Contemporary Vectors of Russian Policy in Latin America

Democracy and the Left: Social Policy and Inequality in Latin America

Over the past two decades there has been a six-fold increase in the number of regional or bilateral trade agreements (RBTAs) in the world economy. Nowhere has this proliferation been more prevalent...

Fiscal policy in Latin America has been understudied, in part because of inadequate data. This paper utilizes a new, comprehensive database on fiscal outcomes in 13 major Latin American economies which covers central government, local government, and nonfinancial public enterprises at a reasonably detailed level of aggregation. Armed with this database, we lay out some basic facts about fiscal policy in Latin America. We find stark differences between fiscal outcomes in Latin America and in industrial countries. Fiscal outcomes have been far more volatile in Latin America. In sharp contrast to the industrial economies, fiscal policy in Latin America has also been procyclical, casting doubt on the applicability of the Barro (1979) tax-smoothing hypothesis to Latin America. We discuss alternative explanations of fiscal policy procyclicality. We also consider the relationship of fiscal policy to the exchange-rate regime. Contrary to much conventional wisdom, we find no evidence that fixed exchange rates impose greater discipline on fiscal policy. We also find that fiscal expansions in Latin America have been significantly associated with exchange-rate collapses.

Fiscal policy in Latin America has been understudied, in part because of inadequate data. This paper utilizes a new, comprehensive database on fiscal outcomes in 13 major Latin American economies which covers central government, local government, and nonfinancial public enterprises at a reasonably detailed level of aggregation. Armed with this database, we lay out some basic facts about fiscal policy in Latin America. We find stark differences between fiscal outcomes in Latin America and in industrial countries. Fiscal outcomes have been far more volatile in Latin America. In sharp contrast to the industrial economies, fiscal policy in Latin America has also been procyclical, casting doubt on the applicability of the Barro (1979) tax-smoothing hypothesis to Latin America. We discuss alternative explanations of fiscal policy procyclicality. We also consider the relationship of fiscal policy to the exchange-rate regime. Contrary to much conventional wisdom, we find no evidence that fixed exchange rates impose greater discipline on fiscal policy. We also find that fiscal expansions in Latin America have been significantly associated with exchange-rate collapses.

Although inequality in Latin America ranks among the worst in the world, it has notably declined over the last decade, offset by improvements in health care and education, enhanced programs for social assistance, and increases in the minimum wage. In Democracy and the Left, Evelyne Huber and John D. Stephens argue that the resurgence of democracy in Latin America is key to this change. In addition to directly affecting public policy, democratic institutions enable left-leaning political parties to emerge, significantly influencing the allocation of social spending on poverty and inequality. But while democracy is an important determinant of redistributive change, it is by no means the only factor. Huber and Stephens present quantiative analyses of eighteen countries and comparative historical analyses of the five most advanced social policy regimes in Latin America, showing how international power structures have influenced the direction of their social policy. They augment these analyses by comparing them to the development of social policy in democratic Portugal and Spain. The most ambitious examination of the development of social policy in Latin America to date, Democracy and the Left shows that inequality is far from intractable - a finding with crucial policy implications worldwide.

This chapter focuses on language policies in the domains of bi- and multilingualism, and the associated language ideologies that contrast mono- and multilingual with plurilingual orientations. It looks at the ways in which language policies and ideologies intervene in the educational systems and options in Latin America. First, the chapter outlines the history and some general characteristics of the indigenous and the immigrant educational settings with regard to the macro level of policy and the micro level of curriculum. Then, it looks at some basic differences, as well as shared problems and solutions, in order to develop an integrated interpretation of language and education policy in Latin America. Next, the chapter explores what solutions different countries and regions offer to the challenges of globalization, from new foreign-language policies and primary education bilingual programmes to South American integration based on massive bilingualism of the main state languages.

This paper is the reflection of a study that I have been developing the category of educational policy epistemologies, from three topics: epistemology of the oppressed, the interdisciplinary and strange reality that cross as potential reality to think that Latin America and hindering the epistemological perspective of educational policy and social justice in Latin America. Well our concern in the inquiry that we made and presented in this paper is to highlight the importance of epistemological positions as political posturing, and as ethical positions in front of the regional reality. To understand, finally, as displayed from various perspectives, not always explicit, research on education policy in Latin America. Conceptually intertwined topics under the category of anthropology ethic Edgar Morin and the prospect of social justice. Without a thorough examination of the latter category, but taking it as a goal for the transformation.

This article discusses policy and regulation of internet platforms in Latin America. It first addresses how internet platformization brings back to the political agenda the centrality of communication public policy and communication governance at a global scale. The article presents some global policy concerns on internet governance, while also analysing the regional specificities. It offers an overview of the tradition of communication policies in Latin America, to show continuities and shifts in the debates on internet governance highlighting key aspects, including the peripheral positioning and recognition of power asymmetries, and the role of states and the participation of society in the discussions. The presentation also portrays some of the current regulatory debates in the region and identifies at least three different approaches (and their pitfalls): taxation perspective; platform funding initiatives and content moderation regulatory projects under debate which, in many cases, jeopardize human right principles. Finally, an overview of the six articles comprised in this Special Issue is presented.

This chapter first presents a brief history of the practical and theoretical construction of communication policy claims in Latin America via an overview of the political economy of communication (PEC) perspective. At the same time, the chapter recalls the main objectives of Van Cuilenburg and McQuail (Media policy paradigm shifts: Towards a new communications policy paradigm. European Journal of Communication, 18(2), 181–207, 2003) that were proposed in the third paradigm of communication policies as well as in the national communication policies proposed in the 1970s by Latin American scholars. Second, the different media reform tendencies in the region and the irruption of global platforms as mediators of news and cultural content are highlighted. Third, the challenges and final remarks are presented regarding media policy and governance perspectives in Latin America. Thus, this chapter highlights the benefits of using the PEC perspective to study media governance practices and processes in the region.

