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Macarena Suanes and Oriol Roca studied the main determinants of inequality and economic growth in Latin America between 1980 and 2009 and found that one of the main determinants was foreign direct investment. This paper extends that study to 2015 and shows that such investment is no longer significant. In contrast, increasing human capital significantly reduces inequality and improves economic growth. It is recommended, then, that economic policies are oriented towards raising educational attainment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite more than twenty years of implementation of Conditional Cash Transfers (ccts) inequality and poverty remain being one of the main problems of Latin America. These programs seek to stimulate consumption and reduce poverty and have become the axis of articulation of social protection in most of the countries of the region, incorporating logics of resource management and financing, and new actors and discourses on poverty. This paper critically presents the recent literature on ccts and analyzes the trajectories and approaches of the programs. The paper also analyses changes and continuities in the perspectives on poverty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the convergence hypothesis and the impact of social policy on the economic growth of the six largest countries in Latin America between 1980 and 2010. Results suggest that social public policies have positively influenced growth in these economies. Particularly, there are non-observed variables (fixed effects) that positively affect the economic growth in Venezuela and Chile; however, there are other non-observed variables that may be negatively affecting growth in Brazil and Mexico. Regarding the convergence hypothesis, results reveal that the speed of convergence diminishes as real income rises, implying that these countries might be converging to their stable states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Pacific Alliance was established as a model of deep integration between Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru. The question raised in this paper is which of the Latin American regionalism approaches is more proper for the theoretical characterization of the Pacific Alliance initiative. In this sense, the concepts of open regionalism and strategic regionalism are explained for the characterization of this initiative and their limits are highlighted from empirical evidence. The paper concludes that regionalism concepts which give greater emphasis to commercial dynamics are not enough to understand the current operation and performance of the Pacific Alliance. As such, a complementary analytical approach is introduced which responds to the long term global dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reflects on the most recent development of the international relations field in Latin America. It relies mainly on a biblio-metric analysis of the main Latin American journals that publish related studies, and on a qualitative analysis of leading publications from some of the region's Political Science and International Relations departments. Without claiming to be an exhaustive study of the state of the field in the region, the paper includes new and useful information to build a reflection on the field's weaknesses, strengths and pending tasks. The work concludes with a series of reflections and suggestions that seek to highlight the importance of further theoretical and -particularly- methodological discussions to strengthen the study of international politics in -and from- Latin America. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper develops a model that assumes politicians' rationality when fixing tax rates applied on revenue and consumption of each taxpayer. The paper also suggests some factors to consider are political mobility of voters and economic expectations, which can explain regressive tax reforms adopted in Latin America since the economic crises of the 80s. Additionally, it contrasts the model with an unbalanced data panel (18 countries from 1980 to 2010). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the present work consists, from a review of the current reality of the migration situation between Colombia and Venezuela, to carry out an analysis of the various administrative advances of border management. Despite the great importance that Venezuelan migrations have aroused in Colombia over the past five years, understanding the various political, economic and social elements of the internal affairs of both countries can provide the basic elements for understanding the correct logic for the proper administrative management of the border. It is expected that the reader achieves with this paper, in addition to having a vision about the state of bilateral migrations between Colombia and Venezuela, develop a deeper perspective on the challenges to governance of the Colombian-Venezuelan border. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For a number of years now, analyses of the political participation of women have warned of a very low presence of these in the various parliaments of the world. The diagnosis of female underrepresentation was a warning sign for different international organisms, which initiating from successive calls started to plan a review of the situation so that various countries would commit themselves to adopt measures to modify it. This paper has the goal of describing the current outlook of women and politics in Latin America, with special attention paid to the Colombian case, focusing fundamentally on the adoption of gender quotas as a strategy of positive discrimination that might contribute to a larger participation of women in the politics of the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents some theoretical components of comparative historical institutionalism components compared. It begins with an overview of the theory and the importance its followers give to institutions in the construction of the modern state, liberal democracy and economic development. Two analyses of Latin America are compared with Korea and Taiwan during the decades in which the development model predominated, while the second shows the progress undergone by the State in the region during the twentieth century. In addition to this, the return of the state is presented with a series of measures with a content that is different to its actions in Latin America is presented. Finally, some of the limitations of comparative historical institutionalism are shown to understand the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the political nature of taxation, which helps to explain why adoption from the model sponsored by the IMF in Latin America, especially after the debt crisis, has not been homogeneous. Colombia is taken as a case study to show how tax reforms depend on the political process in Congress, which opens a gap between the bills, inspired by IMF, and the final laws. Finally, it raises some arguments that suggest the special interests' role in the design and application of tax policy, which interact without being necessarily reconcilable and can also explain the divergence between bills and laws. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper analyzes the changes occurred since the VI EU-LAC Summit, in Madrid in May 2010, on the relationship between the European Union and Latin America. A change continued with the Celac-EU Summit, held in January 2013, which presents evidence of bi-regional strategy and the full import of the most significant commitments to build that relationship: regional integration and social cohesion. Latin America and the European Union should strengthen their bond and extrapolate on other institutions and settings of the current post-Cold War geopolitical order. A scenario where they share views and concerns and whose response, in any case, must come from a joint position and shared perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1981 Chile began a wave of privatization and market-friendly reforms of social security systems in Latin America; Argentina did the same in 1993. In 2008, Chile and Argentina reformed their pension systems again. Chile maintains the private capitalization system complemented with a basic pension and solidarity payments while Argentina eliminated the capitalization pillar and replaced it by a single integrated delivery system publicly administered. This paper analyzes the policy reforms of pension systems as a result of the comparison between countries, as well as between market and state led reforms and state led reforms: Chile (1981 and 2008) and Argentina (1993 and 2008). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cardoso is among the most famous thinkers on development and dependency theory. He successfully combines sociology, economics and political science to build an interdisciplinary view of Latin America's transformations. This paper analyses Cardoso's "radical" theoretical evolution between two major books, Dependency and Development in Latin America (1970) and Charting a New Course: The Politics of Globalization and Social Transformation (2001). The positions he occupied when he wrote these two books, academician-political opponent and then politician, could explain his evolution. Cardoso claims that new political and economic conditions have taken place and a new theory is thus required in order to "chart a new course". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The notions of governability and Populism have been used increasingly in political sciences papers on Latin America. The lack of precision in theirs meanings increased the same way. In this article, we argue that such difficulty lies in theirs uses in three ideal types of speech registries: the academic speech, the bureaucratic speech, and the political speech. We consider that these three uses of Populism and governability, with theirs respective logics, can generate much confusion. We propose therefore some reflections that try to clarify theses notions from the logic of the academic speech, but taking into account the uses that are made in both other registries of speeches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]