Policy Analysis in Argentina 9781447364917, 9781447364924

Table of contents :
Front Cover
Half-title
Series information
Policy Analysis in Argentina
Copyright information
Table of Contents
List of figures and tables
Notes on contributors
Preface
1 Introduction: history, problems, and theories of policy analysis in Argentina
Introduction
The field of administration and public policies: basic concepts
A general reconstruction of the field and styles of policy analysis
Towards a chronology of policy analysis in Argentina
The institutional development of policy analysis in Argentina
A Polaroid of policy analysis in Argentina today
Note
References
PART I The theories, styles, and methods of policy analysis
2 Public policies in complex societies: Argentina, a case of a cyclical society
Introduction
State, public policies, and development: methodologies and interpretative frameworks
A holistic analysis method
Cycles, agency, and power in development models
Multiscale analysis for understanding the public arena, development processes, and public policies
Conclusion
References
3 Policy analysis as a profession: the interaction between knowledge production and policy making
Introduction
The development of public policy analysis in Argentina: why contextualization matters
Theoretical framework and methodology
Individual trajectories for the generation of knowledge about the public policies in Argentina
Oscar Oszlak
Carlos Acuña
Nerio Neirotti
Carlos Vilas
Mabel Thwaites Rey
Conclusion
Note
References
4 The styles of policy analysis in Argentina: analytical frameworks in debate
Introduction
The creation of the “proto-model” and its dialogical ruptures
Dialogical break with sequential analysis and instrumental rationality
Dialogical rupture with critical theory and Marxism
Limitations and challenges from Marxism
The object of study: socially problematized issues
The protagonists of social problematization: actors, classes, and stakeholders
State positions: the state in its complexity
Conclusion
Notes
Acknowledgments
References
5 Prospective policy analysis: its development and application for Argentina
Introduction: Timeless concepts
About the state situation
Past imperfect
The vaporous present
Uncertain future
The orthodox view and the current dogma
Heterodox looks
The populist gaze: return to the future
Shifting heterodoxy: sinuous road
Conclusion: Time after time
Notes
References
PART II Policy analysis by governments
6 Policy analysis by the federal government: the contribution of the National Institute of Public Administration
Introduction
Timeline
Precedents, foundation, and first years (1951–1975)
Civil service under an authoritarian government (1976–1983)
The return to democracy (1984–1990)
The structural reforms (1991–2002)
Stability after a period of crises (2003–2016)
New reforms (2016–2021)
Structure and internal organization
Budget, staffing, and lecture hours
Budget
Staffing
Lecture hours
Relationship with other institutions
Conclusion
Notes
References
7 Policy analysis in the bureaucracy: the production of knowledge for professional public management training
Introduction
Public administration as a disciplinary field and scope of knowledge management
The segmentation processes of senior public management
To segment senior public management
The structure of the state in Argentina
Argentina’s civil service and senior public management
Training for senior public management in Argentina
General features of training for senior public management
Virtual training program for senior Latin American public management
Governance and Public Management Program
Conclusion
References
8 Policy analysis at the subnational level: an exploration of a collaborative governance model
Introduction
The construction of the analytical matrix for the diagnosis of organizational components for disaster risk management
Organizational components for disaster risk management in municipalities of the province of Córdoba: diagnosis and analysis
Organization
Financing
Planning
Governance
Human capital
Communication
Conclusion
References
9 Policy analysis in Argentine local governments: a growing, heterogeneous, and controversial field of study
Introduction
The institutionalization of local governments
Production about local management
Decentralization: a moment of approach to the theme
Local management: moment of “boom”
Capabilities and emerging issues: moment of diversification of production
Conclusion
Notes
References
10 Policy analysis at different levels of government: the managerial skills in leaders of policy networks in Argentina
Introduction
About networks
Network types
Management differences
The decision
Planning
Implementation
Staffing
Organizing
Our semi-structured questionnaire
The managerial skills of a collaborative network leader
Methodology
Answers analysis
Managerial skills of public policy administrators
How is the agenda-setting process of a public policy network?
How do they face the problems they choose?
How does a network learn?
How are problematic network members treated?
What is the greater obstacle that a network must face?
Do you want to add something else?
Conclusion
References
PART III Internal policy advisory councils, consultants, and committees
11 Government Administrators Corps in Argentina: a transformative initiative of internal consultants for public administration
Genesis
Rise
Training Program for Government Administrators
Stagnation
Academic contribution
Crisis
Agony
Conclusion
References
12 The Argentine Congress as an environment for public policy formulation: an analysis of its technical areas
Introduction
The technical areas of the Congress
The committees
The Parliamentary Information Office
The Congress Library
The Congress Budget Office
The areas of research and training
Factors conditioning the role of Congress in public policy matters
The low re-election rate of lawmakers and its impact on specialization
Delegation of powers to the executive branch
The lack of an administrative career
Accountability and access to public information
The Legislative Agency for Access to Public Information
Plain language in the legislative field
Conclusion
Notes
References
13 Policy analysis by national government advisory councils: knowledge production and its role in policy design and implementation
Introduction
Knowledge production in advisory bodies: a review of the literature
A look at the federal councils in Argentina
National Council for Quality in Education
Federal Health Council
National Council for the Coordination of Social Policies
The Federal Investment Council
Federal Social Security Council and the Social Security Secretariat
Conclusion
Note
References
PART IV Parties, private research centers, and interest group-based policy analysis
14 Policy analysis in professional organizations: the contribution of the Argentine Association of Public Administration Studies
Introduction
The Argentine Association of Public Administration Studies in the world of civil society organizations
Organization of the Argentine Association of Public Administration Studies
Main activities
Congresses
Publications
Public Administration Career Network
Documents
Integration of the Advisory Council of the National Integrity Strategy
Federal chapters
Conclusion
Notes
Acknowledgements
References
15 Policy analysis by parties: political cadres formation and training for the public management in Argentina
Introduction
Theoretical-methodological details of the study
The state turns to universities for the education and training of cadres
The role of political parties in the formation and training of cadres
The creation of state agencies
Conclusion
Notes
References
16 Democratic governance and the role of think tanks in the public policy cycle in Argentina
Introduction
The return of democracy in Argentina: an opportunity to (re)build citizenship
Think tanks, roles, and functions in the Argentine institutional political ecosystem
From words to action – think tanks in practice: advocacy, public service, and internationalization
Conclusion
Notes
References
17 Policy analysis in private research centers: the Center for the Study of State and Society and its production on state and public policies in Argentina
Introduction
Basic theoretical and methodological guidelines
The Center for the Study of State and Society as an institution
Towards a critical view of the links between modernization and democracy
State and public policies
State theory and history: the process of state building
Towards a theory of state bureaucracy
Military dictatorship and urban policies
The challenges of the exponential era
Conclusion
Notes
References
PART V Academics, teaching, and policy analysis in universities
18 Academic policy analysis: the development of production in public administration and policy studies in Argentina (2001–2019)
Introduction
Methodology
Results
Conclusion
Notes
References
19 Emergence and development of public policies training tracks in Argentine universities
Introduction
Notes on the process of institutionalization of the studies of public policies in Argentine universities
The study of public policies in Argentina: a brief account of the current educational offers of graduate and postgraduate courses
Public policies and the offering of graduate programs
Public policies and the offering of postgraduate programs
Conclusion
Notes
References
20 Postgraduate university training in public administration, management, and public policy in Argentina: structure and distribution in the period 1990–2017
Introduction
Theoretical and methodological framework
Programs by sector and geographical distribution
Dynamics of the educational offer in the field of public administration
Provision structure of the educational levels by formats and content subjects
Specialist degree programs
Master’s degrees
Doctorate
Overall status of postgraduate degrees
Conclusion
Notes
Acknowledgements
References
21 Policy analysis at the universities: teaching comparative public administration with a Latin American perspective
Introduction
A repetitive story
Comparative public administration under critique
Cultural ethnocentricity of comparative public administration
Teaching how to compare
Towards broader approaches to comparative public administration
State formation and institution-building
Comparing public policies
Comparing organizational structures
Human resource administration
General profile of public servants
Statistical and quantitative aspects
Comparing organizational performance
Comparisons against a standard value
Conclusion
Notes
References
Index

Citation preview

INTERNATIONAL LIBRARY OF POLICY ANALYSIS SERIES EDITORS: IRIS GEVA-MAY & MICHAEL HOWLETT

POLICY ANALYSIS IN

Argentina

Edited by Nelson Cardozo and Pablo Bulcourf



POLICY ANALYSIS IN ARGENTINA



International Library of Policy Analysis Series editors: Iris Geva-May, Simon Fraser University, Canada and Carleton University, Canada and Michael Howlett, Simon Fraser University, Canada This major series brings together for the first time a detailed examination of the theory and practice of policy analysis systems in a specific country. It therefore provides a key addition to research and teaching in comparative policy analysis and policy

Each volume includes a history of the country’s policy analysis well as the country in question. In doing so, the books in the series provide the data and empirical case studies essential for instruction and for further research in the area. They also include expert analysis evolution and operation. Volumes in the series include the following countries: Australia • Belgium • Brazil • Canada • Colombia • Czech Republic • France • Germany • Ireland • Israel • Japan • Mexico • South Korea • Spain • Taiwan • Thailand • The Netherlands • Turkey • USA They build into an essential library of key reference works. The series will be of interest to academics and students in public policy, public administration and management, comparative politics and government, public organisations and individual policy areas. It will also interest people working in the countries in question and internationally. Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis. See more at comparativepolicy.org/about-jcpa-icpa-forum/ or at policy. bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/international-library-of-policy-analysis.

POLICY ANALYSIS IN ARGENTINA Edited by Nelson Cardozo and Pablo Bulcourf

International Library of Policy Analysis,Vol 20

First published in Great Britain in 2023 by Policy Press, an imprint of Bristol University Press University of Bristol 1–​9 Old Park Hill Bristol BS2 8BB UK t: +​44 (0)117 374 6645 e: bup-​[email protected] Details of international sales and distribution partners are available at policy.bristoluniversitypress.co.uk © Bristol University Press 2023 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 978-​1-​4473-​6490-​0 hardcover ISBN 978-1-4473-6491-7 ePub ISBN 978-1-4473-6492-4 ePdf The right of Nelson Cardozo and Pablo Bulcourf to be identified as editors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved: no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission of Bristol University Press. Every reasonable effort has been made to obtain permission to reproduce copyrighted material. If, however, anyone knows of an oversight, please contact the publisher. The statements and opinions contained within this publication are solely those of the editors and contributors and not of the University of Bristol or Bristol University Press. The University of Bristol and Bristol University Press disclaim responsibility for any injury to persons or property resulting from any material published in this publication. Bristol University Press and Policy Press work to counter discrimination on grounds of gender, race, disability, age and sexuality. Cover design: Qube Design Front cover image: iStock Bristol University Press and Policy Press use environmentally responsible print partners. Printed in Great Britain by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon, CR0 4YY

Contents List of figures and tables Notes on contributors Preface 1

vii ix xiii

Introduction: history, problems, and theories of policy analysis in Argentina Nelson Cardozo and Pablo Bulcourf

PART I The theories, styles, and methods of policy analysis 2 Public policies in complex societies: Argentina, a case of a cyclical society Daniel García Delgado 3 Policy analysis as a profession: the interaction between knowledge production and policy making Cristina Díaz, Silvio A. Crudo, and María del Mar Monti 4 The styles of policy analysis in Argentina: analytical frameworks in debate Mabel Thwaites Rey and Vanesa Ciolli 5 Prospective policy analysis: its development and application for Argentina Horacio Cao and Gustavo Blutman PART II Policy analysis by governments 6 Policy analysis by the federal government: the contribution of the National Institute of Public Administration Juan Ignacio Doberti, Dante Sabatto, and Melina J. Levy 7 Policy analysis in the bureaucracy: the production of knowledge for professional public management training Maximiliano Campos Ríos 8 Policy analysis at the subnational level: an exploration of a collaborative governance model Silvia E. Fontana and Sofía Conrero 9 Policy analysis in Argentine local governments: a growing, heterogeneous, and controversial field of study Rita M. Grandinetti 10 Policy analysis at different levels of government: the managerial skills in leaders of policy networks in Argentina Alejandro M. Estévez

v

1

21

41

56

74

91

105

119

133

151

Policy Analysis in Argentina PART III Internal policy advisory councils, consultants, and committees 11 Government Administrators Corps in Argentina: a transformative 173 initiative of internal consultants for public administration Gerardo Izzo and Luz Piraino Martínez 12 The Argentine Congress as an environment for public policy 187 formulation: an analysis of its technical areas Natalia Staiano and Pablo Lozada Castro 13 Policy analysis by national government advisory councils: 199 knowledge production and its role in policy design and implementation Nelson Cardozo and Paola Ferrari PART IV Parties, private research centers, and interest group-​based policy analysis 14 Policy analysis in professional organizations: the contribution of the Argentine Association of Public Administration Studies Diego Pando and Adrián Darmohraj 15 Policy analysis by parties: political cadres formation and training for the public management in Argentina Melina Guardamagna 16 Democratic governance and the role of think tanks in the public policy cycle in Argentina Gonzalo Diéguez and Demian González Chmielewski 17 Policy analysis in private research centers: the Center for the Study of State and Society and its production on state and public policies in Argentina Pablo Bulcourf PART V Academics, teaching, and policy analysis in universities 18 Academic policy analysis: the development of production in public administration and policy studies in Argentina (2001–​2019) Exequiel Rodríguez and Anabela Rosconi 19 Emergence and development of public policies training tracks in Argentine universities Natalia Galano and Guillermina Curti 20 Postgraduate university training in public administration, management, and public policy in Argentina: structure and distribution in the period 1990–​2017 Karina Montes, Gabriela Mansilla, and Sergio L. Agoff 21 Policy analysis at the universities: teaching comparative public administration with a Latin American perspective Oscar Oszlak Index

217

230

242

259

279

297

311

328

356

vi

List of figures and tables Figures 5.1 6.1 6.2 6.3 7.1

7.2 9.1 11.1 11.2 13.1 14.1 14.2 18.1

18.2 18.3 18.4 18.5 18.6 20.1 21.1 21.2 21.3

Graphic representation of our state approach Budget evolution (1995–​2021) Number of employees per year (1995–​2016) Lecture hours per year (1995–​2016) Senior public management organizational structure –​centralized public administration: number of units according to their organizational hierarchy Exceptionality in the Argentine senior public management Stages of local government production Training Program for Government Administrators calls for applications Government Administrator documents by subject area People who completed the initial COVID-​19 vaccination protocol, July 10, 2022 Presentations according to line of research Type of institution of the speakers Proportion of specific papers on administration and public policies over the total, in Argentine Society of Political Analysis congresses Percentage of papers by line of research, within the field of administration and public policies Proportion of research lines, according to congress Number of papers by line of research per year Number of papers by line of research, by gender of the first author Number of papers by line of research, according to type of institution Number of programs created in the period 1990–​2022 State’s configurations of Philip Morgan Configurations of Philip Morgan according to professionalism and responsiveness Configurations of Philip Morgan according to type of state

75 99 100 101 111

113 138 175 180 207 223 224 286

287 288 289 290 291 316 343 343 344

Tables 1.1 1.2 5.1 5.2 7.1

Stages of policy analysis Stages of policy analysis in Argentina Configurations, intervention patterns, and governance models in Argentina (1880–​2015) Outline of future scenarios Forbes magazine’s ranking, 1987 versus 2022 vii

7 13 76 86 107

Policy Analysis in Argentina 7.2 8.1

13.1 13.2 13.3 14.1 15.1 16.1 16.2 16.A1 18.1 18.2 18.3 18.4 18.5 20.1 20.2 20.3 20.4 20.5 20.6 21.1 21.2

Structure of the national public administration Organizational dimensions and components for the diagnosis and assessment of the incorporation of international frameworks for disaster risk management in local governments Stages in the creation of federal councils The National Council for the Coordination of Social Policies: technical production Social Security statistical publications Argentine Association of Public Administration Studies publications Theoretical matrix for the study of the state policy oriented to the formation and training of technical-​political cadres Content variables Structure variables Civil society organisations and think tanks Congresses surveyed and sources of information used Number of papers analyzed per Argentine Association of Public Administration Studies congress Number of papers analyzed per Argentine Society of Political Analysis congress Number of papers according to areas of knowledge per congress Number of papers by line of research, according to province Current academic provisions according to sectors and geography Format and content: sublevel specialist degree program Format and content: specialist degree program (public/​private) Format and content: sublevel master’s degrees Format and content: master’s degrees (public/​private) Format and content: total postgraduate degrees (public/​private) Configuration of civil service systems in Ferrel Heady Age of public servants according to level of government

viii

110 122

204 208 211 225 232 248 250 257 282 282 283 285 293 315 318 319 321 322 324 342 346

Notes on contributors Sergio L. Agoff is Professor and Researcher in the area of state, government, and public administration at the Instituto del Conurbano of the Universidad Nacional de General Sarmiento and Coordinator of the University Network of Careers in Administration and Public Policy. Gustavo Blutman is Regular Professor and Researcher in the Faculty of Economics, Universidad de Buenos Aires. Pablo Bulcourf is Regular Professor and Researcher at the Universidad Nacional de Quilmes, Professor at the University of Buenos Aires, and Co-​chair of the Research Group on History of Political Science in Latin America in the Latin American Association of Political Science. Maximiliano Campos Ríos is Professor and Researcher at the Universidad de Buenos Aires and an international consultant on issues related to public administration. Horacio Cao is Member of the Corps of Government Administrators and Professor at the Universidad Nacional de Tres de Febrero. Nelson Cardozo is Professor and Researcher at the Universidad Argentina de la Empresa and the Universidad de Buenos Aires, and is Co-​chair of the Comparative Public Policy Research Group in the Latin American Association of Political Science. Vanesa Ciolli is Professor and Researcher at the Faculty of Social Sciences, Universidad de Buenos Aires. Sofía Conrero is Professor and Researcher at Faculty of Political Science and International Relations, Universidad Católica de Córdoba. Silvio A. Crudo is Professor and Researcher at the Faculty of Political Science and International Relations Faculty, Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Guillermina Curti is Professor and Researcher at the Faculty of Political Science and International Relations Faculty, Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Adrián Darmohraj is Professor and Researcher at the Center for a Culture of Security of the Business School of the Universidad de San Andrés, Professor at the Universidad de General Sarmiento and other Argentine universities, and a specialist in public policies, safety culture, and human factors in risk prevention. ix

Policy Analysis in Argentina

María del Mar Monti is Professor and Researcher at the Faculty of Political Science and International Relations Faculty, Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Cristina Díaz is Professor and Researcher at the Faculty of Political Science and International Relations Faculty, Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Gonzalo Diéguez is Director of the Public Management program of the Center for the Implementation of Public Policies for Equity and Growth, Professor and Researcher at the Universidad de Buenos Aires, and Postgraduate Professor at the Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia San Juan Bosco, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, and Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Juan Ignacio Doberti is Director of Research and Publications at the National Institute of the Public Administration and Professor at the Universidad de Buenos Aires. His research and teaching interests center on education administration and financing, with a focus on the public sector. Alejandro M. Estévez is Professor and Researcher at the Universidad de Buenos Aires, Universidad Torcuato Di Tella, and Universidad Nacional de Lomas de Zamora, and is Director of the Center of Studies of State and Public Organizations at the Universidad de Buenos Aires. Paola Ferrari is Professor and Researcher at the Universidad Argentina de la Empresa and the Universidad de Buenos Aires, and Professor at the Universidad Nacional de Lanús, Universidad Abierta Interamericana, and the Universidad de Morón. Silvia E. Fontana is Professor and Researcher at the Faculty of Political Science and International Relations, Universidad Católica de Córdoba. Natalia Galano is Professor and Researcher at the Faculty of Political Science and International Relations Faculty, Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Daniel García Delgado is Researcher at the National Scientific and Technical Research Council, and Professor and Researcher at the Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales and the Universidad de Buenos Aires. Demian González Chmielewski is Coordinator of the Public Management Program at the Center for the Implementation of Public Policies for Equity and Growth and Professor at the Universidad de Buenos Aires. Rita M. Grandinetti is PoliLabUNR Director at the Faculty of Political Science and International Relations Faculty, Universidad Nacional de Rosario.

x

Notes on contributors

Melina Guardamagna is Researcher at the National Scientific and Technical Research Council and Professor and Researcher at the Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Gerardo Izzo is Professor and Researcher at the Universidad de Buenos Aires and the Universidad Nacional de la Plata. He has been working in the governmental field since 2005, specializing in aspects related to public policies, security, and training. Melina J. Levy is Researcher in the Direction of Research and Publications at the National Institute of Public Administration of Argentina, focused on public policy and electoral systems. Pablo Lozada Castro is Professor at the Universidad de Buenos Aires, Advisor to the Senate of the Nation, and Director of Research Programs of the Honorable Senate of the Nation between 2016 and 2019. Gabriela Mansilla is Professor and Researcher in the area of state, government, and public administration at the Instituto del Conurbano of the Universidad Nacional de General Sarmiento. Karina Montes is Assistant Professor and Researcher in the area of state, government, and public administration at the Instituto del Conurbano of the Universidad Nacional de General Sarmiento. Oscar Oszlak is Main Research at the Centro de Estudios de Estado y Sociedad. Diego Pando is Professor and Researcher at the Faculty of Public Policy and Government-​Universidad Metropolitana para la Educación y el Trabajo and the Universidad de San Andrés, and is President of the Argentine Association of Public Administration Studies. Luz Piraino Martínez is Professor at the Universidad de Buenos Aires, specializing in public policies, gender, and education. Exequiel Rodríguez is Researcher (PoliLabUNR) at the Faculty of Political Science and International Relations Faculty, Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Anabela Rosconi is Researcher (PoliLabUNR) at the Faculty of Political Science and International Relations Faculty, Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Dante Sabatto is Researcher at the Direction of Research and Publications of the National Institute of the Public Administration. His research focuses on

xi

Policy Analysis in Argentina

decentralization and federalism, intergovernmental relations, and the geographical distribution of public resources. Natalia Staiano is Researcher and Trainer at the National Institute of Public Administration, Postgraduate Professor of the Executive Program in Legislative Analysis at the Universidad Católica Argentina and of the Diploma in Legislative Drafting at the Universidad de Buenos Aires. Mabel Thwaites Rey is Professor and Researcher at the Faculty of Social Sciences, Universidad de Buenos Aires.

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Preface This volume on Argentina brings the International Library of Policy Analysis to the southern end of the world. Therefore, we wanted to narrate how Argentines theorize, think, and implement policies, in this vast country of more than 46 million people. The editors would like to thank Iris Geva-​May and Michael Howlett for giving us this great opportunity to show Argentina’s public policy field to the world. For several years, we have been researching the history and development of policy analysis in different institutions in the country. With this in mind, it is necessary to mention the Universidad Nacional de Quilmes, the Universidad de Buenos Aires, the Universidad Argentina de la Empresa, the Universidad de El Salvador, and the Universidad de San Isidro, which provided us the institutional support to develop these studies. We would like to acknowledge the accompaniment of organizations, such as the Asociación Argentina de Estudios de la Administración Pública and the Sociedad Argentina de Análisis Político. The role of the Instituto Nacional de la Administración Pública has been central, not only in the incorporation of some of its researchers in the project but also in the constant collaboration in bibliographic and documentation matters. The Universidad Nacional de Rosario and its Facultad de Ciencia Política y Relaciones Internacionales have supplied us with an excellent forum for discussion in times of pandemics. Also, the Archivo General de la Nación granted its facilities for the last workshop of the project. Nelson Cardozo and Pablo Bulcourf Buenos Aires July 2022

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1

Introduction: history, problems, and theories of policy analysis in Argentina Nelson Cardozo and Pablo Bulcourf

Introduction In this collective work, we try to account for the development of the field of administration and public policy in Argentina. We follow the general criteria that the collection of the Bristol University Press has been doing since 2015. The characteristics of this space articulate mainly scientific-​academic issues as well as the political process itself of last instance decision-​making, one of the elements that give it a certain complexity and constitute a distinctive feature. We can subscribe to much of the present work within the tradition of the so-​ called “disciplinary studies” in the social sciences (Ravecca, 2019; Bulcourf, 2021). These were strongly developed in Latin America during the last 20 years, providing new theoretical and methodological aspects to account for the history and development of disciplines such as political science and sociology. In the specific case of this book, all its authors are specialists in the area and largely were its builders since the 1970s. This gives the text a strong reflexive character, becoming in many cases a kind of autoethnography (Giddens, 1993). The selection of topics also expresses the complex web of social relations and institutions that make nodes in the space of administration and public policies (Latour, 2005). This goes beyond the university sphere and state organizations and civil society. The temporal dimension is a central element that gives meaning to our analysis. For this reason, it is necessary to approach these studies with a basic historiographic criterion, which is to some extent the aim of our introductory work. Argentina is a country with a vast territory and a federal regime. Despite this, there are enormous asymmetries in the distribution of its population, activities, and resources. The Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, the capital of the republic, and its suburbs concentrate almost 15 million people (the country’s population being 46 million), therefore, it is the most important center of decision-​making, but also a concentration of universities, research centers, and civil society organizations. Despite this, over time, other important centers for our study have developed around the cities of Rosario, Cordoba, and Mendoza. We can recognize this in the selection of authors and their institutional affiliations. This is a central feature of Policy Analysis in Argentina. Another aspect is the diversity of theoretical orientations and methodological strategies that they have expressed throughout their intellectual trajectory, demonstrated in each of the chapters. 1

Policy Analysis in Argentina

Our introductory study constitutes a guiding string that threads each piece, allowing us to build a general idea of the development of the field as well as to provide a broader and more coherent reflective sense. We should understand each chapter in its setting within this general vision, which also gives it a certain autonomy as a gem within a piece of goldsmith’s work. Likewise, the book as a whole is part of the International Library of Policy Analysis series, providing an integral vision of the field of administration and public policy in the world. This series, which began with the volume on Brazil in 2013, ten years ago, already has three books on Latin America, with the works on Mexico and Colombia. This serves as a starting point for more focused and in-​depth work but provides a general overview that will be fed back with future contributions. The book is divided into five parts: Part I, “The theories, styles, and methods of policy analysis”, brings together four papers that reflect on the conceptual creations that exist in policy studies in our country. Part II, “Policy analysis by governments”, includes five chapters that investigate how knowledge is generated at different levels of government in Argentina (national, provincial, and local). Part III, “Internal policy advisory councils, consultants, and committees”, covers three chapters on the production of knowledge for policy analysis in the different committees and advisory bodies of the state. The last two parts focus on “outside” the state and how knowledge is produced in civil society and academia. Part IV, “Parties, private research centers, and interest group-​based policy analysis”, condenses four chapters on knowledge production within civil society; and finally Part V, “Academics, teaching, and policy analysis in universities”, retrieves the policy analysis developed by academics and researchers in our country. Much of the work of this book was carried out during the COVID-​19 pandemic, which constituted a great challenge for articulation (Bulcourf and Cardozo, 2020; García Delgado, 2020; Feierstein, 2021). Several synchronous meetings were held through teleconferencing platforms. We have also held two in person workshops in November 20211 in the city of Rosario, during the National Congress of Political Science of the Argentine Society of Political Analysis sponsored jointly with the Faculty of Political Science and International Relations of the Universidad Nacional de Rosario, and another in May 2022 at the General Archive of the Nation. We were able to experience in our professional practice the effects of the “exponential era” as the experience of remote work (Oszlak, 2020). For its part, the National Institute of Public Administration (INAP) has given us constant support with access to its library, documentary sources, and valuable human resources.

The field of administration and public policies: basic concepts Policy analysis in our country is an interdisciplinary field. As far as the academic tradition in Argentina is concerned, we should call it in a broader sense, including contributions to the theory of the state. This is present in the convening of 2

Introduction

most of the congresses and events such as the one held every two years by the Argentine Association of Public Administration Studies, which brings together specialists in the area. At the beginning of the 20th century, this type of studies was indebted to public law, mainly administrative law. Subsequently, other sciences became interested in the subject, such as economics and administrative sciences, something that also happened in other countries such as Mexico. In the 1960s, the strong deployment of sociology oriented by the theory of modernization provided very important elements for this kind of studies, also guiding aspects of public management of developmentalist models. Towards the end of that decade and the following one, political science showed a large growth, and these topics were considered an area within the discipline. This allowed the introduction of systemic and functionalist traditions as well as political science neo-​Marxism. On the other hand, the echo of a specific science of policy analysis was expressed in the country, leading to the creation of the first degree at the Universidad de El Salvador in 1971, although closely linked to that of political science. For this reason, our vision is more articulated with the concept of “field”. We understand this as the confluence of different knowledge, and practices around a problematic object (Bourdieu, 1971, 1988). This is how the disciplines we have mentioned converge in it, allowing the construction of an inter-​and transdisciplinary space. The concept of public policy style articulates the vision or theory of public policy, the methodology (for studying, implementing, and evaluating it) with the piece “in itself ”, that is, each public policy. This idea is indebted to the history of art, that is, “artistic style” (Panofsky, 1955, 1991; Argan, 1973, 1998). Therefore, the context of its production also needs to be taken into account in any analysis. It also has a normative (ethical) aspect as the work of art (aesthetic) that marks the “sense” of public policy. This has a strong valuational and ideological aspect, which is also an essential element for its evaluation (Van Dijk, 1998). We cannot approach the concept of public policies without a conception of power, the raw material of all political construction. This is another central element in all theoretical traditions present in the social sciences and especially in political science and sociology. This in turn enables the analysis of the processes of political construction, legitimacy, and conflict (Lukes, 1974; Alford and Friedland, 1985). While we tend to appreciate this dimension in different social spheres, we must also analyze it in the scientific-​academic field itself (Bourdieu, 1971; Ravecca, 2019). The field of decision-​making tends to condense and endure in some form of “political unit”, whether in the historical (tribe, empire, fiefdom, nation-​state) or theoretical sense (government, political regime, state, political system, mode of regulation). Thus, we should understand our field of study in a broader context in the relationship between the state “and” society. We can take different general stages, such as the absolutist, liberal, welfare, and neoliberal state, but this must be adapted to the particularities of each country (Isuani, 1991; García Delgado, 2001; Bulcourf and Cardozo, 2021; Mazzuca, 2021). Thus, we will have an 3

Policy Analysis in Argentina

“internal history” linked to the scientific-​academic community and specialists in the subject, and an “external history” that conditions it by providing the political, social, economic, and cultural context (Lakatos, 1978). To observe this development in the scientific-​academic field, we propose to address the following four aspects. First, the actors; that is, people, individuals, and groups with their biography, actions, and founding values, since they are social agents producers, and reproducers of their practices with different degrees of awareness and freedom, but historically conditioned. Secondly, institutions, as spheres or spaces in which practices and the community produces and reproduces itself. These practices may be “teaching” or “research”, or privilege one role over the other –​at the same time, their public, private, governmental, or teaching character will determine the environment of their production. Third, products; that is, scientific documents that “materialize” in the form of journals, specialized books, communications and conference proceedings, research reports, and working papers, among others. Finally, networks are spaces for linking the scientific community itself and, sometimes, other areas of social life. Scientific-​professional associations constitute real links between institutions and actors. This work follows the scheme proposed by Bulcourf (Bulcourf, 2007; Bulcourf et al, 2015) and is part of the disciplinary studies of the Popayan Manifesto. We also propose reflexivity that goes beyond mere description and data collection. The different chapters of this book will emphasize some of these elements. Inquiring into the theoretical production and the different perspectives, paradigms, or approaches leads us to the need to elaborate metatheoretical elements that allow us to analyze the dimensions and structures present in the different conceptions developed around the state, administration, and public policies (Olivé, 1985; García Selgas, 1994; Zabludovsky, 1995).

A general reconstruction of the field and styles of policy analysis The study and training for public action have accompanied the history of humankind. Policy analysis is as old as civilization itself and includes many different forms of research, from mysticism to modern science. The most salient feature of this policy knowledge is its fundamentally practical orientation: knowledge is a guide to action rather than an end in itself. In other words, “the mood of policy analysis throughout history has been to provide information that could be used in the application of reasoned judgments to find solutions to practical problems” (Pérez Sánchez, 2005, p 33). In 1951, Harold Lasswell –​one of the most prominent US political scientists of the 20th century –​defined the disciplinary area of public administration in his intellectual project of the “policy sciences” (Lasswell, 1951). This author encouraged the creation of an applied field oriented to public management based on the use of methodologies from social disciplines (Pardo, 2004; Pérez Sánchez, 2005; Roth-​Deubel, 2010; Barukel, 2014; Fontaine, 2015; Camou 4

Introduction

and Pagani, 2017). In this sense, “policy analysis is an interdisciplinary academic area that emerged in the United States in the 1950s with the seminal work ‘The Policy Sciences’ by Harold Lasswell in 1951, focused on the subject of planning” (Ramió Matas, 2017, p 181). This movement has taken place in the central countries after World War II, so that “public administration”, policy sciences, or simply “public policy” is linked to the realities of Western industrialized democracies. Its intellectual production took the form of the creation of higher education programs on public administration and public policy, as well as the development of applied research on the subject. These sought to serve the European reconstruction project, the construction of a welfare state, and the strengthening of the new liberal democracies imposed with the victory of the Allied bloc. This new scenario required social engineering with centralized planning of the economy –​the Keynesian facet of the state –​and the development of social policies (education, housing, social security, employment, and health) –​ a welfare state. The postwar period was the moment of consolidation of policy analysis as a field of knowledge since there was an alliance between expert knowledge and public action. Different schools and paradigms developed here, studying the moments of the policy process (agenda, formulation, decision, implementation, and impacts), while at the same time studies on global bureaucracies took place within the so-​called “development administration movement” (Heady, 1984). This optimism for programming and knowledge intelligence to solve public problems peaked first in the late 1960s and then in the first half of the 1970s. The events that triggered this disenchantment with policy cycle and rational planning were the failure of the Great Society programs (Aguilar Villanueva, 1993b) and then the deep oil crisis of 1973, which led to the period of stagflation that led to rethinking the welfare state (Habermas, 1976; Offe, 1984). The “New Right” that triumphed in the elections in the 1980s (in the UK and the US) proposed reforms to public administration by reducing the entrepreneurial role of governments and cutting social benefits, while simultaneously introducing mechanisms of private-​public management in the public sector, which would later be known as New Public Management. This mechanism sought to recover the lost legitimacy of public administrations in the eyes of citizens and, at the same time, to tackle the enormous public deficit by deepening the three virtuous “E’s”: Effectiveness, Efficiency, and Economy. The political pendulum to the right, in these terms, prioritized reform and fiscal adjustment policies over the expansion of social benefits that had been part of the postwar agreement (Peters, 2002; Muller et al, 2005). In the 1980s, in the central countries, the paradigm of the policy cycle went into crisis, giving rise to other approaches, such as the theory of public choice, neo-​institutionalism, managerialism, and other emerging schools such as the theory of policy networks. In the 1990s, the processes of state reform in Latin America, Eastern Europe, and Asia prompted a profusion of literature on bureaucracy, public organizations, and the new relations between state and 5

Policy Analysis in Argentina

society, which will have an enormous impact on the theoretical-​academic field. In this decade, the roots for contemporary theories of public policy were built (neo-​institutionalism, advocacy coalition framework, policy networks, punctuated equilibrium, policy diffusion, as well as the new approaches of Marxism, theories on populism, and stages model). Finally, with the crisis of neoliberal experiences, other postulates will emerge that will emphasize the participatory component necessary for the formulation of programs, the reaffirmation of minority rights, the accountability of governments to citizens, and the difficulties faced by public administrations in a globalized context where the nation-​state is no longer the central actor. Table 1.1 summarizes the process that policy analysis studies have undergone.

