scholarly journals Protest and Social Policies for Outsiders: The Expansion of Social Pensions in Latin America

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-22
Author(s):  
ROSSELLA CICCIA ◽  
CÉSAR GUZMÁN-CONCHA

Abstract The expansion of social pensions in Latin America was part of a larger process aimed at extending protections to informal workers and other individuals not covered by social insurance. These reforms were enacted by governments of different colours, and varied considerably with regard to the scope of the new programmes. While previous comparative studies have privileged economic factors and electoral dynamics to explain these differences, this article extends these frameworks to incorporate the interplay between contentious and institutional politics. It uses a two-step qualitative comparative analysis to investigate the long-term effect of protests on reforms extending the coverage of social pensions under different constellations of political, economic and institutional conditions in 18 Latin American countries (2000-2011). The results show that protest was present in almost all configurations of expansion, but that its effect was contingent on the ideology of governments, the levels of political competition and the strength of unions.

Author(s):  
Federico M. Rossi

The history of Latin America cannot be understood without analyzing the role played by labor movements in organizing formal and informal workers across urban and rural contexts.This chapter analyzes the history of labor movements in Latin America from the nineteenth to the twenty-first centuries. After debating the distinction between “working class” and “popular sectors,” the chapter proposes that labor movements encompass more than trade unions. The history of labor movements is analyzed through the dynamics of globalization, incorporation waves, revolutions, authoritarian breakdowns, and democratization. Taking a relational approach, these macro-dynamics are studied in connection with the main revolutionary and reformist strategic disputes of the Latin American labor movements.


2003 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 721-750 ◽  
Author(s):  
ROBERT ANDOLINA

A crucial development in current Latin American politics is the growing involvement of indigenous movements in democracies grappling with the challenges of regime consolidation. This article examines how Ecuador's indigenous movement consecrated new rights and national constitutive principles in the 1997–8 constitutional assembly. It argues that the indigenous movement defined the legitimacy and purpose of the assembly through an ideological struggle with other political actors, in turn shaping the context and content of constitutional reforms in Ecuador. The article concludes that softening the boundary between ‘cultural politics’ and ‘institutional politics’ is necessary in order to understand the impact of social movements in Latin America.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 2297 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuanbo Li ◽  
Xufeng Zhu

During the initial implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (the 2030 Agenda), the Second Ministerial Meeting of the Forum of China and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) was held in Santiago, Chile, in January 2018. During this forum, China officially invited 33 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) to join the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). This study links three important global governance issues: The 2030 Agenda, China-LAC relations and BRI. The authors attempt to analyze how China’s BRI in the LAC region can learn from the 2030 Agenda of the United Nations with 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs). This study shows that although China and the LAC region have strong political, economic and trade relationships, they must deepen dialogues and cooperation on sustainable development, especially the 2030 Agenda with 17 SDGs, which can be inspirations for China’s BRI in this region. BRI, which aligns with the 2030 Agenda and contributes to Chinese experience in development, can generate new opportunities for the LAC region to implement such an agenda. However, the challenges and risks of BRI cannot be ignored, and adequate answers and solutions should be provided to allow BRI to achieve a win–win outcome for China and LAC countries. The authors also examine the alignment of China’s policies towards LAC and BRI with the 2030 Agenda (17 SDGs) and the involvement of each SDG in these policies as the 2030 Agenda (17 SDGs) should be considered in policy-making for China’s BRI in the LAC region. Moreover, on the basis of previous analyses, suggestions for a successful BRI in the LAC region in six sectors are proposed in the context the 2030 Agenda.


