The Populist Road to Market Reform: Policy and Electoral Coalitions in Mexico and Argentina

1997 ◽  
Vol 49 (3) ◽  
pp. 339-370 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward L. Gibson
Keyword(s):  
Economic Reform ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Free Market ◽  
Market Reform ◽  
Reform Policy ◽  
Partido Revolucionario Institucional ◽  
Electoral Coalitions ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Free Market Reforms ◽  
Policy Shifts

Governing parties face two fundamental tasks: they must pursue policies effectively, and they must win elections. Their national coalitions, therefore, generally include two types of constituencies—those that are important for policy-making and those that make it possible to win elections. In effect, governing parties must bring together a policy coalition and an electoral coalition. This distinction sheds light on how the transitional costs of major economic policy shifts can be made sustainable in electoral terms. It also provides a starting point for analysis of how two of Latin America's most important labor-based parties, the Peronist party in Argentina and the Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI) in Mexico, maintained electoral dominance while pursuing free-market reforms that adversely affected key social constituencies. Peronism and the PRI are conceived of as having encompassed historically two distinctive and regionally based subcoalitions: a metropolitan coalition that gave support to the parties' development strategies and a peripheral coalition that carried the burden of generating electoral majorities. This framework permits a reconceptualization of the historic coalitional dynamics of Peronism and the PRI and sheds light on the current process of coalitional change and economic reform.

Economic rationalism in Canberra 25 years on?

2018 ◽  
Vol 54 (1) ◽  
pp. 12-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Pusey
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Economic Reform ◽  
Policy Process ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Free Market ◽  
Nation Building ◽  
The State ◽  
Role Of The State ◽  
Political Project

This article, based on an edited transcript of a speech at The Australian Sociological Association (TASA) conference in Melbourne in December 2016, summarises the criticisms of ‘economic rationalism’, cum neoliberalism, that emerged from the ‘economic rationalism debate’ in Australia of the early 1990s to the present. Economic rationalism reversed Australia’s historic nation-building legacy. Free market neoliberal doctrines have captured the central Canberra policy-making apparatus and radically reduced the coordinating role of the state in most areas of public policy. Economic ‘reform’ is seen primarily as a political project led by international and domestic corporate interest groupings and aimed at the transformation of Australia’s institutions. The neoliberal orthodoxy continues to distort the policy process as it has become functionally indispensable for the process of policy making and government, despite its failing intellectual legitimacy.

Tolerating Economic Reform: Popular Support for Transition to a Free Market in the Former Soviet Union

1993 ◽  
Vol 87 (3) ◽  
pp. 590-608 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raymond M. Duch
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Former Soviet Union ◽  
Free Market ◽  
Market Reform ◽  
Communist Regime ◽  
Market Reforms ◽  
Popular Support ◽  
Market Culture ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Free Market Reforms

The mass public in the Soviet Union is not enthusiastic about free-market reform. How, then, do citizens in a former communist regime develop an appreciation for free-market reforms? Different explanations for attitudes toward free market reforms are tested using data from a survey of the European USSR conducted in May 1990. First, negative assessments of recent economic performance is a catalyst for popular support for the market economy. Although very underdeveloped, there is a nascent free-market culture in the Soviet Union that makes a modest contribution to support for free-market reforms. The free-market culture that is developing in the former Soviet Union resembles that of social democracy, rather than laissez-faire capitalism. Democratic values and support for free markets are mutually reinforcing, suggesting that support for democracy makes a very important contribution to support for free-market reform.

Social Progress in Britain

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony F. Heath ◽  
Elizabeth Garratt ◽  
Ridhi Kashyap ◽  
Yaojun Li ◽  
Lindsay Richards
Keyword(s):  
Free Market ◽  
Youth Unemployment ◽  
Social Progress ◽  
The Road ◽  
Social Divisions ◽  
Policy Interventions ◽  
The Usa ◽  
On The Road ◽  
Free Market Reforms ◽  
Made In

