Hostname: page-component-f554764f5-c4bhq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-04-17T02:27:15.370Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Social Policies and Center-Right Governments in Argentina and Chile

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Sara Niedzwiecki  and
Jennifer Pribble
Sara Niedzwiecki
Affiliation:
University of California, Santa Cruz. saranied@gmail.com
Jennifer Pribble
Affiliation:
University of Richmond. jpribble@richmond.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Latin America's “left turn” expanded cash transfers and public services, contributing to lower poverty and inequality. Recently, right-leaning candidates and parties have begun to win back seats in the legislature, and in some cases have captured the executive branch. This shift has sparked debate about the future of Latin America's welfare states. This article analyzes social policy reforms enacted by two recent right-leaning governments: that of Sebastián Piñera in Chile (2010–14) and Mauricio Macri in Argentina (2015–). It finds that contrary to neoliberal adjustment policies of the past, neither Macri nor Piñera engaged in privatization or deep spending cuts. Instead, both administrations facilitated a process of policy drift in some sectors and marginal expansion in others. Policy legacies and the strength of the opposition help to explain these outcomes, suggesting that Latin America's political context has been transformed by the consolidation of democracy and the experience of left party rule.

Type
Research
Information
Latin American Politics and Society , Volume 59 , Issue 3 , Fall 2017 , pp. 72 - 97
Copyright
Copyright © University of Miami 2017

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Alcántara Sáez, Manuel. 2003. La ideología de los partidos políticos chilenos, 1994–2002: rasgos constantes y peculiaridades. Revisita de Ciencia Política 23, 2: 68–87.Google Scholar
Argentina. Administración Nacional de la Seguridad Social (ANSES). Asignación Universal por Hijo. Cash transfer program. http://www.anses.gob.ar/destacados/asignacion-universal-por-hijo-1.Google Scholar
Argentina. Presidencia de la Nación. 2016. Decree 894/2016, Programa Nacional de Reparación Histórica para Jubilados y Pensionados. July 27. Boletín Oficial. http://www.boletinoficial.gob.ar Google Scholar
Argentina. Senado y Cámara de Diputados de la Nación Argentina. 2016. Ley 27260, Programa Nacional de Reparación Histórica para Jubilados y Pensionados. July 22. Boletín Oficial. http://servicios.infoleg.gob.ar/infolegInternet/anexos/260000-264999/263691/norma.Htm Google Scholar
Arza, Camila. 2009. Back to the State: Pension Fund Nationalization in Argentina. Documento de trabajo no. 73. Buenos Aires: Centro Interdisciplinario para el Estudio de Políticas Públicas. December.Google Scholar
Arza, Camila. 2016. All Children Equal? Between Expansion and Segmentation in Social Policies for Early Childhood in Argentina. Paper prepared for the Research Committee 19 Symposium, San José, Costa Rica, August 25–27.Google Scholar
Barbara, Vanessa. 2017. The End of the World? In Brazil, It's Already Here. New York Times, January 5. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/05/opinion/the-end-of-the-world-in-brazil-its-already-here.html?_r=1. Accessed January 13, 2017.Google Scholar
Basavilbaso, Emilio. 2016. Más cerca del ingreso universal a la niñez. La Nación, April 26. http://www.lanacion.com.ar/1892726-mas-cerca-del-ingreso-universal-a-la-ninez.Google Scholar
Bernardes, Monica. 2016. Temer anuncia investimento de R$53 mi em obras hídricas em Pernambuco. O Estado de São Paulo, December 9. http://politica.estadao.com.br/noticias/geral,temer-anuncia-investimento-em-obras-hidricas-em-pernambuco,10000093522.Google Scholar
Blofield, Merike. 2012. Care Work and Class: Domestic Workers’ Struggle for Equal Rights in Latin America. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press.Google Scholar
Blofield, Merike. 2016. Moving Away from Maternalism? Parental Leave Reform in Chile and Uruguay in a Regional Perspective. Paper presented at Research Committee 19 symposium, San José, Costa Rica, August 26–27.Google Scholar
