Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dk4vv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-31T23:02:51.980Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Participatory Social Policies: Diverging Patterns in Brazil and Bolivia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2019

Sara Niedzwiecki  and
Santiago Anria
Sara Niedzwiecki*
Affiliation:
Sara Niedzwiecki is an assistant professor of politics at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
Santiago Anria*
Affiliation:
Santiago Anria is an assistant professor of political science and Latin American studies at Dickinson College.
*
[email protected]
[email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Bolivia and Brazil have universalized their pension and healthcare systems, respectively. Civil society organizations participated actively in social policy expansion, yet they have done so in starkly different ways, reflecting general patterns in each country. Whereas in Brazil, popular participation in social policies takes place through “inside” formal channels, such as conferences and councils, in Bolivia, bottom-up influence occurs mostly via “outside” channels, by coordinating collective action in the streets. Understanding forms of popular participation matters because policies that allow for popular input are potentially more representative, universal, and nondiscretionary. This article argues that differences in the forms of popular participation in social policy expansion can be explained by the characteristics of the institutional context and differences in the types of movements engaged in the policymaking process. By focusing on patterns of participation, these findings add nuance to the literature on Latin America’s welfare states.

Keywords

social policysocial movementsEvo MoralesMovimento SanitaristahealthpensionsBoliviaBrazil
Type
Research Article
Information
Latin American Politics and Society , Volume 61 , Special Issue 2: State Transformation and Participatory Politics in Latin America , May 2019 , pp. 115 - 137
Copyright
© University of Miami 2019 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Anria, Santiago. 2013. Social Movements, Party Organization, and Populism: Insights from the Bolivian MAS. Latin American Politics and Society 55, 3: 19–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anria, Santiago. 2018. When Movements Become Parties: The Bolivian MAS in Comparative Perspective. Cambridge Studies in Comparative Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anria, Santiago, and Niedzwiecki, Sara. 2016. Social Movements and Social Policy: The Bolivian Renta Dignidad. Studies in Comparative International Development 51, 3: 308–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arce, Moisés. 2010. Parties and Social Protest in Latin America’s Neoliberal Era. Party Politics 16, 5: 669–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arza, Camila. 2012. Towards a Rights-Based Policy? The Expansion of Old-Age Pensions in Latin America. Paper presented at the Research Committee on Sociology of Poverty, Social Welfare, and Social Policy, 2nd Forum of Sociology of the International Sociological Association, Buenos Aires, August 1-4.Google Scholar
Avritzer, Leonardo. 2009. Participatory Institutions in Democratic Brazil. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Bennett, Andrew, and Checkel, Jeffrey T., eds. 2015. Process Tracing: From Metaphor to Analytic Tool. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
BolPress. 2010. Ampliado de la COB aprueba proyecto de Ley de Pensiones. November 13. http://www.bolpress.com/art.php?Cod=2010111301. Accessed May 2016.Google Scholar
Boschetti, Ivanete. 2008. Seguridade social 20 anos depois. Caminhos do desmonte. In 20 anos da constituição cidadã. Avaliação e desafios da seguridade social, ed. Tonelli Vaz, Flávio, Musse, Juliano Sander, and dos Santos, Rodolfo Fonseca. Brasília: ANFIP. 103–8.Google Scholar
Brookes, Marissa. 2015. Evaluating Causal Mechanisms in Mixed-Methods Research. Paper prepared for the First Southwest Workshop on Mixed-Methods Research, Albuquerque, November 12–13.Google Scholar
Cecchini, Simone, Filgueira, Fernando, Martínez, Rodrigo, and Rossell, Cecilia, eds. 2015. Towards Universal Social Protection: Latin American Pathways and Policy Tools. Santiago, Chile: Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean.Google Scholar
Coelho, Vera Schattan. 2006. Democratization of Brazilian Health Councils: The Paradox of Bringing the Other Side into the Tent. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 30, 3: 656–71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Côrtes, Soraya V., Silva, Marcelo K., Réos, Janete C., and Barcelos, Márcio. 2009. Conselho Nacional de Saúde: histórico, papel institucional e atores estatais e societais. In Participação e saúde no Brasil, ed. Côrtes, . Rio de Janeiro: Fiocruz. 41–71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cyr, Jennifer. 2017. The Fates of Political Parties: Institutional Crisis, Continuity, and Change in Latin America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dahl, Robert A. 1971. Polyarchy: Participation and Opposition. New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
El Deber (Santa Cruz, Bolivia). 2007. Morales promulgó ley de Renta Dignidad en medio de protestas. November 29.Google Scholar
Delgadillo, Walter. 2013. Minister of Labor, Bolivia, 2009–11. Author interview. Cochabamba, April 1.Google Scholar
Durán, Franklin. 2013. President, Confederation of Transport Drivers. Author interview. La Paz, April 17.Google Scholar
Escorel, Sarah. 1999. Reviravolta na saúde origem e articulação do movimento sanitário. Rio de Janeiro: Fiocruz.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Esping-Andersen, Gøsta. 1990. The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Falleti, Tulia G. 2010. Infiltrating the State: The Evolution of Health Care Reforms in Brazil, 1964–1988. In Explaining Institutional Change: Ambiguity, Agency, and Power, ed. Mahoney, James and Thelen, Kathleen. New York: Cambridge University Press. 38–62.Google Scholar
Ferrarezi, Elisabete, and Oliveira, Mariana d. C.. 2011. National Health Conferences and Participatory Processes in the Brazilian Federal Public Administration: A Case Study. Ottawa: Public Governance International. http://www.pgionline.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/National-Health-Conferences-and-Participatory-Processes-in-the-Brazilian-Federal-Public-Administration.pdf.Google Scholar