Social Progress in Britain examines how much progress has made in the years since Sir William Beveridge described the ‘five giants on the road to reconstruction’—the giants of Want, Disease, Ignorance, Squalor, and Idleness. The book has chapters examining the progress which Britain has made in improving material prosperity and tackling poverty; in extending length of life and tackling disease; in raising participation in education and improving educational standards; in tackling the scourge of unemployment, especially youth unemployment; and in providing better-quality housing and tackling overcrowding. In addition to Beveridge’s five giants, the book also explores inequalities of opportunity (focussing on inequalities between social classes, men and women, and ethnic groups), and the changing nature of social divisions and social cohesion in Britain. Throughout, the chapters put British progress into perspective by drawing comparisons with progress made in other large developed democracies such as Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Sweden, and the USA. As well as looking at the average level of prosperity, life expectancy, education, and housing, the book examines the extent of inequality around the average and pays particular attention to whether the most disadvantaged sections of society have shared in progress or have fallen behind. It concludes with an assessment of the effect of policy interventions such as Margaret Thatcher’s free market reforms of the 1980s on different aspects of social progress.

Rapid, centralised decision-making in a higher education emergency

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Brigid Freeman ◽  
Peodair Leihy ◽  
Ian Teo ◽  
Dong Kwang Kim
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Higher Education Institutions ◽  
Institutional Policy ◽  
Policy Governance ◽  
Content Type ◽  
On Line ◽  
Policy Problems ◽  
Policy Shifts

Purpose This study aims to explain the primacy that rapid, centralised decision-making gained in higher education institutions during the COVID-19 pandemic, with a particular focus on Australian universities. Design/methodology/approach This paper draws on discussions regarding policy problems of an international, purpose-convened on-line policy network involving over 100 registrations from multiple countries. It analyses emerging institutional policy governance texts and documents shared between network participants, applies policy science literature regarding traditional institutional policy-making routines and rapid decision-making, and references media reportage from 2020. The paper traces how higher education institutions rapidly adjusted to pandemic conditions and largely on-line operations. Findings The study finds that higher education institutions responded to the COVID-19 crisis by operationalising emergency management plans and introducing rapid, centralised decision-making to transition to remote modes of operation, learning and research under state-imposed emergency conditions. It highlights the need to ensure robust governance models recognising the ascendance of emergency decision-making and small-p policies in such circumstances, notwithstanding longstanding traditions of extended collegial policy-making routines for big-P (institutional) Policy. The pandemic highlighted practice and policy problems subject to rapid reform and forced institutions to clarify the relationship between emergency planning and decision-making, quality and institutional policy. Practical implications In covering a range of institutional responses, the study advances the possibility of institutions planning better for unexpected, punctuated policy shifts during an emergency through the incorporation of rapid decision-making in traditionally collegial environments. At the same time, the paper cautions against the normalisation of such processes. The study also highlights key practices and policies that require urgent reconsideration in an emergency. The study is designed as a self-contained and freestanding narrative to inform responses to future emergencies by roundly addressing the particularities of the 2020 phase of the COVID-19 pandemic as it affected higher education. Originality/value There is only limited research on policy-making in higher education institutions. This research offers an original contribution on institutional policy-making during a prolonged emergency that deeply changed higher education institution’s governance, operations and outlook. Particularly significant is the synthesis of experiences from a wide range of sector personnel, documenting punctuated policy shifts in policy governance (meta-policy), institutional policy-making routines and quality assurance actions under great pressure. This paper is substantially developed from a paper given at the Association for Tertiary Education Management Institutional Policy Seminar, 26th October 2020.

Welfare and Punishment in a ‘Stark Utopia’ (1979–2015)

2021 ◽  
pp. 13-26
Author(s):  
Ian Cummins
Keyword(s):  
Political Development ◽  
Free Market ◽  
Direct Result ◽  
Human History ◽  
Global System ◽  
System A ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Stage Development ◽  
Post War ◽  
Market Economics

Polanyi (1957) described the notion of a self-regulating global system a “stark Utopia.” This chapter uses this as a starting point to examine the broad themes in the development of welfare and penal policy in a period dominated by free market economics Fukuyama (1992) presents the triumph of free market economics as an inevitable conclusion of trends in human history. It is also presented as the final stage development has ceased or is complete. Polanyi’s analysis is presented a counterpoint to this analysis. Polanyi asserts the primacy of politics. Thus, it is impossible to separate economic and political development. Prosperity of the post war period can thus be viewed as a direct result of the advances in politics and civil society that occurred in the period.

