Clientelism in Latin America
Two of these articles look to tackle clientelism and why it occurs. This is the idea that politicians trade things to voters in exchange for their support. Auyero states that politicians use two methods to keep the public dependent on…
Political Clientelism: Are We So Different?
I thoroughly enjoyed this feature analysis of political clientelism in grassroots Latin America. Throughout the article, Auyero explores the everyday relationship between broker and client, one that has been relatively untouched through the well-meaning but unfortunately misplaced judgement that betrays…
Illiberal Democracy
According to Fareed Zakaria, illiberal democracies are “democratically elected regimes often re-elected or reinforced by referendums that ignore the constitutional limits of their power and deprive their citizens of basic rights and liberties”. While the end of the twentieth century…
Illiberal Democracy
This week’s readings deal mainly on the proliferation of illiberal democracy throughout Latin America. This topic is very, I daresay, topical. In Latin America, and indeed many parts of the world, democracy is facing extreme challenges in adapting to a…
Clientelism and Mexico’s poor population
Clientelism allows patrons to control population behaviors by filtering information that is available to them. Due to the limited amount of information, the poor are unaware of the other resources and therefore feel like they are making the best decision…
Mitch Skim #1
What to Say to the Former Peru President….. The Former Peru president, President Alejandro Toledo, is issued with an intercontinental arrest warrant after bribery accusations. The country has offered a reward of 24, 000 sterling pounds for the detainment of…
Social Inequality & Economic Development
In the article “The Latin American Experience”, Fukuyama lists off multiple factors that contribute to the inequality we see around the world, specifically in Latin America. As European and Asian countries continue to develop and become more equal, Latin American…
Some thoughts about socioeconomic inequality
Smith and Sells in the book wrote about socioeconomic inequality which in this part, mainly pointing to income distribution. He chose Argentina, Chile, Brazil and Mexico for samples to see if there is strong connection between…
Evolving Social and Economic Inequality
Income and social inequality is a major plague in Latin America especially as compared to other countries, this is discussed in both the Fukuyama and Kaufman readings. Both articles cite from the fact that this inequality in both the standing…
Latin American, The United States, and Socioeconomic Inequality
One of the policy areas that I am particularly passionate about is education policy. My passion has been shaped by my own experiences with my local public schools and the vast disparity between the quality of education in local and private…
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