Brazil. Tribunal Superior Eleitoral. 2017. Estatísticas eleitorais 2016—resultados. http://www.tse.jus.br/eleicoes/estatisticas/estatisticas-eleitorais-2016/resultados. Accessed March 10, 2017.Google Scholar
Brooks, Sarah M. 2009. Social Protection and the Market in Latin America: The Transformation of Social Security Institutions. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Bullrich, Lucrecia. 2016. Traspasar las cajas costará $20.000 millones. La Nación, June 30. http://www.lanacion.com.ar/1913958-traspasar-las-cajas-costara-20000-millones.Google Scholar
Cameron, David. 1978. The Expansion of the Public Economy: A Comparative Analysis. American Political Science Review 72: 1243–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cannon, Barry. 2016. Inside the Mind of Latin America's New Right. NACLA Report on the Americas 48, 4: 319–27.Google Scholar
Cappiello, Hernán. 2015. Pro justifica el giro discursivo de Macri con la idea de evitar una continua confrontación. La Nación, July 21. http://www.lanacion.com.ar/1812162-pro-justifica-el-giro-discursivo-de-macri-con-la-idea-de-evitar-una-continua-confrontacion.Google Scholar
Carbajal, Mariana. 2016. Sin educación en contra del machismo. Página 12, July 7. http://www.pagina12.com.ar/diario/sociedad/3-303573-2016-07-07.html.Google Scholar
Castiglioni, Rossana. 2005. The Politics of Social Policy Change in Chile and Uruguay: Retrenchment Versus Maintenance, 1973–1998. New York: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Castiglioni, Rossana. 2010. Chile y el giro electoral: la verguenza de haber sido y el dolor de ya no ser. Revista de Ciencia Política 30, 2: 231–48.Google Scholar
Casullo, María Esperanza. 2016. Argentina Turns Right, Again. NACLA Report on the Americas 48, 4: 361–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cecchini, Simone, Robles, Claudia, and Vargas, Luis H.. 2012. La ampliación de las transferencias monetarias y sus desafíos en Chile: el Ingreso Ético Familiar. Research Brief 26. Brasília: International Policy Center for Inclusive Growth.Google Scholar
Cepalstat. 2016. Estadísticas de América Latina y el Caribe. http://estadisticas.cepal.org/cepalstat/web_cepalstat/estadisticasIndicadores.asp?idioma=i. Accessed August 10, 2016.Google Scholar
Chile. Superintendencia de Salud. 2013. 11 nuevas patologías ingresan al Plan AUGE. http://www.supersalud.gob.cl/568/w3-printer-8118.html. Accessed August 11, 2016.Google Scholar
Clarín (Buenos Aires). 2015. Ya es ley el ajuste automático de la Asignación Universal por Hijo. July 16. http://www.ieco.clarin.com/Asignacion_Universal_por_Hijo-AUH_0_1394860655.html.Google Scholar
Czubaj, Fabiola. 2016. Un carnet inteligente, la clave del ambicioso plan de salud nacional. La Nación, August 4. http://www.lanacion.com.ar/1924622-un-carnet-inteligente-la-clave-del-ambicioso-plan-de-salud-nacional.Google Scholar
Datafolha. 2016. Avaliação da presidente Dilma Rousseff. April 8. http://media.folha.uol.com.br/datafolha/2016/04/11/avaliacao-presidente-dilma.pdf.Google Scholar
Díaz S., Gustavo, and Lecaros, Trinidad. 2015. Por qué no una afp estatal. Post no. 49. Santiago: Instituto Libertad. http://www.institutolibertad.cl/no-49-crecimiento-del-gasto-publico-en-el-presupuesto-2015. Accessed January 24, 2017.Google Scholar
Dion, Michelle L. 2010. Workers and Welfare: Comparative Institutional Change in Twentieth- Century Mexico. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press. Emol. 2009. Composición del Congreso. http://www.emol.com/especiales/2009/nacional/presidenciales2009/congreso.asp. Accessed August 26, 2016.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Etchemendy, Sebastián. 2004. Repression, Exclusion, and Inclusion: Government-Union Relations and Patterns of Labor Reform in Liberalizing Economies. Comparative Politics 36, 3: 273–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ewig, Christina, and Kay, Stephen J.. 2011. Postretrenchment Politics: Policy Feedback in Chile's Health and Pension Reforms. Latin American Politics and Society 53, 4 (Winter): 67–99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fairfield, Tasha, and Garay, Candelaria. 