The Woodrow Wilson Center Press
Learning from Foreign Models in Latin American Policy Reform
The international diffusion of policy ideas and practices is a subject of growing interest, raising such questions as: Why are there increasingly such waves of policy innovation? What prompts one country to emulate another's changes? Is it the influence of powerful international actors like the World Bank? Is it the motivations and interests of domestic actors? And how freely do imitators adapt foreign models to the needs and characteristics of their own countries, rather than simply replicating them?
Essays by leading academic experts and by policy practitioners with academic background address these important questions in Learning from Foreign Models in Latin American Policy Reform. Two chapters examine the influence of the international financial institutions. Then experts from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Mexico discuss how foreign models influenced their own decision making in crucial areas of social policy such as pensions, unemployment insurance, and health care.
These case studies yield an unprecedented insider perspective on policy diffusion, in particular showing that the financial institutions have less clout than sometimes appears. They also show the crucial role played by policy specialists inside the public bureaucracy.
Contributors: David Bravo, Sarah M. Brooks, Elena Carrera, José Paulo Zeetano Chahad, Carlos Cruz, Gustavo Demarco, Louise Haagh, Joan M. Nelson, Vinícius C. Pinheiro, and Juan Pablo Uribe.
What People are Saying
"This book addresses a very important topic with an innovative and interesting design."--Martha Finnemore, Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington University
"This volume is an important contribution, both theoretically and empirically, to policymaking."--Philip Oxhorn, Department of Political Science, McGill University
Chapter List
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations
1. Learning from Foreign Models in Latin American Policy Reform: An Introduction, Kurt Weyland
2. External Models, International Influence, and the Politics of Social Sector Reforms, Joan M. Nelson
3. International Financial Institutions and the Diffusion of Foreign Models for Social Security Reform in Latin America, Sarah M. Brooks
4. The Argentine Pension System Reform and International Lessons, Gustavo Demarco
5. The Politics of Social Security Reform in Brazil, Vinícius C. Pinheiro
6. Foreign Models in the Adoption of Unemployment Insurance in Brazil, José Paulo Zeetano Chahad
7. Ideological Marketization and Policy Learning in Chile: The Case of Unemployment Insurance, Louise Haagh with David Bravo
8. The Influence of Foreign Models in Health Reform in Colombia, Juan Pablo Uribe
9. The Role of Foreign Models in Mexican Healthcare Reforms in the 1990s, Carlos Cruz and Elena Carrera
10. Conclusion: Lessons about Learning in Latin American Policy Reform, Kurt Weyland
Contributors
Index