The politics of development and challenges to the policy space: From electoral choices to inequalities in the region

Abstract

This second volume of Latin American Policy (LAP) includes six pieces of relevant research focusing on how the policy space is being shaped by the agency of different actors with a say in the economic and social agendas. John P. Tuman, Michelle Kuenzi, and Hafthor B. Erlingsson assess the effects of structural adjustment and other economic factors on presidential electoral volatility in 24 Latin American countries from 1982 to 2016. María Alejandra Inostroza Correa and Jorge Sepúlveda Velásquez analyze if informal, solo self-employed women in Chile had a greater drop in their quality of life than their formal counterparts during the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic in Chile. Also focusing on this country, Joaquín Rozas-Bugueño and Antoine Maillet explore how debate and social mobilization around the improvement of the private pensions system shaped the outcomes of major reforms.

Lorena Fernanda Parra-Gavilánez investigates the construction of equity in Ecuadorian higher education through two sets of policy documents, the first on higher education and the second on language policies, both relevant in considering the direction and structure of the higher education sector. Pablo Garcés-Velástegui assesses four development models that were at the grounds of the recent mobilizations in Ecuador, while Liliana Lizarazo-Rodríguez, Philippe De Lombaerde, Miguel Andrés Lizarazo Carrera, and Carolina Londono-Escudero study whether indigenous peoples' rights and their natural habitats in Colombia are protected when investment projects are planned or implemented. Their study focuses on the mechanisms of prior informed consultation, and free, prior, and informed consent.

This volume also includes three essays dealing with hot topics on the Latin American scene today, listed in our Perspectives section. Diosey Ramon Lugo-Morin makes a reflection on the need to reimagine justice when dealing with food policies. Carlos Carrasco opens a discussion on a trendy topic in Mexico—the challenges for the country to reap the benefits of nearshoring. Finally, Ambassador Olga Pellicer, who has had a long, brilliant career as a Mexican diplomat and academic and who was a member of the Advisory Group to the Secretary General of the United Nations for Disarmament Affairs, highlights the importance of the maintenance of nuclear-free zones in Latin America, such as the one incepted by the Tlatelolco Agreement, at a time when the Russian invasion of Ukraine has elevated the threat of a new wave of nuclear arms escalation.

Finally, our readers will find a book review covering a hot button issue for the region—the evolution of post-Cold War Russian–Latin American relations.

Isidro Morales, editor-in-chief, is a retired professor from the School of Social Sciences and Government at Tecnológico de Monterrey, and an external fellow of the Mexico–United States Center and the Energy Center at Rice University's Baker Institute.