2017. Redistribution Under the Right in Latin America: Electoral Competition and Organized Actors in Policymaking. Comparative Political Studies. Published online April 2. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0010414017695331.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Freytes, Carlos, and Niedzwiecki, Sara. 2016. A Turning Point in Argentine Politics: Demands for Change and Territorial Cleavages in the 2015 Presidential Election. Regional and Federal Studies 26, 3: 381–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Garay, Candelaria. 2016. Social Policy Expansion in Latin America. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goertz, Gary, and Mahoney, James. 2012. A Tale of Two Cultures: Qualitative and Quantitative Research in the Social Sciences. Princeton: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goyenechea Hidalgo, Matías. 2011. Análisis presupuestario en salud en el contexto de la desigualdad en Chile. Medwave 11, 11: 1–5.Google Scholar
Hacker, Jacob S. 2004. Privatizing Risk Without Privatizing the Welfare State: The Hidden Politics of Social Policy Retrenchment in the United States. American Political Science Review 98, 1: 243–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hadida, Sebastián. 2016. El debate por una nueva edad para jubilarse se da en la Argentina y el mundo. La Nación, June 26. http://www.lanacion.com.ar/1912554-el-debate-por-una-nueva-edad-para-jubilarse-se-da-en-la-argentina-y-el-mundo.Google Scholar
Haggard, Stephan, and Kaufman, Robert. 2008. Development, Democracy, and Welfare States: Latin America, East Asia, and Eastern Europe. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Henoch, Paulina, and Troncoso O., Rodrigo 2012. Transferencias condicionadas en Chile: una positiva evaluación al programa Ingreso Ético Familiar. In Desarrollo económico y pobreza en América Latina: el rol de los planes sociales. Madrid: Asociación de Iberoamericanos por la Libertad. 165–90. http://www.hacer.org/pdf/IDE13.pdf Google Scholar
Huber, Evelyne, and Stephens, John D.. 2000. The Political Economy of Pension Reform: Latin America in Comparative Perspective. Occasional Paper. May. Geneva: United Nations Research Institute for Social Development. http://www.unrisd.org/80256B3C005BCCF9/(httpPublications)/8B4547EB0B94076480256B67005B742A Google Scholar
Huber, Evelyne, and Stephens, John D.. 2001. Development and Crisis of the Welfare State: Parties and Policies in Global Markets. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huber, Evelyne, and Stephens, John D.. 2012. Democracy and the Left: Social Policy and Inequality in Latin America. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Immergut, Ellen. 1992. The Rules of the Game: The Logic of Health Policy-Making in France, Switzerland, and Sweden. In Structuring Politics: Historical Institutionalism in Comparative Analysis, ed. Steinmo, Sven, Thelen, Kathleen A., and Longstreth, Frank. New York: Cambridge University Press. 57–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (IBGE). 2016. Contas nacionais trimestrais. Indicadores de volume e valores correntes. ftp://ftp.ibge.gov.br/Contas_Nacionais/Contas_Nacionais_Trimestrais/Fasciculo_Indicadores_IBGE/pib-vol-val_201604caderno.pdf.Google Scholar
Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Censos de la República Argentina (INDEC). 2016. Informe de prensa: IPC alternativos marzo 2016. October 8. http://www.indec.gov.ar/informesdeprensa_anteriores.asp?id_tema_1=3&id_tema_2=5&id_tema_3=31.Google Scholar
Jueguen, Francisco. 2016. Jubilados y beneficiarios de la AUH, con menos IVA a los alimentos. La Nación, February 18. http://www.lanacion.com.ar/1872029-jubilados-y-beneficiarios-de-la-auh-con-menos-iva-a-los-alimentos.Google Scholar
Katzenstein, Pete. 1985. Small States in World Markets. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Lewkowicz, Javier. 2015. Esto es un logro, cuídenlo y manténganlo. Página 12, June 16. http://www.pagina12.com.ar/diario/economia/2-275024-2015-06-16.html.Google Scholar
