Category Archives: Latin America
Is Corruption Evil?
Cross-posted at Global Dashboard.
Corruption is generally vilified as an unmitigated evil. It disenfranchises the poor, weakens public services, reduces investment, and holds back whole societies. And yet, in some instances, corruption can actually be very useful, lubricating business in a way that promotes growth, creates jobs, helps smooth the introduction of needed reforms, and reduces poverty.
What explains this paradox? (more…)
Might Regionalism Help Solve Central America’s Woes?
Joaquin Villalobos, an El Salvadoran political analyst (and former Marxist guerrilla leader), wrote an article on February 20th in the Spanish daily El País in which he stated that Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras run a clear and present danger of becoming “a Latin American Somalia.” (more…)
Mexico: A Danger or an Opportunity?
Fragile states are hard to classify: are they a danger to be avoided or an opportunity to be sought?
This conundrum is especially sharp in the bigger countries that may have large markets worth tapping, great tourist sites worth visiting, or a large number of people worth helping.
Mexico is not really a fragile state, but the rise in drug-related violence and its continuing problems with weak institutions give it some of the same characteristics. (more…)
Can Emerging Markets Handle Another Economic Shock?
In the years since the financial crisis broke upon the high-income countries, the economic performance of the biggest emerging countries has been remarkable. One of the reasons for this success has been the high degree of fiscal and monetary firepower available to boost demand, making up for shortfalls elsewhere.
Although emerging markets as a whole continue to have substantial room to maneuver, this is not universally true. Some governments are in a much better position than others. And there is a real risk that if another economic shock occurs (because of an oil-price jump – perhaps following conflict in the Gulf – or a collapse of the eurozone), those without the wiggle-room to respond will be vulnerable. (more…)
“He Doesn’t Steal, But Money Sticks to Him”
Cross-posted from Global Dashboard.
Mexico, like many places around the world, has numerous immensely imaginative one-liners to characterize corruption. Here is a sample:
- “El que no transa, no avanza” (“Whoever doesn’t trick or cheat, gets nowhere”)
- “No roba, pero se le pega el dinero” (“He doesn’t steal, but money sticks to him”
- “Fulano de tal es honesto, pero honesto, honesto, honesto, ¿quién sabe?” (“So-and-so is honest; but honest, honest, honest, who knows?”
- “Político pobre, pobre político” (“A politician in poverty is a poor politician”)
- “No les pido que me den, sólo que me pongan donde hay” (“I am not asking for money, just to be appointed where I can get some”)
- “Vivir fuera del presupuesto es vivir en el error” (“To live outside the federal budget is to live in error”)
- “Amistad que no se refleja en la nómina no es amistad” (“A friendship that is not reflected in the payroll is no friendship at all”)
- “Con dinero baila el perro, si está amaestrado” (“Properly paid and trained, a dog will dance”)
- “No les cambies las ideas, cambiales los ingresos” (Don’t bother to change their ideas, just change their incomes”
Source: Manana Forever?: Mexico and the Mexicans
Does anyone have any slang from a different country to share?
Bolivia: Building Representative Institutions in a Divided Country
Bolivia’s past has been so tumultuous that “Bolivianization” at one point became a synonym for political and social decomposition. The country’s troubles are the direct result of its demography, geography, history, and long dependence on a few rich natural resources.
Bolivia’s population is a unique amalgamation of ethnicities—a remarkable mix of pre- and post-Columbian cultures, institutions, religions, languages, and belief systems. Over 60 percent (the largest such percentage in Latin America) of its 9 million people are members of the indigenous peoples. But this diversity has not generated harmony; to the contrary, the country is polarized by severe divisions and a history of elite exploitation of native groups.
These identity fractures accentuate—and are, in turn, accentuated by—the country’s geographic and economic fissures. Whereas roughly two-thirds of the people living in the five highland departments (La Paz, Cochabamba, Chuquisaca, Potosi, and Oruro) identify themselves as Aymara or Quechua, a similar proportion claim no indigenous affiliation in the four lowland areas (Santa Cruz, Pando, Beni, and Tarija). The 2005 election (see map) reflected these divisions: Evo Morales’ Movement toward Socialism (MAS) polled twice as high (64 percent of the vote) in the highlands than in the lowlands (31 percent). The political turmoil that has periodically erupted within the country since usually reflects this same dynamic.
Bolivia urgently needs to reshape its governing institutions so that they are better able to deal with the realities of its fragmentation and weak administrative capacity. Instead of unrealistically expecting the evolution of an efficient centralized regime that determines policy to the satisfaction of all its citizens, Bolivia should learn from its experiences in implementing decentralization in the past (the Law of Popular Participation and the Law of Decentralization reforms), and heed the advantages of directing far more funding and responsibility to regional and local governments. The country should also learn from the experiences of other states divided by language, history, and identity, and follow their lead by transforming itself into a more decentralized, identity-based federation of entities that are obliged to compromise at the national level. A “bottom heavy, top light” structure is probably the only way to overcome the long history of administrative dysfunction and intergroup acrimony, making institutions far more representative, relevant, and responsive in the process.
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