Towards a chronology of policy analysis in Argentina In Latin America, both the political scenario and the development of the social sciences have taken other paths. On the one hand, in our region, we did not have such a consolidated role of the welfare state, nor a process of resource mobilization such as World War II –​except for the modernizing projects of Varguism in Brazil or Peronism in Argentina –​or the European reconstruction carried out by the Marshall Plan. In Ibero-​America, the “juridicist” matrix and the weight of law gradually reduced the autonomy of the problems, theories, and competences of social science in the study of the state and the public sector. On the other hand, the tension between the incipient political science, Marxist sociology, and administration determined an institutional, normative, and structural vision for understanding the bureaucratic phenomenon and the public policy process (Amorim Neto and Santos, 2015). This path shows a link between political science, public law, and scientific administration. Bañón Martínez (1997) mentions that the “putative father[s]‌” of public administration are the sciences of business management –​among them management –​which bring a vocation for therapeutic pragmatism, new methodologies, and, above all, reinforce the disciplinary identity because they allow the use and importation of management techniques to the public sphere. This difficult struggle for autonomization resulted in a theoretical delay in public policy analysis (Fontaine, 2015). One of the main differences we found between the central countries and Latin America was the scope and limitations for public policy studies of the frameworks provided by the center. The theories of a systemic nature that spoke of the stages model –​compartmentalized into moments, each with its own explanatory theories (formation of public problems, agenda theories, decision theories, implementation models, and later evaluation and feedback) –​were marked by what we will call a “democratic assumption”. Thus, the rational model, bounded rationality, incrementalism, pluralism, administrative efficiency, and functionalism, among other approaches that flourished in the North, were not fertile when applied in our countries. 6

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Table 1.1: Stages of policy analysis Traditional public administration

Policy analysis

Managerialism

Governance

Period

1880–​1950

1950–​1980

1980–​2000

2000–​present

State type

Liberal-​Keynesian

Welfare state

Neoliberal state

Network state

Type of public policies

Hierarchical/​top-​down

Centralized/ ​homogeneous

Decentralized/​focused

Participatory

Intervention area

Security, justice, basic education

The entrepreneurial state, labor, and social policies

Subsidiary role of the state in economic and social policies; guarantor of macroeconomic stability and regulation of the private sector

Recognition of minority rights, citizen participation, social policies, and local development

Citizen

Legal citizen

Policy-​taker

Customer/​consumer

Policy co-​creator

Main problem

Bureaucratization; homogenization

Planning; rationality; equality

Economy; efficiency; legitimacy

Participation; inclusion; accountability

Relevant authors

Wilson; Weber; Willoughby; Waldo

Lasswell; Merriam; Lindblom; Dahl

Osborn; Gaebler; Niskanen; Organisation for Economic Co-​operation and Development; Centro Latinoamericano de Administración para el Desarrollo (CLAD)

Sabatier; Zahariadis; Peters; Ramió Matas; Roth-​Deubel

Paradigms

• Comprehensive sociology • Administrative law • Management sciences

• Policy sciences • Positivism • Functionalism • Incrementalism • Stages model • Neo-​Marxism • Development theory

• Public choice • Neo-​monetarism • Business administration • New Public Management • Neo-​institutionalism

• Policy network analysis • Advocacy coalition framework (ACF) • Punctuated equilibrium • Feminism • Multiple streams • Funnel of causality

Source: Cardozo (2020)

Introduction

7

Stage

Policy Analysis in Argentina

Concerning the external history of the field, we can see that the second half of the century was marked by social changes resulting from the processes of economic modernization and its demographic and cultural transformations. In the political sphere, we find that the Cold War marked international relations, given that the two great superpowers –​the US and the Soviet Union –​brought this conflict to the region, especially from the 1960s onwards with the Cuban issue. This situation made the fragile Latin American democracies that were being established in the region more complex and intertwined with new issues. Military governments alternated with weak democracies that failed to take root. Argentina, since 1930, was a particular case of political instability, alternating civilian governments with military dictatorships until 1983. To this, we have to add the ideological polarization with the Peronism–​Antiperonism cleavage that marked the political life of the country from the 1940s to the 1980s. Therefore, the models to understand policy making had to do more with explanations linked to other social sciences. In this sense, the social sciences, during their “golden age” in the 1960s and 1970s, provided a theoretical corpus to explain the policy process and the state in the region. The most eclectic contributions came from frameworks such as Gino Germani’s functionalism, the pessimistic hypotheses of modernization theory, which tried to understand Latin American authoritarianism through Huntington and O’Donnell’s models, Cardoso and Faletto’s dependency theory, or neo-​Marxism in its Latin American variant. These frameworks described the nature of the local bureaucratic apparatus or the process of decision-​making and implementation of public programs. In this sense, the imprint of sociology as an omnipresent macro-​ discipline marked the period with fire. In addition, in the 1970s: [D]‌ue to the restrictions on freedom of criticism against those political regimes, North American (Stepan, Skidmor) and European (Touraine, Rouquié) researchers emerged who specialized in theories of authoritarianism. They, with some Latin American intellectuals, especially influenced Argentine, Bolivian, Brazilian, Chilean, Colombian, Mexican, and Peruvian political scientists (Cardoso, Hinkelammert, Calderón, Garretón, Lechner, O’Donnel, Laclau, Weffort, Stavenhagen, Gonzalez Casanova, Quijano, Ianni). (Floriani, 2015, p 3) Thus, other disciplinary fields (such as sociology or economics) provided better explanations of the public policy process, in a context opposed to Northwestern liberal democracies. The military governments of our country had nothing to do with the pluralist democracy that US policy analysis had in mind. Thus, it was more fruitful to investigate aspects such as the peripheral character of capitalist state formations, the co-​optation of public agencies by the so-​called “bureaucratic rings”, or situations of “mass praetorianism” as explanatory factors of the course of governmental decisions. 8

Introduction

This interest in the frameworks of other disciplines (where we see a tension between law and sociology) led to a “relative delay”, which implied a lack of knowledge of public policy theories. In the 1970s, some academic leaders brought the contributions of public policies to the countries of the region, due to postgraduate student mobility in the northern countries. This influence produced a certain theoretical crossbreeding that, however, did not lead to a tradition identified with policy analysis. As far as this production is concerned, the first article that proposes the analysis of public policies is the paper by Oszlak and O’Donnell, “State and public policies in Latin America: Towards a research strategy”, presented at the meeting of the Latin American Studies Association in Atlanta in March 1976 (Oszlak and O’Donnell, 2007). This work had a great impact on the country and the region and was the theoretical framework of reference for research on public policy analysis based on the sequential approach. This document featured the so-​ called “proto-​verbal” model, which proposes the process by which governments arrive at decisions (public action as a dependent variable) taking into account the formation of the agenda and the formulation and sanctioning of the law. In addition, they add the subsequent moment of the policy as an independent variable –​looking at its impacts. This version considers the specificities of the state in Latin America with its authoritarian regimes and peripheral capitalist formations. The “eclectic” and “pragmatic” approach of this model –​ called “historical-​structural” –​ dialogued with neo-​Marxism, critical theories of modernization, and visions of social conflict from the decline of Parsonian structural-​functionalism. The fall of the Berlin Wall and the arrival of structural reform processes will mark a new moment in public policy studies. This started a new stage in the processes of academic production around the state and public policies. The so-​ called double transition –​political and economic –​occurred at different times. On the one hand, most countries established liberal democracies that met the requirements of polyarchies but characterized as “delegative” (O’Donnell, 1993). Argentina started down this path in 1983. The new democracy put the issue of civil service reforms on the public agenda, but the issue of the economic crisis left no time for reflection and the focus was on structural reform. The second transition –​the economic one –​ favored macroeconomic and adjustment measures, which included privatizations, deregulation of economic activities, de-​monopolization, and decentralization of governments. In this context, the production of the central countries began to spread. The stages model approach dominated until well into the 2000s. This situation was due to two factors. On the one hand, the legalistic and normative imprint in the view of policies centered on a legislative process derived from the Ibero-​American juridicist tradition. On the other hand, we found the importance of works in Spanish such as Subirats’ Análisis de Políticas Públicas y Eficacia en la Administración (Public Policy Analysis and Administrative Effectiveness), published in Spain in 1990. And later in 9

Policy Analysis in Argentina

1992, the translations of classic authors by Aguilar Villanueva in what became known as the “Antología de las políticas públicas” (Anthology of Public Policies) (Aguilar Villanueva, 1992, 1993a, 1993b, 1993c) appeared. Thus, the public policy syllabus of Argentina included in its literature classic texts from the second postwar period, following the “stage heuristic framework” that broke down public policy into “moments” or “phases”: the emergence of the problem, agenda, formulation of alternatives, decision-​making, implementation, and analysis of impacts. Since the 1990s, there has been an increase in the number of training courses in administration, management, and public policies –​at first linked to master’s degree programs –​and then undergraduate courses started. In other words, the processes of transformation of the relationship between the state and society generated interest in and need for training for the public sector that would go beyond the traditional legalistic vision of civil servants. Now legal professionals were no longer required to enforce the procedures of a rational-​legal state, based on processes, but the managerialist model demanded employees both qualified in administrative law and with knowledge of planning tools, design of public programs, leadership skills, and problem investigation. Speaking of scientific publications, the country’s most prestigious political science periodicals often receive papers on public policies in their flow. Among the specific journals, we can find Perspectivas de Políticas Públicas of the Universidad Nacional de Lanús, Revista Estado y Políticas Públicas of Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales (FLACSO), Administración Pública y Sociedad of the Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, and Estado Abierto of the National Institute of Administration Public (INAP). However, when it comes to evaluating the impact of public policy production in Argentina, we see that local journals have a very low presence compared to other regions. Although there are publications indexed in regional databases such as Scielo (Scientific Electronic Library Online) or Redalyc (Red de Revistas Científicas de América Latina y el Caribe), no publication has an impact in the Scopus or Web of Science directories. However, when we look at the teaching of policy analysis at Latin American universities, we see that the most cited author is Oscar Oszlak (Bentancur et al, 2021), with other regional and international authors included, such as Mabel Thwaites Rey, Guillermo O’Donnell, Mariano Tomassi, Emilio Graglia, and Andrea López.

The institutional development of policy analysis in Argentina In Argentina, the reflection on the state and public policies was linked to the development of the social sciences and the field of law, in its origin and initial period. The political project of the First Peronism (1946–​1955) made political education courses mandatory in all university curricula. The only educational program that incorporated it was the Universidad Nacional de Cuyo, in Mendoza city, which was the seed for the birth of the Political Science and Public Administration degree at this institution in 1952 (Guardamagna, 2008). This 10

Introduction

degree was strongly oriented to training specialized bureaucrats, with a strong emphasis on law and economics, but without adhering to the paradigms of the policy sciences taught in Global North countries. Then there was a brief experience at the Universidad de El Salvador in the city of Buenos Aires in the 1970s. This institution created a course in Public Administration that lasted only a few years. Political instability and lack of funding, together with the discontinuity of public programs, led to low receptivity and little linkage between academia and public administration. However, in 1973 the INAP began its activities, which took up President Frondizi’s project (1958–​ 1962) of the Instituto Superior de la Administración Pública, created in 1958 and dissolved in 1970 by the dictatorship that called itself the Argentine Revolution (1966–​1972). This organization sought to improve the training of government officials and research on public problems, and at the same time, it developed a meticulous work of document management and academic work on the subject of the state and civil service. On the other hand, during the years of the military dictatorship (1976–​1982), research was developed in private centers where the Centro de Estudios de Estado y Sociedad (CEDES) –​created in 1975 by Guillermo O’Donnell, Oscar Oszlak, Marcelo Cavarozzi, Eduardo Borneo, and Elizabeth Jelin –​stood out, with a strong eclectic and interdisciplinary approach. With democratization, in 1983, public policy training began to gain strength with President Alfonsín’s project (1983–​1989) that put democratic consolidation and improvement of public administration on the agenda (Bulcourf and Cardozo, 2010; Bulcourf et al, 2013). On the one hand, interest in political science as a discipline closely related to the improvement of government institutions returned. The Council for the Consolidation of Democracy and the Political Science program creation at the University of Buenos Aires in 1986 became the natural space for reflection on governance and the improvement of democratic institutions. On the other hand, there are two major milestones. First, we found the creation of the master’s degree in Public Administration at the School of Economic Sciences of the University of Buenos Aires in 1985. This program was financed by the Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (National Council for Scientific and Technical Research; CONICET) to grant scholarships to public employees taking the program with a full-​time course of study (Oszlak, 2000). Second, we observe the creation of the Corps of Government Administrators, following the model of the French National School of Administration. These civil servants should be highly specialized bureaucrats destined to occupy critical positions in public management, planning, advising, organizing, leading, and coordinating functions throughout the national public administration, in the areas and projects that the political authority considered to be of greater importance and priority. However, this project ended during Menem’s presidency (1989–​1999), and successive governments have made unsuccessful attempts to reformulate the administrative career and professionalize the civil service (Andrieu, 2002). Since the pro-​market reform processes of the 1990s (with privatizations, decentralization, deregulation, de-​monopolization, and reduction of the 11

Policy Analysis in Argentina

governmental apparatus), the public sector has been at the center of the debate. During this decade, postgraduate studies in public management continued to develop, and graduate programs in the area of state and public policy started their activity. The undergraduate programs in public administration thus became the center of training and reflection on this issue (Agoff, 2003). The creation of public administration programs in the 1990s at the Universidad Nacional de General San Martín, the Universidad Nacional de Tres de Febrero, the Universidad Nacional de General Sarmiento –​all in Greater Buenos Aires –​and the Public Administration program at the University of Comahue, in Viedma, are proposed as training degree programs oriented to public management.

A Polaroid of policy analysis in Argentina today In recent years, the number of degree programs has increased, reaching 12 undergraduate degrees in the area of Administration and Public Policy in Argentina, and we see the creation of the first two undergraduate university programs in privately managed colleges (Cardozo, 2017; Agoff et al, 2020). In 2009, the degree in Public Policy and Administration began at the Universidad Argentina de la Empresa; while in 2014, enrollment for the degree in Public Policy and Government was opened at the Universidad Metropolitana para la Educación y el Trabajo. The area of undergraduate courses in administration and public policy is relatively behind the master’s degrees and specialization in terms of consolidation due to the recent emergence of this new field of undergraduate teaching. However, from the analysis of the offer of generalist master’s degrees in administration, management, and public policies, we find a certain balance. We can count 16 master’s degrees, eight specializations, and –​not least –​ underdevelopment at the doctoral level with three programs: the Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, the Universidad Nacional del Litoral, and the Universidad Nacional de General San Martín (since 2023). However, in a qualitative evaluation, we see that the weight of the master’s programs is very strong, given that some of them started several decades ago, such as the master’s degree in Public Administration at the Universidad de Buenos Aires, the Universidad Torcuato Di Tella, or the Universidad de San Andrés. These programs have a great institutionalization and tradition of training professionals in the area. On the other hand, postgraduate programs have a greater geographical coverage at the federal level, unlike undergraduate programs, which have a strong anchorage in the metropolitan region of Buenos Aires. Table 1.2 shows the main features of this institutional development of the field. As far as research is concerned, we find more and more specialized production and centers, both in the national universities –​the Universidad de Buenos Aires, Universidad Nacional de Rosario, Universidad Católica de Córdoba, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Universidad Torcuato Di Tella, Universidad Nacional de Cuyo and Universidad Nacional de Entre Ríos stand out –​and in CONICET, with its annual admission of researchers in the area. Among the private centers, 12

Introduction Table 1.2: Stages of policy analysis in Argentina Stage

Features

Relevant aspects

1952–​1983

Training of specialized bureaucrats Peronism Embryonic and isolated experience Institutional discontinuity Private centers Tension between sociology and law

Degree in Political Science and Public Administration at the UNCUYO (1952) BA in Public Administration at the University of El Salvador (1971) Reflection on the state, the political regime, and structural factors in policy analysis

1983–​1990

Democratization Concern for the civil service Articulation between agencies and universities

Postgraduate studies Creation of the master’s degree in Public Policy at the Di Tella Institute and the master’s degree in Public Administration at the Universidad de Buenos Aires Articulation between expert knowledge and civil service

1990–​1996

State reform Graduate degree accreditation and thesis requirement

Growth of postgraduate programs Production on state reform Predominance of the policy cycle as theory

1996–​present

New state reform Crisis of the neoliberal model

Creation of degree programs oriented to public management Emergence of degree programs in private universities Consolidation of thematic areas Specialized journals Growth in the number of researchers

CEDES and the Centro de Implementación de Políticas Públicas para la Equidad y el Crecimiento (CIPPEC) are particularly relevant. Along with the leadership of Oscar Oszlak in the consolidation of the subdiscipline, we find a large number of professors and researchers. We can mention Aldo Isuani, Marcelo Cavarozzi, Pedro Andrieu, Cristina Díaz, Carlos Acuña, Mario Krieger, Carlos Vilas, Mabel Thwaites Rey, Alberto Bonifacio, Eduardo Salas, Walter Cueto, Daniel García Delgado, Gustavo Badía, Rita Grandinetti, Julián Bertranou, Luciano Andrenacci, Horacio Cao, Antonio Camou, Guillermo Schweinheim, Fabián Repetto, Emilio Graglia, Nerio Neirotti, and Sergio Agoff, among others, who lead teams throughout Argentina, some of them authors of the chapters of this book. Finally, it is worth mentioning the Asociación Argentina de Estudios de la Administración Pública (Argentine Association of Public Administration Studies), which has become the main network among different actors who have public administration in common as a field of interest, a subject of research, study and teaching, and a field of labor, professional, political, and trade union performance. As of 2022, the Association has held ten public administration conferences in which it seeks to build a bridge between public management at all levels and 13

Policy Analysis in Argentina

the academic world. In this sense, a group of members of this association –​ together with colleagues from the Centro de Investigaciones en Administración Pública, CIPPEC, the Asociación de Administradores Gubernamentales, and the Asociación Argentina de Presupuesto y Administración Financiera Pública –​ prepared a document titled Consensus for a Professional Public Function. This space seeks to contribute to the dialogue with concrete proposals to solve the historical problem of professionalization and public employment in the different branches and levels of government. The Consensus is a bridge between expert knowledge and improvements in state capacities. In the different chapters, we could appreciate the historical development and analysis of the main topics that allow us to understand the field of administration and public policies in Argentina. To do so, we outlined its main actors, production, networks, and institutions as well as the problems addressed in recent decades. Note 1

We would especially like to thank Pablo Fontdevila, Gustavo Sibilla, and Natalia Báez for their collaboration and support. During these last decades we have developed the field of disciplinary studies in Latin America in constant dialogue with Paulo Ravecca, Sergio Angel Baquero, Víctor Alarcón Olguín, Arturo Fernández, David Altman, Cecilia Lesgart, Enrique Gutiérrez Márquez, Karla Valverde Viesca, Héctor Zamitiz, Fabiano Santos, Rafael Machado Madeira, Adriano Codato, Nastassja Rojas Silva, Patricia Muñoz Yi, Paulo Peres, Fernando Barrientos del Monte, José Viacava Gatica, Carmen Roqueñi, Nicolás Bentacur, Julián Caicedo Ortiz, Santiago Leyva Botero, and Julián Cuellar Argote, among others. Most of them are members of the Research Group on History of Political Science of the Latin American Association of Political Science. With regard to studies on the state and public administration and policies, the participants in this book and many of the Latin American colleagues mentioned have had a constant and fruitful dialogue.

References Agoff, S. (2003) ‘Algunos problemas acerca de la emergencia del campo disciplinario y la formación en administración pública en Argentina’, Proceedings of the Congreso Latinoamericano de Educación Superior en el siglo XXI: 1–​14, San Luis: Universidad Nacional de San Luis. Agoff, S., Mansilla, G., Fagundez, P., Cousillas, N., Montes, K., and Barrau Vera, M.P. (2020) Mapa de la formación universitaria en administración pública en la Argentina. Su formación en 2006 y en 2017, Los Polvorines: Universidad Nacional de General Sarmiento. Aguilar Villanueva, L.F. (ed) (1992) El estudio de las políticas públicas, Mexico City: Miguel Ángel Porrúa. Aguilar Villanueva, L.F. (ed) (1993a) La hechura de las políticas públicas, Mexico City: Miguel Ángel Porrúa. Aguilar Villanueva, L.F. (ed) (1993b) La implementación de las políticas, Mexico City: Miguel Ángel Porrúa. Aguilar Villanueva, L.F. (1993c) ‘Estudio Introductorio’, in L.F. Aguilar Villanueva (ed), Problemas públicos y agenda de gobierno, Mexico City: Miguel Ángel Porrúa, pp 15–​71 14

Introduction

Alford, R. and Friedland, R. (1985) Powers of Theory: Capitalism, the State and Democracy, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Amorim Neto, O. and Santos, F. (2015) ‘La ciencia política en Brasil en la última década: La nacionalización y la lenta superación del parroquialismo’, Revista de Ciencia Política, 35(1): 19–​31. Andrieu, P. (2002) ‘Equilibrio entre la visión de los posgrados y las necesidades del Sector Público: Tensión entre Coyuntura y Prospectiva en la formación’, in Seminario Nacional Sobre Posgrados Con Orientación en Políticas Públicas, Buenos Aires: INAP. Argan, G. (1973) El concepto del espacio arquitectónico desde el barroco a nuestros días, Buenos Aires: Nueva Visión. Argan, G. (1998) L’Arte Moderno, Florence: Sansoni. Bañón Martínez, R. (1997) ‘Los enfoques para el estudio de la administración pública: orígenes y tendencias actuales’, in R. Bañón Martínez and E. Carrillo (eds), La Nueva Administración Pública, Madrid: Alianza, pp 1–​16. Barukel, A. (2014) ‘¿Una nueva etapa en el estudio de las políticas públicas?’, in C. Díaz, N. Galano, and G. Curti (eds), Miradas de políticas públicas. Cómo se enseña y aprende el análisis de políticas en América Latina, Rosario: Universidad Nacional de Rosario, pp 197–​223. Bentancur, N., Bidegain, G., and Martínez, R. (2021) ‘La enseñanza de las políticas públicas en América Latina: estado de la situación y desafíos para la ciencia política.’, Íconos. Revista de Ciencias Sociales, XXIV(71): 7–​29. https://​ doi.org/​https://​doi.org/​10.17141/​ico​nos.71.2021.4800 Bourdieu, P. (1971) ‘Champ du pouvoir, champ intellectuel et habitus de classe’, Scoliés, 1: 7–​26. Bourdieu, P. (1988) Homo academicus, Redwood City: Stanford University Press. Bulcourf, P. (2007) ‘Las nieves del tiempo platearon mi sien: reflexiones sobre la historia de la ciencia política en la Argentina’, Sociedad Global, 1(1): 7–​35. Bulcourf, P. (2021) ‘Las texturas de lo político: construyendo una cartografía compleja de la historia de la ciencia política en América Latina’, Complejidad, 39: 12–​55. Bulcourf, P. and Cardozo, N.D. (2010) ‘El desarrollo de los estudios sobre administración y políticas públicas en la Argentina a partir del proceso democratizador’, Nuevo Espacio Público, 5: 13–​54. Bulcourf, P. and Cardozo, N. (2020) ‘La pandemia del Covid-​19: pensar al Estado en un marco de incertidumbre y complejidad’, Metapolítica, 109: 44–​55. Bulcourf, P. and Cardozo, N. (2021) ‘Comprendiendo al Estado en América Latina: una aproximación a su historia y análisis’, in J. Canales Aliende, S. Delgado Fernández, and A. Romero Tarín (eds), Tras las huellas del Leviatán. Algunas reflexiones sobre el futuro del Estado y de sus instituciones en el siglo XXI, Granada: Comares, pp 101–​159. Bulcourf, P., Dufour, G. and Cardozo, N.D. (2013) ‘Administración y políticas públicas en la Argentina. Una revisión histórica’, Perspectivas Sobre El Estado, Las Políticas Públicas y La Gestión, 1(1): 136–​155. 15

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Bulcourf, P., Gutiérrez Márquez, E. and Cardozo, N.D. (2015) ‘Historia y desarrollo de la ciencia política en América Latina: Reflexiones sobre la constitución del campo de estudios’, Revista de Ciencia Politica, 35(1): 179–​199. Camou, A. and Pagani, M.L. (2017) Estado y política(s): Debates teóricos y metodológicos actuales sobre las políticas, La Plata: Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educación-​UNLP. Cardozo, N. D. (2017) ‘El desarrollo de los estudios sobre administración y políticas públicas en la Argentina’, Anuario Latinoamericano. Ciencias Políticas y Relaciones Internacionales, 5: 127–​155. https://​doi.org/​10.17951/​al.2017.5.127 Cardozo, N.D. (2020) ‘Estado, administración y políticas públicas en América Latina: un esbozo sobre su desarrollo’, Civilizar: Ciencias Sociales y Humanas, 20(39): 11–​34. https://d​ oi.org/h ​ ttps://d​ oi.org/​10.22518/​jour.ccsh/​2020.2a01 Feierstein, D. (2021) Pandemia. Un balance social y político de la crisis del COVID-​ 19, Buenos Aires: Fondo de Cultura Económica. Floriani, D. (2015) ‘Las ciencias sociales en América Latina: lo permanente y transitorio, preguntas y desafíos de ayer y hoy’, Polis, 41: 1–​17. Fontaine, G. (2015) El análisis de políticas públicas. Conceptos, teorías y métodos, Barcelona: Anthropos. García Delgado, D. (2001) Estado and Sociedad. La nueva relación a partir del cambio estructura, Buenos Aires: FLACSO –​Norma. García Delgado, D. (2020) Estado, Sociedad y Pandemia. Ya nada será igual, Buenos Aires: FLACSO. García Selgas, F. (1994) Teoría social y metateoría hoy. El caso de Anthony Giddens, Madrid: Siglo XXI/​Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas. Giddens, A. (1993) New Rules of Sociological Method: A Positive Critique of Interpretative Sociologies, Oxford: Polity Press. Guardamagna, M.M. (2008) ‘La Ciencia Política en Cuyo: el auge antes de la crisis’, in Desafíos y Oportunidades Para La Democracia Latinoamericana En El Siglo XXI, Rosario: Universidad Nacional de Rosario, pp 1–​19. Habermas, J. (1976) Legitimation Crisis, Cambridge: Polity Press. Heady, F. (1984) Public Administration: A Comparative Perspective (3rd edn), New York: Marcel Dekker. Isuani, E. (1991) ‘Bismarck o Keynes: ¿Quién tiene la culpa? Notas sobre la crisis de acumulación’, in E. Isuani, R. Lo Vuolo, and E. Tenti Fanfani (eds), El Estado Benefactor. Un paradigma en crisis, Buenos Aires: Miño Dávila, pp 9–​26 Lakatos, I. (1978) The Methodology of Scientific Research Programmes, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Lasswell, H.D. (1951) The Policy Sciences, Stanford: Stanford University Press. Latour, B. (2005) Reassembling the Social: An Introduction to Actor-​Network-​Theory, New York: Oxford University Press. Lukes, S. (1974) Power: A Radical View, New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Mazzuca, S. (2021) Latecomer State Formation: Political Geography and Capacity Failure in Latin America, New Haven/​London: Yale University Press.

16

Introduction

Muller, P., Palier, B., and Surel, Y. (2005) ‘L’analyse politique de l’action publique. Confrontation des approches, des concepts et des méthodes’, Revue Française de Science Politique, 55: 5–​6. O’Donnell, G. (1993) ‘Estado, Democratización y ciudadanía’, Nueva Sociedad, 128: 62–​87. Offe, C. (1984) Contradictions of the Welfare State, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Olivé, L. (1985) Estado, legitimación y crisis, Mexico City: Siglo XXI. Oszlak, O. (2000) ‘El posgrado en administración pública: una maestría pionera’, Temas y Propuestas, 9(18): 78–​95. Oszlak, O. (2020) El Estado en la era exponencial, Buenos Aires: INAP-​CLAD-​ CEDES. Panofsky, E. (1955) Meaning in the Visual Arts, Garden City: Doubleday Anchor Books. Panofsky, E. (1991) Perspective as Symbolic Form, New York: Zone Books. Pardo, M.d.C. (2004) De la administración pública a la gobernanza, Mexico City: Colegio de México. Pérez Sánchez, M. (2005) ‘Origen y desarrollo del análisis de políticas públicas’, in M. Pérez Sánchez (ed), Análisis de políticas públicas, Granada: Editorial Universidad de Granada, pp 51–​75. Peters, B.G. (2002) The Politics of Bureaucracy, New York: Taylor & Francis. Ramió Matas, C. (2017) La Administración pública del futuro (horizonte 2050) Instituciones, política, mercado y sociedad de la innovación, Madrid: Tecnos. Ravecca, P. (2019) The Politics of Political Science. Re-​Writing Latin American Experiences, New York: Routledge. Roth-​Deubel, A.N. (2010) ‘Las políticas públicas y sus principales enfoques analíticos’, in A.N. Roth-​Deubel (ed), Enfoques para el análisis de políticas públicas, Bogotá: Universidad Nacional de Colombia, pp 17–​66. Van Dijk, T. (1998) A Multidisciplinary Approach, London: SAGE. Zabludovsky, G. (1995) Sociología y política, el debate clásico y contemporáneo, Mexico City, UNAM.-​

17

PART I

The theories, styles, and methods of policy analysis

2

Public policies in complex societies: Argentina, a case of a cyclical society Daniel García Delgado

Introduction In this chapter, we propose to show an analytical device and a method that we developed from the State and Public Policies Area of Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales (FLACSO) Argentina to analyze public policies in complex societies such as those in Latin America, and particularly cyclical societies such as Argentina due to the interruptions and changes in the accumulation model. It is composed of four interrelated aspects. 1. A methodological strategy and interpretative frameworks characterized by the priority use of qualitative methods to explain social problems and analyze public policies over the use of quantitative methods, without failing to integrate them in a complementary manner in research. 2. A holistic method of analysis, which integrates public policies within broader processes of change, framed in a theory of the State and Public Policy Area of FLACSO Argentina on models of state–​society relationship. This integrates recent changes in governments, and development models, particularly in Argentina, during the governments of N. Kirchner and C. Fernández de Kirchner (2003–​2015), and that of Cambiemos rule by M. Macri (2015–​ 2019). In turn, the method integrates in an interdisciplinary way the contributions from political science, philosophy, sociology, and political economy to understand social processes. 3. It is a style of analysis and methodology that prioritizes the agency capacity of the actors over the institutional, and where the focus is on power and the conflict in the distribution of resources and public goods that is at stake in each case. In particular, in a society that is not only complex but also cyclical, due to the conflict between two power coalitions and political traditions: the neoliberal and the national-​popular. We analyze the dimensions that include policy options or restrictions, the context of power, and the political project of the coalitions. 4. We use three levels of understanding of the public arena. First, the global dimension, which refers to the identification of external factors, geopolitical changes, and changes in the economic and social policies that the state intends 21

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to implement; and modifications linked to the characteristics of civil society, requests and interests of the actors. Second, the local dimension, through a territorial analysis, identifies endogenous aspects of public policies such as the processes and interaction of civil society actors with public bureaucracies. Third, the regional dimension of development processes and integration policies in connection with the national development model. Within this framework, the main purpose of the chapter is to provide a holistic and structural analytical device with an emphasis on the importance of the state in the region and its tensions with the market, the elites, and the de facto power that allows for the analysis of public policies from the perspectives of advocacy.

State, public policies, and development: methodologies and interpretative frameworks Since the beginning of the long history of research in the State and Public Policies Area, we have assumed an interpretative and comprehensive epistemological stance on social phenomena and among them specifically on public policies and development processes. We recover the main debates on how to build scientific knowledge to support this field of study. In this sense, we retrieve the concern for the subjective sense of social action raised by Weber, and therefore, its historicity and intersubjectivity. Social reality is not conceived as an objective fact in itself, but as a construction, historical and intersubjective, which can be grasped only through the experience of the subjects. This question assumes that reality can only be understood through the perspective of the subjects. They carry first-​degree theoretical constructions (common sense) about their relationship with the social world, mediated by language and discourses. The construction of scientific knowledge, as Giddens points out, responds then to a process of double hermeneutics, based on the common sense of the subjects themselves and their understanding of the social world. Along the same lines, Majone (1997) opportunely recalls that public policies are made of words, underlining the role of ideas, cognitive, rhetorical, or even aesthetic factors. This perspective allows us to recover the “political” dimension of public policy, incorporating into the analysis the disputes of power and the meaning that permeates it. For all these reasons, we are part of the post-​ empiricist and realist epistemological paradigm that conceives social reality as external to the subject and his consciousness, but mediated by subjectivity and/​or culture, and therefore by “theory”. Hence, the interpretative frameworks built throughout the research trajectory of the State and Public Policies Area carry a strong theoretical and historical burden to cut out reality and problematize its analysis. The analysis of the processes of structural change, development, and the public policies that accompany them in the different historical moments of our societies, oblige us to build interpretative frameworks that address in depth the complexity of these 22

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phenomena. As we pointed out in the book State and Society concerning the passage from the social welfare model to the neoliberal model: The challenge is to form an interpretative framework for this change, which is neither an extrapolation of the analysis of the welfare state crisis in the central countries nor a reductionism on some partial aspect of it. This interpretative code must account for a more complex and differentiated society than the one generated by substitute industrialism. A society where individuals outweigh the whole, where there is a multiplicity of interests, a broadening of the spaces of freedom and competition but at the same time, less solidarity and integration. Society has had a drastic change in power relations between groups and social sectors, where what is evident as not only the modification of apparatuses, institutions, and public policies but also of the beliefs and interests of the actors who sustained them. (García Delgado, 1994, p 18) This methodological perspective of public policies, the state, and development retrieves the pretension of generating situated interpretative keys to analyze these phenomena. For this purpose, it reconstructs analytical models that allow to cut out the social reality for its investigation, and to propose overcoming orientations, recovering the normative dimension of political science. For the analysis of the transformations that have occurred at the level of the state–​society relationship, the models allow us to explore the different characteristics and the processes of change generated at different historical moments. As we have already pointed out: For a better understanding of this process of change, we use models. They allow us to contrast different types of State and societies, to differentiate their features, coherence, and internal logic. The use of models derives from a quest to reveal the profound sense of change and its modalities. But while models allow some things, they also hinder others. While they make it possible to reduce complexity, they can also simplify reality at the opposite risk to that of a detailed and detailed historical chronicle. Hence, if the model used enables us to differentiate between two types of society and State, we will present this change, not as something finished or defined, but as dominant tendencies. (García Delgado, 1994, p 20) To build these models and interpretative keys, we reinstate the theoretical development of Weber’s ideal types and incorporate a distinctive element of our methodological strategy. We combine quantitative and qualitative sources and data, in a macro, meso, and micro social view of the phenomena studied. The complexity of the social phenomena and the analytical cut of the research 23

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problems addressed invite us to triangulate strategies and data from different sources to deepen the different textures of our objects of study. Finally, the Area sought, through its research (García Delgado, 1994, 1998, 2010, 2020; De Piero, 2005; Altschuler and Casalis, 2006; García Delgado and Nosetto, 2006; Casalis, 2011, 2013, 2019, 2020a, 2020b, 2021; García Delgado and Ruiz del Ferrier, 2013, 2015, 2018; De Piero and Gradin, 2015; Ruiz del Ferrier and Tirenni, 2016, 2021; Garcia Delgado and Gradin, 2017; Ruiz del Ferrier, 2017, Gradin, 2018; Gradin and De Piero, 2018; Gradin and Pimentel, 2020), to generate medium-​range theory to explain social phenomena in the context of debates on the state and society, on the rise and consolidation of neoliberalism in the region and transformations in democratic theory. This claim confronts the short-​range theoretical production that focuses on a case study or specific phenomena in an exhaustive manner. Also, we seek to find regularities of universal scope in long-​range theories, resorting to historical and documentary analysis. In this framework, we recover the theoretical developments of Oscar Oszlak and Guillermo O’Donnell in different works, and we conceive of the state as a social relation, so we try to systematize its mediations with society, both economically, politically, and socio-​culturally. We think of state power as relational, seeking to distance ourselves both from ahistorical perspectives, which prevent us from understanding the phenomenon in its evolution and complexity, and from those that approach it from a purely institutional level, assuming it as an autonomous and homogeneous structure. This is a distancing from both juridical and systemic conceptions, which consider the state as autonomous from civil society and its culture and not influenced or modeled reciprocally by the latter.

