Suchergebnisse

This book investigates the two-way relationship between debt and democracy in Latin America. It examines the evidence about how regime type influenced the choice of policy to deal with foreign creditors and related economic issues.

I recommend Evan Ellis' post at Global Americans on his recently completed year at the U.S. State Department Policy Planning Staff. He now returns to the U.S. Army War College Strategic Studies Institute. It is a useful read both for its insider look and its discussion of "why does this matter?"Here is a key point:The problem is also compounded by the fundamental orientation of the State Department to tell our partners what we think and want, rather than listening to what they think and want. While seasoned diplomats know better in their personal interaction, I observed the balance of the work that came across my desk to be about "transmitting" rather than "receiving." Every high-level meeting involves the preparation of "talking points" seeking to advance an agenda, too seldom did they include questions about what our partners thought or needed.This echoes Lars Schoultz's In Their Own Best Interest, where he questions all "uplifting" aid, the effects of which are never measured. We can check boxes on delivery and execution, but not on whether it actually makes lives better. Making lives better requires starting with what our partners actually want. This has often been true, but is accentuated in the Trump era.In my own work, I did not see substantial evidence that the strategy and policy documents of each organization are actively used as guides to action by the other, beyond superficial references to fundamental documents such as the National Security Strategy. I also witnessed and participated in the drafting of some interagency documents, but beyond the somewhat useful exercise of meeting and coordinating about their wording, I did not perceive that the result meaningfully impacted the direction of either state or the other U.S. government entities involved.This is clearly a Trump administration problem, though past administrations were clearly not immune.  Unlike the past, though, the essential problem now is that policy is made by tweet, with government agencies scrambling to interpret it just like the rest of us. How do you feel like you're doing something meaningful when the president ignores you?I appreciate these kinds of perspectives. As a side note, as he does not address it, I know a number of people who have moved from academia to policy making and back, and I know their view of of the relevance and accuracy of academic work changed dramatically. I have not felt great temptation to try the policy making world myself, even as I recognize that even in small doses it would make us better analysts. Subscribe in a reader

Inflation has been a chronic problem for Latin American economies since the Second World War. In the 1980s, inflation ran out of control in many countries. This article analyses the causes of these high inflation rates and discusses the experiences of Latin American countries in fighting (hyper‐) inflation in the 1980s and 1990s. Particular attention is given to the relative merits of orthodox versus heterodox approaches, and to the use of the exchange rate as an inflation stabilizer. The article concludes, among other things, that achieving fiscal balance is crucial, whatever method is used, and that a fixed exchange rate can help to stabilize inflation but contains many risks, in particular with open capital accounts.

"The Washington Consensus in Latin America" published on by Oxford University Press.

Ever since the Renaissance in Europe, Latin America has been a region of open veins. Its human & natural resources have been systematically & continually transmuted into European, & later US, capital. Production methods & class structures have been determined by outside forces. Each sub-area has been assigned a function according to priorities decided in foreign business circles. The chain of dependency in Latin America also included the oppression of small countries by their larger neighbors, & within nations, the exploitation by the Ur centers of the internal sources of food & labor. Latin America's underdevelopment has been an integral part of the history of world capitalism's advanced development. The region's wealth has generated its own poverty by nourishing the prosperity of outsiders. The growing disparity between underdevelopment & development attests to the fact that imperialism's strength as a whole rests on the necessary inequality of its parts. Restricted industrialization which has come late & coexists with gross structural inequality, has merely spread unemployment & extended poverty while concentrating wealth. Imperialists blame the under-settled region's problems on an alleged population explosion, & propose to relieve hunger by eliminating Latin Americans. Since the superficial tranquility & security of the existing order is built on injustice & daily humiliation, perpetuation of the existing conditions means prolongation of a crime. The recovery of Latin America's resources that have historically been usurped will allow its people to regain command of their destiny. A. Karmen.

In the present volume the authors deal with problems of corruption in Latin America and issues of anti-corruption policies. The phenomenon of corruption is being related to the process of economic liberalization and democratization and the development of a strong and involved citizenry. Problems of business culture are treated as well as questions of government transparency and efficiency. Special emphasis is given to the role of international institutions in the elaboration and implementation of anti-corruption measures. (DÜI-Goe)