Professional Affiliation

Assistant Professor of Political Science, Amherst College

Expert Bio

As the son of Cuban exiles, my life has been directly influenced by democratic failures. The failure of democracy to take root in Cuba forced my parents to seek a new homeland, profoundly shaping the course of my childhood. For this reason, I have always been passionately interested in studying the conditions under which democracies can become stronger. Specifically, the central question of my research has always been: how can Latin American democracies amass the necessary political capital to enact necessary, albeit politically hurtful, change? Initially, I focused on issues related to the "first wave" of reforms: i.e., state attempts to stabilize economies and introduce market-oriented economic institutions. By focusing mostly on the recent experience of Argentina and Venezuela, I wrote papers exploring the factors that shape reform outcomes -- particularly, the interplay between technocracy, democracy, and markets; economic crises; and coalition building and state-business relations. I recently completed a book manuscript that advances the theory that the nature of the relationship between the president and the ruling party -- whether conflictive or cooperative -- shapes reform implementation. In the last two years, I shifted my focus toward the "second wave" of reforms, namely, those seeking to enhance the performance of public institutions of governance and service delivery. Education reform is one of the most important components of this second wave. There is consensus that improving educational performance is necessary to advance socioeconomic development and fortify democratic institutions. However, quality-oriented education reforms are not always approved or implemented, mostly for political reasons. In the last decades, scholars have produced rich theories to explain why education reforms encounter political difficulties. Less scholarship exists on the factors that allow reformers to avoid or escape these political bottlenecks. This is incongruent with the present-day reality in Latin America, where many countries have been able to implement significant education reform. Clearly, the political obstacles to education reform are onerous but not insurmountable. The purpose of my research at the Wilson Center is to discover the conditions under which these obstacles can be overcome.

 

Expertise

Comparative and International Politics of Latin America, Politics of Economic Reform in Developing Countries (especially Latin America), Politics of Education and Social Sector Reform in Latin America

Wilson Center Project

"The Politics of Education Reform in Latin America"

Project Summary

I propose to study the political conditions under which education reforms are more likely to be implemented. Specifically, I want to test two propositions:

• Education reform implementation is more likely when reformers conciliate, rather than separate, technocratic/market approaches with inclusionary concerns. Creating independent commissions allow reformers to accomplish this conciliation.
• Links between veto groups (e.g., teachers' unions) and political parties are not politically insurmountable obstacles. Reformers can use these links to obtain the cooperation of potential reform opponents.

Major Publications

• The Political Causes of Argentina's Recession, March 2001
• "Presidents, Ruling Parties and Party Rules: A Theory of the Politics of Economic Reform in Latin America," Comparative Politics, January 2000, pp. 127-150.
• "The Politics of Education Reform Implementation: Bolstering the Supply and Demand; Overcoming Institutional Blocs," in Education Reform and Management Series (World Bank, 1999)
• "Regimes of Cooperation in the Western Hemisphere: Power, Interests and Intellectual Traditions" (with Richard Feinberg), International Studies Quarterly, March 1999, pp. 1-36.