Uneven Social Policies: The Politics of Subnational Variation in Latin America
Cambridge University Press, 9/6/2018
EAN 9781108472043, ISBN10: 1108472044
Hardcover, 272 pages, 23.6 x 15.7 x 2 cm
Language: English
Social policies can transform the lives of the poor and marginalized, yet inequitable implementation often limits their access. Uneven Social Policies shifts the focus of welfare state analysis away from policy design and toward policy implementation. By examining variation in political motivations, state capacity, and policy legacies, it explains why some policies are implemented more effectively than others, why some deliver votes to incumbent governments while others do not, and why regionally elected executives block the implementation of some but not all national policies. Niedzwiecki explores this variation across provinces and municipalities by combining case studies with statistical analysis of conditional cash transfers and health policies in two decentralized countries, Argentina and Brazil. The analysis draws on original data gathered during fifteen months of field research that included more than 230 interviews with politicians and 140 with policy recipients.
1. Social policies and politics in decentralized countries
2. Implementing social policies
attribution of responsibility, political alignments, policy legacies, and territorial infrastructure
3. Mixed methods and multilevel research design
4. Subnational statistical analysis
5. Conditional cash transfers in Argentina and Brazil
6. Healthcare policies in Argentina and Brazil
7. Social policy implementation
looking back and forward.