Economic Liberalization, Democratization, and Social Policy Reform: Latin America and the Caribbean, Iberia, and the Antipodes

本研究项目的基本目的是为拉丁美洲、伊比利亚、加勒比和对跖岛9个国家1950-2000年社会政策的汇总截面和时间序列分析构建一个数据集，为社会政策的起源和转变的比较历史分析收集信息。并采用定量和定性的方法系统地分析与经济自由化和从专制政治制度向民主政治制度过渡有关的社会政策的选择和限制。最终目标是查明这些改革进程所造成的经济和政治限制，以及能够建立或维持强大的社会安全网和有效的社会服务的条件。该项目将在经济发展水平、民主体制的巩固与社会和政治行动者的性质和行动之间建立因果关系。它将回答以下问题：建立或维持有效的社会安全网和社会服务的选择在哪里以及为什么存在，以及政府在哪里以及为什么采取了这些选择或没有这样做。该项目将产生几项更广泛的影响：通过会议演讲、学术文章和出书，该项目将有助于各国政府和国际发展机构的决策者更好地了解开放市场、政治权力分配和政治制度如何影响创造性政策设计和政治联盟建设的选择，以支持有效的社会政策。该项目还将促进研究生的教育和培训，让他们担任研究助理和共同作者。最后，这套数据将公开提供，并将促进对比较政治经济学和社会政策方面若干问题的研究。

The basic aims of this research project are to construct a data set for pooled cross section and time series analysis of social policy in 9 countries in Latin America, Iberia, the Caribbean, and the Antipodes from 1950-2000, to collect information for a comparative historical analysis of the origins and transformations of social policy, and to bring quantitative and qualitative methodologies to systematically analyze options for and constraints on social policy relating to economic liberalization and transitions from authoritarian to democratic political systems. The ultimate goal is to identify the economic and political constraints posed by these processes of transformation and the conditions that allow for building or maintaining strong social safety nets and effective social services. The project will establish causal links between the level of economic development, consolidation of democratic institutions, and the nature and actions of social and political actors. It will answer the question of where and why options for building or preserving effective social safety nets and social services existed, and where and why governments pursued these options or failed to do so. The project will have several broader impacts: Through conference presentations, scholarly articles, and a book, the project will contribute to a better understanding by policy makers in governments and in international development institutions of the ways in which open markets, political power distributions, and political institutions shape options for creative policy design and political coalition building in support of effective social policies. The project will also contribute to education and training of graduate students by involving them as research assistants and co-authors. Finally, the data set will be made publicly available and will facilitate research on a number of questions in comparative political economy and social policy.