Democracy of Technocracy? Assessing the power of Experts in Colombia and Peru.

The current saliency of technocrats in Latin America has stimulated a lively theoretical debate about their influence in policy making and their effective independence from other sociopolitical actors, especially their politically appointed superiors, International Financial Institutions (IFIs) and business interests. Do experts enjoy considerable independence from other sociopolitical actors? Is their power derived from other actors or is it their own? Through an in-depth analysis of the recruitment and operation of economic experts in Colombia and Peru this article assesses the power técnicos wield. My findings show that significant levels of technocratic independence in economic policy making have been achieved in both countries. This independence is based on (i) technocrats’ use of expertise to enhance and maintain their independence and (ii) the particular conditions found in economic policy areas that protects experts from sociopolitical pressures. These results help to explain why it is more likely to find experts in economic policy areas than in other areas of the Latin American State. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]