Madrid, Raúl L. 2003. Retiring the State: The Politics of Pension Privatization in Latin America and Beyond. Stanford: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Mahoney, James, and Thelen, Kathleen. 2010. A Theory of Gradual Institutional Change. In Explaining Institutional Change: Ambiguity, Agency, and Power, ed. Mahoney, and Thelen, . New York: Cambridge University Press. 1–37.Google Scholar
Martello, Alejandro, and Amaral, Luciana. 2016. Proposta do governo permite jornada negociada entre patrões e empregados. Globo.com, December 23. http://g1.globo.com/economia/noticia/proposta-de-reforma-trabalhista-autoriza-jornada-de-ate-220-horaspor-mes.ghtml.Google Scholar
Martínez-Franzoni, Juliana, and Sánchez-Anochea, Diego. 2016. The Quest for Universal Social Policy in the South. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McGuire, James W. 2010. Wealth, Health, and Democracy in East Asia and Latin America. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moraes Moura, Rafael. 2017. Temer altera programas de Lula e Dilma. O Estado de São Paulo, January 9. http://politica.estadao.com.br/noticias/geral,temer-altera-programas-de-lula-e-dilma,10000098900.Google Scholar
Moreno, Javier. 2011. Entrevista: Sebastián Piñera. Nos hemos propuesto terminar con la pobreza extrema en cuatro años. El País, March 6. http://elpais.com/diario/2011/03/06/domingo/1299387158_850215.html. Accessed August 11, 2016.Google Scholar
Murillo, María Victoria. 2001. Labor Unions, Partisan Coalitions and Market Reforms in Latin America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Murillo, María Victoria. 2015. Argentina Leans Right: The Election and What Will Follow. Foreign Affairs, October 31. https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/south-america/2015-10-31/argentina-leans-right.Google Scholar
La Nación (Buenos Aires). 2016a. Diputados dio media sanción al proyecto de blanqueo de capitales y pago a jubilados. June 16. http://www.lanacion.com.ar/1909502-diputados-le-dio-media-sancion-al-proyecto-de-blanqueo-de-capitales-y-pago-a-los-jubilados.Google Scholar
La Nación (Buenos Aires). 2016b. ¿Quiénes son los senadores del FPV que apoyaron la ley de blanqueo del gobierno? June 29. http://www.lanacion.com.ar/1914067-quienes-son-los-senadores-del-fpv-que-apoyaron-la-ley-de-blanqueo-del-gobierno.Google Scholar
La Nación (Buenos Aires). 2016c. Ya rige la devolución del IVA para jubilados. July 19. http://www.lanacion.com.ar/1919774-ya-rige-la-devolucion-del-iva-para-jubilados.Google Scholar
Niedzwiecki, Sara. 2014. The Effect of Unions and Organized Civil Society on Social Policy: Pension and Health Reforms in Argentina and Brazil, 1988–2008. Latin American Politics and Society 56, 4 (Winter): 22–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Niedzwiecki, Sara. 2016. Social Policies, Attribution of Responsibility, and Political Alignments: A Subnational Analysis of Argentina and Brazil. Comparative Political Studies 49, 4: 457–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Obarrio, Mariano. 2016a. El gobierno amplía la Asignación por Hijo y anuncia baja del IVA. La Nación, April 16. http://www.lanacion.com.ar/1889924-el-gobierno-amplia-la-asignacion-por-hijo-y-anuncia-baja-del-iva.Google Scholar
Obarrio, Mariano. 2016b. El gobierno anunció medidas sociales por $30.000 millones. La Nación, April 17. http://www.lanacion.com.ar/1890117-el-gobierno-anuncio-medidas-sociales-por-30000-millones.Google Scholar
Obarrio, Mariano. 2016c. Preocupado por el impacto del ajuste, el gobierno apura medidas sociales. La Nación, April 10. http://www.lanacion.com.ar/1887971-preocupado-por-el-impacto-del-ajuste-el-gobierno-apura-medidas-sociales.Google Scholar
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). 2016. OECD Family Database. http://www.oecd.org/els/family/database.htm. Accessed August 30, 2016.Google Scholar
Origlia, Gabriela. 2016. Las provincias, con un fuerte déficit previsional. La Nación, July 31. http://www.lanacion.com.ar/1923099-las-provincias-con-un-fuerte-deficit-previsional.Google Scholar
Ortiz Rojas, María E. 2009. Cuenta pública Junji gestión 2006–2009. http://gobiernotrans-parente.junji.gob.cl/portal/biblioteca/Cuenta_Publica_JUNJI_2006_2009.pdf. Accessed August 30, 2016.Google Scholar
