What does “political development” mean, what is the state of democracies in times of uncertainty and how strengthening institutional capacities and governance can help overcome the development traps in which Latin America and the Caribbean are mired were some of the topics addressed in the seminar Political development in Latin America and the Caribbean in the last decade, which took place on Friday, August 23, 2024, at ECLAC headquarters in Santiago, Chile.
The meeting, which was attended by specialists from the region, was inaugurated by the Deputy Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Javier Medina Vásquez, representing Executive Secretary José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs, and by Daniel Buquet, Secretary General of the Latin American Association of Political Science (ALACIP) and academic at the University of the Republic of Uruguay.
Javier Medina Vásquez welcomed the holding of the seminar as part of the activities of the Latin American School of Development Studies (ELADES) of ECLAC and its Development Policy Studies Program (former Summer School) which is in its twenty-fifth edition. “Political development is one of the five pillars of ELADES along with economic, social, environmental and people development,” he explained.
During his presentation, the senior official analyzed the three “development traps” identified by ECLAC and which are a central part of the debates that the institution will propose during its Fortieth Session, which will take place in Lima, Peru, from October 9 to 11, 2024.
“We are at a time of change of era, at a turning point, in which the Latin American and Caribbean region is mired in three major development traps: a long-term inability to grow, high inequality, and low institutional and governance capacity,” said Javier Medina.
For this reason, he said, “at ECLAC we have sought to organize development challenges around a set of gaps that constitute priority areas of action for public policy and collective efforts for transformation.”
Medina focused his speech on the challenges of governance, social dialogue and technical, operational, prospective and political (TOPP) capacities in the region – a topic that is explored in depth in the CEPAL Review No. 141. Special Edition 75 years: towards a more productive, inclusive and sustainable development model-and then conclude with a reflection on the management of the necessary transformations in Latin America and the Caribbean.
“The effects of public policies, both short and long term, are deeply influenced by the processes through which they are designed and implemented,” said the Deputy Executive Secretary, so “analyzing and understanding the process of formulation, adoption and implementation of a policy is as relevant as the content of the policy itself,” he stressed.
According to Medina, “at a time of growing citizen demands on governments and institutions, we need to develop capacities to lead transformations in development models. These transformations require not only continuous improvement, but also addressing disruptions in the institutional capacity to design, implement, evaluate and adjust public policies in changing circumstances.”
“The lack of these capacities is reflected in inadequate institutional responses to complex and uncertain situations, such as, for example, the delay in the fulfilment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the increase in polarisation and conflicts, the difficulties of governability in many countries and the deterioration in global indices of governance and transparency,” he emphasised.
In turn, Daniel Buquet, Secretary General of ALACIP and academic at the University of the Republic of Uruguay, presented the theoretical foundations of a proposal to measure political development in Latin America and how it complements studies on democracy in the region.
“Political development should be conceptualized as something that has to do with democracy, which is linked to democracy, to democratization, to the quality of democracy, but which is not the same thing,” he concluded, adding that it is “a cumulative process, which reflects potential more than the situation.”
The seminar also included interventions by Flavio Gaitán, Coordinator of the State, Institutions and Development Group of ALACIP and academic at the Federal University of Latin American Integration; David Altman, Director of the Regional Center of the V-Dem Project for Latin America, and academic at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile; and Marcela Ríos, Director for Latin America and the Caribbean of the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA).
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