IN any analysis of United States policy in Latin America, first question which should be considered is: What priority is attached to Latin America in whole spectrum of our foreign-policy considerations? Once relative importance or unimportance of hemispheric problems is established, one can then move on to consider question of basic U.S. policy in Latin America. Having delineated fundamental lines of policy, one can consider finally effective means of implement ing it. On these three questions I shall focus my discussion. On numerous occasions President Kennedy indicated priority he placed on Latin America in total spectrum of foreign-policy considerations by describing it as the most criti cal area in world. But two decades of constant preoccupa tion with Europe and Asia have left an imbalance in our global commitments that has not yet been wholly rectified. Although United States must continue to be concerned with develop ments in many parts of world, it is no longer either necessary or possible for United States to become deeply involved in every area of world and to undertake massive political, military and economic commitments that such involvement en tails. The break-up of bipolar world of postwar era and emergence of independent centers of power in non-Com munist world should in decade ahead allow United States greater freedom to concentrate its resources in areas of primary concern to our national interest. Europe remains of crucial importance in our foreign policy considerations and will retain this status for foreseeable future. But while internal political, social and economic patterns of Europe are well determined by now, this is not case with Latin America. The future structure of society and external policy of Latin nations remain unanswered ques tions. Marxism as a guide to social development is a spent force in most European countries, but it remains a lively alternative in Latin America today. The example of Cuba suggests both immediacy of Marxist threat to U.S. interests and nature of problems which we face when Marxism is accepted as a guide to development of a Latin American society.

This special section discusses some of the challenges of inequality in the Latin American urban context and its consequences for the lives of young people. The four papers provide an in-depth analysis, from different methodological and disciplinary perspectives, of the interaction between social policy and multiple dimensions of inequality in Mexico, Argentina and Nicaragua. Each seeks to shed some light on the ways social policy operates at the micro- and meso-level to reduce (or fail to reduce) socio-economic inequality and promote human development for young people. This introduction provides a short overview of macro trends on social policy and inequality in Latin America. It raises some questions and discusses challenges regarding their ‘trickling down’ in the lives of the young who live at the urban margins.

The first generation of science policies in Latin America were inspired by the linear model of innovation based on Vannevar Bush’ Science: the endless frontier and UNESCO postwar stance on freedom of research. Informed by these ideas, during the late 1940s and the 1950s, research councils focused on basic research were created throughout the region. During this first phase, prominent scientists, such as Argentine Nobel Laureate in Physiology Bernardo Houssay, were explicit advocates of these policies. The configuration of science studies during the 1960s were a reaction to these policies. Thinkers with different backgrounds criticized especially the emphasis on basic research and the lack of attention to Latin American knowledge needs. The reflections of these authors and their intervention in international organizations, usually referred as part of a movement of Latin American Thought in Science, Technology, and Development (PLACTED), preceded other meta-scientific reflections in sociology or anthropology of science. The chapter focuses especially on the works of three authors of the movement: Jorge Sabato, Amilcar Herrera, and Oscar Varsavsky. They had few points of agreement and many ideological differences, related to their differential involvement with Marxism and a “revolutionary way” of political action. The chapter concludes with a discussion on the link between science and development in the context of the global “radicalization” agenda of the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Among the various problems that have characterized social policy in Latin America, there are some that are particularly important. Maybe the most dramatic feature of Latin American social policy is the limited sector of the population that has access to social services or to the income transfer in this respect. Undoubtedly the scope of public action in areas such as health, education or housing varies according to the country but, even in those with a wider scope, a great part of the population does not benefit from the different services.KeywordsCivil SocietySocial SecuritySocial PolicyPublic ExpenditureDominican RepublicThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

About the previous edition: 'A gem, an authoritative handbook on U.S. policy focusing on the crucial conflicts of the past twenty-five years' - Foreign Affairs. 'The contributors probe the substance of U.S. policy in Latin America, seeking to look beyond headlines, shifting economics, and changing decisions' - Booklist. 'Most of the contributors to this collection ...developed their interest in Latin America while it remained neglected by most academics. The volume profits from the breadth and depth of their expertise and from the focus on Latin America as a whole, not simply Central America and the Caribbean' - Choice.In 1988 the University of Nebraska Press published United States Policy in Latin America: A Quarter Century of Crisis and Challenge, 1961-1986, edited by John D. Martz. This completely new work retains the best features of that popular earlier volume. Thirteen experts survey U.S. policy for the past decade on topics of relevance to Latin America (such as trade, drugs, immigration, and armed insurrection). The development of a new, post-Cold War U.S. policy can also be observed. The broad focus on the events and people of the 1980s and 1990s addresses those issues likely to remain pertinent well into the twenty-first century. The Reagan record - the man, the administration, the internal political wars, and the lack of coordination - is thoroughly explicated.The Bush administration, including the Panamanian intervention, is also analyzed. Bilateral relations are illuminated in the essays concerning Cuba, Mexico, and Brazil. Throughout, the writers look to the future to warn us not to dismiss the importance of these countries. John D. Martz is a distinguished Professor of Political Science at The Pennsylvania State University. His works include Accion Democratica: Evolution of a Modern Political Party in Venezuela; Politics and Petroleum in Ecuador; and, with David Meyers, Venezuela: The Democratic Experience.

A reinterpretation of US foreign policy in Latin America during the Truman presidency. It examines the interaction between US policy and political developments in Latin America to show how ideas for pursuing the common good were more influential than notions of US economic and political interests.