Social policy, target populations and policy analysis in Colombia

This chapter explores persistent inequality and poverty for historically excluded groups despite dramatically increased expenditures in social policy as an issue of considerable importance in Colombia. It illustrates how the truncated nature of the Colombian welfare system contributes to the problem of poverty and inequality. It also documents how even the widespread use of targeted social policies for specific populations cannot attain the redistributive policy outcomes associated with a more general approach to welfare policy. The chapter introduces the general changes to social policies by looking into the expansion of basic welfare and then exploring the evolution of policy targeting. It points out the limited achievements of Colombia in terms of the redistribution of income through the concept of the truncated state.

Political parties and policy analysis in Colombia

This chapter traces the development of the political party system in Colombia, focusing on characteristics related to their production or consumption of policy analysis. It stresses that political parties will not fully utilize policy analysis to guide their decisions and priorities, as long as clientelistic linkages prevail. It also mentions the third or nongovernmental sector, which is increasingly recognized as an important policy actor or potential policy actor in all countries. The chapter describes the historical trajectory of the Colombian party system, its make-up in the 21st century, and key institutional features affecting parties' use of policy analysis. It identifies some of the mechanisms through which 21st-century Colombian political parties produce or rely on policy analysis.

Policy analysis in the education sector in Colombia

This chapter presents a detailed case study of policies governing the hiring, training, compensation, and evaluation of schoolteachers. It traces reforms over a period of two decades and identifies key actors and competing decision criteria at each stage of the policy process. It also looks at teacher policy to illustrate the practice of policy analysis in education policy in Colombia at the national level after the 1990s reforms. The chapter uses reform in policies regarding public school teachers as a case to analyse the process of policy formulation and implementation in the education sector in Colombia. It defines several issues that have a direct impact on the quality of primary and secondary education.

Policy analysis and NGOs in Colombia

This chapter focuses on nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in policy analysis in institutional spaces in Colombia. It explains how NGOs exert substantial influence on social, political, and economic spheres globally, representing diverse efforts of collective action, political intervention, social service delivery, and watchdog activity over government and business sectors. It also elaborates that NGOs provide many public services and advance many other important public goods through policy analysis and advocacy. The chapter reviews definitions and terms related to the third sector in the context of Colombia, followed by an outline of Colombia's third sector government relations over the past several decades. It also examines the role of NGOs in policy analysis through the lens of the Colombian Confederation of Nongovernmental Organizations in the postagreement, the peace process, and in the implementation and monitoring of the Sustainable Development Goals in Colombia.

Policy analysis in the Colombian Constitutional Court

This chapter uses a specific case example from the Colombian Constitutional Court (CCC) that provides insights into the phenomena of judicialization of politics and public policy. It explains the structure, powers and operation of the CCC and examines its decisions with respect to public policy on illicit drugs as part of the peace agreement. It also describes the way CCC has recently dealt with one dimension of the illicit drugs public policy related to the peace agreement reached between the Colombian government and the now demobilized guerrilla group FARC-EP. The chapter mentions the abstract constitutional review, which is an instrument the CCC uses to protect the integrity of the system of legal rules and comply with the constitutional provisions. It summarizes the highlights of the policy analysis toolbox used by the CCC and suggests a future research agenda.

Policy analysis for decision making in Colombian local governments

This chapter applies a unique approach to examining policy analysis at the local level, confirming which local government officials use policy analysis and under what circumstances. It explores the availability of policy analysis tools and techniques and their use by Colombian local governments. It also introduces policy analysis and performance management as tools to achieve local effectiveness, including a framework to understand “when and who” is expected to use policy analysis in local governments. The chapter explains the use of policy analysis by local governments for the formulation, implementation and evaluation of their Municipal Development Plan. It develops some conclusions and suggests some prescriptions to enhance local policy analysis in Colombia.

Policy analysis in Colombia: an introduction

This chapter introduces the policy analysis in Colombia at a critical juncture in the country's history when having government officials capable of making evidence-based policy decisions is as important as ever. It evaluates the role of different levels of government, institutions of government, and actors outside of government in the development, implementation, and evaluation of public policy. It also highlights the degree to which analysis informs key substantive policy areas. The chapter details how governmental and nongovernmental institutions and actors have historically contributed to the analysis of policy options and outcomes. It describes Colombia as a country that exemplifies a particular path of development and has been able to configure a relatively developed public administration apparatus even with the presence of key institutional challenges.

Policy analysis and the legislature in Colombia

This chapter describes the operation of the legislative branch in Colombia and the challenges of applying evidence-based analysis in the public policy process that occur within such a highly politicized environment. It summarizes some of the previous findings of the research conducted on the role of Congress in the contemporary policy-making process. It also shows how Congress has played an important part in reacting to executive bills, protecting constituency interests, leading public debates, and occasionally affecting the agenda impeding governmental action. The chapter covers the period after the 1991 Constitution, examining mostly the legislative output of Congress. It underscores the rules establishing the separation of powers and evaluates the nature of the party system determining the separation of purpose among the branches and the legislative output.

Technocracy, decision making and economic policy in Colombia

This chapter explains the strong theoretical and practical connection of policy analysis to economic analysis, making economic policy an important element of any comprehensive country study of policy. It highlights how economic technocracy played a crucial role in building the capacity for policy analysis in the realm of economic policy by using several concrete examples of economic policy decisions informed by analysis. It also defines institutional willingness for economic change, as the capacity of public agencies responsible for the design and execution of economic policy adjust and reform the rules and the organizations responsible for economic management. The chapter discusses decision making in several key moments of the recent economic history of Colombia in the context of institutional flexibility and the presence of technocracy. It discusses the Latin American debt crisis of the 1980s, which challenged the creativity of policy makers given the international and political restrictions.

Metropolitan governance and policy analysis in Colombia

This chapter illustrates the explanatory capacity of path-dependency models for understanding the pattern of metropolization, making the case for the importance of metropolitan institutions as key policy actors or tools. It explains why and how a long period of 50 years of experimentation along metropolitan lines has failed to lead to a solid national and homogenous approach towards metropolitan policy analysis. It also highlights the policy spillovers throughout the 24 conurbated regions that have developed naturally in the process of urbanization and conurbation of Colombia. The chapter explores the 24 metro-regions in terms of the challenges they face given their population, municipal fragmentation, and institutional capacities. It provides a path-dependent explanation of the trajectories and critical junctures that have shaped Colombian metro-policies in a problematic way.