Latin America, A New Developmental Welfare State Model in the Making?

Post date: Jun 5, 2008 9:48:04 AM

Manuel Riesco [i]

Chapter in the forthcoming book by UNRISD Social Policy and Economic Development in Late Industrializers, edited by Huck-ju Kwon, published by Palgrave Macmillan, London.

Abstract: Latin America is emerging from a century of transformation—from a traditional agrarian economy to an urban industrial one—in which countries have taken diverse historical paths. Some have almost completed this transformation, others are taking early steps, and the vast majority are living through it. State-led transition has followed two successive development strategies. From the 1920s up to the 1980s, state developmentalism has mostly successfully assumed the twin challenges of economic and social progress. In the last two decades of the century, Latin American states adopted the policies of the Washington consensus, which emphasized the importance of business in the framework of globalization and benefited the affluent few. However, an unambiguous shift in direction has been taking place in Latin America since the 1997 economic crisis. This paper suggests that a new developmental welfare state model seems to be in the making. How will it evolve over the wider space of an increasingly integrated Latin America?

See complete text in attachment.

[i] mriesco@cendachile.cl. Vice-president, Centro de Estudios Nacionales de Desarrollo Alternativo (CENDA), Vergara 578, Santiago, Chile, phone 562 6883760, fax 562 6883761.This chapter summarizes some of the findings of the book of the same title (edited by Manuel Riesco, 2007), which is part of the UNRISD research project on Social Policy in a Development Context. All data in this text that are not specifically referenced are taken from the book.