Pierson, Paul, ed. 2001. The New Politics of the Welfare State. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Piñera, Sebastián. 2010. Mensaje a la nación, de S.E. el Presidente de la República: del Chile del bicentenario al pais de las oportunidades. Accessed August 30, 2016. https://www.camara.cl/camara/media/docs/discursos/21mayo_2010.pdf.Google Scholar
Portal Brasil. 2016. 120 dias com coragem para fazer as reformas de que o Brasil precisa. http://www.brasil.gov.br/governo/2016/12/120-dias-com-coragem-para-fazer-asreform-as-de-que-o-brasil-precisa.Google Scholar
Portal Brasil. 2017. Governo reduz restos a pagar para 2017 em R$37,5 bi. http://www.brasil.gov.br/economia-e-emprego/2017/01/governo-reduz-restos-a-pagar-para-2017-em-r-37-5-bi Google Scholar
Pribble, Jennifer. 2013. Welfare and Party Politics in Latin America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rosemberg, Jaime. 2016. Macri les reintegró el dinero de las obras sociales a los gremios. La Nación, August 3. http://www.lanacion.com.ar/1924229-macri-les-reintegro-el-dinero-de-las-obras-sociales-a-los-gremios.Google Scholar
Rudra, Nita. 2008. Globalization and the Race to the Bottom in Developing Countries: Who Really Gets Hurt? New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Semán, Ernesto. 2015. The Taming of the Argentine Right? NACLA Report on the Americas, December 2. https://nacla.org/news/2015/12/02/taming-argentine-right?utm_source=hootsuite.Google Scholar
Serra, Laura. 2016. La oposición puso condiciones para un texto consensuado de blanqueo y pago a jubilados. La Nación, June 8. http://www.lanacion.com.ar/1906719-la-oposicion-puso-condiciones-para-un-texto-consensuado-de-blanqueo-y-pago-a-jubilados.Google Scholar
Servicio Electoral Républica de Chile. 2016. Resultados electorales 2013. http://www.servel.cl/elecciones-presidenciales-resultados-globales. Accessed August 26, 2016.Google Scholar
Staab, Silke. 2012. Maternalism, Male-Breadwinner Bias, and Market Reform: Historical Legacies and Current Reforms in Chilean Social Policy. Social Politics 19, 3: 299–332.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stallings, Barbara. 1992. International Influence on Economic Policy: Debt, Stabilization, and Structural Reform. In The Politics of Economic Adjustment: International Constraints, Distributive Conflicts, and the State, ed. Haggard, Stephan R. and Kaufman, Robert R.. Princeton: Princeton University Press. 41–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stang, Silvia. 2016. Quiénes quedan al margen del programa: beneficiarios de leyes especiales y rentistas, entre los excluidos. La Nación, July 25. http://www.lanacion.com.ar/1921563-quienes-quedan-al-margen-del-programa.Google Scholar
Verón, Mariana. 2016. Aumentarán desde marzo 15,35% las jubilaciones y la AUH. La Nación, February 12. http://www.lanacion.com.ar/1870308-aumentaran-desde-marzo-1535-las-jubilaciones-y-la-auh.Google Scholar
Vommaro, Gabriel, and Armesto, Melchor. 2015. ¿Nuevos políticos en el partido, viejos políticos en las listas? Reclutamiento partidario y división del trabajo político en PRO, en la Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires. Pasado Abierto 2: 110–32.Google Scholar
Vommaro, Gabriel, and Morresi, Sergio D.. 2014. Unidos y diversificados: la construcción del partido PRO en la CABA. Revista SAAP 8, 2: 375–417.Google Scholar
World Bank. 2016. World Bank World Development Indicators. http://databank.worldbank.org/data/reports.aspx?source=world-development-indicators. Accessed August 11, 2016.Google Scholar
Ybarra, Gustavo. 2016a. Con votos del FPV, el senado convirtió en ley el blanqueo fiscal. La Nación, June 30. http://www.lanacion.com.ar/1913957-con-votos-del-fpv-el-senado-convirtio-en-ley-el-blanqueo-fiscal.Google Scholar
Ybarra, Gustavo. 2016b. Obtuvo dictamen el proyecto de blanqueo y el senado lo tratará la semana que viene. El oficialismo logró apoyos del PJ y de un sector del FPV; aval de gobernadores. June 23. http://www.lanacion.com.ar/1911604-obtuvo-dictamen-el-proyecto-de-blanqueo-y-el-senado-lo-tratara-la-semana-que-viene.Google Scholar