Book contents
- State and Nation Making in Latin America and Spain
- State and Nation Making in Latin America and Spain
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Notes on Contributors
- Preface
- Part I Introduction
- Part II Economic and Territorial Power
- Part III Infrastructural Power: Reform Strategies
- 6 Two Roads of Neoliberal Reform in Higher Education
- 7 Reinvented Governments in Latin America
- 8 The Devil Hides in the Details
- 9 Neoliberal Reform of Transport Institutions in Brazil, Argentina, and Chile
- 10 The End Game of Social Policy in a Context of Enduring Inequalities
- Part IV Symbolic Power: Identities and Social Protest
- Part V Conclusions
- Index
- References
10 - The End Game of Social Policy in a Context of Enduring Inequalities
Assessing “Post-neoliberalism” in Latin America
from Part III - Infrastructural Power: Reform Strategies
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 August 2023
- State and Nation Making in Latin America and Spain
- State and Nation Making in Latin America and Spain
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Notes on Contributors
- Preface
- Part I Introduction
- Part II Economic and Territorial Power
- Part III Infrastructural Power: Reform Strategies
- 6 Two Roads of Neoliberal Reform in Higher Education
- 7 Reinvented Governments in Latin America
- 8 The Devil Hides in the Details
- 9 Neoliberal Reform of Transport Institutions in Brazil, Argentina, and Chile
- 10 The End Game of Social Policy in a Context of Enduring Inequalities
- Part IV Symbolic Power: Identities and Social Protest
- Part V Conclusions
- Index
- References
Summary
Post-neoliberalism opened up new possibilities for understanding the end game of social policy in Latin America. As a political-economic project, it promised to uphold the dignity of all citizens in the face of markets and a transformation in the values that underpin the management of national assets and new, socially responsible economies. As a social project, it linked social policy to improvements in citizen inclusion, both distributive and political. Inevitably, the extent to which post-neoliberalism has delivered has fallen short. In this chapter, we identify the challenges to the project of welfare provision as transformation, inclusion, and citizenship under new left regimes in the early twenty-first century. We argue that, despite changes to labor markets and some innovative social programs, social policies were grafted onto existing political economies and social relations. The new approach failed to generate commitment from across society to a new “end game” for the social policy or a political economy of long-term transformation based on equitable growth, job creation, and market regulation, and, as such, it did not provide a sustainable response to the structural determinants of poverty and persistent inequalities in Latin America.
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- Information
- State and Nation Making in Latin America and SpainThe Neoliberal State and Beyond, pp. 317 - 340Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2023