A holistic analysis method The State and Public Policies Area has developed a holistic and interdisciplinary method of analysis for the study of public policies to capture the complexity of the social process as well as to explain the cyclical recurrence of certain economic, political, social, and institutional phenomena that characterize Argentina. Several perspectives contribute to an interpretation of the Area of changes in development models. Diamand (1972) explains the changes in development models by problems of “external restriction” (balance of payment crisis) to finance the industrialization process. From a Gramscian perspective, Portantiero (1977) argues the existence of a “hegemonic standoff” between the agrarian-​ exporter power bloc that became dominant at the end of the 19th century and the industrial-​internationalist market bloc that emerged in the mid-​1940s. On the other hand, O’Donnell (1977) explains the coups d’état and the emergence of the authoritarian bureaucratic state as the consequence of the modernization process that generated the activation of the working class and mobilization for demands. To account for this, we analyze public policies concerning changes in the state–​society relationship models and transformations in development models. 24

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We consider the state–​society relationship model to be the configuration that arises from the interaction and relationship between the state and society (conflict, domination, co-​optation, complementation, and/​or cooperation) in a national territory in a given historical period. At the same time, we have recuperated the debates on the development of Latin American structuralism (Prebisch, 1949; Ferrer, 1963; Jaguaribe, 1973) and dependency theory (Cardoso and Faletto, 1969). By development model, we understand the configuration resulting from the transformations of the state–​ society relationship to the issue of development based on the articulation of the role of the state, the accumulation model, the system of representation, the social dimension, and international insertion, to mention the most significant ones. This framework can be expanded –​when required by the research –​by including other specific dimensions such as the political subject, public administration, the labor market, and regional or territorial development, among others. We applied this holistic analysis method in the book El desarrollo en un contexto posneoliberal (Development in a Post-​neoliberal Context) (2006). Here, we analyzed the transformations in the state–​society relationship between public policies and development during the crisis of the neoliberal model and the emergence of the productive-​inclusive development model during the administrations of N. Kirchner and C. Fernández de Kirchner (2003–​2015). In that text, we pointed out that: This return (of development), however, takes place in a profoundly transformed scenario. … In the first place, in political terms, there has been a great change in the main actors of politics. The State, once the exclusive protagonist of the modernization of national societies, is now a strategic actor, but devalued, to the point that today it is not possible to conceive of development driven only by the State and its public policy, while the lessons of neoliberalism show that it cannot be released exclusively to market forces. … Second, and in economic terms, the conjunction of the globalization process with the implementation of the neoliberal paradigm has also implied for Argentina a radical transformation in its productive structure, which dramatically reduced the industrial product, reprimarized the economy, and fragmented and destroyed productive branches that had been densely integrated until then. … Society, in time, has ceased to be characterized as a community of salaried, homogeneous, and integrated workers and upward mobility … showing a society with more weight in services, more socially and functionally differentiated, but also with an exclusive, increasingly unequal, fragmented and, at the same time, skeptical configuration. In this sense, 30 years after the irruption of neoliberalism, the return of the debate on development is taking place in a profoundly transformed scenario. (García Delgado and Chojo Ortiz, 2006, pp 18–​19) 25

Policy Analysis in Argentina

In turn, to investigate and analyze the complexity of the public policies characteristic of the productive-​inclusive development model that was conceived during the government of N. Kirchner and C. Fernández de Kirchner (2003–​ 2015), we state that: Development is then equated to the problem of the new model or course, in a broader sense than an economic policy or strategy. In this sense, the development model comes to succeed, to some extent, as a problem, the centrality of the transition and democratic consolidation in the 1980s and the reform of the state and integration into globalization in the 1990s (the model). In other words, the issue of development is a central aspect of the debate, not only economic (of a new more or less heterodox macroeconomic model) but also political, social, cultural, and environmental. This makes the concept of development a polysemic and provisional space since its definition is part of a field of debate and collective deliberation. And this is precisely what makes development inseparable from democracy; what makes development an ethical task of defining socially constructed, incorporated, and promoted values, ends, and means. (García Delgado and Chojo Ortiz, 2006, p 21) On the other hand, in the book El Neoliberalismo tardío. Teoría y praxis (Late Neoliberalism: Theory and Praxis) (García Delgado and Gradin, 2017) we applied this method to analyze public policies in the framework of the transformations in the state–​society relationship and the development model during the Cambiemos government presided over by M. Macri (2015–​2019). There we pointed out that the conjuncture marked by the “conservative turn” and the lawfare that Argentina and the region were going through showed structural changes that configured what we called “late neoliberalism”. In this regard, we pointed out that: [T]‌he new cycle has produced a substantive turnaround concerning the course maintained by the previous national-​popular perspective, neo-​developmentalist, and center-​left governments of the last decade and a half in South America. In this scenario, we consider it imperative to question ourselves about the economic, political, social and cultural sustainability of this late neoliberal wave and, therefore, of the future of the region. (García Delgado and Gradin, 2017, p 17) Successively, to explain the transformations in public policies of “late neoliberalism”, the following dimensions were explored: political “cycles” in the region; productive specialization, external indebtedness, and “returning to the world”; restricted democracy and judicialization of politics; consensus building and the “cultural battle”; social and political fragmentation; the government of 26

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the chief executive officers and new structural reform of the state; conflicts and resistance to late neoliberalism. In short, this method allows us, holistically, to articulate the debates on development and public policies, patterns of wealth and power distribution, transformations in administration and public management, and the construction of subjectivities, conflicts, and civil society resistance.

Cycles, agency, and power in development models As we pointed out in the previous section, to analyze the transformations of development models, we must necessarily model the cycles in which they are inscribed. When we speak of cycles we are referring to the historical logic, already pointed out from different points of view by Diamand (1972), Portantiero (1977), and O’Donnell (1972), among others, and characterized by the power dispute between the expansionist popular current and the liberal current, for the leadership of the development process in the region. The development cycles can be explained based on the hegemony of the economic elite, which tries to counteract the popular phase. This has been described by Juan Carlos Portantiero as a “hegemonic tie” to explain the capital–​labor relation in developmentalist Argentina. This perspective places the actors, their capacity for agency, and the power disputes that condition the cycles between development models at the center of the analysis. To this end, we recover the approach of political, economic, and cultural domination, which incorporates the analysis of power relations in development models and democracies, incorporating into the analysis concepts of political science such as class relations, historical blocs, collective action, social movements and social conflict, the study of elites and their relationship with the state, and the geopolitics in which they are inscribed. So, from this perspective, the cycles of development models in the region and Argentina, in particular, have been analyzed in different scientific works in our area. Constructing models that allow us to characterize these cycles, and therefore identify the power disputes and the agency capacities of their protagonists, allows us to understand where we have come from and where we are going in terms of development. As we pointed out in a 2017 paper: The first neoliberal moment in the region emerged with the crisis of capitalism and its state expression, the Welfare State, in the mid-​ 1970s (Sunkel, 1992; García Delgado, 1994; Anderson, 1999). The increase in energy prices by OPEC generated the oil crisis in 1973 with its consequent exponential increase in the balance of payments deficit in the industrialist countries, who, in response to this scenario, began to apply austerity plans, reducing consumption, demand and, therefore, the standard of living of their nations. This economic and structural process accompanied a political-​institutional process of great significance, linked to the crisis of the social state as the institutional 27

Policy Analysis in Argentina

arrangement of post-​war societies. The neoliberal critique of the functioning of the welfare state, anchored in the social insurance scheme and the strengthening of the consumption capacity of the popular sectors, was based on the rigidity of the labor market, the public deficit, and the cost of labor (Offe, Espinosa, and Keane, 1990; Esping Andersen, 2000). Criticism hid the dispute about the appropriation of the wealth of societies between the economic elites and the working sectors, within the framework of the scientific-​ technical revolution that was transforming the forms of capitalist production in the central countries. This process was conceptualized as the passage to the post-​Fordist model. (García Delgado and Gradin, 2017, p 19) In different works (García Delgado, 1994, 1997, 2010) the focus of the analysis was placed on the neoliberal model of the Washington Consensus, which was installed together with the hegemony of capitalism at the world level, at the end of the 1980s, with its political and ideological consequences at a global level. Postmodern reflection revolved around the end of grand narratives (Lefort, 2004), the end of history (Fukuyama, 1992), the end of employment (Rifkin, 1996), the end of national state sovereignty and subordination to global governance (Held, 1997), and the network society (Castells, 2004). Unipolarity, the flexibilization of employment, and forms of social cohesion and integration were synthesized in an unconditional decalogue: the Washington Consensus (Petrella, 1996). From the productions of the State and Public Policies Area, we focused our analysis on the structural changes at the geopolitical level and at the level of the accumulation model with the advance of the technological revolution and the financialization of the economy, and on the social transformations that were consolidating a society of services, consumption, and communication. The beginning of the new century found a scenario of a terminal crisis of neoliberalism in the region. The socioeconomic situation paved the way for explosions and social protests and, therefore, for a political-​institutional crisis marked by the political disaffection of the middle and lower sectors. This process opened a new post-​neoliberal cycle of economic heterodoxy and transformed leaderships in several South American countries, which became a laboratory for post-​neoliberal experimentation and the emergence of a new paradigm of revalorization of the state (active, present), social rights, politics, and state action: the productive-​inclusive paradigm as opposed to the “minimal” state of the previous stage. This paradigm was part of the search for South–​South geopolitical insertion (from emerging countries), which sought to overcome unipolar globalization and its power asymmetries, and was analyzed in various works, such as García Delgado and Nosetto (2006), García Delgado (2010), and García Delgado and Peirano (2011). This situation, which was accompanied at the global level by the commodities revolution, the rise of China as a great power, and the increase in the price of raw materials, boosted the primary economies and 28

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the states of the region to meet social demands, improve income, and generate employment within a framework of debt relief for the countries and the region. This whole process of social integration and expansion of the reconstruction of the productive framework of the economy and the transformation of the form of global insertion had the state as its main actor (García Delgado and Ruiz del Ferrier, 2013). However, after the global financial crisis of 2008 and 2009, the conservative and monetarist resolution of the crisis led to a period of “secular stagnation” that showed the limitations of neo-​developmentalist projects (Crespo and Ghibaudi, 2017). In a certain way, the populist governments of Latin America guaranteed the level of consumption and a minimum income distribution from the state, but they did not know how to solve the increase of private investment as a strategic factor of the countries’ aggregate demand. Attempts to diversify and structurally transform the productive matrix of each country found their main limitation in the external constraint (Wainer and Schorr, 2014). This crisis had an impact on the countries of the region, especially in the fall in external demand for commodities, exacerbating this situation. The problem of external restriction began to diminish or weaken their distributive possibilities, which contributed to their political defeats as the world price cycle changed. This scenario of a crisis of international conditions had different translations to the local political scenes but conditioned the correlation of forces between the economic elites in coalition with the financial-​communication, judicial and international power, and the progressive governments of the region. The end of the decade referred to by some authors as “populist” or “national-​popular” opened the door to late neoliberalism. As we pointed out in a previous research article (García Delgado and Gradin, 2016), the new cycle produced a substantive turn concerning the course maintained by the previous national-​popular perspective, neo-​developmentalist, and center-​left governments of the first decade and a half of this century in South America. This late neoliberalism, as an economic, social, and geopolitical model, has specific and distinctive characteristics concerning previous moments such as the 1970s and the 1990s. As we pointed out in the book Late Neoliberalism: Among the lines of continuity with previous experiences, the classical liberal baggage of more market and less State, expressed in the economic program of adjustment and deregulation, with emphasis on the agro-​exporting and privatizing profile, allows us to affirm that we are going through the third moment of an offensive of the conservative elites and transnational free market capitalism, in the dispute for hegemony. However, these new governments are late in inserting themselves into a changing world, which is putting an end to neoliberal globalization, promoting protectionism in the central economies, and building a hegemonic discourse that is nationalist, xenophobic, and discriminating against the social majorities expelled by the economic, 29

Policy Analysis in Argentina

political and social functioning of neoliberalism at the global level. Having said this, the delay can be explained by three reasons. First, a consensus that emerged under the paradigm of Washington’s unique thinking after the fall of the Berlin Wall no longer exists. In other words, the neoliberal crisis at the beginning of the century showed the limits of that economic and social model. Second, the context of a multipolar world, aggravated by the economic stagnation and protectionism of the central countries, is totally different from the open-​minded and unipolar phase of the 1990s. And third, the societies of the region that have gone through the popular neo-​developmentalist turn have deepened and consolidated their awareness of their rights and their possibilities of access to better living conditions, income, and opportunities. All this is, at least until now, a fresh memory that “another world is possible”. (Garcia Delgado and Gradin, 2017, p 18) At the beginning of the 21st century, and in the context of the crisis of the Washington Consensus, new and progressive development models took shape in Latin America, with the common axis of an active role of the state in promoting employment, universal social policies, inclusion and the expansion of rights; as well as orienting the accumulation process towards production and seeking to expand the margins of political autonomy through new strategies of regional integration and international insertion. However, since the middle of the second decade of the 21st century, these transformations in most South American countries were interrupted by different orthodox and conservative governments that took over the region through a change in the orientation of development and public policies and the implementation of soft coups, lawfare, and the capture of the state by the elites. Likewise, these changes were sustained using communicational strategies that emphasized subjectivity, meritocracy, and inequality, opening a process that we have characterized from the State and Public Policies Area as “late neoliberalism” (García Delgado and Gradin, 2017). Political cycles in the region and our country are rooted in the discussion of power relations and the construction of hegemony in each historical moment. In the different development models, power relations acquire specific characteristics that must be incorporated into the analysis of public policies in complex societies. And for this, it is necessary to reinstate the concept of “people” as a political referent in the analysis of political science. This category, taken up by Brown (2015) through the concept “demos”, puts the focus of analysis on the mediations of the political system in broad terms, and with the State in terms of public policies. This approach was deepened in different works of the Area and, particularly for the current period, we point out the following in the book Late Neoliberalism: What does the construction of hegemony ultimately aim at? To the fragmentation of the demos, as an empirical referent of power 30

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(formerly, people or citizens). That is to say, to the enormous capacity of the new power to disperse and divide both opposing mediations and civil society. The demos, for late Neoliberalism, are understood as segmented and individualized publics and constructed as a market segmented into different publics. The people as a political project is discouraged and vanishes under a systematic bombardment of arguments based on “the inheritance received”, “the sincerity of reality” and “populist fantasies”. (García Delgado and Gradin, 2017, p 23) On the other hand, late neoliberalism in the region finds a limit in the different demonstrations and citizen mobilizations produced in recent years in Ecuador, Chile, Colombia, Peru, and Brazil, among others, accompanied by political parties and social movements in rejection of the erosion of democracy, the loss of collective rights, the deterioration of the quality of life and the deepening of inequality. Likewise, such a process is also expressed in the orientations taken in recent years by popular, leftist, and progressive governments in Argentina, Mexico, and Bolivia (García Delgado and Ruiz del Ferrier, 2019), as well as in the referendum for the reform of the constitution and in the last election in Chile, and the citizen protests that took place in Colombia in 2021. In this framework, it may be possible to speak of the emergence of a second progressive wave in the region, although the regional political and economic scenario raises questions about the evolution and consolidation of a long-​term progressive cycle. By 2020, the unforeseen emergence of the COVID-​19 pandemic will have unprecedented economic, political, and social consequences. It also introduces uncertainty in all areas of life and produces a global social and health crisis that calls into question the capacity of the neoliberal model, and the market as the main social organizer, to respond to this situation (García Delgado, 2020). In turn, this crisis is added to two other existing crises. The economic crisis is characterized by the global irresolution of the 2008 financial crisis, the growing concentration of wealth, the increase in inequality, in addition to the fall in gross domestic product due to COVID-​19, as well as the conflicts derived from the battle between the US and China for world hegemony. It is also affected by the impact of the environmental crisis, the growing concern about the uncontrollable effects of global warming on “the common home”, and the tensions caused by productive interventions, necessary for development, but at the same time rejected by social movements due to the socio-​environmental consequences they entail. Thus, although the aspirations of development with social inclusion, quality employment, and economic, political, social, and environmental sustainability are necessary conditions to achieve more just, democratic, and inclusive societies, these possibilities are challenged by the problems of external indebtedness and how to resolve them. Latin America is today a region in dispute within world geopolitics, with strong tensions between the US and China over trade with our region, infrastructure 31

Policy Analysis in Argentina

projects, technological and productive investment, and connectivity, among other issues. At the same time, this scenario offers the possibility of a more prominent role for Comunidad de Estados Latinoamericanos y Caribeños (CELAC) with interesting perspectives for the region, such as the presidencies of Boric in Chile and Xiomara Castro in Honduras, who join Arce in Bolivia and Castillo in Peru, among others. In this uncertain and complex economic, political, and social framework at the global, regional, and national levels, the role of the state and public policies in the search for a new development model that is politically, economically, socially, and environmentally sustainable is revalued. This requires the promotion of science and technology, the production of well-​being and the reduction of inequality, and an exit from primarized productive matrices and the conditioning factors of multilateral institutions, particularly those derived from the agreement with the International Monetary Fund. It also gives rise to new debates on the types of capitalism, democracy, and globalization for the achievement of more inclusive and supportive societies, together with the configuration of a region with a certain autonomy and identity. Thus, the Area, as part of the commitment of the social sciences to seek answers to these problems and a strategic path, intends to make an academic and formative contribution to public policies, the state, and development models, within the framework of the debates on inequality, the relationship with civil society, and development processes at regional, national, local, and territorial levels. In the following section, we will go deeper into these multiscale levels.

Multiscale analysis for understanding the public arena, development processes, and public policies Since the mid-​1970s, in the context of globalization and the consolidation of the neoliberal model, we have witnessed a significant change in the regulatory capacity of the state at the national level. This is particularly expressed in two ways. On the one hand, in the erosion of the principle of internal and external sovereignty of the state and its regulatory capacity over its territory and population. On the other hand, the emergence of the global, the local, and the regional as dimensions of analysis that challenge the preeminence of the state as an explanatory unit, as we have conceived it since modernity. This became particularly evident in the emergence of regional blocs (the European Union, the North American Free Trade Agreement, Mercosur, the Free Trade Area of the Americas [FTAA]) and supranational actors (international financial organizations and transnational corporations) as well as in the relevance acquired by the local to promote subnational processes (state reform, decentralization of public administration, innovation, modernization, and professionalization of local administration) (García Delgado, 1997; García Delgado and Casalis, 2006) and local actors for the revaluation of territories (local governments, civil society organizations, and local economic actors) in the orientation of the development 32

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model and the implementation of public policies (Altschuler and Casalis, 2006; Casalis, 2011). To account for all of this requires incorporating a multiscale analysis of the understanding of the political arena, development processes, and public policies, as well as the processes of economic, technological, and geopolitical domination that affect the possibilities of development. To this end, from the State and Public Policies Area, we deploy an analytical device that allows us to interpret these changes at the national level within the framework of globalization, while identifying the specificities of this process at the global, local, and regional levels. As we pointed out: Globalization has become almost a commonplace in the justification of any measure or the interpretation of the change taking place in both the public and private spheres. … Thus, it appears as the most relevant topic of analysis in the social sciences at the end of the 1990s. … We are witnessing a kind of incessant change: structural, epochal, civilizing, or metamorphosis of society, whose speed seems to exceed the capacity of social scientists to conceptualize it. How to understand transformations that are taking place at all levels of the relationship between State and society, without referring to a view impregnated with economicism? From which discipline should we shed light on a phenomenon that appears to be as decisive as it is complex? And at the same time, how can we avoid an approach that makes globalization an independent, all-​encompassing and reductive variable? (García Delgado, 1997, p 9) These multiple transformations require broadening the analysis to account for the varied interrelations between the global and the local, the public and the private, the individual and the community, individual profit and the common good, conflict and consensus building, cultural changes, poverty, and urban violence. Precisely this multidimensional character of globalization highlights the need for an inquiry that can be carried out from an integrative and transversal perspective. In this sense, this book proposes: [T]‌o analyze the impact of the globalization process in three dimensions: the first, linked to the changes in the State at the central, subnational, and supranational levels, or how the local levels are revalued and the regional level is configured. The second is related to the new emerging conflict, which is expressed as a crisis of representation in the political system, fragmentation, and exclusion in the social field, as well as loss of meaning and cultural identity. The last dimension is linked to two problems of significant importance: that of the articulation of the State with a more differentiated and fragmented civil society, and that of democratic governance in a situation where 33

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politics has less power and seems to be subordinated to economic powers. (García Delgado, 1997, pp 10–​11) In turn, we complemented the multiscale analysis with the study of the transformations of the state, development, and public policies at the local and territorial levels. This development was reflected in the book Hacia un nuevo modelo de gestión local. Municipio y sociedad Civil (Towards a New Model of Local Management: Municipality and Civil Society) (García Delgado, 1997). There, we inquired into the emergence of a change in the state management model at the local level and the revaluation of the local level as a space for management (Arocena, 2002), social participation, and emerging conflicts: It is a question of accounting, then, for the emergence of a new localism generated by the process of State reform, which decentralizes competencies and forces an adjustment of fiscal accounts at subnational levels and an increase in demands and evaluation by local civil societies. But it is also a product of the impact of globalization that stimulates the competitiveness of cities while generating concentration and destructuring of the previous productive fabric and orienting participation towards the micro and nearby. (García Delgado, 1997, pp 7–​8) What is certain is that the transformations produced in public policies by globalization and neoliberalism accentuate the “local” pole to the detriment of the “national” one. What is new in the 1990s is the emphasis on debureaucratization and the requirements of effectiveness and efficiency, the orientation towards local development and strategic planning, as well as greater municipal involvement in social policy. The traditional municipal model, administrative and passive relationship with development, which characterized both the Liberal and Social State stages, is beginning to change. The combination of State Reform and globalization accentuates a novel dynamic in local governments with greater competencies and similar resources but, at the same time, with a greater evaluation by society. (García Delgado, 1997, pp 8–​9) In addition, a new public-​private articulation (Alburquerque, 2004), local economic development planning, and bottom-​up planning (Vázquez Barquero, 2000), the accentuation of horizontal territorial logics over the vertical and sectoral ones predominant in the previous model. The municipal level, which appeared in Argentine politics as something marginal, as a stepping stone to reach a higher destination, begins to revitalize and acquire prominence.

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This change in the management model is linked to another observation, which is that in the context of globalization, a new role for cities is emerging, a tendency for them to be the center of their own decisions and strategies. From large cities that propose objectives and projects with a certain autonomy from the nation, or intermediate cities that are oriented towards the creation of industrial districts, to the configuration of productive micro-​regions based on greater cooperation between small cities, via consortiums, entities, corridors, etc. It is a sort of transition from the national project to the local one, in terms of the tendency to differentiate and identify future projects in what is closest and most controllable. (García Delgado, 1997, p 9) Therefore, the book had the following objectives. First, to account for the transformation that was taking place between the national and local levels. Second, to recover the successful experiences of the new management model and its potential replicability. Based on these objectives and questions, the thematic contents of the book are organized along three axes: the political-​institutional; the economic-​productive; and local social policies. Finally, we complete the theoretical, epistemological, and methodological approach with a regional understanding of the state–​society relationship, the development model, and public policies in Latin America. Thus, in the book Ética, Desarrollo y Región. Hacia un regionalismo integral (Ethics, Development, and Region: Towards an Integral Regionalism) (Scannone and García Delgado, 2006) we sought to integrate ethical reflection into the question of development (Lebret, 1964; Kliksberg, 2002) and link it to regional integration processes from a multidimensional perspective. In particular, to avoid the commercial or legal-​ institutional bias characteristic of studies on regional integration processes. But also to enrich the debate with philosophical considerations and considerations of equity, inclusion, and distribution that make up a theory of justice (Rawls, 1971; Nozick, 1974; MacIntyre, 1982): The book articulates a series of interdisciplinary researches that have as a starting point three considerations. The first is the recognition of the strategic importance of the construction of regions in the globalization stage, to the point of being able to say that “there is no nation without a region”. The second is that, at the beginning of the new century, there is a significant return to the issue of development, after decades of neoliberalism and economicism and a model that led to the displacement of the concept of development by that of market growth defined by the free market. … Finally, the third consideration is to rescue the relevance of ethical and integrated reflection, both on the issue of national development and regional integration. Above all, because of the need to wonder about the possible contents and

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mediations for the incorporation of the dimensions of equity and justice in these processes. (Scannone and García Delgado, 2006, p 7) The treatment of the regional dimension also reveals a propositional concern and a commitment to social transformation that does not disassociate regional processes from the analysis of the state–​society relationship, the development model, and public policies. The book can be read as an attempt to contribute to the construction of an “integral regionalism” that articulates the economic, political, social, environmental, and ethical-​cultural dimensions, as opposed to the economicist, commercial, and free trade model that emerged in the 1990s and was questioned at the beginning of the 21st century due to the crisis of the neoliberal model. In this way, we seek to differentiate it from both the so-​called “open regionalism” and the “new regionalism” (Bouzas, 2005) that was associated with the perspective of the expansion of the FTAA’s area of influence. The book aims to highlight: The search to take advantage of a context of opportunities in which two blocs with different perspectives on the future of the region, democratic citizenship and the role of the State in the generation of employment are becoming increasingly clear: the FTAA and the expanded Mercosur. In this sense, two issues stand out: the importance of the social movement in the re-​politicization of the regional issue and the determination of these cleavages, even in contrast to the usual positioning that the mass media have operated around this issue. And the second, after the crisis of the neoliberal model, is the generalization of center-​left governments in South America, which have in common a commitment to social reform, a search for greater autonomy from the great powers, and a desire for renewed integration. In consideration of these two emerging issues, it is a matter of betting on regionalism that incorporates the ethical dimension of development in the constitution of a model that could grant identity and citizenship to the integration process of Latin American countries. (Scannone and García Delgado, 2006, p 8) Thus, this book also sought to strengthen the autonomy of the region and the articulation of local, national, and regional spaces. Thus, it relativizes the attractiveness of purely commercial and de-​citizenizing integration models, which confirm the loss of control of national destinies within the framework of the then prevailing unipolar globalization.

Conclusion In a certain way, political science and policy analysis in Argentina have a tradition of thought that emphasizes the idea of the state, power, and its relationship with 36

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civil society, rather than that of government, the role of institutions, and the management of public policies. In this sense, the tradition of thought of the State and Public Policy Area of FLACSO Argentina focuses on the study of the state and society, and of development models and public policies, from a historical and relational perspective. Argentina’s scientific production is characterized by producing within what Thomas Kuhn calls “normal science”, rather than showing its limits to explain social reality. Thus, there is a predominant bias in public policy studies in Argentina that tends to uncritically adopt the production elaborated in the central countries rather than showing a vocation to generate its own and situated theory to explain the complexity and cyclical repetition of social processes. At the same time, the production of the Area seeks to recover the vitality and validity of the category “people” and the role of the collective as a way of generating demands and a public agenda that articulates social construction with expression in the political system. This seeks to recover the concept of “people” that refers to the idea of popular will, the collective, for sovereign decision-​ making. However, the expression of the people is rarely recovered in studies on public policy. This systematic effort in the production of the Area refers to epistemology and methodology of analysis that seeks to think about the problems of our country and our time in a non-​dehistoricized way. That is to say, we seek to generate thinking situated from and for the Latin American and Argentine reality. At the same time, it is a thought that does not present itself as foundational but recognizes a tradition of democratic thought that feeds on popular national aspects in addition to the liberal republican or conservative perspective of the late 19th and 20th centuries. It also draws on contemporary authors such as Jeffrey Sach, Dani Rodick, Sheldon Wolin, and Wendy Brown, among others, to interpret changes in the state, society, development, democracy, and public policy. This debate between traditions runs through the 20th century and into the 21st century in terms of recovery of popular traditions, political and social participation, and democratic construction of the people. References Alburquerque, F. (2004) ‘Desarrollo económico local y descentralización en América Latina’, Revista de la CEPAL, 82: 157–​171. Altschuler, B. and Casalis, A. (2006) ‘Aportes del Desarrollo Local y la Economía Social a una estrategia nacional de Desarrollo’, in D. García Delgado and L. Nosetto (eds), El desarrollo en un contexto posneoliberal. Hacia una sociedad para todos, Buenos Aires: Editorial CICCUS, pp 1–​46. Arocena, J. (2002) El desarrollo local. Un desafío contemporáneo, Montevideo: Taurus. Bouzas, R. (2005) ‘El nuevo regionalismo y el área del libre comercio de las Américas: un enfoque menos indulgente’, Revista de la CEPAL, 85: 7–​12. Brown, W. (2015) Undoing the Demos: Neoliberalism’s Stealth Revolution, New York: Zone Books. 37

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Cardoso, F. and Faletto, E. (1969) Dependencia y Desarrollo, Mexico City: Siglo XXI Editores. Casalis, A. (2011) ‘Desarrollo Local y Territorial. Aportes metodológicos y teóricos para las políticas públicas’, Revista de Ciencias Sociales, 19: 159–​177. Casalis, A. (2013) ‘Análisis del Programa Oficinas de Empleo Municipal. Una mirada sobre la contribución a la inserción laboral y a la gestión local de las políticas de empleo en Argentina (2005–​2010)’, Revista Documentos y Aportes en Administración Pública y Gestión Estatal, 13(21): 64–​91. Casalis, A. (2019) ‘Litio y desarrollo territorial en Argentina: políticas, actores y conflictos en torno a la explotación e industrialización’, Revista de Ciencias Sociales, segunda época, 36: 13–​36. Casalis, A. (2020a) ‘Estado, desarrollo y minería en América Latina, indagaciones sobre las capacidades del Estado para una estrategia de desarrollo’, in S. Ordóñez, Fernández, V. Ramiro and C. Brandão (eds) América Latina ante el cambio geoeconómico-​político mundial: entre la crisis de hegemonía y las nuevas asimetrías del Sur global, Mexico City: UNAM, pp 311–​339. Casalis, A. (2020b) ‘Políticas sociales y gobiernos locales en Argentina: un análisis del modelo de gestión frente a los desafíos de la inclusión y la promoción de derechos’, in S. Ilari and D. Cravacuore (eds) Gobierno, políticas y gestión local en Argentina, Bernal: UNQ, pp 119–​131. Casalis, A. (2021) ‘La Economía Social y Solidaria en Argentina frente a los desafíos del Covid-​19: iniciativas, políticas públicas y la contribución al desarrollo’, Sobre México Temas De Economía, Nueva época, Año 1, 1: 161–​183. Castells, M. (ed) (2004) La sociedad red: una perspectiva transcultural, London: Edward Elgar. Crespo E. and Ghibaudi J. (2017) ‘El proceso neoliberal de larga duración y los gobiernos progresistas 29 en América Latina’, in D. García Delgado and A. Gradín (eds.) El neoliberalismo tardío: teoría y praxis, Buenos Aires: Flacso Argentina, pp 29–​40. De Piero, S. (2005) Organizaciones de la sociedad civil: tensiones de una agenda en construcción, Buenos Aires: Paidós. De Piero, S. and Gradin, A. (2015) ‘La sociedad civil desorganizada: Protestas y oposición en la sociedad civil a los gobiernos kirchnerista’, Revista Estado y Políticas Públicas, 5: 19–​39. Diamand, M. (1972) ‘La Estructura Productiva Desequilibrada Argentina y el Tipo de Cambio’, Desarrollo Económico, 12(45): 25–​47. Ferrer, A. (1963) Las etapas de su desarrollo y problemas actuales, Buenos Aires: Fondo de Cultura Económica. Fukuyama, F. (1992) El fin de la historia y el último hombre, Barcelona: Editorial Planeta. García Delgado, D. (1994) Estado & Sociedad. La nueva relación a partir del cambio estructural, Buenos Aires: Tesis Grupo Editorial Norma S.A/​FLACSO. García Delgado, D. (1997) ‘Introducción. Nuevos escenarios locales. El cambio del modelo de gestión’, in D. García Delgado (ed), Hacia un nuevo modelo de gestión local. Municipio y sociedad Civil, Buenos Aires: Universidad de Buenos Aires, pp 13–​40. 38

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García Delgado, D. (1998) Estado Nación y Globalización. Fortalezas y debilidades en el umbral del tercer milenio, Buenos Aires: Ariel. García Delgado, D. (2010) ‘La centralidad de las políticas públicas’, Tram [p]‌as de la Comunicación y la Cultura, 68: 20–​30. García Delgado, D. (2020) Estado, sociedad y Pandemia, Buenos Aires: FLACSO Argentina. García Delgado, D. and Casalis, A. (2006) ‘Desarrollo local protagónico y estrategia país’, in J. Pereyra (ed), En busca del desarrollo Humano. Prácticas, Ámbitos y Perspectivas del Desarrollo Humano en el marco de un Proyecto Nacional, La Plata: Editorial de la Universidad de La Plata (Edulap), pp 229–​251. García Delgado, D. and Chojo Ortiz, I. (2006) ‘Hacia un nuevo modelo de desarrollo. Transformación y reproducción en el posneoliberalismo’, in D. García Delgado and L. Nosetto (eds), El desarrollo en un contexto posneoliberal, Buenos Aires: FLACSO-​CICCUS, 119–​152. García Delgado, D. and Gradin, A. (2016) ‘Neoliberalismo tardío y desestructuración del demos: El poder toma el poder’, Revista Estado y Políticas Públicas, 7: 49–​68. García Delgado, D. and Gradin, A. (2017) El Neoliberalismo tardío. Teoría y praxis, Buenos Aires: FLACSO Argentina. García Delgado, D. and Nosetto, L. (eds) (2006) El desarrollo en un contexto posneoliberal, Buenos Aires: FLACSO-​CICCUS. García Delgado, D. and Peirano, M (2011) El Modelo de Desarrollo con inclusión social. La estrategia de mediano plazo, Buenos Aires: FLACSO-​CICCUS. García Delgado, D. and Ruiz del Ferrier, M.C. (2013) ‘El nuevo paradigma. Algunas reflexiones sobre el cambio epocal’, Revista Estado y Políticas Públicas, 1: 6481. García Delgado, D. and Ruiz del Ferrier, M.C. (2015) Estado y desarrollo inclusivo en la multipolaridad: desafíos y políticas públicas, Buenos Aires: FLACSO Argentina. García Delgado, D. and Ruiz del Ferrier, C. (2018) Elites y captura del Estado: control y regulación en el neoliberalismo tardío, Buenos Aires: FLACSO Argentina. García Delgado, D. and Ruiz del Ferrier, M.C. (2019) En torno al rumbo: pensamiento estratégico en un tiempo de oportunidad, Buenos Aires: FLACSO Argentina. Gradin, A. (2018) Estado, territorio y participación política, Buenos Aires: Editorial Teseo. Gradin, A. and De Piero, S. (2018) ‘El populismo en acción: leyes que respondieron a demandas sociales en los gobiernos kirchneristas (2003–​2015)’, Revista POSTData: Revista de Reflexión y Análisis Político, 23(1): 263–​294. Gradin, A. and Pimentel, V.S. (2020) ‘Demandas y conflictividad social en la gestión de la Alianza Cambiemos. Un análisis de los conflictos, las formas de acción y las respuestas durante el período 2018–​2019’, Miríada: Investigación en Ciencias Sociales, 12(16): 253–​276. Held, D. (1997) ‘Democracia y globalización’, Gobernanza mundial, 3(251): 13–​21. Jaguaribe, H. (1973) Desarrollo económico y político, Mexico City: Fondo de Cultura Económico.

