allen traveled for Amnesty International in November 2001 to Chechen refugee camps in the Russian Federation and to Southeast Asia in March 2005 to document women who were forced to work as sex slaves by the Japanese military during World War II. For Refugees International, she traveled to Afghanistan in 2002 and Angola in 2003.
Allen&rsquo;s presentation is a co-curricular component of the 2009-2010 universitywide theme of "Covering the World: Journalists Speak."
Sponsors include the UCF Global Perspectives Office, UCF Political Science Department, UCF Women&rsquo;s Studies Program, UCF International Services Center, UCF Women's Research Center, Lawrence J. Chastang and the Chastang Foundation, UCF LIFE and the Global Connections Foundation. ]]></description>
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