Latin American global cities have embraced international tourism as a pillar of economic development. Even as tourism has recently grown dramatically, some cities have succeeded and others have failed at capturing international tourists and delivering benefits to the population. This article examines the role of new public institutions (tourism ministries) and social structure from 2000 to 2010 in Buenos Aires, Havana, and Rio de Janeiro. Based on extensive fieldwork and interviews, the evidence shows that both policy choices and social structure shape the composition of international tourism. Prospect theory and economic crisis help explain the emergence of entrepreneurial and innovative bureaucracies. Buenos Aires is an example of innovative inclusive tourism, Havana exhibits innovative disarticulated tourism, and Rio de Janeiro features stagnant urban enclave tourism.

Political science undergraduate students often have a difficult time understanding the processes and methods of social science research. The foci of courses in comparative politics such as Latin American Politics or European Politics are typically descriptive information, concepts and theories, and an overview of the principal debates and research findings. This stands in sharp contrast to undergraduate pedagogy in the natural sciences, where laboratory sections supplement classroom activities. For example, biology students learn the basics of the discipline in the classroom, and simultaneously use the tools and methods of scientists in the lab to replicate elementary experiments. This multi-method approach not only reinforces the students' understanding of biological concepts, but also gives them an appreciation for how their professors spend their time and the challenges, pleasures, and limitations of academic research.

This article examines the process of militarisation in Honduras in the 1954–1963 period, also the public reaction to it and its political consequences. The extant literature ignores the significant public opposition to an institutionalised military. As an autonomous military institution was first taking shape in the 1954–57 period, the militarisation issue was one of the dominant themes in the national press, and a sophisticated public debate took place between school teachers and military officials over whether the country needed a military at all, or whether the country should follow the Costa Rican example of military proscription. The 1957–59 period witnessed pressures from politicians, students, and labour to curtail military power and excesses. Finally, the platform of the favourite candidate in the 1963 presidential elections called for demilitarisation and again the Costa Rican model was a high-profile alternative. Demilitarisation played well with the masses, and this contributed to the preemptive military coup just days before the elections. Militarisation affected power relations and undermined democratic consolidation.