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Kliksberg, B. (ed) (2002) Ética y desarrollo. La relación marginada, Buenos Aires: El Ateneo. Lebret, J. (1964) Dinámica concreta del desarrollo, Pamplona: Herder. Lefort, C. (2004) La incertidumbre democrática, Madrid: Anthropos. MacIntyre, A. (1982) El concepto de inconsciente, Buenos Aires: Amorrortu Editores. Majone, G. (1997) Evidencia, argumentación y persuasión en la formulación de políticas, Mexico City: Colegio Nacional de Ciencias Políticas y Administración Pública/​Fondo de Cultura Económica. Nozick, R. (1974) Anarquía, Estado y Utopía, México City: Fondo de Cultura Económica O’Donnell, G. (1972) ‘Modernización y golpes militares Teoría, comparación y el caso argentino’, Desarrollo Económico, 12(47): 519–​566. O’Donnell, G. (1977) ‘Reflexiones sobre las tendencias de cambio del Estado burocráticoautoritario’, Revista Mexicana de Sociología, 39(1): 9–​59. Petrella, R. (1996) ‘El credo de fin de siglo’, El Ciervo: revista mensual de pensamiento y cultura, 544–​545: 4–​7. Portantiero, J.C. (1977) ‘Economía y política en la crisis argentina: 1958–​1973’, Revista Mexicana de Sociología, 39 (2): 531–​565. Prebisch, R. (1949) El desarrollo económico de la América Latina y algunos de sus principales problemas, Santiago: CEPAL. Rawls, J. (1971) Teoría de la Justicia, Mexico City: Fondo de Cultura Económica. Rifkin, J. (1996) El fin del trabajo. Nuevas tecnologías contra puestos de trabajo: el nacimiento de una nueva era, Barcelona: Paidós Ruiz del Ferrier, C. (2017) El control de políticas públicas: la cuestión de la transparencia y la transparencia en cuestión, Buenos Aires: Argentina. Ruiz del Ferrier, C. and Tirenni, J. (2016) ‘El sistema de protección social en la Argentina y en América Latina contemporánea: el rol del Estado frente a la cuestión social’, Área Estado y Políticas Públicas.Working Paper # 3, Buenos Aires: Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales. Ruiz del Ferrier, C. and Tirenni, J. (2021) La Protección Social en América Latina: El Estado Y Las Políticas Públicas Entre La Crisis Social Y La Búsqueda De La Equidad, Buenos Aires: FLACSO. Scannone, J.C. and García Delgado, D. (eds) (2006) Ética, Desarrollo y Región. Hacia un regionalismo integral, Buenos Aires: CICCUS. Vázquez Barquero, A. (2000) Desarrollo económico local y descentralización: aproximación a un marco conceptual, Santiago: CEPAL. Wainer A. and Schorr M. (2014) ‘La economía argentina en la posconvertibilidad: problemas estructurales y restricción externa’, Realidad Económica (286): 137–​174.

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Policy analysis as a profession: the interaction between knowledge production and policy making Cristina Díaz, Silvio A. Crudo, and María del Mar Monti

Introduction In this chapter, we will inquire about theoretical developments in public policy analysis (PPA) in Argentina, the main supportive conceptual and methodological guidelines and their probable incidence in public intervention design. Our guiding questions are: How was PPA structured in Argentina as a field of study? Did it present original developments or rather did it take up PPA approaches produced in the academic centers of the Northern hemisphere? What interactions took place between the theoretical production and policy formulation in the country? To this end, we will analyze the academic, intellectual, and professional trajectory of five referents of the PPA field in the country: Oscar Oszlak, Carlos Acuña, Nerio Neirotti, Carlos Vilas, and Mabel Thwaites Rey. In an attempt to contribute to the knowledge of the constitution of the PPA field in Argentina, other works that have proposed similar objectives have served as reference (Bulcourf et al, 2013; Cardozo and Bulcourf, 2016). Our distinctive contribution lies in the use of a novel technique: the study of trajectories. The first hypothesis of this work states that the scope of PPA in Argentina emerges by taking up PPA approaches and theories developed abroad, both in the field of political science as well as sociology or economics, mainly in the Anglo-​ Saxon and French tradition (Wittrock, 1999). However, several authors have managed to reformulate these concepts to account for the national and regional reality and, thus, to generate original contributions to the field. While the second hypothesis indicates that despite the fact that PPA has expanded and strengthened in the country, both in terms of institutional and conceptual development, multiple PPA approaches still prevail, though with limited contact among them. Instead, they tend to follow very different study lines depending on the constraint exerted by academic institutes, universities, and even top scholars in the field . The expository PPA strategy applied in this chapter consists of an overview of the context of emergence and focus of the PPA field in Argentina. Second, a description of the analytical framework: main concepts, axes, and sources of 41

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information followed by the cases under analysis. Finally, results and conclusions are presented.

The development of public policy analysis in Argentina: why contextualization matters The emergence and consolidation of PPA in Argentina should be analyzed within the realm of the social sciences, mainly political science. Several studies have addressed this field of inquiry (Oszlak, 1997; Repetto, 1998; Bulcourf, 2012; Bulcourf et al, 2013, 2019, among others). This section aims at providing the reader with an insight into the different contexts of production presented by the authors that constitute our case studies. As Oscar Oszlak (1997) indicates, one of the characteristics of knowledge production in the field of study on the state and public policies in Argentina is its close relationship with the political conjuncture and social changes. We can recognize the origin of these studies in Argentina in the 1960s, with the foundation of the Public Administration Research Center (CIAP) at the Instituto Torcuato Di Tella. In addition to becoming a meeting point for academics with an interest in public administration, it allowed a number of them to pursue further studies at leading foreign universities. This generated a gateway to topics and discussions as well as to renowned scholars representing the dominant trends in social sciences worldwide. Most unfortunately, public university education in the country was greatly affected by the repression promoted by the de facto government of General Onganía (1966–​1970). It was then when the private centers became the platforms for the development of political science as a discipline. At the same time, they established strong links of exchange abroad and at home by summoning renowned scholars from the US, Brazil, Mexico, and so on. The level of development reached by the discipline in the country was interrupted by the military dictatorship (1976–​1983). Here we recognize a second standstill period in the development of the field. The exile of academics, the banning of teachers, and the curtailment of careers even led to the interruption of disciplinary training. Once again, the private centers became the sites of relative protection and continuity. The return of democracy implied a new boom in national political science. It is also, as indicated by Bulcourf et al (2019, p 192), the beginning of a gradual process of institutionalization and disciplinary professionalization, with the opening of careers and the publication of scientific journals. In the specific area of PPA it is worth highlighting the efforts of the Latin American Administration Center for Development to expand and standardize the field throughout Latin America, mainly through training and the creation of graduate training networks. We propose to consider the 1990s as a third stage. This period, marked by the Washington Consensus and the structural reforms under the New Public Management paradigm, allowed us to look back at the state and public policies 42

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to gain an insight into the impact exerted by the processes of privatization and decentralization as well as into the means to increase state effectiveness and social equity. It is also a decade in which the study of public policies is reinforced throughout the region, partly influenced by the compilation and translations of classic authors made by the Mexican professor Luis Aguilar Villanueva. Ever since then, public policies have become an object of study in themselves. However, most attempts have focused on a mere essay-​like analysis rather than on its conceptual anchorage. It was not until the following decade, which was characterized by the rise of the cycle of regional rejection to neoliberalism that research groups arose and consolidated while approaching PPA from different conceptual frameworks. This marks a fourth stage in the history of the field, which is still in progress. The authors selected for the analysis have lived through all of these stages.

Theoretical framework and methodology In this work, the concept of trajectory is fundamental. We can consider the study of trajectories as a drift of biographical studies and life history theory. This qualitative research technique seeks to generate the case study of a given person, including not only his own life story, but also personal information from documents, writings, and so on (Rodriguez Gómez et al, 1999). Instead, with the notion of trajectory, we do not intend to learn about a whole life but only some specific aspects: specific moments or situations that serve a particular interest for the objective proposed in this chapter. In this regard, it is relevant to take into account the warning made by Pierre Bourdieu (2011) that the “life history theory” can fall into the temptation of dealing with life as a story, a coherent and meaningful narrative oriented in a straightforward sense. In an attempt to avoid this common pitfall, trajectories are regarded as “the series of positions successively taken by the same agent (or the same group) in a foreseeable future and subjected to endless transformations” (Bourdieu, 2011, p 127), without pretense of an obvious meaning. Five leading Argentine scholars of PPA were chosen: Oscar Oszlak, Carlos Acuña, Nerio Neirotti, Carlos Vilas, and Mabel Thwaites Rey. The selection responds to a deliberate sampling of scholars based on a renowned local PPA academic background of over 30 years, acting as outstanding senior scholars at research institutes and research groups/​networks in PPA. In fact, three of the selected authors –​Oscar Oszlak, Mabel Thwaites Rey, and Carlos Acuña –​are among the 30 most cited authors for original contributions within degree programs in political science or with similar policy content at the Latin American level (Bentancur et al, 2021). Yet, a homogeneous temporal criterion for the different authors will not be applied. Instead, the focus will be on their specific contributions in the field of public policies research. To turn the concept of trajectory operational, two large dimensions were designed: the academic-​intellectual trajectory and the professional trajectory 43

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of said authors. Based on these two dimensions, seven great observables were established: 1. Undergraduate and postgraduate training. 2. Teachers or mentors with whom he/​she was trained, in Argentina or abroad. 3. Other scholars they established contacts with, in Argentina or abroad. 4. Main theoretical guidelines with which he/​she ascribes to PPA. 5. Main contributions to PPA in Argentina. 6. Main institutions to which he/​she belongs/​belonged. 7. Work in the professional field: consultancy, advisory, or public management. These observables are not meant to be assessed on an individual basis. The difference among them will be judged at the theoretical level in order to understand the development of concepts and analytic models that marked the establishment of the field of study of public policies in our country. The academic works of the selected referents, third-​party and self-​generated interviews will serve as our sources. To this end, analytic information techniques used included documentary and content analysis.

Individual trajectories for the generation of knowledge about the public policies in Argentina A summary of the intellectual-​academic and professional trajectories of the selected authors follows. They serve as the basis for our cases. Oscar Oszlak It is essential to include Oscar Oszlak in the review of authors with contributions to the formation of the field of public policies in Argentina and Latin America. He graduated in 1959 as National Public Accountant from the School of Economic Sciences at Buenos Aires University. Five years later he was granted a United Nations scholarship offered to officials of fiscal agencies to attend the International Taxation Program at Harvard Law School where he majored in fiscal politics and administration. In 1966 he entered CIAP at the Di Tella Institute together with members such as Guillermo O’Donnell, Juan Carlos Neffa, Roberto Martínez Nogueira, and Marcelo Cavarozzi, among others. The Di Tella Institute, with funding from the Ford Foundation and the Institute for International Education, awarded scholarships to CIAP members to pursue doctoral studies abroad. Oszlak chose the University of California at Berkeley, where he earned his master’s degree in Public Administration and later his PhD in Political Science. There he met most of the leading scholars of the social sciences at the time, such as Aaron Wildavsky and David Apter. He also maintained ties among others with Albert Hirschman, whose production would influence his work in the realm of public policies. His return to Argentina was marked by the 44

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political instability prevailing between the late 1960s and 1970s. Throughout this period, Oszlak worked mainly as a consultant for several national and foreign government agencies and international organizations. This experience allowed him to learn first-​hand the public management of different countries, mainly in Latin America. As the author himself acknowledges, “throughout my career I worked jointly as consultant and researcher, and both activities enriched each other. My contact with the institutional reality of many countries helped me to enhance my academic training” (Camou and Soprano, 2007, p 200). It is also at this time, precisely in 1974, when an international seminar was held in Buenos Aires attended by Philippe Schmitter, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Albert Hirschman, and Adam Przeworski, among others. At this seminar Oszlak and Guillermo O’Donnell presented a set of reflections on the state and public policies that would lead to his first book on The State and State Policies in Latin America: Towards a Strategy of Research (Oszlak and O’Donnell, 1976). This work was presented in 1976 in the United States and it became a milestone for the development of public policy analysis in Latin America (Cardozo, 2020; Cardozo et al, 2021). It has become a seminal text for the design of a specific approach to analyze policies in Latin America. To this end, due recognition is given to significant contributions made both by Marxism and structural functionalism,1 though rejecting its mechanistic interpretation. Thus, it is taken for granted that politics cannot be recognized devoid of its context, disregarding the way in which a situation (question) is socially problematized, the actors involved, its resources and history, and so on. In this sense, the influence of the scheme for the study of policies proposed by Hirschman (1964) stands out. The first democratic government in 1983 finds Oszlak committed to management positions and then with consulting work aimed at modernizing the National Public Administration. In the 1990s, he became one of the leading figures involved in a series of state reforms, privatization, and decentralization in the country. Once again, although the theoretical framework applied to this task takes into account different traditions but without ignoring his own contributions or a contextualized analysis of the Argentine and Latin American reality (Oszlak, 1997). Later on, his research topics would revolve around the open state and the effects of disruptive technologies on public management, societies, and the state. Carlos Acuña Carlos Acuña earned his degree in Political Science in December 1975 from the School of Social Sciences at the Universidad del Salvador (USAL); he is a PhD in Political Science, University of Chicago and Master in Research Methodology at the University of Belgrano. He is a senior researcher of the National Council for Scientific and Technical Research and member of the Interdisciplinary Institute of Political Economics from the School of Economics at the University of Buenos Aires. 45

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His academic training began at USAL where the redesign of the BA curriculum in Political Science was first applied in 1969, “the first curriculum that established clear axes for empirical political science and research methodology, without underestimating its humanistic content” (Bulcourf, 2019). A highly qualified staff carried out this reform; most of its members had pursued postgraduate studies abroad. One faculty member was Guillermo O’Donnell, who later became Acuña’s mentor during his doctoral studies. Upon graduating, he pursued a master’s degree in research methodology. He joined the research group led by Gregorio Klimovsky, a renowned Latin American epistemologist. At that time, alongside his academic pursuits, he was actively involved in politics, mainly in the field of human rights with Adolfo Pérez Esquivel in the Peace and Justice Service (SERPAJ). As an adolescent, he was involved in social work in underprivileged neighborhoods. As a secondary school student at the Marianist School he learned about Carlos Mugica’s work. He became his Theology tutor at USAL. At SERPAJ he was co-​founder and researcher of the Center for Social Studies of the Peace and Justice Service between 1980 and 1981. At the same time, he participated as a junior researcher in the Center for Research and Social Action, a center connected to the Jesuit doctrine. His doctoral training in the US played a decisive role in his approach to mainstream political science theories thanks to the mentoring of researchers such as Noam Chomsky and Philippe Schmitter. He completed his doctoral dissertation on Marxism and structural functionalism. Its aim was to recover traditions from proven theoretical frameworks for the analysis of state entities and policies in Latin America, without disregarding its specific characteristics as a region (Oszlak and O’Donnell, 1976; Oszlak, 2014). Senior Visiting Research Fellow at the Kellogg Institute for International Studies, University of Notre Dame, at the institute directed by Guillermo O’Donnell. This took place in 1995, upon completing his dissertation, entitled “The Industrial Bourgeoisie as a Political Actor: Argentina as a Case Study”, with the approval of Adam Przeworski (Chair), Guillermo O’Donnell, Philippe Schmitter and Susan Stokes, members of faculty evaluation board. His conceptual background and his relationship with O’Donnell led him to occupy different positions in the Center for State and Society Studies (CEDES) since the mid-​1980s, fostering his research interest on the Argentine social and political reality. In his own words: “I do not view academic practice or research, as unrelated or divorced from political commitment” (Acuña, 2014a). At CEDES, he was a prolific researcher who produced a large number of works, including the study of authoritarianism, the state, and the peculiarities of the transitions and democratization processes in Latin America. From his early days as a researcher, he focused on the argument that “to understand politics it was mandatory to take institutions into account” (Acuña, 2013, p 11). Among his contributions to the field of PPA, it is in the introduction to his papers that his adherence to the neo-​institutionalist model stands out with a focus on strategic analysis (public choice), and the conjuncture of political science with tools and approaches of the New Political Economics. “Although the rational choice, strategic analysis, 46

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the school of public choice, the new institutionalism took over a decade to exert an impact on the local agenda, they all entail a redefinition of the discussion that undoubtedly enriches research and the production of theory” (Acuña, 2000, p 237). In “The new Argentine political matrix” (1995), he promotes institutional analysis, its actors, and historical processes as the bases of the new Argentine political matrix. Starting from the general presuppositions of strategic analysis, he articulates a dialogue between quantitative methods, theory of games, historical and comparative macro analysis between the old and the new politics in Argentina (Acuña, 1995, p 15). More recently, he compiled the series entitled “The State and Politics” (OSDE Foundation and Siglo XXI Publishers), with its three volumes: How Much Do Institutions Matter? (2013), The State in Action (2014b), and Dilemmas of the Argentine State (2014c), in which he places in the center of the scene the analysis of the state, politics, and public policies in Argentina and invites us to think about development policies in the new millennium. In addition to his teaching and research work, it is worth mentioning his participation in the design of postgraduate courses in the field such as the master’s program in Administration and Public Policies at San Andrés University. He became its first Chair and in this capacity he was summoned by the university with a view to “strengthening state capacities” (Acuña, 2014a). He is a member of the Academic Council of the Master’s Program in Public Policies and Development Management at the National University of San Martín where he served as Chair of the State and Public Policies Program at its School of Politics and Government. His extensive work experience as a consultant to public and/​or interstate agencies in different roles both at home and abroad in areas such as policy analysis, planning, and execution account for some of his theoretical-​methodological contributions in the field of management. At the national level, he rendered advisory services at the National Institute of Public Administration and to the Head of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Presidency in Argentina. At the international level, he served as consultant to the Inter-​American Development Bank, International Labour Organization, World Bank, and the United Nations Development Programme, among others. Nerio Neirotti Nerio Neirotti is Doctor in Social Sciences Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales (FLACSO-​Argentina), Master of Public Affairs (University of Texas at Austin), and BA in Sociology from the National University of Cuyo. He is currently tenured research professor at the National University of Lanús, where he has served as Deputy Dean since 2010. In relation to PPA, he published several books and articles, with the sponsorship of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Universidad Nacional de Lanús (UNLA), and FLACSO-​Argentina. He was a founding member of the Ecumenical Association of Cuyo (Mendoza, Argentina) and developed activities 47

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at the Center for Ecumenical Studies (Mexico). Between 2002 and 2010 he provided technical assistance and training in evaluation to Latin American government agents at the UNESCO International Institute for Educational Planning at its Regional Office in Buenos Aires. In addition, at the Study Program on National and Latin American Thought (UNLA) he has put into practice his perspectives and convictions about the political implications of evaluation as the integrated instance in the process from design to the actual policy enforcement. In reviewing his trajectory, the author recognizes as sources that laid the foundations for his development and production, his political experiences of militancy within the framework of the national-​popular project. Since the 1970s, he has gained experience in public management, coordinating socioeconomic planning projects at state agencies in the province of Mendoza. Such relevant learning experience was transferred to other areas and jurisdictions. Thanks to his experience in Latin American countries, Neirotti succeeded in gaining valuable insights to shape his theoretical-​methodological bases: his approach to classic authors who introduced situational strategic planning (Carlos Matus) and participatory proposals on popular education (Paulo Freire) and ecumenism for human rights Neirotti, 2021. Among his contributions to the field of public policies, he has proposed a set of guidelines and basic concepts for the situated framework of any analysis: attention to epochal shifts in regional perspective. By assuming that chaos is the norm, he admits that policies are challenging attempts to provide answers, through decisions within the chaotic context. A difficult task for overcoming turbulent uncertainties that require prospective analysis. A valuable tool to build possible futures, formulate forecasts and even predictions. A research practice that links theory, methodology, and data. A comprehension of policy process and of these policies as processes in themselves, leads him to highlight the need for strategic management: of times, the multiplicity of actors, the objectives and resources at stake (including the badly needed symbolic ones indispensable for managing the consensus). These perspectives, applied to policy evaluation, have made Dr Neirotti a Latin American reference in this matter (Neirotti, 2005, 2015, 2016). His production is quoted and required reading in postgraduate programs and in consultancy and management spheres. Evaluation as a reflexive act demands a social hermeneutics, and the use of methodologies, devices, and tools, in order to produce integrative evaluative judgments, based on criteria of feasibility, viability, and sustainability. This integration must respond to the purpose of evaluation, which aims at guiding improvements in the evaluation of actions, projects, plans, and policies. The author concludes from his academic work and his professional experience that the knowledge produced in the evaluations combines science, experience, and intuitions whose value heavily depends on being not only communicated but also appropriated by the actors involved. His slogan is “To befriend politics and technique”, against the imperatives of the “New managerial public management” applied by international financial agencies. The approach towards rights for an 48

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inclusive development faces the challenge of producing a new institutionality as a source of possibilities and restrictions. Neirotti’s claim of an evaluative culture as habitus takes up Bourdieu again and Duplá’s Ignatian Pedagogy. The appeal to reflexivity, inter-​rationality, inter-​sectoriality, and inter-​jurisdictionality calls for dialogue for the recognition of the “others”. When he reviews the theoretical-​methodological heritage that he has developed up to the present and ponders how his elaborations influenced the work of decision-​makers, managers, and advisors, the author concludes that his work is not meant to be regarded as a technocratic solution. He suggests that his evaluative practice showed the difficult paths for the academic influence upon other areas, devices, and networks. Only occasionally do valuable mutual encounters occur; whenever they are successful in their attempt they heavily depend on very specific political processes operating in harmony. The scope of the impact exerted by the indirect influence cannot be measured, via the work of so many participants. Carlos Vilas Carlos Vilas is a lawyer and doctor from the University of Buenos Aires; he pursued graduate studies in Sociology and Politology at FLACSO (Chile). He also got in contact with Catalan and French scholars. He was awarded a scholarship at an American university where he met Charles Lindblom. This trajectory of the 1970s allowed him to become, in the 1980s, a member of the advisory and management teams of the Sandinista government of the revolution in Nicaragua in the areas of education, planning, and regional development. He also participated in similar projects, both autonomous and supported by international cooperation agencies, for the governments of Honduras and other Central American countries. He is currently Honorary Professor at the National University of Lanus, a member of the Department of Planning and Public Policies. He is Chair of the Master’s Degree in Public Policies and Government and of the Public Policy Perspectives magazine. Looking back on his training period, the author recognizes as his main theoretical and methodological mentors in the political realm, Guillermo O’Donnell, and, in the economic realm, Aldo Ferrer and colleagues from Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL) and Instituto Latinoamericano para la Planificación Económica y Social (ILPES). The life and work of Arturo Sampay constitute an undeniable source for thinking frames of “the national”. Their influence can be traced throughout his production, especially in the books After Neoliberalism: State and Political Processes in Latin America (2011) and Power and Politics: The Counterpoint between Reason and Passion (2013). Vilas’ most outstanding academic contributions are centered on the concept of the state, the nature of state policies, and the analysis of power, conflict, and decisions. In contrast to the widespread view of the state as a set of institutions 49

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and civil servants of the “public sector” that regulate social coexistence through rules and resources to the extreme of physical coercion, Vilas poses another view, which does not ignore the political dimension of the state, its centrality and relevance for modern societies. He defines the state as a unit of order and management of the social group in accordance with goals and objectives that derive from the power structure and the idea of justice inherent in each political regime (Vilas, 2021). Thus, “the state is the historically determined way in which power is organized in a society; it is the institutionalization of formal and informal, normative and factual relations of command-​obedience” (Vilas, 2013: p 18). The result of relations of conflict and agreement, exercises of will and response to needs between social and political forces in changing socioeconomic, ideological and cultural contexts. He denies the so-​called “novelty” of the analysis and situational plans: all political analysis is situated, even if it is not recognized or made explicit. Vilas shows here his adherence to what he considers the best version of O’Donnell, which was introduced by the latter in the North American academia; another vision of the state: a vision that takes up the line of Germani’s work, updated with non-​contradictory contributions from Marxist and Weberian ideas. They serve as the basis for understanding the state as the specific political component of dominance and its policies as knots of the social process that reveals it. Structural political analysis, non-​deterministic, socially and economically anchored. The policies, as state decisions, are intertwined with the strategies of the actors and factors that condition them. Given the unequal distribution of resources, they operate as historically institutionalized inertia. Its foreseeable future marked by instability and the background of the crisis of an emerging hegemony, constitute “democracies in transition”. Vilas considers that the practice of following recommendations of the Washington Consensus, the World Bank, and the Inter-​American Development Bank, is combined in an analytical-​conceptual viewpoint with the mistake of depoliticizing the issue, restricting the problem of the state to its size and expenditure. Thus, structural adjustment is the true reform of the state and the market, an abstract denomination of the matrix of power relations that characterized the new times. Such adaptation is always mediated by the political action, that is to say, power. A power that Vilas breaks down in its nature, means, and tools for its expansion and containment. Normative power of the factual that exudes legality through decision-​making chains that “resolve” conflicts, building acolytes, opponents, and enemies. In his latest works Vilas aligns this in relation to a “national project”. Each decision is judged as a complex product of a conjuncture of diverse rationalities, in its formal and substantive aspects. The logics of the multiple actors in their increasing adequacy show crossings of motives, interests, and passions, which are seldom harmonious or known. They play with time –​their own time and that of “Politics”. 50

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From the standpoint of his Argentine experiences at the international, national, and provincial levels, he gained a proper dimensioning of the broad gap in the academic understanding of policies and the concrete decision-​making processes in the field. Taking into account his theoretical-​methodological contributions to the fields of management, the author considers that luck has not always been on his side; it has been varied and periodizable, but difficult to evaluate in quality and scope. He suggests that based on those criteria, academia should strive to bridge the gap between theory and practice through fieldwork and curricular internships in the last stages of undergraduate training in the field of policies. Besides, they should offer specific courses on writing management reports, executive summaries, and briefings for management communication. Mabel Thwaites Rey Our decision to include Professor Mabel Thwaites Rey in this chapter is not a random decision. It goes beyond the fact that she is the only woman in the selection; it is her atypical conceptual framework on the analysis of Argentine policies that turns her into a particularly relevant figure. Indeed, the author works mainly with concepts from the Marxist tradition, especially from the contributions made by Antonio Gramsci, the ideas of Nikos Poulantzas and his debate with Ralph Miliband and later developments linked to the autonomism proposed by John Holloway. In addition, as far as the influence of Argentine authors is concerned, two key referents on the state and public policies were the following scholars: Guillermo O’Donnell –​mainly with his text Notes for a Theory of the State –​and Oskar Oszlak who, together with O’Donnell, wrote State and State Policies in Latin America: Towards a Research Strategy. As Thwaites Rey acknowledges, “what unites many of these currents is the view of the State as a social relationship” (Weber, 2019, s/​p). In her first published works, it is evident that the study of public policies emerges because of her interest on the theories of the state: that object (or subject?) that constitutes public policies. Her educational journey began with her Law degree at the University of Buenos Aires, followed by postgraduate studies in Public Administration and Political Sociology, and finally a PhD in Political Law within the field of “Theory of the State”. Her doctoral dissertation, supervised by Dr Carlos Cárcova, is one of the fields that became popular in the 1990s and in the following decade: the study of the privatization of state companies and their effects. Upon reviewing both the names of her fellow colleagues with whom she wrote and/​or taught courses early in her career, the names of renowned scholars such as Atilio Borón, Oscar Oszlak, Edgardo Logiudice, and Andrea López stand out. When reviewing the institutions she was associated with, we can highlight two: the Institute of Studies on Latin America and the Caribbean, founded in 2003 –​first as member of the Academic Committee and later its Director –​and 51

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the Latin American Council of Social Sciences, where she joined and coordinated various study groups. The Gramscian concept of an extensive (enlarged) state plays a key role in her theoretical framework. Thwaites Rey regards this construct and the hegemony construct as one of the great contributions to the theory of the contemporary state. She stated that “it is one of Gramsci’s most valuable contributions about the consensual aspect of domination; he succeeded in unraveling the complexity of bourgeois domination in societies of developed capitalism which, in turn, provides interesting tools to analyze peripheral societies like ours” (Thwaites Rey, 2008, p 131), with reference to Latin American societies. Therefore, she takes up Gramsci’s contribution by considering civil society as part of the organization of domination, together with the repressive apparatus, typical of a restricted view of the state. At the same time, the state is regarded as a social relationship with an inner contradiction that can become the arena for both hegemony-​building and counterhegemony (Thwaites Rey and Ouviña, 2018). Thus, the “question of the State” cannot be isolated from the enquiry about power and its economic and social component. The material base of different societies, their socio-​productive matrix, is not a mere contextual variable when defining the state. At the same time, public policies express this contradiction. Hence, the state apparatus cannot be thought of as a mere instrument of a class or fraction, but as the object and result of a dispute. This is essential to consider the cycle of rejection to neoliberalism in Latin America and its drifts of both progressive governments and right-​wing governments in the region. Alongside with other referents in the PPA field, the ideas of Thwaites Rey seek to understand the current times in the Southern hemisphere. To this end, one of her major contributions was to build a conceptual framework based on authors belonging to the Marxist tradition.

Conclusion Although this overview through the intellectual-​academic and professional trajectories of the selected authors was not intended to be exhaustive but just to introduce their main proposals, it is still possible to identify some common features in their production and contributions to PPA. In fact, the central role ascribed to the state in the analysis of public policies from situated perspectives that seek to shed light on the peculiarities of Latin American societies, by making original contributions to the field from the regional agendas. Even among those authors closer to institutionalism, it is possible to recognize the drift of their analytical axes towards the historical-​structural approach. The authors propose theoretical frameworks that take up diverse guidelines mainly from the North American and European academic tradition: from structural functionalism and North American Marxism (Oszlak), the historical neo-​institutionalism and the rational choice (Acuña), the strategic planning (Neirotti), the Gramscian and Poulantizian Marxism (Thwaites Rey). However, 52

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the dialogues among these theoretical perspectives are weak. In this sense, it is possible to recognize that there is a field of PPA in the country to the extent that there is agreement on the question of the object “public politics”, but not on the theories, methods, techniques, or instruments of inquiry. Although the works of the selected authors show their commitment to research conditioned by social reality with a view to promoting reflection both in the realm of politics and public management, it is not possible to trace a direct incidence between academic production and its impact on policy making. Note 1

In various texts and interviews, Oszlak suggested that alongside with other Latin American colleagues they had designed an eclectic “historical structural” approach highly influenced by Marxism and structural functionalism. Its aim was to recover traditions from proven theoretical frameworks for the analysis of state entities and policies in Latin America, without disregarding its specific characteristics as a region (Oszlak and O'Donnell, 1976; Oszlak, 2014).

