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Bureaucratic Networks and Government Spending: A Network Analysis of Nuclear Cooperation in Latin America

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 September 2022

Isabella Alcañiz
Isabella Alcañiz*
Affiliation:
University of Houston
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Abstract

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What do technology-driven bureaucratic sectors do when their budgets are cut? In Latin America, this type of state institution has come to expect budget reductions, given recurrent economic crises, lack of coherent science policy, and more recently, state rationalization policies. On the basis of in-depth interviews I conducted with nuclear specialists of the region and drawing from network theories, I argue that bureaucratic institutions with expertise in nuclear science and technology respond strategically to decreased government spending by becoming more active in transnational policy networks. I test this argument using social network and maximum likelihood techniques to study collaborative research projects in nuclear science and technology among twenty Latin American countries over a period of twenty years (1984–2004). Study findings confirm expectations and carry implications for how science policies are adopted in Latin American states under chronic budget deficits.

Resumen

Resumen

¿Que hacen los sectores burocráticos de alta tecnología cuando enfrentan recortes presupuestarios? Dadas las recurrentes crisis económicas, la falta de coherencia en políticas científicas y—más recientemente—las reformas estructurales del estado, las burocracias científicas en América Latina continuamente anticipan reducciones presupuestarias. Sobre la base de entrevistas con especialistas nucleares en la región, y utilizando como marco conceptual la teoría de redes, mi argumento sostiene que las instituciones burocráticas en el campo de la ciencia y tecnología nuclear aumentan su nivel de actividad en redes transnacionales de cooperación como respuesta estratégica a la reducción del gasto estatal. Usando un análisis de redes y el método de máxima verosimilitud (maximum likelihood), este artículo analiza proyectos de colaboración en ciencia y tecnología nuclear entre veinte países de América Latina a lo largo de veinte años (1984–2004). Los resultados confirman el argumento central y tienen implicaciones en materia de políticas científicas en un contexto de constantes déficits presupuestarios en los países de América Latina.

Type
Research Article
Information
Latin American Research Review , Volume 45 , Issue 1 , 2010 , pp. 148 - 172
Copyright
Copyright © 2010 by the Latin American Studies Association

Footnotes

For their valuable comments and assistance, I would like to thank Katherine Barillas, Ernesto Calvo, Verónica Caro Gonzalez, Timothy Hellwig, Noah Kaplan, Robert L. Lineberry, Timothy McKeown, Charles Munnell, Maria Victoria Murillo, Stanley Wasserman, and the three anonymous reviewers from LARR.

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