Papers presented at the II REPLA Annual Workshop
Nuffield
College,
University of
Oxford
26-28 March 2008
PANEL 1: The Politics of Rights: In Defence of the Citizen
/ La política de construcción e implementación de derechos: en defensa del
ciudadano
The spread of democratically elected governments in Latin America has coincided with a significant improvement in the enjoyment of citizen rights in the region. Yet the persistence of ‘structural’ human rights violations and unstable citizen rights in ostensibly democratic states has raised the spectre of democratic erosion or even breakdown. Hence, the Latin American experience with democratic rule has taught us that there is ‘no mechanical equivalence’ between democratization and the protection of human rights.
The interplay of human rights and the machinery of authoritarian government may be well documented, but what of the increasing contestation of rights in the political arenas of new and emerging democracies? The fundamental question addressed by this panel is: against a backdrop of problematic processes of democratization how can mechanisms of rights protection at the national and international level be made more effective? Toward answering this question the focus of the panel will be on three core areas: (1) the political interplay between democracy and rights, (2) the role of national and international institutions with rights mandates in the defence of citizen rights, and (3) the impact of organised actors and citizens on core dimensions or arenas of rights contestation.
Under the broad rubric set out in the three key areas above, the panel will explore how institutional mechanisms can be enhanced, reformed and/or introduced to promote a coherent rights protection apparatus. Drawing on theoretical and empirical work primarily, but not exclusively, focused on Latin America, the selected papers will look at: how the apparent inertia of institutional structures to assume citizen-oriented policies can be addressed? What do the political, legal and technical toolkits required for effective rights advocacy in the contemporary political arena look like? What affects the interaction between the citizen and institutional channels of rights protection? What are the roles of organised actors and public and/or special interest groups in the defence of the citizen?
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Par Engstrom,
Mansfield
College,
University of Oxford
Transnational law and politics in the context of the inter-American human rights
Marco Larizza,
University of
Essex
Weak states and uneven democratic performance: the view from
Latin
America
(1980-2004)
Karina Ansolabehere,
FLACSO,
Mexico
Más poder ¿más derechos? Control de constitucionalidad y ciudadanía
Thomas Pegram,
Nuffield
College,
University of Oxford
The politics of accountability: the institution of the human rights ombudsman in
comparative perspective
PANEL 2: Representative Institutions and Quality of Democracy in
Latin
America
/ Instituciones representativas y calidad de la democracia en América Latina
Following three decades of democracy in Latin America, advances in regime consolidation are considerable. However, the challenges facing this region continue to multiply. Although elections have been institutionalised as the legitimate and uncontested mechanisms for the election of political representatives, the persistence of problems such as high levels of poverty and inequality, ethnic and regional demands place serious strains on systems perceived to lack the institutional capacity necessary to respond to growing social demands coupled with the delegitimation of their political parties and leaders.
In this context, the role of political institutions as legitimate arenas in which to mediate conflict, elaborate public policy and interact with the citizenry has acquired a greater importance. The situation that currently besets the region is paradoxical: on the one hand it is the precarious function of such representative institutions that many argue impedes democratic advance; on the other, without these institutions, can there be progress in terms of quality of democracy?
The panel will explore the diverse functions of representative institutions in Latin America. Building upon a theoretical and empirical discussion, the papers will develop and expand upon the following issues: (1) the representative challenge facing contemporary democracies in the region, (2) the organization and function of political parties and political party systems, (3) the function of the legislative and judicial powers, and (4) the behaviour and attitude of parliamentary elites.