References Acuña, (1995) La nueva matriz política argentina, Buenos Aires: Ediciones Nueva Visión. Acuña, C. (2000) ‘Entrevista’, POSTData, 6: 233–​245. Acuña, C. (2013) ¿Cuánto importan las instituciones? Gobierno, Estado y actores en la política argentina , Buenos Aires: Siglo XXI-​OSDE. Acuña, C. (2014a) ‘Entrevista’, Portal Instituto Argentino para el Desarrollo Económico. Available from www.iade.org.ar/​notic​ias/​que-e​ s-l​ a-p​ oliti​ ca-h ​ oy-y​ -c​ omo-s​ eeje​ rce [Accessed 18 June 2021]. Acuña, C. (2014b) El estado en acción. Fortalezas y debilidades de las políticas sociales en la argentina, Buenos Aires: Siglo XXI Editores. Acuña, C. (2014c) Dilemas Del Estado Argentino, Buenos Aires: Siglo XXI Editores. Bentancur, N., Bidegain, G., and Martínez, R. (2021) ‘La enseñanza de las políticas públicas en América Latina: estado de la situación y desafíos para la ciencia política’, Íconos. Revista de Ciencias Sociales, 71: 13–​36. Bourdieu, P. (2011) ‘La ilusión biográfica’, Acta Sociológica, 56: 121–​128. Bulcourf, P. (2012) ‘El desarrollo de la Ciencia Política en Argentina’, Política, 1(50): 5992. Bulcourf, P. (2019) ‘La Universidad del Salvador y el desarrollo de la ciencia política en la Argentina’, Revista Miríada, 11(15): 253–​257. Bulcourf, P., Dufour, G., and Cardozo, N. (2013) ‘Administración y políticas públicas en la Argentina: una revisión histórica’, Perspectivas sobre el Estado, las políticas públicas y la gestión, 1: 137–​153. Bulcourf, P., Cardozo, N., and Campo Ríos, M. (2019) ‘El desarrollo de la ciencia política en la Argentina y sus desafíos’, in M. Roqueñi Ibarguengoytia, K. Valverde Viesca, and E. Gutiérrez Márquez (eds), La Ciencia Política. Disciplina académica, profesionalización y nuevos horizontes, Mexico City: Universidad Iberoamericana–​UNAM, pp 177–​228. 53

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Camou, A. and Soprano, G. (2007) ‘Entrevista a Oscar Oszlak: reflexiones sobre investigación, gestión y consultoría en organizaciones públicas’, Cuestiones de Sociología, 4: 187–​212. Cardozo, N. (2020) ‘Estado, administración y políticas públicas en América Latina: un esbozo sobre su desarrollo’, Civilizar Ciencias Sociales y Humanas, 20(39): 11–​34. Cardozo, N. and Bulcourf, P. (2016) ‘El desarrollo institucional de la Administración y Políticas Públicas en Argentina. Un estudio de la enseñanza desde el proceso democratizador hasta nuestros días’, Estudios Políticos, 49: 216–​238 Cardozo, N., Canto Sáenz, R., and Roth Deubel, A.-​N. (2021) ‘Las teorías de las políticas públicas en y desde América Latina: una introducción’, Revista Pilquen. Sección Ciencias Sociales, 24(5): 3–​18. Hirschman, A. (1964) Estudios sobre política económica en América Latina, Madrid: Gráficas Color. Neirotti, N. (ed) (2015) La evaluación de las políticas públicas. Reflexiones y experiencias en el escenario actual de transformaciones del Estado, Remedios de Escalada: Universidad Nacional de Lanús. Neirotti, N. (2016) ‘Dossier: Políticas sociales: múltiples actores, múltiples manos’, Revista Estado y Políticas Públicas, 4(6): 1–​228. Oszlak, O. (1997) ‘La Administración Pública como área de investigación: la experiencia argentina’, Congreso Interamericano del CLAD sobre la Reforma del Estado y de la Administración Pública, Margarita Island: CLAD, 15–​18 October. Oszlak, O. (2014) ‘Hacer Ciencia Política en las Catacumbas: Argentina 1975–​ 1979’. Available from http://w ​ ww.oscar​ oszl​ ak.org.ar/​ima​ges/​articu​los-​espa​nol/​ HACER%20CIEN​CIA%20P​OLIT​ICA%20EN%20LAS%20CAT​ACUM​BAS. pdf [Accessed 12 December 2021]. Oszlak, O. and O’Donnell, G. (1976) ‘Estado y Políticas Públicas en América Latina: hacia una estrategia de investigación’, CEDES Working Paper # 4, Buenos Aires: CEDES/​G.E. CLACSO. Repetto, F. (1998) ‘La administración pública. Escenario actual, estudios y perspectivas recientes. Ejes para una agenda de investigación’, Documento de Trabajo sobre la Administración Pública Argentina (12), Buenos Aires: Fundación Gobierno y Sociedad. Centro de Estudios para el Desarrollo Institucional, pp 1–​89. Rodriguez Gómez, G., Gil Flores, J., and García Giménez, E. (1999) Metodología de la investigación cualitativa, Málaga: Ediciones Aljibe. Thwaites Rey, M. (2008) ‘El Estado “ampliado” en el pensamiento gramsciano’, in M. Thwaites Rey (ed), Estado y marxismo. Un siglo y medio de debates, Buenos Aires: Prometeo, pp 129–​160 Thwaites Rey, M. and Ouviña, H. (2018) ‘El ciclo de impugnación al neoliberalismo en América Latina: auge y fractura’, in H. Ouviña and M. Thwaites Rey (eds), Estados en disputa: auge y fractura del ciclo de impugnación al neoliberalismo en América Latina, Buenos Aires: El Colectivo, pp 17–​65. Vilas, C. (2013) El poder y la política. El contrapunto entre razón y pasiones , Buenos Aires: Vilos. 54

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Vilas, C. (2022) ‘Interview with Cristina Diaz’, 9 February. Wittrock, B. (1999) ‘Conocimiento social y política pública: ocho modelos de interacción’, in P. Wagner and C. Hirschon Weiss (eds), Ciencias Sociales y Estados Modernos, Mexico City: Fondo de Cultura Económica, pp 407–​430.

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The styles of policy analysis in Argentina: analytical frameworks in debate Mabel Thwaites Rey and Vanesa Ciolli

Introduction More than four decades ago, Oscar Oszlak and Guillermo O’Donnell wrote: “Estado y políticas estatales en América Latina: hacia una estrategia de investigación” (“State and policies in Latin America: Towards a research strategy”), which became a classic reference for the analysis of public policies from a social science perspective. The text, published in 1976 in a Latin American context characterized by the irruption of civil-​military dictatorships, laid solid foundations for articulating an empirical research strategy on public policies, based on a theoretical understanding of the characteristics of Latin American capitalist states and their modalities of intervention within the framework of broader historical-​social processes. It is from this place that the authors think of public –​or, more precisely, state –​policies as a privileged point for observing the “state in action” in a given social process. This meant that they implicitly disputed the orientation of the evolution of the discipline in the region by establishing a series of dialogical ruptures with both the historical-​structural approaches (whether Marxist or Weberian) and the empiricist analyses derived from the Anglo-​Saxon tradition. Such ruptures questioned the hegemonic premises in the field of state and public administration studies in which the authors inscribed their analyses and, thus, opened up the possibility of a critical reappropriation from other conceptual perspectives, not without identifying some limitations and blind spots. In this chapter, we propose to ponder the validity of the most significant contributions of the “proto-​model” for the study of state policies developed by Oszlak and O’Donnell, which constitutes an unavoidable text when undertaking empirical research from critical perspectives. Our starting point is a Marxist conception of the capitalist state, which assumes the existence of numerous and very rich debates within this perspective. The general coordinates of this conception are based on understanding the state as a social relation, guarantor of the capitalist mode of accumulation, and, in this sense, as an articulator of hegemony. We also critically recover the concept of “relative autonomy” of the state developed by Nicos Poulantzas (1968–​1978), which allows us to 56

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investigate in a more precise way how the state guarantees the conditions for class domination, such as the autonomization of the state apparatus itself. In this sense, although the formulation made by Guillermo O’Donnell in his “Apuntes para una teoría del Estado” (“Notes for a theory of the state”)1 is not explicitly framed within the Marxist tradition, the conceptual affinity he develops in those pages with Marxist authors such as Poulantzas, Altvater, and those included in the German derivation is unquestionable. In tune with the perspective outlined by O’Donnell, we understand that Latin American states present a set of specificities that frame both our context of production and our object of knowledge. From their very genesis, the forms of the interweaving of national states with the international system of states and the world market have been doubly conditioned. On the one hand, the historical cycles of accumulation on a global scale determine goods and services of greater or lesser relevance to the world market. On the other, the relationship of forces between the fundamental classes operates in the national space and shapes the structures of economic and social production and reproduction, according to the historical cycle. The specificity of Latin American states as a whole is rooted in their common origin as spaces of accumulation subordinated to the world market. The constitution of national states formally independent of the colonialist metropolises during the first half of the 19th century did not result in a symmetrical autonomy in the definition of internal production processes. On the contrary, the consequent social articulations were marked by the continuity of subordinate insertion to the metropolitan centers of power, according to each historical moment. This initial structural weakness –​anchored in the strong conditioning of the constituted world market –​meant that native bourgeoisies with the capacity for autonomous accumulation were not deployed and that the national states were mainly responsible for promoting capitalist development and the formation of a collective identity. This has had lasting consequences in terms of state functions and tasks. The historical specificity of the state in Latin America is thus given by its subordinate character and dependence on the world market, while the multiple national specificities derive from the processes of particular conformation of its fundamental classes, their antagonistic interests, conflicts, struggles, and articulations, in permanent tension with their form of insertion in the historical cycles of accumulation on a global scale. An understanding of the nodal characteristics that define Latin American statehood is indispensable when analyzing what the state effectively “does”, and how it sets itself in motion; that is, its public policies. From this general framework, this chapter is organized into two sections. In the first, we focus on the original contributions of Oszlak and O’Donnell’s article, identifying what we call “dialogical ruptures” in the framework of the hegemonic trends of the discipline at that time. In the second section, we expose those elements that allow a critical reappropriation of the text from a Marxist conceptualization of the capitalist state and point out some factors that represent open challenges for this reappropriation strategy. 57

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The creation of the “proto-​model” and its dialogical ruptures The coups d’état in Chile (1973) and Uruguay (1974) generated a climate of great consternation in academic circles and opened new questions about the state’s problem. In this context, Oszlak and O’Donnell embarked on a joint work that brought together their theoretical concerns. At that time, they shared membership in the Centro de Estudios de Administración Pública of the Di Tella Institute. In mid-​1974, they organized a course on public policy for Argentine and North American students, with the participation of professors Philippe Schmitter, Albert Hirschman, Aníbal Pinto, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, and Adam Przeworski, among others. Within this framework, Oszlak and O’Donnell presented a preliminary version of the work and published it for the first time in March 1976, shortly before the military coup in Argentina. O’Donnell had just published, in 1972, his book Modernización y autoritarismo,2 in which he gave an account of the processes of military dictatorships in the Southern Cone, and between 1974 and 1976 he was writing El Estado burocrático autoritario (Bulcourf and Cardozo, 2017, p 132). However, this work was published in the late days of the last military dictatorship, when the transition to democracy was just beginning (O’Donnell, 1982). Meanwhile, Oszlak was preparing his Notas críticas para una teoría de la burocracia estatal, to be published in 1977. In those years, as Oszlak recalls,3 the field of public policy analysis was just beginning and both authors were following the work of Albert Hirschman, who, after analyzing the cases of agrarian reform in Colombia, the management of inflation in Chile, and the drought in northeastern Brazil, formulated a series of reflections on the existence of a “Latin American style” of policy making, which allowed him to advance in theoretical terms on the processes of formulation and implementation of public policies in the region. Drawing also on the contributions of authors such as Richard Rose, Hugh Heclo, Harold Wilensky, and Charles Lindblom, Oszlak and O’Donnell set out to deploy public policy analysis as a valid strategy for a broader and deeper understanding of the nature of the Latin American state. We propose, then, the notion of dialogical ruptures to account for the anchoring of the text in various traditions of political science, but from the rupture, giving rise to original contributions and new forms of questioning those traditions. We understand that the text opposes the idea of a “toolbox” made up of elements without their conceptual background, capable of being “used” in any context. In this sense, one of the greatest achievements of the work is that it articulates the diverse traditions, not as the fruit of a disjointed eclecticism but in search of a surpassing synthesis. We can identify two central dialogical ruptures in the text, which give it its imprint: on the one hand, sequential analysis and instrumental rationality, and, on the other, critical theory and Marxism. These ruptures provide elements for thinking about its original contributions, which were consolidated as invariant nuclei over the decades and which, in our opinion, were not surpassed by subsequent contributions within the discipline of public policy analysis. 58

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Dialogical break with sequential analysis and instrumental rationality At the time Oszlak and O’Donnell wrote their article, the young field of public policy studies had as its main reference the so-​called “sequential model” created by Harold Laswell –​planned in a 1956 article and developed in his book The Future of Political Science (1963). This consists of dividing the public policy process into stages, to better understand what is happening, who is involved, and what results can be expected at each moment. In turn, this approach sought to “advance in the scientific investigation of the process of policy production and execution” to rationalize the political process, make more efficient use of available resources and strengthen democracy (Lasswell, 1951, 1956). These policy sciences were to rely on the best available scientific methods –​from a positivist perspective –​ particularly economics and psychology, to solve society’s most pressing political and social problems and needs. Although the sequential model was subject to more or less critical reworkings over time, it retained its centrality. Oszlak and O’Donnell’s article explicitly positions itself as overcoming traditional sequential analyses by focusing on issues, which they define as “the social process woven around the emergence, treatment and resolution of questions in the face of which the State and other actors adopt policies” (Oszlak and O’Donnell, 1976, p 9), which allows them to have a “detailed and dynamic view of how and why a complex set of actors has acted on certain ‘issues’ ” (Oszlak and O’Donnell, 1976, p 9). The lens thus focuses on the dynamics of the socio-​political process itself. Here, the issues arise, making it possible to elucidate which actors, with which power resources, and through which strategies, mechanisms, and coalitions manage to place an issue on the public agenda. As Oszlak observes, the focus shifts from the centrality of public policies in themselves to the social conflicts from which they emerge and which, by the way, have their historicity. Hence their explicit anchoring in the historical-​structural tradition,4 which they define as a tributary of both Marxism and structural-​functionalist sociology. According to Oszlak (2010), “in this perspective, public policies lost their majesty, their protagonism, and became a ‘taking of position’ of those who pretended to assume the representation of the State. But, at the same time, policies were responses from the social actors involved in the issues to which these positions gave rise”.5 In this way, the state apparatus itself became an arena of confrontation where the fundamental conflicts of society were settled. This focus impacts instrumental rationality in two concomitant ways. On the one hand, the “issues” refer to the demands and needs of society, which arouse the interest, attention, or mobilization of social actors. But not all existing demands, but those that are “socially problematized”, that is, those that achieve a public status that requires definitions and actions. The idea of social problematization is central to the approach, as is the fact that they manage to acquire such an entity that activates public intervention. Therefore, public policies address aspects of reality that are not ordered by a rational principle, nor by normative modeling, but by the 59

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social conflict embodied by the actors in dispute. On the other hand, the conflict itself leads to the assumption of social contradictions, which are not governed by any univocal rationality but refer to disputed interests, which are either always or easily convergent or negotiable. For this reason, from the very moment an issue is placed on the public agenda, the tensions present in its very heart unfold once again. Public policies, seen in this way, are not institutional designs applied from above to static realities, but complex social products with an unpredictable course. Within the framework of this break with the sequential model, however, a dialogue is established in the methodological structuring of the proto-​model, based on the identification of the temporal dimension of the socially problematized issues. This is because establishing state policies as units of analysis implies a certain cutout of social reality, within which different stages and moments in the development of the aforementioned social process can be identified. Although these stages are not identical to fixed and delimited “sequences”, they have in common the need to be approached in a specific way. From this point of view, the detailed study of the process that leads to the “taking of position” of the state and the set of non-​state actors that unfold throughout the emergence, development, and resolution of the socially problematized issue, as well as the intra-​bureaucratic dynamics that are woven around state actions, constitutes a substantive contribution to the understanding of the state “in movement”. However, we may note that this “dialogue” with the sequential model introduces an internal tension in the text itself with the idea of “resolution”. The notion of “resolution” –​as well as that of “suture” –​in Oszlak and O’Donnell’s text assumes the existence of multiple possibilities for an issue to end up leaving the agenda. In other words, a problem that has attracted public attention and mobilization of actors and resources (“socially problematized issue”) can lead to various positive actions (in the sense of taking a course of action defined as the best or possible) or even to inaction. Because in this model of analysis, an issue can also be resolved if it dissolves or is set aside for a lack of strength to sustain it on the part of the actors who put it on the agenda, for example. The sequential model, on the other hand, follows the stages of a policy in linear terms and analyzes formulation and implementation as differentiable processes, in which the specifically political-​ state dimension occupies the central role. “Resolution by dissolution”, not by a specific action, would not fall within the field of interest of the sequential model and constitutes a deliberate challenge to the premise of instrumental rationality, based on which “resolution” would necessarily imply the effective and efficient solution of the problem or demand that was the object of state policy. Dialogical rupture with critical theory and Marxism The text begins by arguing that the study of public policies constitutes a valid strategy for a broad and deep understanding of the nature of the Latin American state, framed within a historical-​structural approach. In the words of O’Donnell (2010), the search for the proto-​model aimed to differentiate itself 60

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from superstructural analyses, provoked by restricted readings of Marx and Weber, which exaggerated the uniqueness of the state, its homogeneity, its character as an instrument of the dominant classes –​in the case of Marxist perspectives –​ or its inexorable bureaucratic logic –​in Weberian visions, which understood policies as the mechanical result of determinations unaffordable to human activity. But, above all, they distanced themselves from empiricist reductionism, which believed that it was valid to isolate a state policy as something determined purely endogenously and that it was sufficient to look at internal factors to explain the emergence, development, and even the consequences of these public policies. On the one hand, there is a clear dialogue with the Marxist state theory6 and poststructuralism in the introduction of the text, where it is established that the state is a central component of political domination, in whose brief conceptualization the analysis of the text “Estado y alianzas de clases 1956–​1976” by Guillermo O’Donnell is recovered (O’Donnell, 1976). There, the classes and class fractions that exercise such political domination in the country are identified based on their structural link with the process of capital accumulation (internationalized) and, from this place, their differentiated access to state policies. The latter is also nourished by the contributions of dependency theory, both in the characterization of Latin American economies as dependent capitalisms and in the interest in identifying the features that the different Latin American processes have in common. Thus, they argue that one of the main tensions in our societies is “the role of the State as an unusually active and visible agent of the accumulation and reproduction of the ‘most advanced’ forms of Latin American dependent capitalism” (Oszlak and O’Donnell, 1976, p 5). However, this dialogue is not evenly present throughout the proto-​model, hence certain inconsistencies that we wish to highlight in this chapter. According to Oszlak, in this text they tried to focus the analysis on the issues, that is, on the questions, aiming to understand the circumstances in which they arise, who manages to turn a problem into an “issue socially retrieved” by the state, which actors mobilize to achieve this, constituting what kind of political coalitions, using what kind of strategies and based on what power resources they manage to install an issue on the public agenda and with what kind of results. In short, they shifted the focus from the policies themselves, as state practices, to the social conflicts that give them origin and meaning. In this dialogic framework with Marxism and poststructuralism, the text makes a central contribution by dealing with the “state in action”, moving from the analysis of fixed structures to that of the dynamics in the movement of public spheres traversed by social conflict. In this line, they recover the notion of “relative autonomy” –​in tune with that worked by Poulantzas –​although more focused on describing with it the consolidation of bureaucratic interests, internal to the state itself. From a critical perspective (Marxist, or leftist in general) there are not many theoretical contributions to state dynamics that involve the detail of bureaucratic functioning and the social and political disputes that cross the state in specific 61

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socio-​historical contexts. First, the focus on the critique of the capitalist state and its overcoming has distanced many critical scholars from the specific analysis of the practices that materialize in public policies, with the underlying belief that this type of approach is less relevant than the analysis of structural dynamics. Not a few Marxist scholars consider “reformist” the study of the existing state apparatus and the public policies that set it in motion to account for social problems and demands. Moreover, they distrust analyses that attempt to guide rulers in the implementation of public policies, which is what tends to prevail in studies of the more traditional public policy field. We believe that this inadequacy is problematic and generates real theoretical gaps when it comes to studying the concrete functioning of actually existing states. On the contrary, the predominant theorizations in the field of public policy are based on the assumption of accepting and not questioning the capitalist character of the state, so their heuristic character is also limited to systemic survival as an indisputable feature. That is to say, they describe realities –​in many cases falling into exacerbated empiricism –​whose deep dynamics are beyond comprehension, since they omit the basic conditioning factors of the existence of capitalist states, which lie in the class split, as O’Donnell (1978) states in his article “Apuntes para una teoría del Estado”, a work clearly in tune with the Marxist problematic of the state.7 On the other hand, if we focus on the proto-​model, the axis placed on the process of social problematization builds an operative dialogue with this view, by evidencing the relative power of the various actors, classes, and class fractions to raise issues, influence the form of problematization and the state position-​taking. From this point of view, the Marxist approach is complementary to the text, by sustaining the inherently contradictory character of capitalist societies, beyond the existence of visible conflicts at certain moments. Thus, any socially problematized issue is susceptible to being analyzed from its conflicts, both open and underlying. This makes it possible to complexify the view of specific conjunctures by always sustaining the questions around those issues that fail to be socially problematized and/​or those that end up being systematically blocked by the dominant sectors. However, we believe that this “proto-​model” raised ambiguities for the conceptualization of the state. Perhaps, the main conceptual ambiguity is due to the scale of analysis it proposes to work on, since, to the extent that it seeks to observe the “state in action”, it tends to understand the state as just another actor, instead of sustaining the conception of the state as a social relationship. In other words, although it is recognized as differentiated, complex, and contradictory, the state has attributed a capacity to act, which is a characteristic of social subjects and not of structures. States do not “do” per se, but condense social actions that crystallize in an unstable way in their apparatuses. There is no autonomy of the state about the conditions of social production and reproduction, but rather material devices (state apparatuses) that express specific configurations of relations of forces that influence reality. A state apparatus is a historical product of demands, interests, and struggles and as such achieves relative autonomy as a materially defined apparatus. Public policies, therefore, set in motion different 62

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state apparatuses, which have their own historical configurations and operating dynamics, which influence policies in a more or less decisive way. Thus, while one of the significant contributions of the text is the relationship established between the state apparatus and the social actors as part of the same process of social problematization, the ambiguity in the conceptualization of the state embodies the danger of diluting the specificity of the capitalist state –​as guarantor of the social relations of domination –​to become simply one more actor, a view that is deeply discussed by O’Donnell in “Notes for a theory of the state”, but which is not taken up in this text. Another problem we noticed is the overlapping of the categories of government and state. In many passages, the text refers to the state when, strictly speaking, it is talking about the government (or, more specifically, the Executive Branch), which is one of the components of the state. This conceptual slippage can lead to a blurred understanding of the structural dimension of the state. It could even underestimate the specific role of the political forces that occupy the government, in a given period, in the construction of public policies as part of their program or, also, as a product of social demands. Because even the omission in action refers us to the political dimension of the relationship of forces that determines whether a government wants to, or can, promote certain policies or position itself in one way or another in the face of society’s demands. 8

Limitations and challenges from Marxism After exposing what we understand as the main original contributions and the dialogical ruptures of the text, in this section we intend to highlight some of the key elements that dialogue with the critical perspective and Marxism, to claim their validity, as well as to raise some open tensions in terms of conceptual challenges. The object of study: socially problematized issues As we have been analyzing, the focus of the object of study formulated by Oszlak and O’Donnell’s text constitutes one of the key elements to establishing a dialogue capable of promoting a critical appropriation of the proto-​model. Unlike other perspectives, the object of study is not a governmental decision, initiative, or proposal, but a more comprehensive social process involving various actors over a longer period. Based on that, a definition of the object that can be addressed by this proto-​model is established, within the set of actions that make up state activity in a given period. Thus, a public policy is defined based on a set of public policies and social actions that intersect, condition, and/​or mutually determine each other. When the focus is placed on a given policy, a longer process is illuminated, which may involve the action of one or more governments, one or more state agencies, and one or more social sectors, over a variable period, depending on the type of policy under study. 63

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It is interesting how this proto-​model emphasizes that conflict is inherent to societies, and therefore, there are many more problems and conflicts than those that end up being processed as public problems. That is, it underlines the social complexity and conflict that underlie state activity and helps to unravel why some issues are relevant and get public treatment as opposed to others that are neglected. Focusing on who raises the issue, how it is organized to install it, what resources it has, who joins it and who opposes it, and what becomes, finally, the game of actions and reactions that are triggered, allows us to understand the deepest nature of societies, with their contradictions and disputes. Public policies can thus be understood as knots that intertwine immanent conflicts and the courses of action they take as expressive of relations of competing social forces. This excludes, or at least relegates to a very low position, those readings that place at the center a normative “ought to be” from which to understand the actual courses of action of a policy. In this case, the analytical axis concentrates on what really happens and on elucidating the gears that make it possible, and not on investigating how much a policy follows or departs from a previously established ideal design or conceived as a normative model. Undoubtedly, this perspective is productive for understanding what capitalist states “do” in contexts of demands and conflicts, and does not seek to establish parameters or guidelines for action according to certain pre-​existing values or interests. The ways of problematizing an issue and placing it on the public agenda may vary, depending on the nature of the issue, those who promote it, and the resources they use, which can be confused with the media treatment of an issue. However, media exposure is not autonomous from the capacity of certain actors to promote it. The media have their agendas as companies with their own interests or those of allied social sectors or those to which they respond, but in general, they intervene to shape and amplify the demands of certain sectors-​actors or to oppose those of others. They always do so with the ideological-​political bias they sustain and using all the weight that their position allows them in the chain of cultural reproduction. In general, it can be said that a problem becomes an issue when it demands the active attention of several actors involved, enters the media agenda, and pushes some public position. For example, if a claim –​be it a popular demand or a more limited sectoral petition –​fails to successfully challenge the state in any of its branches, it is unlikely to enter the public agenda as an issue that deserves treatment, whether it is expected by those who made it or not. However, from a critical appropriation of the proto-​model, we believe that the focus of the object thus conceived presents a series of relevant tensions that can be addressed in specific empirical research. From a Marxist approach, the concept of the socially problematized issue contains a paradox in terms of those factors that are inherently conflictive and structuring in capitalist societies, but not always made visible or problematized as such by the actors in conflict in given contexts. What is socially problematized does not express, clearly, the character of the deep contradictions that run through the capitalist social relation, since such 64

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contradictoriness is mediated by multiple variables and actors. In recent decades, for example, we have witnessed a process of fragmentation and individualization of social problems that is the result of the fragmentation of the subaltern classes, their struggles, and their immediate demands. In consequence, “ultimate” challenges to capitalism can be observed in socio-​environmental conflicts, feminist struggles, in the demands of workers excluded from the formal labor market, among others. However, the deepest socially problematized aspect of all these conflicts fails to bring to the surface the ultimate character of capitalism as a constitutively unequal system based on the reproduction of expanded social injustice. In this way, we understand that, in its application to specific studies, the challenge consists in identifying the issues that are problematized with an open look not merely to what appears on the immediate surface –​generally activated in the media agenda –​but, fundamentally, to those contradictions inherent to the societies in which they unfold. This does not imply ignoring or underestimating the specific way in which these issues are expressed in specific contexts, but rather broadening their approach to interpreting their long-​range historical development. Those may even reveal experiences that allow comparisons to be made and recurrent elements and novel features to be identified. Likewise, to understand the terms in which social problematization is presented, the challenge is to expose the frameworks of meaning that are put into play and their articulation with particular sectoral interests. That is to say, to understand how social actors define the problem, what phenomena or circumstances they identify as causes of the problem, and what sectors they consider responsible for its resolution, as well as how they construct the horizon for overcoming the problem and what transformations they hope to achieve in this process. In this way, the very initial cut of the object of study will contribute to identifying sharper and more spatially and temporally located analytical dimensions. On the other hand, it should be noted that there is a whole field of public policies that cannot be reduced to the analysis of the state in motion proposed by the proto-​model, since they do not appear as the result of an explicit social approach or with clear actors. In such cases, it would be forced to try to locate the origin of the policy in a point of conflict or demand, as could be the case of the set of sectoral policies that governments usually promote as part of their management program. Of course, this does not mean that such policies are always socially neutral or non-​conflictual, but rather that it is the institutional actors themselves who, based on their political reading, decide to promote this or that sectoral public policy without the social core that drives it being evident or without triggering substantive conflicts or debates. What generally happens, however, is that such a state movement, pushed by the government, tends to provoke movements in society and also within the intervening state apparatuses, with a greater or lesser degree of conflict and visibility. Similarly, the institutional-​coactive scaffolding that sustains the more general formal rules of the modern rule of law –​and its correlate in the capitalist market –​ as well as the participation of national states in the inter-​state system –​beyond 65

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the geopolitical configurations of each historical stage –​exceed the aforesaid limitation of the object of study proposed by the proto-​model. They are crystallized institutions that remain as an indisputable core of meaning –​already given –​by the main social forces in conflict. And, under this, they are defined as “state functions” in the strict sense, which apparently would not be the object of political dispute. In the face of this dilemma, we argue that, indeed, such general conditions of global capitalist accumulation do not present a scale that can be addressed by the proto-​model proposed in Oszlak and O’Donnell’s text. Nevertheless, we consider that the analysis of the general conditions of capitalist reproduction outlines (explicitly or implicitly) any theorization of the state and that, therefore, the characterization of the specificities of the historical stage of capitalism in the given geographical space configures the interpretative frame of reference for the analysis of any public policy. This means that an in-​depth analysis of state policies requires making explicit the fundamental contradictions inherent in the capitalist societies studied and how these affect the specific configurations of states. For this, Marxist theoretical approaches are unavoidable. However, and this is where we vindicate the contributions of the proto-​model, when it comes to understanding the historical and situated specificity of state actions –​public policies –​the proto-​model provides us with valuable tools of medium scope, generally absent in the more abstract critical theorizations, for the reasons we have expressed. The protagonists of social problematization: actors, classes, and stakeholders It is precisely at the level of the intermediate categories of analysis that some tensions also appear in Oszlak and O’Donnell’s approach. For example, in the determination of what is understood as “social actors”. Under the generic denomination of social actors, we find several juxtaposed meanings that, in the identification and characterization of the various collective groupings and identities of what we call civil society (as opposed to the actors that hold legitimacy to act on behalf of the state or some of its parts), tend to avoid both the differentiation of the levels of abstraction of the analytical categories in play and the concrete manifestations (or personifications) in the given social problematization processes. Herein lies one of the most recurrent obstacles to the analysis of social problematization processes and, therefore, of state policies. In their approach, Oszlak and O’Donnell refer to “classes, class fractions, organizations, groups, eventually individuals” as actors, which, beyond the dynamism they intend to give to their analysis –​to avoid what in other approaches appears more global and statically defined –​do not avoid the problem of categorical laxity. This becomes more complex when it comes to determining what characteristics such actors acquire and how to define them to make the study of concrete cases operative. We recover the notion of class and class fractions, because it seems to us theoretically coherent and analytically relevant, although it cannot be placed 66

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on the same plane as categories such as organizations, groups, and, much less, individuals. The idea of an “actor” that would unify all these categories may be useful to understand the complexity that characterizes the intersections between civil society and state apparatuses, but it does not avoid the need to define them when studying a particular policy. How to define a class, fraction, or stratum is a nodal theoretical issue, as is finding the features that allow us to identify them in the study of concrete situations. Classes, viewed as socioeconomic categories, do not express themselves socially or politically in a direct way, but through organizational mediations, ranging from civil associations to trade unions. Therefore, when trying to identify, in the proto-​model, the positions taken by the classes concerning a given public policy, it is necessary to determine the forms through which they express themselves. The complexity of the definition becomes apparent when a case study refers, for example, to the “middle classes” or the “popular sectors”, which imposes the search for precise and operative definitions that make it possible to identify how these groups manifest themselves in a specific situation. And here it is not only the socioeconomic classifications that segment the population into more or less homogenizable conglomerates that come into play but also the cultural and political patterns that amalgamate those who perceive themselves as belonging to the same grouping and act accordingly. In turn, within critical theories, we include decolonial studies and feminist perspectives as central theoretical references when analyzing the processes of social problematization within the framework of complex social relations of domination. Thus, along with classes and fractions of social classes we consider two other axes that structure social relations of domination: ethnic-​racial (Quijano, 2000) and gender (Federici, 2010; Fraser, 2015; Butler and Fraser, 2017). Together, they constitute a triad of capitalist, Western, and patriarchal power and domination, which manifests itself in different ways in the emerging conflicts of our time. With this in mind, we think it is pertinent to distinguish and make explicit the levels of analysis. We must consider the social actors that participate in the social problematization, the identification of their particular interests, the consideration of their power resources, their repertoires of action, and their discursive elaborations. The analysis must be nourished both by self-​identifications and by a set of questions aimed at establishing the relative location in the mentioned triad of power that structures the social relations of domination. Consequently, two clarifications are in order. First, likely, it will not be possible to identify homogeneous positions of all the members of a group of interest in each of the axes mentioned (class, ethnicity, gender). However, the identification exercise itself is an input to broaden the view not only of these “social actors” but also of the very issue that arouses their interest and action. The other is that throughout the problematization process, not only are each of these “social actors” transformed, but an issue can also give rise to the emergence and configuration of new actors who can even reorient the problematization towards new issues. It is at this point that the contributions we made in the previous section on the 67

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definition of the object of study and its interpretative framework become relevant to understanding these shifts. State positions: the state in its complexity The third and last axis that we propose to analyze under the critical appropriation of Oszlak and O’Donnell’s text from Marxism refers to its ambiguity in the conceptualization of the state, which we have previously mentioned. In operational terms, this ambiguity is put into action by the idea of “taking a position”, which, on the other hand, is what defines that “movement” of the state in specific contexts, beyond its –​structural –​role as an articulator of the conditions of domination. Understanding the state as a social relation guarantor of the relations of domination does not imply thinking of state activity in instrumental terms –​as it was interpreted by some currents within Marxism. When we mention that the state is not an actor, we mean that it cannot be attributed to a conscience –​ capable of rationally elucidating the needs of the mode of capitalist domination at each juncture –​or a will defined a priori and transcendent to its historical time, which unequivocally guides its “taking of position”. The proto-​model, in this sense, contributes to the operationalization of the state in movement based on the idea of “taking a position” within the framework of the social process of which it forms part, together with other social actors. As the authors point out, the state apparatus is not homogeneous, nor are its actions coherent, so it is more accurate to refer to “state positions”, which may be simultaneously or successively different. This is not only true about the different state apparatuses and agencies that intervene in public policy, but also to positions within each state apparatus, also internally crossed by relations of forces and/​or changing situations over time. For Oszlak and O’Donnell, the frequently mentioned “policy conflict” in governmental administrations has to do with “the presence, within the state apparatus, of units with varying degrees of autonomy, capable of influencing different instances of the process, which come into conflict when the state’s position on a social issue must be defined”. From this perspective, “the ambiguity or conflict is not inherent to the position of the State, but the product of the confrontation between some of its units obeying contradictory organizational and clientelistic interests” (Oszlak and O’Donnell, 1976, p 22). For example, the positions of the judicial apparatus may vary according to the court or chamber involved in an issue, depending on the ideological-​political profile of the judges and/​or the weight of plaintiffs and defendants in the specific case. Also, an agency of the Executive Branch may change ownership and modify the position previously adopted, even within the same governmental administration. These situations are the most frequent in the concrete reality of public action so the idea of “the position taking of the state” has to include the variable of contradictoriness as a feature not exceptional but constitutive of the state. 68

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Assuming the complexity of the decision-​making process thus implies distancing oneself from the literature that considers formulation and implementation as two separate and internally coherent instances, from which it would follow that what escapes the design constitutes an error or deviation in implementation and not that it is part of a complex and tense social process. It is possible that in the implementation of a policy there may be errors or deviations from the initial goals, but this does not mean that they are the product of totally separable instances (policy formulation and administrative implementation), but rather the consequence of the intervention of multiple variables and actors throughout the always disputed process of resolving a socially problematized issue. To address this complexity in specific research, we understand that, together with the analysis of the relationships between social forces that allow us to characterize the historical-​structural configuration of state actions, it is necessary to consider that these are also the result of juxtaposed logics of action that are put into play in each context. To contribute to a methodological approach to public policies from this perspective, we suggest the identification of the particular logic through which the different state apparatuses and/​or agents may act: • The logic of political-​electoral legitimization or accumulation of political power of a group or party. • Bureaucratic logics that are identified in an “esprit de corps” (Crozier, 1969) oriented to its reproduction and expansion as an apparatus. • Client logics are deployed within the framework of the “interest groups” related to the field of action of the state agency or area from which it acts. The same state agency can act from different logics at the same time and internalize its contradictions. In this sense, it is not a question of determining the intentions that move them, but rather the socio-​political networks in which these actors are involved. The reason for taking one position and not another, or for their changes, can be elucidated by following this ensamble of contradictions. The particular conditioning factors, their logics, and the contradictions on which we insist have repercussions both on the structure of each state apparatus and on the mode of recruitment of its agents (and their scope or origin). Let us think of the bureaucracy of the judiciary, from the judges to the lowest ranking agent, or of the military, health, or educational apparatus, and we will see the complexity of the intertwining of social sectors that inhabit them. Disciplinary paradigms, ideological and political worldviews, and organizational culture patterns are at play here, knotting vectors through which decisions and actions are resolved or bogged down. This is also where political preferences come in, although in a more opaque and complex way to interpret and, therefore, to approach. It is worth mentioning that, even within the framework of these re-​elaborations, the proto-​model proposed by Oszlak and O’Donnell for the analysis of public policies updates its validity in the face of the proliferation of discourse analysis 69

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within the field of public policies during the last decades. Without the possibility of taking a critical look at these approaches here, we consider it relevant to point out their contrast with the idea of “position(s) taking(s)”. In this sense, we can synthetically point out that, according to the proto-​model, state policies are analyzed as positions taken by the various state agencies in the face of a socially problematized issue and are traversed both by the relations of social forces and by the aforementioned juxtaposed logics of action. However, due to the very configuration of the capitalist state, they constitute interventions of a public nature that have institutional legitimacy and authority over the issue. As a result, they can deploy intra-​bureaucratic changes, mobilize the collective resources of society, and affect the different social actors in a differentiated way. On this basis, the discursive dimension of this social process can be analyzed, but we consider that, without the aforementioned framework, discursive analysis lacks substance for understanding public policy. This approach differs, successively, from studies aimed at interpreting the discursive interventions that social and political actors deploy to position themselves in the public debate, whether through the expression of ideas, imaginaries, and intentions or by assigning meaning to the issues in dispute. The lines of argument of the social actors and of the governments that hold state power may be more or less consistent, but they will never be able to express the complexity of the social process that is woven around the social problematization of issues. Based on this, we consider that discourse analysis can be complementary to the analysis of state policies, as long as it is approached as one more dimension of the position taking of the state and not as a finished and unequivocal expression of it. Lastly, as the authors of the proto-​model argue, positions can be taken by action or omission, which tends to dilute the specificity of state activity in an undifferentiated continuum between what maintains and what changes a given state of affairs. And even, taken to the extreme, taking a position “by action or omission” can put the whole proto-​model in crisis, since the frameworks for the analysis of public policy could not be delimited. In the face of this tension, we consider that the idea of “action by omission” can be read within the framework of a view that questions the neutrality of statehood regarding social relations of domination, which ultimately operates as its guarantee. In this way, both the failure to act on one issue and the systematic blocking of others can be understood.