Author(s):  
V. Krasil’shchikov

The paper deals with the problem of dependent development and conservative modernization in Latin America. Whereas external dependency has been the permanent feature of Latin American development since colonial times, conservative modernization can be treated as the essential effect of this development. Almost all significant reforms in Latin American countries began earlier than the own premises for them could mature, because they were the obliged responses to the external challenges and shocks the continent underwent. The social actors of those reforms were often interested in adaptation of the obsolete socioeconomic structures and relationships to the changed external conditions instead of their destruction and genuine social renewal. The cases of authoritarian modernizations in the Southern Cone countries in the 1960s–80s clearly illustrated such attempts of the ruling groups to go forward whilst looking back. The neoliberal reforms of the 1990s demonstrated, at first glance, continuation of this practice being a form of modernisation for the upper classes’ advantages. Meanwhile, as the author argues, these reforms were actually a “swan song” of conservative modernization in Latin America. The “left turn” of the next decade did not abolish external dependency of Latin American countries, but created some important premises for the rise of internally rooted impulses to endogenous development. The new social actors of this development, such as various NGOs and left-wing movements, began to emerge in Latin America. They propose own programmes of transition towards a knowledge-based, innovative economy. This phenomenon allows to suppose that some Latin American countries have real chances for technological breakthroughs in the future, and it will be the genuine deliverance from the model of a dependent, imitative development.


2016 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 72-97 ◽  
Author(s):  
Saskia P. Ruth

AbstractThis article analyzes the relationship between clientelism and citizens' political orientation in Latin America. Consistent political perceptions in the citizenry are central in traditional theories of political competition. This article argues that clientelism hinders the development of consistent political orientation by reducing the utility of information cues, such as left-right labels. More specifically, clientelistic parties generate indifference among their supporters toward the left-right divide by offering them an alternative voting rationale, and increase uncertainty in the political realm by making left-right labels less meaningful. Both arguments are tested with multilevel regression analyses using cross-sectional data covering 18 Latin American countries. The results indicate that clientelistic party supporters are more likely to show indifference toward the left-right dimension and, to a lesser extent, that their left-right orientation corresponds less with their political attitudes.


2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 468-490
Author(s):  
Regiane Nitsch Bressan

O trabalho apresenta a evolução da relação bilateral entre Brasil e Cuba entre 2008 e 2016, superando a distância entre os países. A política externa do governo de Lula foi propositiva às relações regionais, fomentou integração latino-americana a partir da CELAC, que inclui Cuba no diálogo regional, e efetuou aproximação política, econômica e ideológica entre os dois países. A política externa de Rousseff sucedeu-se em termos pragmáticos, assegurando ganhos a ambos os países. Entre eles: os investimentos brasileiros na modernização do Porto de Mariel e a construção da Zona Econômica; o crescimento singular do comércio bilateral e instalação de empresas brasileiras na ilha; além da cooperação na área da saúde, o recrutamento de 11.429 médicos para atuarem em áreas carentes do território brasileiro. A densidade e natureza pragmática desta relação foram fundamentais para a consolidação da política entre Brasil e Cuba, mas enfrenta entraves do governo de Michel Temer, cuja política externa é guinada aos países do Norte, sendo possível identificar retrocesso no empenho brasileiro nos projetos regionais, estremecendo as relações com os países latino-americanos, inclusive com Cuba. Palavras-Chaves: Brasil; Cuba; Relações Internacionais; América Latina.       Abstract: This paper gives an overview of the evolution of bilateral relations between Brazil and Cuba from 2008 to 2016, overcoming the distance that separates the countries. The foreign policy pursued by the Lula government (2003-2011) focused on strengthening regional relations and promoting Latin American integration through CELAC, which includes Cuba in the regional dialogue, and establishing political, economic and ideological links between the two countries. Rousseff's foreign policy continued on a pragmatic course, ensuring gains for both countries. Examples of this are the Brazilian investments in the Mariel seaport modernisation and Special Economic Zone project, the growth of bilateral trade, and the installation of Brazilian companies on the island. Furthermore, cooperation was established in the health sector, involving the recruitment of 11.429 Cuban physicians to work in underdeveloped regions of Brazil. The density and pragmatic nature of this relationship have been fundamental for the consolidation of the bilateral relations between Brazil and Cuba, but faces the constraints of the recent Temer government, whose foreign policy is more directed to the northern countries and a decrease in Brazil's commitment to regional relations and integration projects can be observed, including those with Cuba. Key words: Brazil; Cuba; International Relations; Latin America.     Recebido em: março/2017 Aprovado em: novembro/2017.