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Lila Caballero,
LSE and Sarahí Reyes,
Salamanca
University
El rol del poder legislativo en la consolidación democrática
de México
Lina María Cabezas Rincón, Salamanca University
Liderazgo interno
y rendimiento de los partidos en la
Región Andina
Felipe de Jesús Mancilla Margalli,
Salamanca University
Political Support: Un Estudio de las Élites Parlamentarias
Latinoamericanas
Fernando Barrientos del Monte, University of Florence,
Italy
Organismos Electorales y Calidad de la Democracia en America
Latina: Un Esquema de Análisis
PANEL 3: Development and Political Inequality in Latin America
/ Desarrollo y desigualdad política en América Latina (Show Abstract)
Latin America displays characteristics unique in the world. Although democratic systems of governance have been extended to almost all countries in the region, this has not prevented the region from becoming the most unequal according to economic and social indicators.
This panel will study this pressing issue from an often neglected perspective: political inequality. In order to undertake this study, we will privilege a concept that is largely overlooked in mainstream literature but is central to the analysis of any political system such as democracy; the study of power. How does the distribution of political power affect socioeconomic inequality? What social groups possess greater capacity to articulate their interests – collective actions – and how does such capacity influence decision-making within the State? What capacity do political elites, elected by popular vote, have to implement their electoral mandates? Are the disparities in Latin America generating such extreme levels of political inequality as to be in direct contradiction with democracy?
The objective of this panel is to study the interrelation between levels of socioeconomic development and political inequality. The papers presented will combine both theoretical development and empirical analysis to focus on the following points: (1) the question of power, (2) the relationship between State and market, (3) the relationship between development and distribution of political power between social groups, and (4) the relationship between political inequality and state capacity.
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Mariana Rulli,
FLACSO-CONICET
Procesos de reforma de previsión social: Actores, Mercado
y Sociedad en Argentina, Chile y Uruguay
Ana Haro Gonzalez,
Universidad Complutense de Madrid
Understanding political inequality in
Bolivia
- social and territorial asymmetries
Matías F. Bianchi,
Sciences
Po
París
Power dynamics shaping economic development: divergent policies of industrialization
in
Argentina
. Rafaela and San Luis in comparative perspective
Nicolás J.B. Caputo, Sciences Po Strasbourg
- Universidad de Buenos Aires
Dinero y desigualdad política: una perspectiva histórica
de largo plazo de la capacidad extractiva del Estado en Argentina
PANEL 4: Strategies of accountability and evaluation of public policies in Latin America
/ Estrategias de accountability y de evaluación
de políticas públicas en América latina
In the face of socio-economic exclusion in Latin America, recent democratic regimes are looking to address the resulting erosion by promoting public policies aimed at integration through development. In this context, the evaluation of public policies seeks to disseminate the multiplication of strategies of accountability that in turn respond to the political dimension of exclusion.
The connection between accountability and control of public policies often excludes the ex ante phase of negotiation and evaluation of public projects by being particularly inclined towards accountability ex post. In this context, the evaluation of public policies must include responses that take account of objectives, agents, coverage and criteria. The objective of the evaluation of public policies is to stimulate a process of accountability that allows for a continuous improvement of the functions of the public sector. This panel will seek to understand the functions exercised by all the agents that participate in the strategies of control and evaluation, whether they are institutionalised, independent or ‘self-controlled’. The evaluation of the coverage of public policies is intimately tied to the optimization of the use of public resources.
The objective of this panel is to evaluate the purposes, agents and coverage of public policies in terms of the criteria that make up the process of accountability, that is, the relevance, efficacy, efficiency and sustainability of the results. The papers of this panel could include, for example, proposals for innovation, practical analyses, contemporary studies, or theoretical analyses of strategies of accountability and evaluation of public policies in Latin America.
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Tito Baeza,
Lee
Kuan
Yew
School
of Public Policy,
National
University
of
Singapore
Accountability and Transparency in
Mexico
: The Case of the Federal Institute of Access to Public Information,
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Promexico
Juan Bautista Lucca, Universidad de Salamanca
Peripecias del control del demos y eventualidades de la accountability
del kratos
Rodrigo Goyena Soares and
Giancarlo Nasi Canas, Sciences Po Paris - University of Sao Paulo
El accountability ciudadano bajo la perspectiva de la evaluación
de políticas Públicas
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