Conclusion This chapter aims to contribute to research on public policies by recovering and pondering the current validity of Oszlak and O’Donnell’s pioneering text Estado y políticas estatales en América Latina: hacia una estrategia de investigación, which constituted a turning point in the Argentine conceptual and methodological development within the field of knowledge.

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First, it was argued that the originality of the text lies mainly in its audacity to simultaneously introduce two central dialogical ruptures with the hegemonic traditions of that time in the discipline: on the one hand, sequential analysis and instrumental rationality and, on the other hand, with critical theory and Marxism. Second, a reflection on the potentialities and challenges of the classic text from critical theories, in general, and Marxism, in particular, was presented, to generate tools for a critical reappropriation of the proto-​model to deepen the historical analysis of the current Latin American states from their concrete actions, that is, from their participation in the conflicts –​more or less visible as such –​of contemporary societies. To this end, we worked on the three central elements of the proto-​model: first, the object of study configured around socially problematized issues; second, the approach to the social actors involved in social problematization, based on the identification of their levels of abstraction; and, third, the ambiguity and complexity of the idea of “taking a position” of the state. The reflection on each of these three axes included, first, the explanation of the factors that are articulated with critical theory and the Marxist perspective, highlighting the contributions of Oszlak and O’Donnell’s text to these approaches. Subsequently, those elements that enter into tension and denote inconsistencies between the perspectives put in dialogue were pointed out, and an integrating look was outlined to provide operative tools for their critical reappropriation in specific research. Hence, we conclude to update the validity of the text and propose lines of debate that it opens concerning the theoretical-​political perspective from where we stand and that we consider that its identification and analysis could generate new contributions to the discipline. This purpose is guided by the need to sharpen our tools of theoretical-​ methodological analysis under our intellectual commitment to those social subjects that embody processes of socio-​political conflict aimed at the transformation of the most unjust and oppressive aspects of our time. Notes 1 2

3

4

The first version of this article was presented at the Latin American Congress of Sociology, held in Quito, Ecuador, in November 1977. The English version of this work is Modernization and Bureaucratic-​Authoritarianism: Studies in South American Politics, published by the Institute of International Studies, University of California Berkeley in 1973. Intervention in the Panel “Estado y Políticas Públicas: 26 años después”, with Guillermo O’Donnell and Oscar Oszlak, coordinated by Mabel Thwaites Rey. VI Jornadas Internacionales de Estado y Sociedad: “Estado y crisis: ¿nuevos roles o viejas responsabilidades?” Faculty of Economic Sciences, Universidad de Buenos Aires, June 9, 10 and 11, 2010. Video available from www. mabel​thwa​ites​rey.com.ar Guillermo O’Donnell (2010) comments in the aforementioned conference that the “historical-​ structural approach” is taken from the great book Dependency and Development in Latin America by Fernando Enrique Cardoso and Enzo Faletto, which was a very important influence of those times.

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8

Intervention in Panel “Estado y Políticas Públicas: 26 años después”, video available from www. mabel​thwa​ites​rey.com.ar The literature is ample in this regard. For a synthesis of its different trends, we suggest consulting Thwaites Rey (2005). In this text, there are citations to articles by German derivationists Elmar Altvater and Margaret Wirth and the reference to Offe’s concept of “structural complicity”, also taken by Nicos Poulantzas for the same period. In an interview he gave in 1997 to the Argentine academic journal DOXA, Guillermo O’Donnell elaborated on his dialogues with Marxist approaches. “Doxa: We have long wanted to ask you about your article ‘Apuntes para una teoría del Estado’. There you develop an idea of the state as a split third party that regulates the capitalist social relation that seems to us to be quite related to the last Poulantzas and the approaches of the logical school of capital and, especially, of the Britain John Holloway and Sol Picciotto. Did you have any intellectual exchange with them at that time? O’Donnell: With Poulantzas we read each other, we must have met a couple of times. I also discussed it with Elmar Altvater and later I talked a lot about the subject with Fernando Henrique Cardoso. I had not been particularly satisfied with the definition of the State he had given in the reflections on the Authoritarian Bureaucratic State, which had also been rightly criticized as very economistic. I believe that ‘Modernización y Autoritarismo’ is not economistic, but that ‘Reflections on the tendencies of change in the Bureaucratic-​Authoritarian State’ is economistic. On reflection, taking the criticisms as a basis, it seemed to me that the most important thing to highlight is the use of a reified definition of the State. Writing the article with Oscar Oszlak, which led to very interesting exchanges, I realized that it was very relevant to think about the theory of the state. When one began to reflect on public policies, for example, the question of the theory of the object that supposedly made politics immediately returned. From there came the recognition that my critics were right in their critique of economicism” (Gutiérrez et al, 1997).” The richness of the proto-​model is precisely that it departs from the classic public policy approach centered on formulation, implementation, and evaluation, which can be more of a recipe book than a tool for analysis. Along these lines, we could say that Lindblom’s (1992) “incrementalism” is also a way of analyzing “state behavior”, of understanding how actually existing states act in practice. But while Lindblom focuses his concern on how government practice is constructed, on the crossroads between political and bureaucratic functions, and on showing the scarce possibility of variation that governments have to inherit structures, Oszlak and O’Donnell frame these practices in the structural determinants that sustain them.

Acknowledgments The authors would like to thank Ana Logiudice, Ruth Felder, Florencia Mazzola, and Pablo Vitale, whose sharp critical eye and robust intellectual capacity were part of the initial process of exchange that gave rise to the present text. Of course, we do not hold the aforementioned colleagues responsible for what is expressed here, as the first written version of a process of debate that has not yet concluded. References Bulcourf, P. and Cardozo, N. (2017) ‘La Ciencia Política en América Latina: un análisis comparado de su desarrollo’, in F. Freidenberg (ed), La Ciencia Política sobre América Latina: docencia e investigación en perspectiva comparada, Santo Domingo: FUNGLODE, pp 511–​558. Butler, J. and Fraser, N. (2017) ¿Reconocimiento o redistribución? Un debate entre marxismo y feminism, Madrid: Traficantes de Sueños. 72

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Crozier, M. (1969) El fenómeno burocrático, Buenos Aires: Amorrortu. Federici, S. (2010) Caliban y la bruja. Mujeres, cuerpos y acumulación originaria, Buenos Aires: Traficantes de sueños. Fraser, N. (2015) Fortunas del feminismo, Madrid: Traficantes de sueños. Gutiérrez, M.A., Repettto, F. and Thwaites Rey, M. (1997) ‘Dialogando con Guillermo O’Donnell: Estado, sociedad y ciudadanía en épocas de hegemonía neoliberal’, Doxa. Cuadernos de Ciencias Sociales, 17: 20–​28. Lasswell, H. (1951) ‘The policy sciences’, in D. Lerner and H.D. Lasswell (eds), Recent Developments in Scope and Method, Stanford: Stanford University, pp 3–​15. Lasswell, H. (1956) The Decision Process: Seven Categories of Functional Analysis, College Park: Bureau of Governmental Research/​College of Business and Public Administration, University of Maryland. Lasswell, H. (1963) Future of Political Science, New York: Atherton Press. Lindblom, C. (1992) ‘La ciencia de salir del paso’, in L.F. Aguilar Villanueva (ed), La hechura de las políticas públicas, Mexico City: Miguel Ángel Porrúa Grupo Editorial., pp 201–​225. O’Donnell, G. (1976) ‘Estado y alianza de clases 1956–​1976’, CEDES/​G.E. CLACSO Working Paper # 5, Buenos Aires: Centro de Estudios de Estado y Sociedad. O’Donnell, G. (1982) El Estado burocrático autoritario: triunfos, derrotas y crisis, Buenos Aires: Belgrano. O’Donnell, G. (1978) ‘Apuntes para una teoría del estado’, Revista Mexicana de Sociología, 40 (4): 1157–​1199. O’Donnell, G. (2010). “Estado y Políticas Públicas: 26 años después”, in VI Jornadas Internacionales de Estado y Sociedad: “Estado y crisis: ¿nuevos roles o viejas responsabilidades?” Faculty of Economic Sciences, Universidad de Buenos Aires, June 9, 10 and 11, 2010. Video retrieved from: www.mabel​thwa​ites​rey.com.ar [Accessed 6 March 2023]. Oszlak, O. (1977) ‘Notas críticas para una teoría de la burocracia estatal’, CEDES/​ G.E. CLACSO Workin Paper #8, Buenos Aires: Centro de Estudios de Estado y Sociedad. Oszlak, O. and O’Donnell, G. (1976) ‘Estado y políticas estatales en América Latina: hacia una estrategia de investigación’, CEDES/​G.E. CLACSO Working Paper # 4, Buenos Aires: Centro de Estudios de Estado y Sociedad. Quijano, A. (2000) ‘Colonialidad del poder, eurocentrismo y América Latina’, in E. Lander (ed), La colonialidad del saber: eurocentrismo y ciencias sociales. Perspectivas latinoamericanas, Buenos Aires: CLACSO, pp 777–​832. Thwaites Rey, M. (2005) Estado y marxismo. Un siglo y medio de debates, Buenos Aires: Prometeo.

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Prospective policy analysis: its development and application for Argentina Horacio Cao and Gustavo Blutman

Introduction: Timeless concepts The present chapter proposes to think about the different configurations that, according to the ideological aspects in dispute, the State in Argentina could have in the future. Anticipating the performance of the social implies a complex challenge, which embodies dangers for those who undertake such a task because past experiences carried out by prestigious authors or teams have presented a high level of error. To this rate of fallibility –​inherent in the very activity of anticipating any dimension of the course of societies –​have been added the doubts on the future that were generated at the time of the crisis of 2008 and, from 2020, by the COVID-​19 pandemic. This work is divided into three sections. In the first of them we speak of the past imperfect: the models of state and public administration throughout history. After a brief interregnum on a vaporous present, we move on to what the core of the work is: the uncertain future. In it we describe the formats, tools, and devices that the different ideological lines postulate for the state of the coming decades. But before moving on to these developments, a few short, schematic lines about our conceptual framework. About the state situation Given the polysemy of many of the concepts that we will use in the text, we believe it is necessary to present a series of operative definitions, developed with the sole objective of placing the reader in our perspective. We approach the state from three dimensions: general context, state form, and management pattern (Figure 5.1) The general context (1) refers to the more general conditions of the environment, where the political, the economic, the social, and the cultural adopt a specific mode. In this dimension, we characterize as capitalist the Latin American period under study (last century and a half), but with differentiated stages (see Table 5.1) Each general context has a state form (2 in Figure 5.1), that is the way in which power relations in society develop, including the role of the state in the 74

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Figure 5.1: Graphic representation of our state approach

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Policy Analysis in Argentina Table 5.1: Configurations, intervention patterns, and governance models in Argentina (1880–​2015) Period/​concept

1880–​1930 gendarme state

1930–​1976 intervention state

1976–​2003 liberal state

2003–​2015 Popular and nationalist state

Configuration

Primary exporter

Import substitution, industrialization

Structural adjustment

Industrial populist

Intervention pattern

Low: pacification and commercial development

High: economic and social development

Medium/​ low: financial and social

High: economic and social development

Public management model

Bureaucratic and Napoleonic

Neoclassical and New Public bureaucratic Management

New Weberian?

development model and the strategy of inserting the public sector into social processes, political and productive. Finally, we have a management pattern (3 in Figure 5.1), which refers to the values, instruments, devices, and structure that characterize each ideal type of public administration. Let us look at this scheme from a dynamic perspective. The transformations in the general context tend to generate readjustments in the state: the changes –​political, economic, social, cultural, technological –​are putting pressure on the legal, institutional, and organizational structure of the state, which is being accommodating, either through gradual or abrupt reforms (in the sense shown by the arrows in Figure 5.1). However, since both spheres –​political and administrative –​have a certain range of autonomy, there are usually mismatches and asynchronies in the link between the society and the state in its two dimensions of state form and management pattern.

Past imperfect The place of the state and models of governance have varied significantly throughout history. Table 5.1 presents a trajectory that, although it has Latin American resonances, was built from the situation in Argentina. The historical journey cited in Table 5.1 begins with the processes of national organization, which consolidate the incorporation of our country and the subcontinent to the world market under a primary exporting logic, which partially assimilated the Napoleonic state model. This societal pattern comes to its exhaustion with the crisis of 1930, which opens a period characterized by policies aimed at the substitution of imports and by the state reconfiguration under a new bureaucratic type, whose emergence was stimulated by the extension of the functions assumed by the public administration. 76

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In the mid-​1970s a new stage of social organization was inaugurated in the capitalist West. In this case economic factors converge –​the oil crisis –​as a political phase of the Cold War that promotes the wave of coups in South America. At that stage, a process of replacing the model of industrialization by import substitution with one known as structural adjustment, which promoted the model of the minimum state, began. This change will involve different moments: a first impulse to structural reforms during the military dictatorship (1976/​1983), a transition with less clear elements during the presidency of Alfonsín (1983/​ 1989), and a definitive deployment during the 1990s that reaches a level of depth such that, according to the analysis of multilateral banks and agencies, it had little example in the world. Beyond the theoretical propositions, in fact, the reduction of state intervention was focused on the productive sphere, mainly through the privatization of public enterprises and the processes of economic deregulation. At the end of the 1990s, neo-​institutionalist positions that criticized some of the axioms related to the minimal state began to have increasing influence and that proposed different functions for the state, among them the development of an institutional framework that guarantees contracts and some virtuous goods (health, education). With the advent of the 21st century, a series of ideas and concepts that challenge the neoliberal experience and go beyond the critique outlined by some neo-​institutionalist approaches are unfolding in Argentina and much of South America. This establishes a new configuration that allows the emergence of a series of governments that deploy heterodox policies and that for discursive comfort we will call populists. In the countries where this happened –​Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, Uruguay, and Venezuela –​each, with its own style, openly and expressly rejected the neoliberal program and, with more or less adjectives, promoted a strong state. The new epoch had as base both elements of world order –​the strong cycle of raw materials and the world multipolarity led by China –​and others linked to processes typical of South America. In the region, the extension of neoliberal policies had generated discomfort among the popular classes, which ended up making possible the electoral triumph of several left and center-​left governments. The crisis of the neoliberal consensus had enormous revulsive force on the topics that occupied the agenda of public opinion and the social sciences. The debate that gave rise to the crisis produced a first novelty by taking up the idea that the state is a constituent part of a social relationship and that it is the political dispute that gives meaning to its intervention.

The vaporous present The salient data of the present time (which is already past and future at the same time) is the pandemic of the COVID-​19, which can be classified as a global fact that has disturbed the whole of social relations. 77

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Perhaps, as Hegel has said in his “Philosophy of law guidelines”: the wings of the Minerva owl only extend at sunset. Only in the maturity of reality does precise conceptualization appear; and when it is constructed it is directed to an object that is being transformed (“when philosophy paints with its gray tones, it has already aged”): you only come to understand an era or a historical moment once it has ended. The present would only be fruitful as a bridge of analysis towards the past –​even the recent past –​and, we add, on the horizon, in the dreams of a future that we can barely glimpse. That’s why this section ends here.

Uncertain future From a first vision of this present –​in its projection to the future –​we see two great currents: • One that considers that the current situation is fairly stable and therefore only provides for corrections in a continuity framework. This implies that futures can be constructed from projecting their trend-​evolution. • Another that believes that the stage we live in is exhausted and that we travel a hinge moment, equivalent to situations such as the crash of Wall Street in 1929 or the oil crisis of 1973. This view considers that we have entered a period of important mutations, which makes the task of building futures much more complex and less secure. So let us begin our prospective work with some elements that are envisioned for the next years in the world:1 • The rise of China and the countries of the Far East is producing a rethinking of the geopolitical scenario. New lines of tension and agreement, new trade routes, new types of international relations under a multilateral logic. • Technological advances generate changes in values, culture, and social actors. The consequences are subject to arduous debate, but in any case, there is agreement in stressing a greater global interconnection and greater social demands for welfare. • The environmental issue will occupy an increasingly important place alongside pressures on the global ecosystem. The depletion of natural resources will generate a growing importance of the countries that control them. • Changes in the world’s demographics are deepening. Humanity is aging and concentrating on megacities that are becoming increasingly important. With regard to Latin America, some elements of the regional scenario stand out, such as high urbanization, a favorable demography, a better geopolitical profile for the countries of the Pacific, a perspective of a qualitative leap in agricultural 78

Prospective policy analysis

development and a crisis of the Andean peoples and economies linked to glaciers that are in an accelerated process of extinction from global warming. There are positions so differentiated in relation to what should be faced with these facts that their respective conceptual developments are immeasurable. Making an extreme simplification, we have consolidated these views in three models that we call “current dogma”, “sinuous road” and “return to the future”, whose salient elements we present in what follows. The orthodox view and the current dogma The orthodox view is displayed in a whole series of works carried out by futurologists linked to the establishment and the international and multilateral credit organizations (Cordeiro/​Millennium Project, 2012; CEPLAN, 2015; IDB, 2016; OECD, 2016). In broad terms, these works foresee that, beyond the inevitable tensions, a globalized culture will continue to expand –​in its version of the American way of life –​and there will be a deepening and extension of the role of the market in all orders of social life. The expectation is that the tendencies linked to a capitalism that favors the deregulation and liberalization of the economy and, in return, the reversal of state intervention will deepen. In the context of its relationship with civil society, it promotes the individualization of citizens/​consumers, the internationalization of politics, and the rise of international standards and norms that organize markets and characterize products and processes. Democracy is seen as a form of government whose center is constituted by a set of rules that establish those who are authorized to take collective decisions. Its central task is to safeguard a system that guarantees civil liberties, property rights, and low transaction costs. The substantive values of popular representation, equality, and participation are little considered, and politics is generally considered a secondary theme in everyday life. The incorporation of new techniques and technologies will deepen a rationality based on continuous control and instant communication with citizens. With these tools, the population will have unrestricted access to goods and services produced around the world, making reality the possibility of a commercial globalization whose competition feeds productivity and scientific and technological development. Humanity will live in a single and transparent market, and in it will seek to maximize its happiness (usefulness). The main task of the state will be to provide the context in which individual choice may be exercised. This notion of citizenship will intensify to the extent that technological advances universalize the ability to replace noncreative human work with intelligent and computerized machines. In this context, the element that distinguishes people will be their individual entrepreneurial capacity (Rodríguez and Ciolli, 2011). 79

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In this way, the entrepreneur will be the model to follow, since it represents the values of a society that stimulates the individual output and the desire to overcome through mechanisms of creativity and transformation. The mercantile centrality combined with the reduction of state interventionism will consolidate the governance of free market societies by weakening actors who, through action in the political sphere, threaten it. Unions, native communities, networks, solidarity economies, and to some extent political parties and other spaces of collective association, will tend to lose social value. As we said, the state must facilitate the context for reaching the commercial society. This implies ensuring that “the movement of capital, people and goods across national borders is not impeded or taxed in any way. Bureaucratic interference in the economy must be cut. Regulations must be abolished. Justice must be expedited, congresses must not approve any kind of expenses” (Cordeiro/​ Millennium, 2012, p 14). The overall success of these policies will allow the incorporation, as suppliers of goods and services and consumers, of a growing number of individuals from Latin America, Africa, and Asia who until now had low market participation. In these countries, economic development would promote the growing weight of the middle classes, which will become the main custodian of individual freedoms because, it is considered, they will be immune to religious, partisan, and nationalist fanaticism. In the vision of the current dogma, the fortunate future of the state is reached by deepening the trends built during the last half-​century. In this sense, the Inter-​American Development Bank (IDB) poses a utopian scenario of “rising governance”, which has been reached through the deployment of politically difficult, but “necessary” reforms. These reforms benefit society based on greater government transparency, stronger institutions and increased social accountability (BID –​ IADB-​, 2016 47/​48). To emphasize what has been said, among the tasks to be carried out towards the promising future, dogma postulates the reconstruction of democratic institutions that were eroded during the first decade of the 21st century. The recommended governance places the market at the center of the institutional framework. The state must guarantee security, private property, effective justice with reduced transaction costs, transparency in the flow of information, and, above all, be handcuffed so as not to intervene. The balance between powers, the intervention of international organizations, the market and civil society will all be tools that will guarantee limits to possible state excesses. The companies responsible for responding to these citizens-​ consumers will have as their function the creation of incremental value and not the distribution of wealth. The development of these tasks involves redesigning the role of the nation-​ state. On the one hand, it promotes the absorption by supranational entities of responsibilities and powers; specifically, that international organizations (United Nations, World Trade Organization, International Monetary Fund, World 80

Prospective policy analysis

Bank) establish international norms and standards and that the nation-​state is accountable to them. It also postulates the lines of integration that follow the European model, whose fiscal and liberalizing aspect aims to expand towards Latin America under the characteristics of an open regionalism. On the other hand, much of the tasks of consolidation of the national, culture, education, and care and reproduction of the population, will be assigned to local governments, within the framework of the planned empowerment of cities. For the ideas of the new public management, the best formula is to use the successful experiences of the private sector. In terms of prospective, the classic tools of the NPM –​privatization and outsourcing, deregulation, transparency, flexibility –​are enhanced with the idea of management by algorithms and open government. When it comes to management by algorithm, it seeks to reduce or end the biases of human behavior exposed by the behavioral sciences, the deviations of objectives produced by bureaucracy and the inevitable friction by management. In the case of open government –​and its linked platform state actions, interoperability, single point of access, among others –​it is proposed to establish a new type of link with citizens/​consumers, based on the principles of transparency, co-​creation, or collaboration and participation. The visions we have been describing –​and which project a deepening of the orthodox universe –​recognize that the future can also be dystopian, because pro-​market reforms are difficult and the results not necessarily linear. In this way, it is considered inevitable that the transition will generate poverty and marginalization, which can fuel explosive political situations. In countries with fragile states, this could turn into situations of political instability and even social violence and war. In the face of the turbulence, the need for more markets and institutions is postulated. When this is not achieved, only a cloudy future can ensue, described by the IDB in a scenario called “an illicit world afloat”. If we do not have the temperance to overcome the pitfalls and fall into populist demagoguery, the countries will be frozen in backwardness and provincialism, with sectors of marginality where corruption and demagoguery that encourage the flourishing of organized crime are reproduced. State intervention inevitably leads to persistent corruption, a weakening of the rule of law in the face of politics and a reduction in the operational capacity of the public administration. At the same time, economic stagnation generates the flourishing of criminal economies. Collusion between social and economic marginality and an inefficient and corrupt state are the ideal breeding ground for fanaticism, social decay, and demagoguery. Once initiated, state interventionism cannot fail to grow abnormally, restricting freedom and stifling development and, later, from its own opacity and corruption, being a vehicle for the expansion of drug trafficking and/​or terrorism. This leads to what is known as a failed state. 81

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Heterodox looks Without the extension or dissemination of the works developed by orthodoxy, alternative visions also created their own prospects. We will work particularly with those of Montero Olivares (2014), Ramió Matas (2015), Medina Vázquez et al (2015), Felcman (2015), and, to a lesser extent, Jessop (2008, 2016), Blutman –​ Cao (2017). These visions have been based on practices from emerging Asian countries, some features of the Latin American and Eastern European experience. These heterodox developments have less unanimity than those described in the previous section, since they are not proposed by an equally solid emitter to which it is guided by multilateral organizations. The heterodox proposals are unanimous in criticizing the theoretical weaknesses and the material difficulties that exist for the orthodox utopia to unfold. There is also some consensus on the dystopian results that would result from taking forward the measures proposed from there. For example, López Segregara (2016) argues that the development of orthodox policies can only end in economic decline. Ramió Matas (2015) structures different alternative models of the state future based on the ability to limit the power of private actors: the failed model is precisely the one where pro-​market policies make it impossible to limit it. Montero Olivares (2014) also advocates in this sense, noting that organized crime does not act in tandem with the state but with the market and is nourished by the destruction of the social fabric that it generates. One of the indicators that would signal the decline of the orthodox gaze would be linked to the relative weight loss of the US as a single power, and the weakening of Western Europe and Japan as reference models. The emergence of new international powers (China, India, Russia, and different regional spaces) would open a stage of international multipolarity, which would make the market less feasible and promising. In more global terms, heterodoxy views consider that, for the medium term, and parallel to the globalizing forces, there will be a state world in tension with the internationalized market institutions (Jessop, 2016).2 Other authors go beyond Jessop and consider that by then globalization and mercantile internationalization will be in crisis (Ramió Matas, 2015, p 4). These visions consider that the crisis of the early millennium in Latin America and the pandemic have opened a new stage in which the state –​with its own characteristics in each case –​builds a path of rupture with the neoliberal order. The new governments will emerge in the wake of a series of alarming results: regressive redistribution of income, reproduction of pockets of poverty, expansion of unemployment, inability to curb environmental deterioration, feedback from religious fanaticism, unstable geopolitics, among other problems. Beyond their differences, the diverse visions are united in the dystopian analysis that will produce the development of orthodox policies: they will worsen the 82

Prospective policy analysis

social, political, and environmental situation from the geopolitical imbalances they promote, the social polarization they produce and their impossibility to avoid harmful practices on ecological balances. Closer to the issues we are working here, one of the barriers to overcoming heterodoxies is the generation of a different power that limits commercial power; that is, design the way to organize an alternative governance to the one led by large international corporations and that is structured behind institutions that promote the free movement of goods, services, and money. In the following lines we will describe, succinctly, the ideas that are postulated from two heterodox looks. The populist gaze: return to the future We built a first unorthodox scenario around a current of thought known as populist or popular national, of historical influence in Latin America. This view places the axis of social transformation in politics as a space for the construction of the popular subject and in the state as the main executing arm of its will. This view functions as an opposite pole to the current dogma: the state goes from being the greatest threat –​with its regulations and interventionism –​to the only hope: only it has the possibility to dominate, control, and replace the market. In this way, and linked to interventionist traditions of the Keynesian and developmentalist type, an intellectual perspective centered on the State of the mid-​twentieth century is reconstructed, adapted to the times of the third industrial revolution. In other words, policies of intervention in the economic sphere are resumed to overcome internal and external strangulations and the organization of social movements from the state is promoted, but the theoretical and practical arsenal has also been renewed. The work of Medina Vázquez, in some topics close to this unorthodox approach, while maintaining the dialogical character –​“The State plays an active role, [but] cannot be the only one that carries on itself the enormous weight of directing a transformation of great magnitude” –​invests the IDB equation and focuses its expectations on state power. He assigns the role of leading the social process, being responsible for “involving social actors to commit and coordinate their actions” (2015, pp 124–​127). In this way, a state is proposed with the capacity to coordinate actors around a wide range of projects, which implies a state capable of attracting more resources in order to promote economic dynamism. Specifically, Medina Vázquez et al (2015, p 124), promotes that the utopian state has to be able to: • mobilize citizens’ aspirations for well-​being and progress; • organizing social pacts that guarantee will and sustainability around this development option; and • have a robust and efficient institutionalization to deploy both. 83

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When these tasks are broken down, the degree of state centrality of this perspective is clearly observed (Medina Vázquez et al, 2015, p 130): a state guarantor of citizens’ rights, provider of public goods, capable of leading social dialogue, effective regulator, capable of providing information and counteracting asymmetry in access to it. As for the model of public management, the return to the future would postulate an update of the classic Weberian models in intelligence that they are the most suitable to keep the administrative apparatus subordinate to political leadership. The most cited dystopian moment of the populist paradigm revolves around the difficulties of reaching an adequate balance between social policy and economic dynamics. If the emphasis is on the former, the economy is suffocated; if it is on the latter, it loses legitimacy to lead the social process. Another problem that is assigned to the populist scheme is its tendency towards state overload: the idea that it solves problems pushes it to insert itself into multiple issues, to the point where it collapses (fiscal, organizational, and/​or political). Finally, another criticism refers to the main role of the state in social movements: this necessarily produces their bureaucratization and generates limitations to the processes of change. Shifting heterodoxy: sinuous road Another heterodox position is the one that develops ideas close to the analysis of the third way and social democracy, and here we have called it “sinuous or winding road” because it is critical of both the market and the state, but in no way to the same extent as the populist perspective and, reciprocally, the neoliberal perspective. Here the center of gravity is placed in the self-​organization of civil society, which will allow to re-​create representative democracy from deliberative and efficient decision-​making spaces. This will be possible from the revolution that is being generated by the universalization of information and communication technologies (cell phones, blogs, social networks), which open an opportunity to broaden the participation of citizens and recast democracy. It considers that post-​industrial society is characterized by the existence of a myriad of social identities and groupings whose values, interests, or demands of the new and diverse forms of collective action do not always find in the state/​nation the answer they seek, and sometimes not even the necessary interlocutor. On the other hand, they believe that when the state intervenes, it bureaucratizes and removes energy from social movements, while politicians and the bureaucracy have a necessarily distortive representation of the interests of civil society. For these reasons, this perspective revalues the space of the cultural, the scientific, the economic, the public media, the judicial, private life, and social movements, among others. It is from a network articulation of these spaces that 84

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an alternative societal type to the one centered on the mercantile organization can be built. The virtuous scenarios, then, are managed around a governance network, with a state that only must guarantee scenarios where civil society deal with the power of capital and concentrated economic agents. Although the ideal type of social articulation that arises is cooperation rather than competition, the sinuous gaze (heterodoxy social democratic) is particularly critical of the mercantile, although it has preventions against monopolies and dominant positions. As can be seen, it is expected that the market and the state will acquire a virtuous behavior from integrating to the civil society; for this it is necessary that they deploy different strategies, overlapping alternately in the visions, tools, and practices that were postulated in the other two visions that we have been discussing. In schematic terms the vision: • Considers the market as the most suitable space for the articulation and development of economic agents, opposing state interventionism and approaching orthodox perspectives. • Develops the idea of a quasi-​state governance, that is, that the global governance guidelines have a state guarantee, linked to the ideas of the most radical heterodoxy (return to the future). This form of organizational political construction ensures that public policies channel the demands arising from the plural interests of civil society, focusing on its customer orientation and, at the same time, contributing to quality, transparency, and citizen participation. Along these lines, the ideas of decentralization and city governance take center stage, so much so that it is considered that a network of such entities will be crucial in future international governance. The type of social political order proposed marks a change in what was the social democratic tradition that historically bet on a centralized and powerful state organization, capable of contesting the power of the bourgeoisie. In this mutation of the program of the traditional center-​left of Western Europe, the influence of the Soviet failure cannot be ignored, and the idea that, at least for postindustrial societies, the state in its beneficent form is powerless and/​or ineffective. One of the most widespread criticisms of this alternative of governance refers to the characteristics that are assigned to civil society to be able to fulfill the assigned task: it must be plural and autonomous, mature and responsible, in a framework where power is distributed symmetrically and horizontally. This self-​organization of collectives, on the other hand, does not put governance at risk, nor does it launch into the capture of the institutions that regulate its activity and puts the objectives of the collective above their individual interests. For opponents of this perspective, Latin American civil societies are far from having these characteristics. A summary of the three perspectives we have been describing is presented in Table 5.2. 85

Policy Analysis in Argentina Table 5.2: Outline of future scenarios Current dogma (liberal orthodoxy)

Winding roads Return to (social democracy) the future (populism) UTOPIA

Objective

Overcome the anomaly, return to structural adjustment

Ruptures and continuities on the orthodox model

New pattern of intervention

State intervention pattern

Low: focused on the mercantile

Medium: focused on High: focused on civil society political/​state autonomy

Model of citizen as state interlocutor

Consumer/​ entrepreneurial citizen

Citizen participant

Citizen participant

Main state actors on the international scene

World government (World Trade Organization, International Monetary Fund, World Bank)

City government

Regional blocs and continent-​states

Public Management Model

New Public Management

Participatory, decentralizing

New Weberian

DYSTOPIA According to “current dogma”: it does not give the right signals to According to “return to the future” and “winding economic agents roads”: decomposition According to of the social fabric by “return to the market action future”: it fails to discipline capital

According to “current dogma”: overload leading to inflation and corruption According to “winding roads”: bureaucracy removes energy and initiative from civil society

Conclusion: Time after time If indeed we are facing a moment of societal change, it should not surprise us that, as always happens in such moments, the salient characteristic is ambiguity. With this word we want to refer to something different from uncertainty, which always seems to be present in all human and social events. Uncertainty may be associated with ignorance or imprecision, or the inability to predict an event. The methodology of scenarios and prospective, does not try to guess the future, but tries to determine the consequences that would come from our dreams and nightmares. Looking ahead allows us to recognize both a possible path of what awaits us and also alerts us to negative moments, which could allow us to anticipate the always costly corrections or, worse, the need to mitigate damages. 86

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We saw that the experts consider that the state can lead to a structure at the service of the citizenry or, on the contrary, become the manager of a system of violent control. It can be the space of the public and democratic or a redoubt captured by a minority that puts it at its service. The central ideas are on the table and those of us who write these lines are optimistic: we believe that our Latin American peoples will find the best way. But beyond that, in the journey made so far it was possible to see how different the views and the enormous gap that exists between the theoretical perspectives are. If there is one element that we want to highlight it is that, in our historical past, these crossroads were, many times, moments of tragedy and violence. Although we do not know whether it will always be possible to find a way out according to all sectors, we appeal to the sphere of politics and democratic institutions as the only valid spaces to process all contradictions. Notes 1 2

Based on Cordeiro/​Millennium (2012, p 30), BID (2016, p 35), Bitar (2016), Bitar et al (2021), Ramió Matas (2015, p 13), Montero Olivares (2014, p 361), and Vitale et al (2016). United Nations, World Trade Organization, International Monetary Fund, World Bank. As we saw, in the orthodox foresight it is expected that they will be increasingly important.