Privatized Bodies in Public Locations

2020 ◽  
pp. 195-213
Author(s):  
Penny Griffin
Keyword(s):  
Moral Status ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Free Market ◽  
Value Systems ◽  
Women's Bodies ◽  
Day Care Centers ◽  
Neoliberal Governmentality ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Many ◽  
Small Things

Understanding motherhood as practices of mothering not necessarily limited to women’s bodies, this chapter sets out to examine some of the many and various ways in which neoliberalized public spaces enable, encourage, and reproduce motherhood. It asks, specifically, how, where, and why human, mothering bodies are subjected to the neoliberal “gaze,” how this gaze on motherhood privileges certain forms of identity and practice over others, and how this influences, overtly and indirectly, the moral status of “mothers” in neoliberal societies. Neoliberal governmentality has been vastly effective in enacting its own self-reproduction across divergent societies, masking the totalitarianism of its core focus on centralizing the “free” market in social life through clever reconstructions of conflicting social value systems and practices. This can be seen, this chapter argues, in the normalization of highly invasive medical procedures on mothering bodies, in the proliferation of professionalized parenting “experts,” and in the individualization and social segregation of “mothers” themselves. In particular, the author examines how everyday moments in and practices of motherhood have become highly effective normative technologies of neoliberal governmentality. The author takes as a starting point those “small” things about life as a mother (or as someone who mothers) in a neoliberal society in terms of how they represent two interwoven social elements: the impacts of the prejudiced gaze of neoliberal authorities, including hospitals, supermarkets, cafés, trains, and day care centers; and the apparent achievement of limitless neoliberal tolerance and acceptability.

Is Culture a Key to Development?

2020 ◽  
pp. 9-17
Author(s):  
Robert Klitgaard
Keyword(s):  
Political Culture ◽  
Free Market ◽  
Freedom Of Speech ◽  
Forced Labor ◽  
Equatorial Guinea ◽  
Critical Variable ◽  
Finance Minister ◽  
Cultural Conditions ◽  
Free Market Reforms ◽  
Practical Question

In the late 1980s the economy of the small African country of Equatorial Guinea was foundering. Macroeconomic adjustment hadn’t controlled corruption or strengthened the institutions of property, credit, and taxation. As a result, so-called free-market reforms had made little difference in, of all places, the market. Do reforms need to take account of local cultural conditions—including the possibility that what outsiders call development is not a priority? The finance minister explained to me the relevance, in cultures like his, of dictatorship, forced labor, and restrictions of freedom of speech and assembly. Indeed, he argued that Westerners can’t understand apparent torture without an appreciation of his country’s history and political culture. If not so stridently, other Africans agree that culture is a critical variable in advancing, or resisting, various forms of development. Some say, “We need to change our culture to move ahead.” Others argue, “At least we should adjust our policies to our cultural specificities.” How to take culture into account becomes a crucial practical question in development policy and management.

scholarly journals Is Embodied Energy a Better Starting Point for Solving Energy Security Issues?—Based on an Overview of Embodied Energy-Related Research

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (16) ◽  
pp. 4260 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jinghan Chen ◽  
Wen Zhou ◽  
Hongtao Yang
Keyword(s):  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Energy Security ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Embodied Energy ◽  
Energy Calculation ◽  
Environmental Goods ◽  
Security Issues ◽  
Goods And Services ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Study Results

Embodied energy is termed as the total (direct and indirect) energy required to produce economic or environmental goods and services. It is different from the direct energy measurement of energy consumption. Due to the importance of energy security, it has attracted increasing attention. In order to explore whether and to what extent embodied energy can provide a more innovative approach and competitive perspective to energy security issues, 2608 relevant pieces of literature from the Web of Science core collection are analyzed in this study. Results show that embodied energy has been taken seriously. Moreover, by reviewing the typical literature, this paper first summarizes the embodied energy calculation methods and models, then investigates how embodied energy provides a new perspective to energy issues, and lastly analyzes how to show value in energy security issues in its application of guiding policy-making and energy security studies. In summary, there is no doubt that embodied energy can provide a more integrated perspective on energy consumption and demand and provide a more scientific reference for policy-making to enhance energy security. However, because of data and application scope limitations, establishing a comprehensive energy security research and application system with embodied energy measurements needs hard work.

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