2018 ◽  
Vol 70 (4) ◽  
pp. 555-594 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alisha C. Holland

In Latin America, the relationship between income and support for redistribution is weak and variable despite the region's extreme income inequality. This article shows that this condition is rooted in the truncated structure of many Latin American welfare states. Heavy spending on contributory social insurance for formal-sector workers, flat or regressive subsidies, and informal access barriers mean that social spending does far less for the poor in Latin America than it does in advanced industrial economies. Using public opinion data from across Latin America and original survey data from Colombia, the author demonstrates that income is less predictive of attitudes in the countries and social policy areas in which the poor gain less from social expenditures. Social policy exclusion leads the poor to doubt that they will benefit from redistribution, thereby dampening their support for it. The article reverses an assumption in political economy models that welfare exclusion unleashes demands for greater redistribution. Instead, truncation reinforces skepticism about social policy helping the poor. Welfare state reforms to promote social inclusion are essential to strengthen redistributive coalitions.


Ratio Juris ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (32) ◽  
pp. 17-50
Author(s):  
José Fernando Valencia Grajales ◽  
Mayda Soraya Marín Galeano ◽  
Juan Carlos Beltrán López

Since the time of independence, the military has permeated politics by controlling the most important positions of the respective Latin American governments, these influences have caused a series of direct influences on the political, economic, cultural and social conception of the states. Directing the mythical-political referents accepted or formal, with a tendency to the right or conservatism-religious to the detriment of others, generating socio-political reactions against from a reactionary or raised in arms. But these responses from the left have provoked dictatorial political or military responses. The methodology used for the present analysis is based on critical historical construction, critical discourse analysis and normative and political hermeneutics, which will allow us to show the influence of the military within countries, as well as policy interference Exterior.


2013 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Vanina Andrea Ferber ◽  
Vincent Charles

Spanish companies play a vital and omnipresent role in Latin American economies. The main objective of the paper is to find if there is any perceptional variation among Latin Americans in concern with the valuation of Spanish companies based on corporate social responsibility (CSR) criteria by identifying key parameters that discriminate among countries. Society judges companies beyond their profit maximization abilities (Friedman, 1970). We found that Argentina and Chile valued more negatively than Mexico and Brazil the behavior of Spanish companies with respect to human rights and the environment. We can add Peru to the negative view when we talk about the perception of respondents in corruption issues. These countries also perceive a double standard with Spanish companies behaving worse in their countries compared to Spain. A higher proportion of people in Argentina and Chile support government regulation of CSR activities which is in line with the negative view of the behavior of companies. Mexico and Brazil have a more positive view of almost all the CSR criteria included in the model. Only in the perception of how Spanish companies behave towards clients, Peru has a higher valuation than Mexico and Brazil. For all the other criteria, Peru behaves as a swing country sharing views with both groups depending on the issue. Keywords: Corporate social responsibility, discriminant analysis, Latin America, Spanish companies.


Author(s):  
José Carlos Orihuela

The role of the state in economic development is broad, old, and metamorphic. Drawing on historical political economy and a critical reading of new institutional scholarship, our understanding of the developmental state is contextual and complex. Successful developmental state formation is the result of stable political-economic environments, cultural legacies of earlier state-making functioning as mental maps for new statecraft, coherent institutional and policy entrepreneurship, and sustained growth that gives positive feedback in state-making. Latin American state developmentalism has always been diverse, before and after the debt crisis. In the era of state-led industrialization, the Latin American developmental state “failed” because, with domestic and regional markets small and dependence on foreign markets and financial capital high, macroeconomic policymaking did not learn to deal with crises and cyclical external conditions. Developmental state success in the 21st century depends on undertaking less volatile political-economic pathways to facilitate organizational learning by doing. In exclusionary Latin America more than in other corners of the world, developmental state success also means reconciling economic and social goals.


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