References BID (Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo) (2016) América Latina y el Caribe 2030: Escenarios futuros, Washington, DC: Atlantic Council/​BID. Bitar, S. (2016) Las tendencias mundiales y el futuro de América Latina, Santiago: CEPAL. Bitar, S., Mattar, J., and Medina, J. (2021) El Gran Giro de América Latina: Hacia una región democrática, sostenible, próspera e incluyente, Cali: Programa Editorial Universidad del Valle. Blutman, G. and Cao, H. (2019) El futuro del Estado en la Argentina. Escenarios en disputa hacia el año 2030, Buenos Aires: Editorial Edicón. CEPLAN (2015) América Latina imaginando el futuro hoy: Los desafíos del pensamiento a largo plazo para el desarrollo, Lima: CEPLAN. Cordeiro, J.L. (2012) Latinoamérica 2030: Estudio Delphi y Escenarios, Santiago: The Millennium Project. Felcman, I. (2015) Nuevos modelos de gestión pública: tecnologías de gestión, cultura y liderazgo después del big bang paradigmático, PhD thesis, Facultad de Ciencias Económicas, Universidad de Buenos Aires. Jessop, B. (2008) El futuro del Estado capitalista, Madrid: Libros de la Catarata. Jessop, B. (2016) The State: Past, Present, Future, London: Polity. López Segregara, F. (2016) América Latina: crisis del posneoliberalismo y ascenso de la nueva derecha, Buenos Aires: CLACSO. Medina Vázquez, J., Becerra, S., and Castaño, P. (2015) Prospectiva y política pública para el cambio estructural en América Latina y el Caribe, Santiago: CEPAL.

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Montero Olivares, S. (2014) Una visión prospectiva de la administración pública para la sociedad mundial al 2050, Mexico City: Instituto de Administración Pública del Estado de México. OECD (2016) Estado Futuro 2016: innovación para las personas. Síntesis de la conferencia internacional ‘Estado Futuro 2016: Innovación para las personas’, Santiago: OECD and Laboratorio de Gobierno del Gobierno de Chile. Ramió Matas, C. (2015) La administración Pública del Futuro: la administración ‘2050, Madrid: Instituto Universitario Ortega y Gasset/​Universitat Pompeu Fabra. Rodríguez, O.C. and Ciolli, V. (2011) ‘Tensiones entre el emprendedorismo y la autogestión. El papel de las políticas públicas en ese recorrido’, Org and Demo, 12: 27–​46. Vitale, J., Pascale Medina, C., Barrientos, M., and Pagno, S. (2016) Guía de prospectiva para el ordenamiento territorial rural de la Argentina a nivel municipal, Buenos Aires: Ministerio de Agroindustria.

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PART II

Policy analysis by governments

6

Policy analysis by the federal government: the contribution of the National Institute of Public Administration Juan Ignacio Doberti, Dante Sabatto, and Melina J. Levy

Introduction Throughout the last 50 years, Argentina has undergone many difficult trials, including economic and political crises as well as the transition from an authoritarian dictatorship to a consolidated democracy. In this period, the Argentine state and public sector have been altered many times in drastic ways, yet the institution in charge of training public workers has remained one and the same: the National Institute of Public Administration (INAP).1 This does not mean the institute has gone unchanged. Since its foundation in 1973, INAP has seen important changes in its structure, its budget and staff, and its relationship with the rest of the administrative apparatus. The purpose of this chapter is to study the history of INAP while providing its historical context; that is to say, to identify the way it has responded to the political and economic climates through the years and the main continuities and transformations it has experienced. Because of its status as the main training agency for all workers of the national public sector, INAP should be considered a leading institution in the Argentine state. This chapter attempts to comprehend the reasons behind its stability as such. This implies reconstructing the history of the institute and considering its main features through an analytical lens that allows for a non-​deterministic understanding of the evolution of public organizations. In other words, it is important to reject a teleological view that considers the history of INAP as a linear progression, and focus instead on the contingence of critical periods where several different choices might have been made. The hypothesis that guides this research is that INAP was valued by different governments, regardless of their specific agendas, as a key organization for the public administration. Even if the importance given to the institute differed largely through the years, or the aims for which such an institution was so relevant differed greatly, there was enough consensus to ensure the continuity of the institute from government to government. This chapter aims to analyze this phenomenon with a focus on three elements: its internal structure; its budget and staffing; and its relationships to other institutions, both in Argentina and abroad. Three main sources of information were used. First, legal documentation (laws, decrees, regulations, and so on) as well as internal documents produced by INAP 91

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about its own history. Second, previous research on this area, which will be shortly described and organized. Third, four interviews, which were conducted with key informants (Payne and Payne, 2004) from the Institute. The history of INAP has already sparked interest in researchers, who examined it through varied theoretical lenses and empirical approaches. Most articles focus on the application of training policy (Bonifacio, 2003a, 2008; González, 2013), some tracing an evolutionary outline (Bonifacio, 2014), providing a relevant analysis through the perspective of knowledge management theory (Vázquez, 2020) or focusing on the cooperation with other organizations of the public sector for specialized training (Enrique, 2021). Another perspective of great interest to past researchers has been the responses of INAP to certain periods of economic and political crisis in Argentina, such as the transition to democracy in 1983 (Bonifacio, 2003b), the 2001 crisis (Iribarren, 2002; Falivene, 2003; Vázquez and Silva, 2020), and the COVID-​19 pandemic (Vázquez and Silva, 2020). One article of particular relevance for this research is Furlong’s “Institutional evolution of Argentina’s INAP: Precedents, challenges and development strategy in the present stage”, which describes the history of the Institute in detail from its foundation until the year 2000. This chapter is divided into five parts. In the first one, a succinct timeline is established through a concise exploration of the key moments in the history of INAP; this will provide a basis for the following analysis. The second section aims to describe the changes in the functional structure of INAP. The third part is focused on the budget and staffing of the Institute. In the fourth segment, the focus switches to the ties between this training center and other institutions (universities, research centers, international organizations, and so on). Finally, the fifth section presents the main findings of the article.

Timeline This section aims to present a basic timeline of the political and socioeconomic context for the main events that define the history of INAP. This classification of key moments will, by definition, exclude some organizational changes and regulations that, while relevant, were not deemed strictly necessary to fulfill the purposes of this chapter. This timeline will include a periodization of the political administrations that governed Argentina throughout the 50 years since the creation of the Institute, as well as some basic information on the main institutional changes that affected INAP. This will provide a basic understanding of the socio-​political setting in which these events took place. Precedents, foundation, and first years (1951–​1975) INAP was created on February 22, 1973 by the Lanusse administration. General Lanusse was the last leader of the Revolución Argentina, a military dictatorship. 92

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Under this de facto government, the National Congress was closed, and the president signed “decree laws”. The bill that founded the Institute was one such decree law (Law 20.173, 1973). There are a few precedents that show that research in public policy and employment was already a concern for Argentine political elites. The first of this is the National Office for Rationalization,2 created in 1951; it was followed by the SAETAP3 in 1957. Just one year later, ISAP4 was founded. ISAP is the main precedent to INAP; however, there is no direct continuity between both offices, since ISAP was closed in 1970, by the same government that would create its successor barely three years later (Furlong, 2000). In this period, the main factor that guided the creation of these institutes was a search for efficiency in the public sector. Argentina was experiencing a rapid process of industrialization led by foreign investment, and the different parties –​as well as the military dictatorships that came into power –​were deeply concerned with modernizing the state. Due to that fact, a library specialized in public administration was created within ISAP. As this Institute was closed the library was transferred to Secretary of Treasury. However, in the 1980s, this library, currently called CEDIAP,5 returned to INAP. In this context, the inclusion of four members elected by state workers’ unions in the directory of INAP might be seen both as a sign of good faith towards the Peronists or as a feature of the corporatist view of President Lanusse. Shortly after this law was passed, elections were held and Peronist Cámpora was chosen president; after a few months, he would resign and, after another vote, be succeeded by Perón. Under the new government, INAP was transferred from the General Secretary of the President to the Ministry of Economy. In July 1974, after Perón’s death, his successor, Martínez de Perón, had INAP return to the office of the General Secretary. She would go on to govern until March 24, 1976, when a military coup led to the last dictatorship in Argentina history, lasting for over seven years. This saw a change in the role of INAP. Civil service under an authoritarian government (1976–​1983) The period that spans from 1976 until December 10, 1983, when democracy was re-​established, is a time marked by political and social repression and state terrorism. The first change in the structure of INAP was the removal of the union members of the directory. The institute was transferred to a new public office: the Undersecretary of Civil Service,6 still in the realm of the General Secretary of the President. The military dictatorship saw many institutional leaders through its eight years of existence: first a military junta lead by generals Videla, Massera, and Agosti (1976–​1978), then Videla as sole president (1978–​1981), followed by Viola (1981), Galtieri (1981–​1982), and Bignone (1982–​1983). In the public sector, the government attempted to “depoliticize” its institutes, which meant that INAP focused its research and training on matters considered 93

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“beyond ideology” such as human resources and administration techniques. An internal document from 1990 considered that in this period INAP was “more stable that the government itself ” due to its institutional autonomy (INAP, 1990). The return to democracy (1984–​1990) In 1983, the radical party’s candidate Alfonsín was elected president and the country saw a return to democracy. The new government tried the military leaders of the junta but was forced to pass laws that stopped new trials against lower level members of the dictatorship. Amidst economic and political disorder, the Alfonsín administration was focused on reverting the authoritarian orientation that the last government had given the state. The objective was not only to stabilize the country but to bring new life to a public administration that, in the past decade, had seen some areas dismantled while others were used to repress the population. This included the creation of a Secretary of Civil Service, where INAP was transferred. The secretary of this office became the president of the Institute’s board. Key policies on public employment were also executed in this period. Alfonsín often defended the importance of a professional civil service in his public speeches. Under his government, a program for the training of elite officials named PROFAG7 was created. These agents, usually called “AG”, received training on a level similar to postgraduate education and were transferred to different offices and ministries in the national public administration, regularly rotating between them. PROFAG was meant to train 60 AG per year, but in effect, it only had calls for enrollment in 1985, 1986, 1988 and 1992. To this day, 72 AG are still working within the public administration. In 1989, an economic recession turned into a hyperinflation crisis which led to the president resigning after losing the election but before the end of his term. His successor was Menem, a Peronist. The main policies that the new administration would implement, however, did not take place until 1991. The structural reforms (1991–​2002) The Menem administration was characterized by the establishment of neoliberal policies, which was unexpected under a Peronist presidency. Menem ended hyperinflation by tying the value of the peso to that of the dollar, in a one-​to-​ one ratio (“Convertibility”) that remained unchanged for over a decade. He also pardoned military leaders convicted in 1985 and privatized most public companies, while carrying on a process of market deregulation. The main change produced in this period was the creation of SINAP.8 This system institutionalized a new salary scale for public employees as well as a system for advancing in the administrative career based on training and merit-​based competitive selection (Decree 993/​1991). 94

Policy analysis by the federal government

During this period, some policies on training and public employment that had begun under Alfonsín were continued. While INAP had to adapt to a public administration that was rapidly changing, both in terms of its lessening role in the economy and its staff, it remained a valued institution with no key changes in its structure. By 1999, Argentina was experiencing a new economic crisis. Argentina elected radical candidate De la Rúa as president. The new administration expanded on the orthodox agenda of its predecessor. This included continued downsizing of public spending and institutions, which had significant consequences for INAP: the Institute was demoted from an autonomous organism to a national office, which ended its autonomy; some considered the possibility of shutting down INAP. After the 2001 crisis, De la Rúa resigned and was eventually succeeded by Peronist Duhalde, who was chosen by the Congress after every member in the chain of command stepped down. The new president governed for a year, until his candidate, Kirchner, was elected in 2003. Stability after a period of crises (2003–​2016) The governments of Kirchner (2003–​2007) and his successor, Fernández de Kirchner (2007–​2015), successfully renegotiated and paid a relevant percentage of the foreign public debt and reopened trials against military leaders of the 1976 dictatorship. Both presidencies were also characterized by rising conflict with the agricultural sector, media conglomerates, and the judiciary, as well as growing inflation. These bold changes were not reflected in training policy for public employees. While the public sector grew in economic and political power, INAP remained a national office. However, rumours of shutdown disappeared: the Institute had found new stability, and the funding and lecture hours were moderately expanded. One area that became increasingly relevant was the FoPeCap.9 This fund was born in 1999 of common efforts between the national government and public employees unions. Regulated in 2006 by (Decree 21/​2006), FoPeCap became a key factor in training policy, introducing a labor perspective in the administrative process. A new system called SINEP10 replaced SINAPA (Decree 2098/​2008). New reforms (2016–​2021) In 2016, Macri, the leader of right-​wing coalition Cambiemos was elected president. The new president attempted a radical swing back to orthodox economic policy. His administration widely expanded foreign debt and reduced public spending. The Cambiemos government created a Modernization Ministry, to which INAP was transferred. The new administration was focused on increasing efficiency, and the Institute was seen as an important tool for managing (that is, reducing) 95

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public employment. During this period, it was upgraded to an Undersecretary. However, it retained the level of national office. In 2018, an economic crisis broke out. Macri responded by greatly reducing the number of ministries, thus merging the Modernization Ministry into the Chief Cabinet Ministry. In 2019, Peronist Fernández was elected president, defeating incumbent Macri. His presidency was defined by the COVID-​19 pandemic, which placed the country in lockdown not three months after the start of the new administration. Fernández kept INAP in the Chief Cabinet Ministry, under the Public Employment and Civil Service Secretary. Amidst lockdown and social distancing measures, all training was successfully adapted to an online campus in record time. Since then, researches and publications have been increased ranging over a wide number of areas. They can be found in six different types of journals: CUINAP,11 Estado Abierto,12 ITEP,13 ITESEN,14 IEC,15 and Cuestiones de Estado.16 Not only are all of them free but they can also be downloaded from the official website. Another recent development has been the creation of the Federal Training Plan.17 This program aims to provide training for province state employees through cooperation between national and provincial governments. This has been an important change for the lower levels of public administration.

Structure and internal organization From the viewpoint of its structural organization, the history of INAP may be divided into two main phases: INAP as a decentralized, autonomous institution (1973–​2001) and as a centralized office (2002–​present day). In Argentine public administration, decentralized organisms, while located within the cabinet of ministries of the Executive Power, own and manage their own budget and have a legal status which allows them to operate independently. In other words, they are somewhat self-​governing institutions, yet the centralized administration (and thus the governing party) retains the ability to name most or all of the organization’s executive board. In this section, the aim is not to describe every single modification in the administrative composition of INAP through its decades of existence, but to comprehend the main trends in this process. Like most autonomous state organisms, INAP had a complex structure. Its administrative body was composed of a president and eight members, who were designated by the Executive Power. Out of these members, four were nominated by the two main state worker unions (two by each one). According to regulation, the positions lasted for five years and could be reinstated. Union members were removed from this structure under the intervention of INAP dictated by the de facto government of 1976. During its first years, the Institute included several departments and offices, including an Office for Training and Development, an Office for Research, an Office for International Technical Cooperation, and a Departments of Publications and Library. This structure went through many changes in a short 96

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period, and in fact neither the executive board nor the organizational structure were completed until 1974. In 1976, there were between two and four employees in each office, including the director or department chief, with the exception of a department in charge of file administration and, most importantly, attending to citizen requests, which employed 13 workers. In 1983, a new decree established a different composition for the Institute. Two offices were considered “substantive”: one in charge of Training, the other in charge of Research. Meanwhile, four “support” offices were created: an Office for Legal Counseling, a Department of Library and Publications, a Secretary of International Relations, and an Administrative Department. This did not represent a major change from the previous structure; instead, it provided an internal hierarchy of functions in accordance with the regulatory framework of the Institute. In 1987, some changes were introduced: first, a General Executive Secretary was created as a high ranking office, above this dual structure. Second, the support area was now comprised of an Office of Documentation and Information and a General Administration Office. Third, in the substantive area, the research office changed its name to “Administrative Studies”, and an Office for Training of Governmental Administrators was created for the PROFAG. In 1991, a General Academic Secretary was created as a high ranking office, outside of the domain of the Executive Secretary. The distinction between substantive and support areas was dropped, and two offices changed names: the Office for Administrative Studies became the Office for Studies and Research, while the Office for Training of Governmental Administrators was changed into a more general Superior Office for Training. In 1996 the structure of INAP was changed again, this time to include an Internal Auditing Unit, as well as change the General Secretaries into a Technical Executive Office, which included an Administration Office, and an Academic Executive Office, which included the Training and Superior Training offices and the Office for Studies and Documentation, which united the research and library units. An internal document of 2001 describes a further level of organization, including lower level offices. The Administration Office included four departments: Human Resources, Accounting, Recruitment and Supplies, and Budget Control and Programming. The Office for Superior Training contained two departments: Program Management and Program Promotion and Development; in the Office for Training, the units were Informatics Training and Technology, Extension Training and Training Management; in the Office for Studies and Documentation, a department was in charge of Documentation and Information and another one in charge of Studies and Research (INAP, 2021). This concludes the phase of INAP as an autonomous organism. In 2002, as a centralized institute in the domain of the Undersecretary of Civil Service, its structure became much smaller. There were only two high level offices: one in charge of the National Training System, the other one in charge of Studies and Information. For 15 years, this internal composition remained largely unchanged. 97

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In 2017, with the change in hierarchy that turned INAP into an undersecretary, its structure was also modified. Four offices were created, replacing the previous two ones: a School of Senior Public Management, a School of Public Training, an Academic and Research Office, and an Office of Accreditation and Academic Evaluation. In 2018, new changes were made: the new offices of the institute were a Federal Program Office, an Academic Office, and a Public Training School, with a Research and Publications Office in a lower level. In 2019, when the Modernization Ministry became a Secretary under the Cabinet Chief, the Federal Program Office became a Federal Training department in a lower hierarchical level. In 2020, INAP was once again upgraded, this time to an Undersecretary. The new (and current) structure is composed of two offices: an Office for Strategic Planning of Training and an Office for Academic Offerings, as well as an Office for the Permanent Fund for Labor Training and Qualification, in a lower level. The Knowledge Management, Research and Publications department is located under the Academic Offerings office, together with a Federal Training and Online Communications Department. The Strategic Planning office includes a Training Administration department.

Budget, staffing, and lecture hours This section does not account for the entire history of INAP’s budget and staffing, since such information is not available. Instead, the focus will be directed to the last 25 years, from 1995 until 2021. Three main subjects are analyzed in this chapter: the annual budget received by the institute; the amount of lecture hours it was assigned; and the number of employees. The source of this data are the national budgets that the Ministry of Economy designs for each year. Budget With regards to funding, an observation needs to be made on Argentina’s recent economic history. High inflation rates have been the norm in the past two decades, with an increment in the last five years. This means that an adjustment must be made; in the following analysis, all values are adjusted by inflation and given in pesos. 1995 is taken as the base, and every value is given as the amount it would equal at said year. It should also be noted that, with its centralization in 2001, INAP lost its budget autonomy. However, the specific amount of the funding dedicated to it can still be derived since the national budget defines the government unit that executes each function. The evolution of the budget of INAP seems to follow trends of economic growth in Argentina (see Figure 6.1). In 1995, it amounted to slightly under US$15.5 million.18 Until 2001, the budget was reduced every year, both in nominal and actual values. By 2001, it added up to under US$8.8 million, about 56 percent of the original amount.

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Policy analysis by the federal government Figure 6.1: Budget evolution (1995–​2021) 30,000,000

Budget (in pesos)

25,000,000 20,000,000 15,000,000 10,000,000

2021

2019

2017

2015

2013

2011

2009

2007

2005

2003

2001

1999

1997

0

1995

5,000,000

Year Source: National Budget Office

The years following the 2001 crisis saw an acceleration of this decrease. By 2005, the budget equaled US$2.9 million.19 From that point on, the budget increased in its nominal value every year, yet its real value fluctuated. In 2007 and 2008, it was around US$5.2 million; between 2009 and 2016, it rose to around US$7.3 million on average.20 However, this includes some years in which the budget was lowered and some when it was increased, although the main trends show growth. In 2017, the budget rose heavily to just under US$67.0 million,21 around five times as large as it was the year prior. While in the following years the real value would continue to increase, higher inflation rates meant the real amount decreased about US$10.0 million per year, until it reached US$21.7 million in 2021.22 Staffing With regards to staffing, the evolution does not follow the same path as that of the budget (see Figure 6.2). In 1995, INAP had 207 employees, although it should be noted that this includes the members of the PROFAG, which also occurred in 1998. If the 30 trainees of each year are not included, the number of employees remains largely stable from 1995 to 2001, with around 175 workers. In 2002, after the crisis, INAP had 151 employees. This amount was reduced to 139 by 2005, and from that point on it remained stable until 2011. In said year, the number abruptly decreased to 117, and went on to rise to 122 by 2016. There is no information on the staffing of the institute for the 2016–​ 2020 period. 99

Policy Analysis in Argentina Figure 6.2: Number of employees per year (1995–​2016)

200 150 100 50 0

1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

Number of employees

250

Year Source: National Budget Office

Lecture hours INAP is also assigned a number of lecture hours, which defines the amount and length of the training courses it can offer in a given year. In this case, the evolution of this variable closely resembles that of the budget (see Figure 6.3). In 1995, INAP had 260,812 lecture hours, which decreased to 94,124 by 2001. In 2002, this amount was drastically reduced to 30,000, and in 2003 to 15,000. This meant a reduction of 85 percent in three years and over 95 percent in under a decade. In 2008, the lecture hours were doubled and reached 30,000 again. Although there is no data for the period ranging from 2017 to 2020, in 2021 they added up to 125,000, a significant increase.

Relationship with other institutions Since its foundation, INAP has been involved with many different organizations. From unions to private universities, it has established relationships with regards to both training and research. Nevertheless, the type of organizations, relationships, and even their importance have changed over time. This section aims to reflect upon the changes in articulation among INAP and the most relevant organizations. On no account does it seek to describe all the articulation changes in which INAP has taken part: on the contrary, a set of public and private organizations have been selected for this analysis. This set is composed of: UPCN,23 the union of public employees; public and private universities; local governments; and international agencies. Regarding unions, their influence has changed dramatically since the last de facto government. When INAP was created, at the end of the Lanusse 100

Policy analysis by the federal government Figure 6.3: Lecture hours per year (1995–​2016)

250,000 200,000 150,000 100,000 50,000 0

1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

Number of lecture hours

300,000

Year Source: National Budget Office

dictatorship, the main public workers’ union (UPCN) used to designate four of the eight authorities in charge of the Institute. However, due to the last de facto government initiated in 1976, the union did not take part in the selection of the authorities again. After the return to democracy, one of the most important organizations within INAP was created: FoPeCap (which depends directly from the Chief Cabinet). It is founded by both the national administration and the union contributions from workers through the union. The relevance of FoPeCap is essentially based on enabling public servants to improve their knowledge because they can apply for a partial grant in postgraduate studies. Between FoPeCap’s creation and 2015 these studies could only be done in public universities. From the change in the national government in 2015 to the present, private universities have been included in the offer. Although direct articulation among INAP and universities is not very common, owing to the creation of FoPeCap, as it funds postgraduate studies, the articulation has significantly increased. Since its foundation, INAP training has been carried out at the local level through universities. Nonetheless, FoPeCap has added an extra dimension to the training: university education for postgraduates. Provinces and local governments have also been relevant actors in INAP’s history. After the process of administrative decentralization performed by the Menem administration and linked to neoliberal perspectives, local governments have received many new functions and responsibilities, including education and health. In that context another important organization was created: COFEFUP.24 COFEFUP is integrated by representatives of the national state, provinces, and local governments. Its main aid is to strengthen the coordination among the three state levels. This organization has contributed to enable the training of 101

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public service in the three state levels through INAP. Nowadays, it remains a key organization for training public servants across the country. From this brief description it could be thought that INAP has only been connected to national organizations. However, that is not accurate –​since its foundation, the Institute has developed several agreements with both Latin American countries and some European ones, with regards to training and research. It has also taken part in the most important congresses and meetings, specifically associated with CLAD,25 and has received the contribution from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) over time.

Conclusion Several conclusions can be derived from this chapter, especially in accordance with the objective of identifying and describing the features that enabled INAP’s stability. First, since its creation, INAP has been seen as playing a key role in the training of public servants, as well as in applied research. Despite the deep crises experienced by Argentina, the Institute has remained a leading institution within the public administration. However, this institutional stability does not mean that INAP has always remained the same. What is more, two main phases can be identified in terms of its structure, budget, lecture hours, staffing, and relationships with other organizations. One, from its foundation until 2001; the other one, from 2002 to the present day. From 1973 to 2001, INAP was a decentralized office. For this reason, its structure was complex; during this period, both INAP’s budget and lecture hours were reduced according to the economic trends of the country. In terms of staffing, the trends are more stable. In contrast, since 2001 to the present INAP has been a centralized office. Not only does it mean that the Institute has lost its autonomy but also its structure has decreased and become simpler. The number of INAP employees has remained stable, although it is lower than before 2001. The budget has changed, related to the economic growth of the country, and the lecture hours per year have become stable despite the lower levels. Furthermore, two of the most important national organizations, which have coordinated policies with INAP, have been created around the new century: FoPeCap and COFEFUP. It is possible to state that 2001 was been a dramatic break point in INAP organizational trends. However, 2001 can be described as a significant year for every organization in the country owing to the economic depression and the rising political unrest. It should be noted that this chapter has not focused on the content of training activities and research projects, but instead on the organizational features of the institute; thus, other types of transformations experienced by INAP with the changes not only of governing parties (in 1989, 1999, 2002, 2015, and 2019) but also of the political regime (in 1983) have not been considered in detail. However, it is important to highlight the institutional continuity that INAP has shown in its almost 50 years of existence. 102

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This chapter aimed to describe some factors that allowed this continuity. These may be found in some of the critical periods previously described: the transition from democracy to a dictatorship (1976), back to democracy (1983), and an economic and political crisis (2001). In all these circumstances, the decision to close INAP or replace it with a different institution might have been made, yet it was not. In the first two cases, one might consider the legal autonomy of the Institute a main reason for this, yet in the third one this autonomy was severed as INAP was centralized. Another factor, then, may be the importance each government gave to managing public employment and policy analysis. By deciding to maintain INAP (while changing it to suit transformations in political views), they contributed to reinforce its role as a leading institution in the Argentine state. Notes 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

Instituto Nacional de Administración Pública. Dirección Nacional de Racionalización. Servicio de Asesoramiento y Estudios Técnicos en Administración Pública, or Service for Counseling and Technical Studies on Public Administration. Instituto Superior de Administración Pública, or Superior Institute of Public Administration. Centro de Documentación e Información sobre Administración Pública. Subsecretaría de la Función Pública. Programa de Formación de Agentes Gubernamentales, or Training Program of Governmental Agents. Sistema Nacional de la Profesión Administrativa, or National System of the Administrative Profession. Fondo Permanente de Capacitación y Recalificación Laboral, or Permanent Fund for Labor Training and Qualification. Sistema Nacional de Empleo Público, or National System of Public Employment. Cuadernos del INAP (CUINAP) is concerned with the research carried out in the Institute. This journal is focused on public administration affairs. Informe Trimestral de Empleo Público (ITEP) is committed to present civil service information. Informe Trimestral de Estructura del Estado (ITESEN) analyzes the main changes in the public administration structure. Informe Estadistico de Capacitación (IEC) systematizes information about training courses in INAP. This publication analyzes the importance of public policies. Plan Federal de Capacitación. Because of the fixed rates of Convertibility, this equaled US$15.5 million in the same year. Since Convertibility ended, this amounted to about US$980,000. This would equal around US$1.2 million in 2016. This amounted to US$4.0 million. Currently, this would equal slightly over US$200,000. Unión del Personal Civil de la Nación, or National Union of the Civic Employees. Consejo Federal de la Función Público, or Federal Council for the Public Service. Consejo Latinoamericano de Administración y Desarrollo, or Latin American Council for Administration and Development.

References Bonifacio, J.A. (2003a) La política de formación de funcionarios del INAP, Buenos Aires: Dirección del Sistema Nacional de Capacitación –​INAP. 103

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Bonifacio, J.A. (2003b) ‘Servicio civil y gobernabilidad: reconstruyendo la institucionalidad estatal en la transición’, VIII Congreso Internacional del CLAD sobre la Reforma del Estado y de la Administración Pública, Panamá: CLAD, 28–​ 31 October. Bonifacio, J.A. (2008) ‘Estrategias de formación directiva del Instituto Nacional de la Administración Pública de Argentina’, XIII Congreso Internacional del CLAD sobre la Reforma del Estado y de la Administración Pública, Buenos Aires: CLAD, 4–​7 November. Bonifacio, J.A. (2014) ‘De menor a mayor, de mayor a mejor: políticas y estrategias de formación de funcionarios públicos. Planificación, inclusión, descentralización e institucionalización en la experiencia del Instituto Nacional de la Administración Pública en Argentina’, XIX Congreso Internacional del CLAD sobre la Reforma del Estado y de la Administración Pública, Quito: CLAD, 11–​14 November. Enrique, A. (2021) ‘La gestión de la capacitación en los organismos de la Administración Pública Nacional: un abordaje desde la perspectiva de los/​las Coordinadores/​as Técnicos de Capacitación’, Cuadernos del INAP, 2(54): 1–​56. Falivene, G.M. (2003) ‘Reformas de las políticas de formación directiva para el fortalecimiento institucional en contextos de crisis: aprendizajes realizados’, II Congreso Internacional del CLAD sobre la Reforma del Estado y de la Administración Pública, Panamá: CLAD, 14–​18 October. Furlong, J. (2000) ‘Evolución institucional del INAP de Argentina: antecedentes, desafíos y estrategia de desarrollo en la presente etapa’, V Congreso Internacional del CLAD sobre la Reforma del Estado y de la Administración Pública, Santo Domingo: CLAD, 24–​27 October. González, L. (2013) ‘Un proceso de mejora continua de la gestión de la capacitación: la optimización de los procesos y el desarrollo de las capacidades de los agentes’, VII Congreso Argentino de Administración Pública , Mendoza: AAEAP, 18–​20 September. INAP (1990) I.N.A.P. 1973–​1989. Breve Reseña Histórica de la Institución, Buenos Aires: INAP. INAP (2001) Reseña institucional INAP 1973/​2001, Buenos Aires: INAP. Iribarren, N.E. (2002) ‘El Instituto Nacional de la Administración Pública de la República Argentina en el contexto de la crisis de gobernabilidad’, VII Congreso Internacional del CLAD sobre la Reforma del Estado y de la Administración Pública, Lisbon: CLAD, 8–​11 October. Payne, G. and Payne, J. (2004) Key Concepts in Social Research, London/T ​ housand Oaks/​New Delhi: SAGE. Vázquez, N. (2020) ‘Capacitación e Investigación en el INAP como espacios para fortalecer la Capacidad Organizacional a partir de la Gestión del Conocimiento’, Cuadernos del INAP, 1(12): 1–​86. Vázquez, N. and Silva, G.M. (2020) ‘Crisis, innovación y conocimiento organizacional en la Administración Pública’, Cuadernos del INAP, 1(45): 1–​86.

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7

Policy analysis in the bureaucracy: the production of knowledge for professional public management training Maximiliano Campos Ríos

Introduction This work aims to analyze some aspects related to education and training in senior public management (SPM) in Argentina, considering the relationship established between segmentation and knowledge management. Changes in the relations between state and society have structured increasingly complex social relations. The public administration itself does not escape this. For this reason, the existing specialization processes in the scientific and technological fields are also expressed in the civil service. This chapter will introduce the problem of the segmentation in knowledge and competencies that shape SPM, presenting some dilemmas around education and training systems. The design and implementation of education and training programs must be conceived from the perspective of an agile, flexible, modern, transparent, inclusive, and open paradigm, which can and should be linked to the knowledge management that the organization itself does. That is a fundamental element of providing quality services and equal opportunities to all citizens. Knowledge of bureaucratic structures, their characteristics, peculiarities, forms of entry, systems of education and training, and promotion have been central to studies on the state and public administration, which have been elaborated from different disciplines (Weber, 1944; Crozier, 1969; Oszlak, 2015; Peters, 2001). This study aims to address some aspects related to the education and training of the public sector, with emphasis on SPM, that is, the highest hierarchical positions in the structure of public administration. During the last decades, partly due to some great social transformations, such as structural reforms carried out in several countries in the state apparatus itself, the functions of recruitment, entry, and permanence in the public sector have changed as well as strong modifications in their training and education systems. This implies an institutional redesign and an analysis of the new missions and functions that appear in the different transformations of public organizations. We will especially address how the education and training mechanisms of the public sector have been transformed, as well as their link with knowledge management. In this chapter, our primary goal is to analyze the specificity of the functions 105

Policy Analysis in Argentina

and objectives of the different positions that comprise SPM, by detecting and analyzing the knowledge, expertise, skills, and competencies, both general and specific, for each segment of this level of the state structure. This set of transformations has been registered in numerous public administrations. This is mainly due to the logic of the state reforms and their connection to new political and social problems, among them, the scientific-​ technological factor and its impact on the public sector. The exercise of the different state functions has been radically transformed, with much reorganization of the structures: New ministries, mergers of organizations, processes of horizontalization, and redefinition of goals are constant elements in a globalized world in which, however, the state continues to have a central role as organizer of political life. In the case of Ibero-​America, it can be seen that these processes accompanied the democratization processes through which a large number of the countries of the region have passed. Undoubtedly, this also reconstructs and articulates goals, such as the need for more effective public policies and control and transparency mechanisms as a duty of public policy management. For this reason, in many cases, the specialization and complexity of the missions and functions have required stratified and differentiated systems of education and training, as well as the introduction of elements of flexibility and adaptation that require training and pedagogical aspects of didactic transfer in the different update programs. These aspects have had a strong change in recent years, where the COVID-​ 19 pandemic generated great challenges for states and their bureaucracies in what Oscar Oszlak has called the “exponential era” (Oszlak, 2020; Bulcourf and Cardozo, 2021). We must understand this work within the studies on the development of the field of administration and public policies in Argentina, which present different axes of analysis. This collective work intends to address much of its dimensions and complexity (Bulcourf and Cardozo, 2010; Cardozo, 2017).

