Alejandro Bonvecchi and Carlos Scartascini, Who Decides Social Policy? Social Networks and the Political Economy of Social Policy in Latin America and the Caribbean. Latin American Development Forum. Washington, DC: Inter-American Development Bank, 2020. Figures, tables, abbreviations, notes, bil-biography, index, 183 pp. Download.

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-3
Author(s):  
Darío Judzik
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Political Economy ◽  
Latin America ◽  
Social Policy ◽  
Latin American ◽  
The Political ◽  
Washington Dc ◽  
Development Bank ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
Latin American Development

Health Diplomacy in the Political Process of Integration in Latin America and the Caribbean

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paulo Buss ◽  
Sebastián Tobar
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Political Process ◽  
Economic Importance ◽  
Noncommunicable Diseases ◽  
The Political ◽  
Global Level ◽  
Global Context ◽  
Health Diplomacy ◽  
The Caribbean

The construction of the concepts of diplomacy and health diplomacy must consider their conceptions and practices, at both the global and regional levels. Health diplomacy is vitally important in a global context, where health problems cross national borders and more new stakeholders appear every day, both within and outside the health sector. On the other hand, regional integration processes provide excellent opportunities for collective actions and solutions to many of the health challenges at the global level. In the current global context, the best conditions for dealing with many health challenges are found at the global level, but the regional and subregional spheres also play essential roles. The region of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) consists of 26 countries or territories that occupy a territory of 7,412,000 square miles—almost 13% of the Earth’s land surface area; it extends from Mexico to Patagonia, where about 621 million people live (as of 2015), distributed among different ethnic groups. Geographically, it is divided into Mexico and Central America, the Caribbean, and South America, but it presents subregions with populations and cultures that are a little more homogenous, like the subregions of the Andes and the English Caribbean. By its characteristics, LAC has acquired increasing global political and economic importance. In the 1960s, integration processes began in the region, including the creation of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR), Mercosur, the Andean Community, the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), the Central American System, the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA), the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO), the Sistema Económico Latinoamericano y del Caribe (SELA), the Asociación Latinoamericana de Integración (ALADI), and finally, since 2010, the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Comunidad de Estados Latinoamericanos y Caribeños, or CELAC), which is the most comprehensive integrative organization. While originally a mechanism for political and economic integration, health is now an important component of all the abovementioned integration processes, with growing social, political, and economic importance in each country and in the region, currently integrating the most important regional and global negotiations. Joint protection against endemic diseases and epidemics, as well as noncommunicable diseases, coordination of border health care, joint action on the international scene (particularly in multilateral organizations such as the United Nations and its main agencies), and the sectoral economic importance of health are among the main situations and initiatives related to health diplomacy in these integration processes. The effectiveness of integration actions—and health within those actions—varies according to the political orientations of the national governments in each conjuncture, amplifying or reducing the spectrum of activities performed. The complexity of both the present and future of this rich political process of regional health diplomacy is also very important for global health governance (GHG).

scholarly journals The Contentious Politics of Social Policy expansion in Latin America

2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (3 - Sup2) ◽  
pp. 189-205
Author(s):  
César Guzmán-Concha ◽  
Rossella Ciccia
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Social Policy ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Contentious Politics ◽  
Cash Transfers ◽  
Conditional Cash Transfers ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Environment ◽  
Social Policy Reform ◽  
The Relationship

Latin America witnessed a resurgence of protests during the 1990s and early 2000s. Citizens took to the streets to protest against the liberalization of public services and rising levels of inequalities and poverty. This situation partly changed in the decade of the 2000s when the region experienced a period of sustained social policy expansion intended to extend protections to formerly excluded groups. Did popular mobilization have an influence on the turn toward universalism in Latin American social policy? This paper explores this question by looking at the relationship between protest, the strength of the Left and the adoption of expansive reforms in healthcare, conditional cash transfers and noncontributory pensions. The findings bring support to the idea that protest is a relevant aspect of the politics of social policy reform, although its effects are both sensitive to other characteristics of the political environment and the particular policy dimension considered. 

scholarly journals Dollars for Pesos? The Political-Economy of Dollarization in Latin America

2001 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-81
Author(s):  
PAMELA K. STARR
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Latin America ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Policy Choice ◽  
The Political ◽  
Economic Factors ◽  
Policy Debate ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Stable Growth ◽  
Latin American Countries

ABSTRACT The capacity of dollarization to generate stable growth in Latin America despite occasional instability in the international financial system has been the subject of significant economic analysis in recent years. Yet very little attention has been afforded to the politics of the issue. This paper attempts to fill this void by looking at both the political and the economic factors which influence the policy effectiveness of dollarization. The paper reviews the theoretic and policy debate within which the dollarization question is situated and then develops an informal model of the political and economic variables which influence the viability of dollarization. It concludes that although dollarization may be the correct policy choice for some Latin American countries, it is unlikely to benefit the majority. Most Latin American countries would benefit more from directly addressing the forces know to promote economic instability.

Populism from a Latin American Perspective

Populism ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-77
Author(s):  
Taekyoon Lim
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Latin America ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Current Paper ◽  
The Political ◽  
The West ◽  
American Perspective

Abstract Discourses on contemporary populism owe much to the populism of the mid-20th century’s Latin America. From a Latin American perspective, the current paper critically reviews Dunn’s and Han’s papers on populism. These two papers are not quite directly comparable in their arguments because their analyses have discrete focuses and levels. Still, Dunn’s argument reasonably reflects the cases of the West whereas Han’s explains the Korean case quite effectively. One question that emerges from their discussion on populism is how generalizable their arguments are beyond the specific cases. From the perspective of Latin America, Dunn’s and Han’s arguments seem to have limited implications for understanding classical populism and contemporary neopopulism in Latin America though they provide insightful thoughts to rethink the political economy of the region with.

The Political Economy of Policy Volatility in Latin America

2014 ◽  
Vol 56 (4) ◽  
pp. 1-21 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Doyle
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Latin America ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Natural Resource ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Statistical Tests ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Resource Rents ◽  
Natural Resource Rents

AbstractWhy are some Latin American states plagued by persistent policy volatility while the policies of others remain relatively stable? This article explores the political economy of natural resource rents and policy volatility across Latin America. It argues that, all else equal, resource rents will create incentives for political leaders, which will result in repeated episodes of policy volatility. This effect, however, will depend on the structure of political institutions. Where political institutions fail to provide a forum for intertemporal exchange among political actors, natural resource rents will result in increased levels of policy volatility. Alternatively, where political institutions facilitate agreement among actors, resource rents will be conducive to policy stability. This argument is tested on a measure of policy volatility for 18 Latin American economies between 1993 and 2008. The statistical tests provide support for the argument.

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