Political Geography: Central America / Topic: Development

Author:: Frank McNeil
Publication Date:: 02-2000
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The North-South Center, University of Miami
Abstract:: The concept of environmental security—even after more than two decades of discussion—has no widely agreed-upon formulation. However, in the metaphor used by environmentalists, environmental security can be a “canary in the mine,” signaling conflicts within nations and across borders. While environmental insults may foster violence, conflicts short of war also impose high costs, wreaking damage to economies, to societal stability, to the effectiveness of political institutions, and to international cooperation. Recent examples of such conflicts and their costs can be seen in locales as diverse as the Western Hemisphere and Southeast Asia (for example, in Guatemala, the Philippines, Colombia, Indonesia, and Nicaragua's maritime and riparian disputes with Honduras and Costa Rica).
Topic:: Security, Development, Environment, and Political Economy
Political Geography:: Central America and Caribbean

Publication Date:: 01-2000
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: The Carter Center
Abstract:: During the first six months of this year, four Latin American countries exercised democracy by scheduling elections. The Dominican Republic, Mexico, Peru, and Venezuela laid the groundwork for electoral processes, though only the Dominican Republic and Mexico actually held elections as planned (see also “What Latin America's Elections Really Mean,” Page 4). In all four cases, however, Carter Center delegates were on site to monitor the proceedings. Below are the Center's observations, listing the most recent election first.
Topic:: Development, Environment, Human Rights, Migration, Science and Technology, and Third World
Political Geography:: South America, Latin America, Central America, Caribbean, Venezuela, Mexico, and Peru

Author:: Jorge A. Schiavon
Publication Date:: 01-2000
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:: This working paper argues that the institutional variation between Latin American countries is one of the central variables that explains the huge differences in the implementation, and level of consolidation of the structural reform process in Latin America during the 1980s and 1990s, an issue still unexplained in a satisfactory way in the existing literature. The argument is tested and supported using a statistical model that includes macroeconomic indicators in the explained side of the equation (structural reform), and constitutional, electoral, and party system data on the explanatory side (institutional configuration).
Topic:: Development and Government
Political Geography:: South America, Latin America, and Central America

Author:: William Smith and Roberto Korzeniewicz
Publication Date:: 05-1999
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Institute for Latin American and Iberian Studies at Columbia University
Abstract:: The crystallization of the so-called “Washington Consensus” in the late 1980s sparked intense debates regarding the likely social impact of macroeconomic stabilization and structural adjustment. Academic critics and political opponents argued that Washingtonian reforms, and neoclassical economics more broadly, lacked a coherent theory of growth, and were bound to result in long-term negative trends in popular welfare and social inequality. Advocates of neoliberal restructuring, in contrast, while recognizing that market-oriented reforms could lead initially to a decline in output and standards of living, were confident that these reforms eventually would lead to sustainable growth and, as a consequence, greater equality and enhanced social welfare. A decade later we revisit this debate to evaluate recent trends in economic growth, poverty and inequality, and to assess accompanying shifts in the theoretical, policy, and political terrains.
Topic:: Development and Economics
Political Geography:: Washington, South America, Latin America, Central America, and Caribbean

Author:: Jennifer McCoy and Shelley McConnell
Publication Date:: 05-1999
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Carter Center
Abstract:: The Carter Center's Americas Program and its Council of Presidents and Prime Ministers of the Americas have initiated a multiyear project to work with governments and civil society to develop monitoring mechanisms to help combat corruption in government transactions and serve as a model for the rest of the world. Greater "transparency" in government-business interactions can improve investor confidence, spur economic growth, provide better public services to the population, and increase public confidence in democratic institutions. At a high-level conference May 4-5, 1999, leaders from across the hemisphere came to The Carter Center to evaluate specific anti-corruption efforts and seek commitments from other governments to implement similar strategies in their own countries. In preparation for that conference, The Carter Center partnered with three countries—Ecuador, Jamaica, and Costa Rica—to develop and assess specific anti-corruption tools.
Topic:: Democratization, Development, Human Rights, and Migration
Political Geography:: South America, Latin America, Central America, and Caribbean

Author:: Giovanni Cornia
Publication Date:: 04-1999
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: Well before the introduction of adjustment-related Social Funds (SFs), many developing countries had developed a variety of safety nets comprising food subsidies, nutrition interventions, employment-based schemes and targeted transfers. Middle-income and a few low-income countries had also achieved extensive coverage in the field of social insurance. In countries committed to fighting poverty, these programmes absorbed considerable resources (2-5 per cent of GDP, excluding social insurance) and had a large impact on job creation, income support and nutrition: for instance, in 1983, Chile's public works programme absorbed 13 per cent of the labour force. Their ability to expand quickly depended on a permanent structure of experienced staff, good portfolios of projects, clear management rules, adequate allocation of domestic resources, supply-driven execution and, with the exception of food subsidies, fairly good targeting.
Topic:: Foreign Policy, Development, and Government
Political Geography:: Africa, United States, South Asia, South America, Latin America, Central America, Caribbean, and Chile

Refine your search