Expanding Social Policy Equity in Latin America (1990-2013)

Date: 

Tuesday, November 27, 2018, 12:00pm

Location: 

CGIS South, S250, 1730 Cambridge Street

Speaker: Rossana Castiglioni, Associate Professor of the Political Science School, Universidad Diego Portales in Santiago, Chile

Since the beginning of the late 1990s, Latin American countries made great advances in terms of equitable social policy. Access increased markedly across policy areas as well as levels of coverage and benefits. In analyzing the causes of this social policy shift, a large part of the literature has emphasized the relevance of the “left turn.” My research challenges dominant views regarding social policy development in Latin America as a consequence of the ideological leaning of the government. Using panel data from 18 Latin American countries, from 1990-2013, it shows that political competition, the strength of civil society, and wealth are the key forces behind the expansion of equitable social policy.

Rossana Castiglioni (Ph.D. University of Notre Dame, 2003) is Associate Professor of the Political Science School at Universidad Diego Portales in Santiago, Chile. She works on comparative politics, with an emphasis on comparative social policy and democratic representation in Latin America. She was the recipient of the 2003 Eli J. and Helen Shaheen Graduate School Award in the Social Sciences. Her work has appeared in Electoral Studies, Latin American Politics and Society, Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis, Canadian Journal of Political Science, The Developing Economies, and Revista de Ciencia Política. She has been a visiting scholar at Leiden University, the Kellogg Institute for International Studies, the University of Madison, Wisconsin, and Oxford University. Her book The Politics of Social Policy Change in Chile and Uruguay: Retrenchment versus Maintenance, 1973-1998 (New York & London, Routledge) was published in 2005 and reprinted in 2013.