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. 

Nesting Expectations: What Can the Mexican and Argentinean Cash Transfers Tell Us about the Development of Development?

1969 ◽  
Vol 59 (1) ◽  
pp. 157-169
Author(s):  
Andrés Dapuez
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Latin American ◽  
A Priori ◽  
Cash Transfers ◽  
Conditional Cash Transfers ◽  
Cash Transfer ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Transfer Programs

Latin American cash transfer programs have been implemented aiming at particular anticipatory scenarios. Given that the fulfillment of cash transfer objectives can be calculated neither empirically nor rationally a priori, I analyse these programs in this article using the concept of an “imaginary future.” I posit that cash transfer implementers in Latin America have entertained three main fictional expectations: social pacification in the short term, market inclusion in the long term, and the construction of a more distributive society in the very long term. I classify and date these developing expectations into three waves of conditional cash transfers implementation.

Democracy and new ideas in Latin American social policy: the origins of conditional cash transfers in Brazil and Mexico

2020 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 125-141 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ricardo Velázquez Leyer
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Policy Development ◽  
National Level ◽  
Cash Transfers ◽  
Conditional Cash Transfers ◽  
Policy Paradigm ◽  
Critical Junctures ◽  
Democratic Regimes ◽  
Main Instrument

ABSTRACTConditional cash transfers (CCTs) have become the main instrument to combat poverty in Latin America, they have been exported around the globe and are one of the most popular social policies of the twenty-first century. CCTs deliver cash transfers to poor families with conditionalities like attendance to school and health appointments. This article aims to explain the creation of CCTs. The research applies arguments from theories of social policy development to explain the formulation of the first two CCTs introduced in Brazil at the sub-national level and in Mexico at the national level during the mid-1990s. Findings show that the original formulation of CCTs can be explained by the emergence of a new policy paradigm based on a conceptualisation of the nature of poverty as lack of human capital among poor population, enabled by critical junctures created by the transitions to democratic regimes.

scholarly journals Some Useful Sources

2016 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 509-512
Author(s):  
Theodoros Papadopoulos ◽  
Ricardo Velázquez Leyer
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Social Policy ◽  
Social Protection ◽  
Cash Transfers ◽  
Conditional Cash Transfers ◽  
Social Policies ◽  
The World

The literature on social protection in Latin America – and more specifically on Conditional Cash Transfers (CCTs) – is substantial and growing as, increasingly, more academics from around the world seem to be attracted to social policy developments in the region and the role of CCTs in these developments. As the articles in our themed section cite many of the key sources on particular aspects of CCTs, we chose in this guide to highlight those sources we consider essential for any academic interested to investigate CCTs and, more broadly, the development of social policies in Latin America for research or teaching purposes.

The Political Economy of Elections in Latin America, 1980–1991

1993 ◽  
Vol 87 (2) ◽  
pp. 393-407 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen L. Remmer
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Latin America ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Interrupted Time Series ◽  
The Political ◽  
Interrupted Time Series Analysis ◽  
Macroeconomic Performance ◽  
The North ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

The process of political democratization in Latin America during the 1980s created a rare opportunity to explore the political economy of elections outside of the North Atlantic basin. Using interrupted time-series analysis, I explore the impact of elections on macroeconomic performance in eight Latin American nations. The findings indicate that macroeconomic performance has fluctuated with the electoral calendar but that contrary to the traditional business cycle literature, as well as the conventional wisdom about Latin America, competitive elections have enhanced, rather than undermined, the capacity of political leaders to address outstanding problems of macroeconomic management. The analysis suggests that the relationship between democracy and economics is captured more adequately by a “political capital” model than by its traditional theoretical alternative.

Crisis and Democracy in Latin America

1991 ◽  
Vol 43 (4) ◽  
pp. 608-634 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter H. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Economic Crisis ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Political Change ◽  
Debt Crisis ◽  
The Political ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks ◽  
Political Impact ◽  
The Relationship

Democratization in Latin America took place throughout the 1980s within a context of acute economic crisis, thus posing a sharp challenge to established theory. This essay examines alternative explanations-economic, political, institutional, international-for this paradoxical outcome. It is argued that the political impact of the debt crisis differs for the short, medium, and long terms. The analysis also devotes considerable attention to the concept of “democratization” and to the quality of Latin American democracies, which tend to contain pervasive authoritarian features. Careful reading of these phenomena can lay the foundation for new and enduring theoretical frameworks about the relationship between macroeco-nomic transformation and political change.

Palestinian Diaspora Communities in Latin America and Palestinian Statehood

2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 101-120
Author(s):  
Yousef M. Aljamal ◽  
Philipp O. Amour
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
South America ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Economic Life ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
The Political ◽  
Middle Classes ◽  
Latin Americans ◽  
Political Views ◽  
The Right

There are some 700,000 Latin Americans of Palestinian origin, living in fourteen countries of South America. In particular, Palestinian diaspora communities have a considerable presence in Chile, Honduras, and El Salvador. Many members of these communities belong to the professional middle classes, a situation which enables them to play a prominent role in the political and economic life of their countries. The article explores the evolving attitudes of Latin American Palestinians towards the issue of Palestinian statehood. It shows the growing involvement of these communities in Palestinian affairs and their contribution in recent years towards the wide recognition of Palestinian rights — including the right to self-determination and statehood — in Latin America. But the political views of members of these communities also differ considerably about the form and substance of a Palestinian statehood and on the issue of a two-states versus one-state solution.

Capitalism and the State in Latin America

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Esteban Torres ◽  
Carina Borrastero
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Latin America ◽  
Social Inequality ◽  
Latin American ◽  
The State ◽  
American Sociology ◽  
The 1950S ◽  
The Relationship

This article analyzes how the research on the relation between capitalism and the state in Latin America has developed from the 1950s up to the present. It starts from the premise that knowledge of this relation in sociology and other social sciences in Latin America has been taking shape through the disputes that have opposed three intellectual standpoints: autonomist, denialist, and North-centric. It analyzes how these standpoints envision the relationship between economy and politics and how they conceptualize three regionally and globally growing trends: the concentration of power, social inequality, and environmental depletion. It concludes with a series of challenges aimed at restoring the theoretical and political potency of the autonomist program in Latin American sociology.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document