Fung, Archon, and Wright, Eric O.. 2001. Deepening Democracy: Innovations in Empowered Participatory Governance. Politics and Society 29, 1: 5–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Garay, Candelaria. 2017. Social Policy Expansion in Latin America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Gray Molina, George. 2008. State-Society Relations in Bolivia: The Strength of Weakness. In Unresolved Tensions: Bolivia, Past and Present, ed. Crabtree, John and Whitehead, Laurence. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press. 109–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haggard, Stephan, and Kaufman, Robert R.. 2008. Development, Democracy, and Welfare States: Latin America, East Asia, and Eastern Europe. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Hooghe, Liesbet, Marks, Gary, Schakel, Arjan, Niedzwiecki, Sara, Osterkatz, Sandra Chapman, and Shair-Rosenfield, Sarah. 2016. Measuring Regional Authority: A Postfunctionalist Theory of Governance. Vol. 1. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huber, Evelyne, and Stephens, John D.. 2001. Development and Crisis of the Welfare State: Parties and Policies in Global Markets. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huber, Evelyne, and Stephens, John D.. 2012. Democracy and the Left: Social Policy and Inequality in Latin America. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hunter, Wendy. 2010. The Transformation of the Workers’ Party in Brazil, 1989–2009. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hunter, Wendy. 2011. Brazil: The PT in Power. In The Resurgence of the Latin American Left, ed. Levitsky, Steven and Roberts, Kenneth M.. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. 306–24.Google Scholar
Kitschelt, Herbert. 2006. Movement Parties. In Handbook of Party Politics, ed. Katz, Richard S. and Crotty, William. Thousand Oaks: Sage. 278–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Korpi, Walter. 1978. The Working Class in Welfare Capitalism. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.Google Scholar
Korpi, Walter, and Shalev, Michael. 1979. Strikes, Industrial Relations and Class Conflict in Capitalist Societies. British Journal of Sociology 30, 2: 164–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Laserna, Roberto, Oporto, Henry, Verdesoto, Luis, and Zegada, María Teresa. 2007. Constitución y poder político iniciativas democráticas. Propuestas de reforma para Bolivia. Cochabamba: CERES.Google Scholar
Machaca, Rodolfo. 2013. Executive Secretary, CSUTCB, 2013–15. Author interview. La Paz, January 17.Google Scholar
Machado, Fabiana, Scartascini, Carlos, and Tommasi, Mariano. 2011. Political Institutions and Street Protests in Latin America. Journal of Conflict Resolution 55, 3: 340–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mainwaring, Scott. 1995. Brazil: Weak Parties, Feckless Democracy. In Building Democratic Institutions: Party Systems in Latin America, ed. Mainwaring, and Scully, Timothy R.. Stanford: Stanford University Press. 354–98.Google Scholar
Mainwaring, Scott. 1999. Rethinking Party Systems in the Third Wave of Democratization: The Case of Brazil. Stanford: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Mainwaring, Scott, Bejarano, Ana María, and Leongómez, Eduardo Pizarro. 2006. The Crisis of Democratic Representation in the Andes. Stanford: Stanford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martínez-Franzoni, Juliana, and Sánchez-Ancochea, Diego. 2016. The Quest for Universal Social Policy in the South. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mayka, Lindsay. 2019. Building Participatory Institutions in Latin America: Reform Coalitions and Institutional Change. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McGuire, James W. 2010. Wealth, Health, and Democracy in East Asia and Latin America. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Montes, Pedro. 2013. Executive Secretary, COB, 2009–12. Author interview. La Paz, April 21.Google Scholar
Murillo, María V. 2001. Labor Unions, Partisan Coalitions and Market Reforms in Latin America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Neto, Eleutério R. 1997. A via do parlamento. In Saúde e democracia: a luto do CEBES, ed. Fleury, Sônia. São Paulo: Lemos. 63–92.Google Scholar
Niedzwiecki, Sara. 2014. The Effect of Unions and Organized Civil Society on Social Policy: Pension and Health Reforms in Argentina and Brazil, 1988–2008. Latin American Politics and Society 56, 4: 22–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Niedzwiecki, Sara. 2015. Social Policy Commitment in South America: The Effect of Organized Labor on Social Spending from 1980 to 2010. Journal of Politics in Latin America 7, 2: 3–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Niedzwiecki, Sara. 2018. Uneven Social Policies: The Politics of Subnational Variation in Latin America. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pierson, Paul. 2004. Politics in Time: History, Institutions, and Social Analysis. Princeton: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pribble, Jennifer. 2013. Welfare and Party Politics in Latin America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roberts, Kenneth M. 2015. Changing Course in Latin America: Party Systems in the Neoliberal Era. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Samuels, David, and Mainwaring, Scott. 2004. Strong Federalism, Constraints on the Central Government, and Economic Reform in Brazil. In Federalism and Democracy in Latin America, ed. Gibson, Edward L.. Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press. 85–130.Google Scholar
Silva, Eduardo. 2017. Reorganizing Popular Sector Incorporation. Politics and Society 45, 1: 91–122.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sugiyama, Natasha Borges. 2013. Diffusion of Good Government: Social Sector Reforms in Brazil. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press.Google Scholar
Touchton, Michael, Sugiyama, Natasha Borges, and Wampler, Brian. 2017. Democracy at Work: Moving Beyond Elections to Improve Well-Being. American Political Science Review 111, 1: 68–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wampler, Brian. 2015. Activating Democracy in Brazil: Popular Participation, Social Justice, and Interlocking Institutions. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press.Google Scholar
Weyland, Kurt. 1996. Democracy Without Equity: Failures of Reform in Brazil. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press.Google Scholar
Weyland, Kurt, Madrid, Raúl L., and Hunter, Wendy, eds. 2010. Leftist Governments in Latin America: Successes and Shortcomings. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar