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A Reform without Losers: The Symbolic Economy of Civil Service Reform in Uruguay, 1995–96

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Francisco Panizza
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Abstract

This article analyzes the relationship between ideas, interests, and institutions in the 1996 reform of the civil service in Uruguay. Beneath the appearance of a process led by technocratic principles, the reform's agenda and content were shaped by legitimating principles, strongly institutionalized interests, and the political legacy of earlier failed reform attempts. Reformers sought a strategy of a reform “without losers,” which, instead of gathering support for adoption and implementation, sought to minimize opposition. This deliberately low-profile strategy left people unaware of the reform's achievements and thereby reinforced a political culture that has made resistance to change both a political virtue and an inescapable condition.

Type
Research Article
Information
Latin American Politics and Society , Volume 46 , Issue 3 , Autumn 2004 , pp. 1 - 28
Copyright
Copyright © University of Miami 2004

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