Public administration as a disciplinary field and scope of knowledge management Currently, facing the complexity of the 21st century, we see new trends emerging in the field of public administration, where alongside the democratization processes, other modernization of state structures is observed, where new knowledge and competencies are presented as a challenge for those who make the final decisions in society. The application of new technologies has given way to a more open conception, which, little by little, gave rise to what some authors have called open government, where it is not only about greater access to information but is also expressed in new mechanisms of participation and control of public management. The expansion of this worldview outside the strict orbit of the executive power has given way to the so-​called open state paradigm which aims to build a new stage in the link between the state and society focused on the role of citizenship (Kaufman, 2017; Oszlak, 2017; Pando, 2017). 106

Policy analysis in the bureaucracy Table 7.1: Forbes magazine’s ranking, 1987 versus 2022 1987

2022

1

Yoshiaki Tsusumi, Japan, transportation, hotels

1

Elon Musk, US, technology, civil engineering

2

Taikichiro Mori, Japan, construction

2

Jeff Bezos, US, e-​commerce

3

Brenninkmeyer, East Germany, retail

3

Bernard Arnault, France, clothing

4

Yohachiro Iwasaki, Japan, construction

4

Bill Gates, US, IT

5

Shigeru Kobayashi, Japan, real estate

5

Warren Buffett, US, finance

6

Hans and Gad Rausing, Sweden, packaging

6

Larry Page, US, internet

7

Albert, Paul and Ralh Reichman, Canada, real estate

7

Sergey Brin, US, internet

8

Kenneth Roy Thomson, Canada, oil

8

Larry Ellison, US, internet

9

Sam Moore Walton, US, retail

9

Steve Ballmer, US, IT

10

Haruhiko Yoshimoto, Japan, real estate

10

Mukesh Ambani, India, diversified

Source: own elaboration based on Forbes magazine’s ranking

In this sense, while the market dynamics show an accelerated evolution towards the knowledge society, the state is experiencing very slow changes and not without multiple resistances. To cite just one example of this, in Table 7.1 we can see the tendency of knowledge-​based companies to lead the main places displacing industrial-​type companies or extractive industries.

The segmentation processes of senior public management The state and administrative structures are, in part, a reflection of the set of social relations existing in a society. Today, we see an increasingly complex process of structuring employment relationships. This is due, in part, to increasing specialization within the field of knowledge and technology. This is added to a process of individuation from the construction of subjectivity. For this reason, professional practices are subject to a growing specialization process that segments the set of knowledge, practices, and competencies. This happens in both private and public spheres. Some professional disciplines, such as medicine, clearly represent it. Nevertheless, this also happens in other more academic areas, such as the natural sciences field. In physics or chemistry, there have been such marked processes of specialization that communication within the field has become notoriously difficult. The state sphere presents very similar aspects, expressing this more clearly at the highest levels of decision-​making. It is in SPM where this process has led to a compartmentalization of knowledge, not only from the point of view of basic knowledge and skills but also in the know-​how that has to do with the specific exercise of functions. Experience is one of the most difficult aspects to be able to rescue, not only for its transfer but to be able to build training standards that allow for building efficient training systems. 107

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The segmentation criteria of SPM obey general and specific parameters: 1. The general processes of specialization of expert knowledge. Partially derived from the expansion of the scientific-​technological sphere. Increasingly specialized knowledge generates compartmentalization and the constant expansion of knowledge and knowledge. This works in all spheres of life. 2. The expansion and specialization of bureaucratic structures. During the last two decades, we have been in a process of expanding the structures of the state, partly due to the complexity of the problems to solve. New ministries and minor structures demonstrate that this process is a global trend, although it is expressed differently in each state, partly due to its history. 3. The incorporation of increasingly complex technologies, which tend to specialize in specific sectors. Here we find also a trend towards computerization and the use of control and monitoring systems that give shape to the implementation of ICT in management technologies. 4. The complexity of the set of demands towards the state is partly due to the fragmentation of the social actors and their increasingly antagonistic requirements. This generates growing governance problems and the need to confront them both by politicians and by the public administration itself. We can find this expressed particularly in the construction of education and training systems, and in the idea of generating specific strategies of didactic transposition by those in charge of planning access, permanence, promotion, and training systems within the state sphere.

To segment senior public management The concern to form political officials for the management of the state responds to two major needs: on the one hand, to face the new challenges of the current world, and on the other hand, to have a body of administrators who accompany new political projects and possess updated and specialized knowledge. Unlike other moments and models of training, here the state is committed to contributing to the training of leaders in a model of permanent and continuous training, to provide better services of better quality. In other words, what is sought is not only to train new or old agents with new skills but also to build a permanent training system and improve career and access to management positions. In an Inter-​American Development Bank (IDB) report, Moreno (2014) highlights that “[t]‌he potential of the public policies and services of any State is linked to the quality of civil service since its workers are whom we trust day by day to carry out the tasks of public service in our countries” (Moreno, 2014, p xix). Furthermore, besides workers, like bureaucracies in a broad sense, it is essential to point to the hierarchization and training of SPM. It includes technical and meritocratic personnel recruitment –​at least in part –​and articulation among workers and members of the government (public officials). Segmenting this sector 108

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of administration means differentiating between personnel whom we consider as public servants and whom we do not include in the high public management. That is the state bureaucracy (Oszlak, 2009). Those who hold these positions as upper and middle management have personnel in charge and, therefore, are responsible for guiding processes, managing resources, and making decisions that affect the course of policies. Therefore, training, hierarchization, and permanent updating processes should be directed, especially for this sector. In this sense, the aim is to analyze the specificity of the functions and objectives of the different positions that comprise SPM. Training the management segment as a whole requires working on a well-​ defined plan that organizes and orchestrates efforts to guide them towards specific objectives, but which are still open to creativity and adaptation to the obstacles that may be encountered or that arise from the conjuncture. This adaptation does not mean total acceptance or conformity to situations but rather being trained in leadership skills that, at the same time, position themselves independently of political vicissitudes. An innovative strategy when thinking about policies, implementing them, and evaluating them can emerge from visions of the problems. Zuvanic and Iacoviello (2010) argue that a professional bureaucracy can be a brake on arbitrariness and a safeguard of legal security, so we can think that transforming training into a state policy contributes to the development of stable and long-​term public policies, and professionally rank the civil service incrementally. The literature that reviews the experiences around the history of bureaucracies and the search to professionalize the civil service warns us of the tensions between technical knowledge and political practices. These occur within the freedom of action of political officials and the needs that arise: officials of trust. However, they can endanger the stability and success of policies, since they move away from developing as a bureaucracy established under the parameters of civil service by merit, and not permeated by clientelistic practices (Chudnovsky, 2015).

The structure of the state in Argentina Argentina is a federal country with a national level of government, which concentrates on the so-​called “centralized public administration” (which depends on the ministries and is regulated by the general civil service career system), and the “decentralized administration” (which has its own regime and includes autonomous agencies created by law). This suggests a heterogeneity of the national public sector, which includes very different realities, trajectories, and employment regimes. On the other hand, the very nature and functions of the agencies will also shape their organizational logic. Those agencies with highly professional and meritocratic bureaucracies (such as scientific agencies, the Foreign Service, or tax collection areas) will have greater autonomy and capacity to resist political changes. On the contrary, agencies that perform simple tasks, with broad territorial presence and strategic political importance, will show great 109

Policy Analysis in Argentina Table 7.2: Structure of the national public administration National public administration 20 jurisdictions

8,657 organizational units

40 decentralized agencies

Presidency of the nation Head of the Cabinet of Ministers 20 ministries

8,093 hierarchical positions

76 decentralized bodies

481,412 civil servants

96 other national public sector entities

Source: Integrated State Map Database (BIME) based on the Official Gazette of the Argentine Republic (data December 2022)

permeability to partisan logic. This will have repercussions on the SPM, since their heads will be controlled by political managers who are more committed to the project. In terms of the number of public servants, the federal public sector consolidated its position as the main employer in Argentina in times of crisis. In the last decades, access to public employment has been opening up, also encouraged by the need to satisfy the different sectors of the political alliances that come to power, under clientelistic logic. There are 142 agencies within the orbit of the national state which employ almost half a million people, according to data from the Integrated Public Employment Database published by the Chief Cabinet Minister. The size of the state has been growing steadily since 2003, along with the increase in its functions and a new vision of the role of the state, which emerged with the arrival of President Néstor Kirchner (2003–​2007) to power. That increase took a leap in the government of Mauricio Macri (2015–​2019) with the doubling of ministries. Moreover, this continued to increase when Alberto Fernández (2019–​2023) landed in the Casa Rosada. At the end of Mauricio Macri’s government in 2019, the number of employees in the National Public Administration was 470,831. In January 2022, the number rose to 481,412, that is, 10,581 new jobs were added in Alberto Fernández’s administration. This amount does not include employees of state-​owned companies or enterprises with state participation such as AYSA (water company), Aerolíneas Argentinas (flag carrier airline), or YPF (national oil company), as well as entities of the National Financial Public Sector (public banks) among other agencies (Figure 7.1).

Argentina’s civil service and senior public management Argentina has a national public administration with very particular characteristics. One of the most widespread thoughts both in the literature and in common sense is the lack of professionalism, meritocracy, and suitability for the position presented by SPM. This has been highlighted by authors who see trust or 110

Policy analysis in the bureaucracy Figure 7.1: Senior public management organizational structure –​centralized public administration: number of units according to their organizational hierarchy

Source: Integrated State Map Database (BIME) based on the Official Gazette of the Argentine Republic

clientelism as dimensions to be taken into account when viewing the recruitment of public managers (Iacoviello et al, 2009, 2011; Chudnovsky, 2015). In this sense, it is important to contextualize it within a broader phenomenon, in the Latin American reality, where many attempts to establish meritocratic and functional bureaucracies for the implementation of public policies have failed. In Argentina, we found an inconsistent and unstable regulatory trajectory. This resulted in a poorly developed civil service. With regulatory precedents in 1932, 1957, and 1958, in 1980 Law No. 22,140 was enacted, the so-​called Basic Legal Regime of the Civil Service, which establishes the stability of public employment. In 1991, the Executive Branch issued Decree No. 993, which approved the National System of the Administrative Profession, setting in motion the first administrative career regime for civilian personnel of the national public administration. Despite this, it was not until 1999, through Decree No. 66, that the first Collective Labor Agreement for the public sector was approved. That same year, the need to normalize the civil service led the National Congress to sanction on September 15 the Framework Law for the Regulation of National Public Employment No. 25,164. This law approves the general principles that regulate the public employment relationship that must be respected in collective bargaining, as well as the duties and rights of the personnel that make up the civil service of the nation. Thus, in 2008, the national government and the two unions with legal status (the Union of Civilian Personnel of the Nation and the Association of State Workers) agreed on a Collective Sectorial Labor Agreement, 111

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which was approved through Decree No. 2098. This revised and modified the National System of the Administrative Profession, which was renamed the National Public Employment System. It established the scales, categories, and requirements for SPM personnel. Although an attempt was made in 2008 to create a general career system, there are still organizations in the public sector under the private regime, the proliferation of temporary contracts, and exceptions to the application of the career system for management positions. The dilemma that the SPM seems to be going through is the dichotomy between the two criteria. On the one hand, trust, and on the other, suitability. In the SPM, it is important that not only the technical capacity but also the commitment to the programs is implemented. Therefore, when political leaders must fill a managerial position in the state, this problem is always present. This dilemma –​which, strictly speaking, runs through the public administration of all countries –​is usually resolved by favoring the first option: the expected “political” criterion for appointing ministers, secretaries, and undersecretaries extends downward to technical positions. Public employment regulations stipulate that these positions must be filled through competitive examinations to avoid such interference. In the top management of the national state, informality is often the rule, with transitory or retroactive appointments, delayed public tenders, overlapping layers of discontinued programs, and many professional officials but few specialized ones. In short, bureaucratic machinery seems to move by force of personal trust. What is observed is not necessarily that there are managers who are not suitable for the position, or that there is exclusively partisan clientelism for the appointment. What the evidence suggests is that the lack of public tenders and discretionary appointments, high turnover, or lack of specialization became the most common way in governments since the return to democracy: the appointment of loyal people to positions, even if this means going over the regulations of public employment. Added to this are the conceptions of public employment held by some political forces, which positively value political adhesion over the training or experience of civil servants. This is known in Argentina as “militant bureaucracy”. Although it is traditionally associated with certain political parties, it is a generalized practice of all political forces since the first democratization in 1916 and has persisted to the present day. Figure 7.2 shows that by 2019, nine out of ten national and general directors were appointed on a transitional basis, that is, exempted from the competition established by current regulations (Diéguez et al, 2019). Also, half of them do not meet the civil service career requirements (a degree of no less than four years, specialization in the related field, linked work experience of at least six years, and experience in leading teams of at least three years). In general, the degree is not the issue. The problem is the years of experience in the position and whether they have specific training for the position. However, professionalization is high in the SPM –​ nine out of ten have completed university studies –​but specialization is not. Almost 40 percent of 112

Policy analysis in the bureaucracy Figure 7.2: Exceptionality in the Argentine senior public management 87% 84%

88% 84%

2015

2016

86%

93% 82%

2017

Transitional appointment

91% 80%

2018

77%

2019

Exception of requirements

Source: Diéguez et al (2019)

the directors are lawyers, and the high turnover makes it difficult to deepen their knowledge; in fact, the average time in the position is three years (the public tenders are for five years, extendable to two more years for good performance). Not being appointed by competition has concrete effects: lower salary, more instability, and more dependence on the secretary (the direct political superior). This could be explained because the different governments see competitive examinations as a cumbersome mechanism that does not solve the need to have someone here and now to take charge of the programs. Another hypothesis is that discretionary appointments seek to compensate for political support. To the extent that these supports are increasingly circumstantial and volatile, so are the people who fulfill this role. Although this lack of professionalization seems to suggest a high degree of politicization of management, what emerges from the evidence is that the appointments are discretionary, but not partisan.

Training for senior public management in Argentina What happens with the production of knowledge for public management of the SPM? Although we have seen that there is a high turnover and lack of experience among public managers, we found that there are multiple instances of training for this bureaucratic segment. The National Institute of Public Administration (INAP) is the main federal agency for training public servants. Among its functions is the design and implementation of training policies for personnel and civil servants of the Centralized and Decentralized Public Administration. INAP, as the governing body of training in the state, has the mission of generating policies for its modernization. The Strategic Training Plans and Annual Training Plans are the result of the joint work of different actors to carry out this objective at an operational level. Among them are the managers of each agency, the officials of the human resources areas, and the trade union training advisors, with the 113

Policy Analysis in Argentina

technical assistance of INAP, which establishes the methodological guidelines and the rules for the design, development, and evaluation of such programs. The Training Needs Assessment is an input for the maintenance of competencies or the solution of specific problems in a project of change in public administrations. This diagnosis implies a commitment of the higher authorities and the officials responsible for the performance evaluation of the institution. This is reflected in a Strategic Training Plan. In most cases, diagnoses are made based on self-​managed surveys conducted by the civil servants themselves, workshops or other activities, or consultations with team coordinators. They are also carried out by each of the agencies that prepare the jurisdictional plans, while INAP courses are defined informally at the request of some national offices. The Plan aims to promote and provide quality training, linked and committed to: the improvement of the Organizational Units; the performance of personnel in achieving their management objectives and career development; and the provision of goods and services to citizens. The Annual Training Plan sets short-​ term training objectives in the design of specific programs based on the learning of public servants and lasts for one year. The evaluation of the Plans contemplates their elaboration and execution, as well as the measurement of their results in all the organizations that develop them. However, the training offer is not unanimous and there are different ways of accreditation. On the one hand, there is the INAP offer, which is defined and accredited by the Institute itself and, on the other hand, there is the jurisdictional offer, which is accredited by INAP but managed by the agencies themselves. Likewise, there is a segmented offer, and there is a coordination unit specially designed to design courses for the SPM. Finally, in all cases, it is observed that the courses are implemented by a specialized entity, either contracted by INAP or by the Human Resources Directorate of each agency, in the case of jurisdictional activities (in the ministries). In turn, this may be a professional who coordinates or directly teaches the courses in the ministry itself, or universities and study centers that sign agreements with the state for the supply of the programs. Thus, the design of training in Argentina is transversal to the different government agencies through INAP. This is complemented by the centralized offer provided by the state agencies themselves. In turn, it can be seen that managerial training in Argentina has reached a medium level of development and there are efforts to try to make progress in this direction. General features of training for senior public management Most ministries place special emphasis on training related to technical knowledge. This is understandable if we take into account that the spirit of the ministerial plans is to meet the training needs related to the tasks of each agency. This group includes management training courses associated with substantive management support processes (management indicators and strategic planning, risk assessment, and management, among others). On the other hand, ministerial portfolios also 114

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contemplate the implementation of courses related to strategic competencies that aim to strengthen the leadership role of managers (Chudnovsky, 2017). Examples of these courses may be those oriented to change management, communication, and interpersonal relations and the formulation of strategies to optimize institutional relations with other ministries. Finally, oriented courses such as those aimed at strengthening interaction, negotiation, mediation, and project and report preparation skills also gain relevance. Finally, although there is a certain segmentation of the offer, it can be observed that the competencies of state agencies and INAP, in certain circumstances, overlap. In particular, in some ministerial plans, activities aimed at cross-​cutting competencies gain relevance when in fact it is the responsibility of INAP. Similarly, this agency provides some specific technical courses when this should not be the case since jurisdictional plans should focus on technical competencies. In this sense, despite trying to segment the offer, this does not always happen, most likely because not all agencies are obliged to carry out a plan of activities. This forces INAP to provide them. Thus, the supply of training over all these years has not followed a continuous trajectory and the change of regulations between the different government administrations prevented the institutionalization of a professionalized SPM corps. This undoubtedly affected the development and sustainability of public policies. Virtual training program for senior Latin American public management The School of Politics, Government and International Relations of Universidad Austral, together with the Development Bank of Latin America (CAF), organize the Latin American Senior Public Management Virtual Program. This program is aimed at people working in public administration and professionals in the social sciences. It is also aimed at leaders of social organizations linked to the different areas of politics and who may be interested in participating in the different sessions offered. It is integrated by the following courses, and it is possible to attend them independently: Innovation in Public Security Management; Government and Judicial Management; Motivation and Leadership in Public Management; Public Budget; Local Public Management; and Human Resources Management in the Public Sector. Since 2018, this course has been recognised as training and is considered in the administrative career of civil servants by the National Institute of Public Administration. Governance and Public Management Program In 2022 the Governance and Public Management Program was launched in an effort by CAF, in alliance with the University of San Andrés, to strengthen government and civil society institutions in their capacity to carry out change projects within a democratic environment, taking into account the conditions of governance. This program specializes in issues related to leadership, effective 115

Policy Analysis in Argentina

management, and, in general, the improvement of government capacity. Through its approach, aspects of political management, strategic games, systemic thinking, proactive and participatory communications, and transparency, which are necessary to achieve satisfactory levels of democratic governance, are incorporated into the methodology. It is offered in hybrid form. It presents tools for participants to improve their performance in public service in times of emergency, such as the situation experienced by the COVID-​19 pandemic in Argentina. The courses help to recognize public problems, identify appropriate solutions for them, gather the necessary political support to implement them, and mobilize the necessary resources to make them successful. In this way, the program seeks to train managers capable of achieving their goals and overcoming difficulties. The current situation poses public management challenges for short-​and medium-​ term development, where precise and coordinated responses must be found and deployed between the different levels of the state and civil society actors, which this program seeks to strengthen.

Conclusion The processes of coaching and training of the High Public Management (Alta Gerencia Pública) expresses the reflection of the complexity of the existing social relations in society. This change is noticeable in the coaching and training of SPM. Here we find a marked segmentation linked to the know-​how, the knowledge, practices, and competencies required for the specific exercise of functions in a changing environment and that requires the solution of diverse problems, where actors with sometimes conflicting interests intervene. On the other hand, special emphasis must be placed on guiding not only the training of the professional public management related to the management of knowledge. Nevertheless, we must also prepare them for the challenges presented by artificial intelligence and robotization (Ramió Matas, 2018). One of the main challenges in the development of education and training programs lies in being able to express the specificity of the necessary competencies, but without losing sight of general aspects that make the understanding of the state’s orbit; specialization also brings problems in interdisciplinary work and also in the articulation of knowledge from different areas and portfolios. In Argentina, there is a profusion of instances of training and formation for the SPM. However, it is disjointed and lacks a centralized direction. This can be understood by different factors. First, there is complexity, heterogeneity, and disparity among the agencies of the national state. There is no unified hiring or career ladder among government agencies. Unlike countries such as Germany or the UK, which have a more unified entry and training system, our country does not have a single managerial training path. Second, there is the heterogeneity of the management training offered itself. Here we can find postgraduate courses at 116

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universities, courses given by agencies, INAP activities, and specific management programs promoted by international organizations. As a consequence, the management and coordination of the managerial profile are difficult to define and train when it comes to thinking about strategic positions. Third, we found that the relationship between policy and SPM is, as in any country, and even more so in Argentina, a tense one between the two logics mentioned. It seems that trust seems to prevail over training, specific preparation, and experience, both at a personal and political level. This seems to be a guarantee to avoid blockages in the implementation of public programs by political officials. The combination of loyalty with suitability is the ideal formula for those political officials who appoint collaborators to positions of “trust”. This formula avoids or reduces concerns about possible disloyalty while ensuring managerial capacity. Everywhere in the world, there is a variable number of personnel that political officials can appoint (for example, advisors or executives in junior positions). The problem arises when, to ensure loyalty, suitability is sacrificed. The consequences can be catastrophic if this happens in critical positions. But the opposite combination is also undesirable: a highly skilled but disloyal manager can be equally disastrous. For this reason, a professional career for permanent staff, with effectively applied rules to ensure that the best are hired, that those who demonstrate merit are promoted, that they are evaluated according to performance, and that they are rewarded according to results, is the best guarantee to ensure suitability. If, in addition, this career path includes the induction of public service values and the sanctioning of poor performance, the risk of disloyalty is reduced. The educational and training processes require specific research into the knowledge, know-​how, and competencies that the civil service performs in its functions, something that is rarely carried out satisfactorily, given the speed with which the training and education programs have to be planned and implemented. Possibly this constitutes one of the greatest challenges in the synchronization of the different clocks that make up the practice of public administration. References Bulcourf, P. and Cardozo, N. (2010) ‘El desarrollo de los estudios sobre administración y políticas públicas en la Argentina a partir del proceso democratizador’, Nuevo Espacio Público, 5: 13–​54. Bulcourf, P. and Cardozo, N. (2021) ‘Comprendiendo al Estado en América Latina: una aproximación a su historia y análisis’, in J. Canales Aliende, S. Delgado Fernández, and A. Romero Tarín (eds), Tras las huellas del Leviatán. Algunas reflexiones sobre el futuro del Estado y de sus instituciones en el siglo XXI, Granada: Comares, pp 101–​160. Cardozo, N. (2017) ‘El desarrollo de los estudios sobre administración y políticas públicas en la Argentina’, Anuario Latinoamericano. Ciencia Política y Relaciones Internacionales, 5: 127–​157.

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Chudnovsky, M. (2015) Entendiendo las diferencias entre las reglas de acceso y de ejercicio de poder: una mirada dentro del Estado, Buenos Aires: CIPPEC-​ASAP. Chudnovsky, M. (2017) ‘Profesionalización de los servicios civiles en América Latina: ¿Quién capacita, en qué y para qué?’, Buen Gobierno, 23: 130–​157. Crozier, M. (1969) El fenómeno burocrático, Buenos Aires: Amorrortu. Diéguez, G., Gasparín, J.M., Rubio, J., and Aruanno, L. (2019) GPS del Estado. Radiografía y balance de la Administración Pública Nacional 2015–​2019, Buenos Aires: CIPPEC. Iacoviello, M., Pando, D., Mendelson, N., and Essayag, S. (2009) ‘Desafíos y competencias para el fortalecimiento de la alta dirección pública en Argentina’, V Congreso Nacional de Administración Pública, San Juan. Asociación Argentina de Estudios de Administración Pública (AAEAP), pp 1–​19. Iacoviello, M., Llano, M., and Strazza, L. (2011) ‘Profesionalización de la alta dirección pública en América Latina: algunas experiencias comparadas’, Sexto Congreso argentino de Administración Pública, Resistencia: AAEAP. Kaufman, E. (2017) ‘El papel de la Alianza para el Gobierno Abierto: reflexiones sobre el proceso del ciclo de los planes nacionales de acción’, Estado abierto, 1(2): 71–​116. Moreno, L.A. (2014) ‘Prefacio’, in J.C. Cortázar Velarde, M. Lafuente, and M. Sanginés (eds), Al servicio del ciudadano. Una década de reformas del servicio civil en América Latina (2004–​13), Washington, DC: BID, pp xix–​xx. Oszlak, O. (2009) La profesionalización del servicio civil en América Latina: impactos sobre el proceso de democratización, Buenos Aires: Proyecto OEA-​PNUD La Democracia de ciudadanía: una agenda para la construcción de ciudadanía en América Latina. Oszlak, O. (2015) ‘Notas críticas para una teoría de la burocracia estatal’, in M. Chudnovsky (Ed.), El valor estratégico de la gestión pública. Trece textos para comprenderla, Buenos Aires: Corporación Andina de Fomento, pp 189–​346. Oszlak, O. (2017) ‘Estado Abierto: hacia un nuevo paradigma de gestión pública’, Segundo Foro Nacional de Gobierno Abierto y Tecnología Cívica, Córdoba: Universidad Provincial de Córdoba. Oszlak, O. (2020) El Estado en la era exponencial, Buenos Aires: INAP-​CLAD-​ CEDES. Pando, D. (2017) ‘No todo lo que brilla es oro: límites, inconsistencias y retos del gobierno abierto en América Latina’, Estado abierto, 1(2): 45–​68. Peters, B.G. (2001) The Politics of Bureaucracy, New York: Routledge.] Ramió Matas, C. (2018) Inteligencia artificial y administración pública. Robots y humanos compartiendo el servicio público, Madrid: Editorial Catarata. Weber, M. (1944) Economía y sociedad. Esbozo de sociología comprensiva, Mexico City: Fondo de Cultura Económica. Zuvanic, L. and Iacoviello, M. (2010) ‘La burocracia en América Latina’, ICAP-​ Revista Centroamericana de Administración Pública, 58–​59: 9–​41.

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Policy analysis at the subnational level: an exploration of a collaborative governance model Silvia E. Fontana and Sofía Conrero

Introduction Disaster risk management (DRM) has begun to be addressed in government agendas as a process that leads to the planning and implementation of policies, strategies, instruments, and measures, and that must be assumed by all sectors of society, especially within the framework of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This DRM approach poses a great challenge for governments, which are challenged on a daily basis by the need to provide responses and solutions to crisis situations generated by natural or anthropogenic phenomena, through social participation and collaborative work. In the last decade, a set of international norms, rules, and practices on DRM (Sendai Framework, SDGs and Agenda 2030) have been developed and adopted. This agenda especially addresses the need for local governments to become key actors in generating solutions, solutions that they can no longer address alone, but need to do so through governance. The participation of actors from all spheres and levels is indispensable. In this sense, it is understood that governance with respect to increasing resilience to disasters occurs when governments formulate policies and develop practices jointly with civil society, the private sector, and the populations in order to create an enabling environment to improve the response capacity of society (Turnbull et al, 2013). In this sense, it is suggested that the orientation towards governance requires flexible organizational structures for governments, new competency profiles of public managers, modifications in management tools, the construction of deliberative spaces, greater doses of negotiation and consensus in processes, more and better communication, among others. There is no single model to respond to these governance demands, but rather each level of government, type of problem to be solved, social demands, services to be provided, and so on, will require its own designs (Prats & Vidal, 2005). The objective of this chapter is to identify and analyze the incorporation of international norms, rules, and discourses on DRM in the policies and practices of local governments in the province of Córdoba (Argentina). To achieve this objective, a matrix was designed in a collaborative manner between academia 119

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and local government officials. The hypothesis guiding this study is that local governments incorporate changes at the discursive level (policy definition) and in organizational design components more rapidly than in the implementation of specific projects on policy content. Moreover, these modifications are first adopted in centralized decision-​making processes in local governments, and then incorporate participatory processes leading to a governance approach.

The construction of the analytical matrix for the diagnosis of organizational components for disaster risk management In recent years, various instruments have been designed to diagnose and assess the situation of local governments with respect to DRM. In 2010, the Inter-​American Development Bank prepared an Indicator Guide for Disaster Risk Management, strengthening the purpose of guiding the Bank’s action to assist its borrowers in reducing the risk derived from natural hazards and in disaster management, in order to favor the achievement of its economic and social development objectives. This system of indicators is designed to be easy to understand by public policy makers, relatively simple to update periodically, and to allow a comparative analysis between countries to enrich their sectoral dialogue (IDB, 2010). This Guide is made up of four components or composite indices that reflect the main elements representing each country’s vulnerability and performance in terms of risk management: 1. The Disaster Deficit Index reflects the country’s risk in macroeconomic and financial terms in the face of probable catastrophic events. 2. The Local Disaster Index captures the social and environmental risk problematic arising from frequent minor events that chronically affect the local and subnational level, affecting in particular the most vulnerable socioeconomic groups of the population. 3. The Prevalent Vulnerability Index (IVP) characterizes the country’s prevailing conditions of vulnerability in terms of exposure in prone areas, socioeconomic fragility and lack of social resilience in general. 4. The Risk Management Index reflects a country’s organization, capacity, development, and institutional action to reduce vulnerability, reduce losses, prepare for crisis response, and recover efficiently. Four components or public policies are taken into account for the formulation of the Risk Management Index: risk identification, risk reduction, disaster management, and governance and financial protection (IDB, 2010). In the case of the National Commission for Risk Prevention and Emergency Attention of Costa Rica (Comisión Nacional de Prevención de Riesgos y Atención de Emergencias de Costa Rica, 2015), a Municipal Risk Management Index is developed, which emphasizes municipal capacities for DRM. This 120

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index identifies five groups of capacities: administrative capacity; financial capacity; capacity to encourage social participation; planning capacity; and risk management tools and/​or equipment that municipalities have. In 2017, the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction developed a self-​assessment tool for local governments to support the reporting and implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–​ 2030. It is a self-​assessment tool for disaster resilience at the local level, which aims to assist countries and local governments in monitoring and reviewing progress and potential challenges in the implementation of the Sendai Framework, as well as to support the development of local risk reduction strategies and plans. Thus, cities and municipalities that commit to the Developing Resilient Cities Campaign and its Ten Essentials apply this instrument, which has components related to: 1. Organizing for resilience. 2. Identify, understand and use current and future risk scenarios. 3. Strengthen financial capacity for resilience. 4. Promote resilient urban design and development. 5. Protect natural buffer zones to enhance ecosystem protection functions. 6. Strengthen institutional capacity for resilience. 7. Understanding and strengthening social capacity for resilience. 8. Increase the resilience of vital infrastructure. 9. Ensure effective disaster response. 10. Accelerate the recovery process and build back better (UNISDR, 2017). As can be seen in the different instruments, capacity building, both at the organizational level and in terms of empowerment of stakeholders, is a fundamental axis for carrying out the recommendations of the international frameworks for DRM. Taking into account this background, a matrix has been designed consisting of dimensions and components that seek to reflect the way in which municipalities have incorporated international DRM frameworks into their governmental management policies and practices. This matrix is not only a tool for diagnosis and assessment of local government management of DRM, but also constitutes a reference for decision-​making and the development of policies and practices aimed at strengthening these issues in local governments. Another important aspect is that it was designed collaboratively with representatives of the municipalities in which it will be applied, in a process of co-​creation, in order to generate greater awareness and involvement of local governmental actors in this issue. For them, meetings and individual interviews were held, as well as discussion and debate workshops. The matrix is composed of six dimensions and 14 components, distributed in these dimensions. These dimensions were defined taking into account the 121

Policy Analysis in Argentina Table 8.1: Organizational dimensions and components for the diagnosis and assessment of the incorporation of international frameworks for disaster risk management in local governments Dimensions

Components

Organization

Organizational design Decision-​making Formalization

Financing

Allocation of resources in the budget Incentive policies

Planning

Incorporation of the DRM approach in planning Tools for DRM

Governance

Accountability and access to public information Networks and social participation

Human capital

Equipment and profiles External training Internal training

Communication

Communication management Broadcast

key organizational components, based on what is suggested by the international frameworks and the referred antecedents, as shown in Table 8.1.

Organizational components for disaster risk management in municipalities of the province of Córdoba: diagnosis and analysis Organization The first dimension refers to organization, including the components of organizational design, formalization, and decision-​making. The structure formally represents the relationships, communications, decision-​ making processes and procedures that articulate people, material resources, and functions around objectives and results (Ramió, 1999). A key tension in DRM is between what DRM implies and the designs of structures, even with high levels of bureaucratization, especially in public administrations. It is necessary that the organizational structures of government allow the promotion and coordination of disaster prevention and attention, and channel the collective mobilization with the participation of the whole society (Vargas, 2002). Organizational design also establishes vertical and horizontal specialization, which require coordination mechanisms to align the tasks and efforts of each organizational unit to achieve a common objective (Laegreid and Verhoest, 2010). In contexts of greater stakeholder participation, as in DRM, it is essential 122

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that these mechanisms are defined and agreed upon by all participants, so that the comprehensive approach to the issue is not lost (Clarke and Pineda Mannheim, 2007). Some of the aspects covered by this dimension are the existence of a specific area within the organizational chart for DRM, other areas involved in these issues, level of autonomy of these areas, regulations on the subject, adherence to international frameworks, among others. In this sense, the three municipalities analyzed have formalized functions that refer to DRM, within their organizational chart and in various regulations. In the case of the municipality of Villa María, it has clear regulations that create and define the secretariats linked to DRM, including their operation, duties, competencies, and objectives. This municipality has incorporated the DRM approach and designates its Civil Defense area as “Risk Management and Civil Defense”. To this end, it has numerous regulations of its own that include DRM. It is positive that the different areas that are part of it participate actively in the elaboration, modification, or updating of the codes. Likewise, different secretariats and other areas participate in the DRM through some of their functions. The municipality of Río Cuarto, for its part, distributes the functions of DRM in three main departments: the Undersecretariat of Public Services, the Undersecretariat of Social Development, and the Civil Defense of the city. The general organizational structure is informal, that is, it is not regulated in an organizational chart, but the functions of its different areas are detailed in specific regulations. With specific reference to DRM, there are aspects related to these issues in different regulations. This implies progress in terms of the incorporation of the subject in municipal management, but still in a fragmented manner. In the case of the municipality of San Francisco, it has an organizational chart with defined functions to face risk situations, although the relations between areas at local and provincial level are scarce and occur once the risk situation has started. There is a specific DRM area, as well as other areas related to DRM in the formal organizational chart of the municipality, the Civil Defense area itself, and the joint work between them. It also has a functional organization chart on the subject that is activated when the city faces an emergency situation. In this sense, the work of the Municipal Civil Defense Board becomes operative. However, it can be noted that there is little connection, both between the areas related to risk management at the local level, as well as with the higher provincial instances, which are called upon once an emergency situation occurs. Although the municipality does not adhere to any international framework regarding DRM, it does adhere to provincial and national frameworks; at the same time, there is a broad development of local regulations in relation to these issues. Financing The second dimension, financing, incorporates two components: the allocation of resources in the budget and policies and incentives. 123

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The “Self-​Assessment Tool for Disaster Resilience at the Local Level” (UNISDR, 2017) outlines a series of actions necessary for efficient financial management for DRM: • understand and assess the considerable costs of disasters and the relative impact of investments to prevent them; • allocate a budget with protected capital; • include in operational budgets the allocation of funds for risk management; • assess levels of disaster risk and its implications from all planning, permitting, and capital expenditure decisions; • establish incentives for homeowners, low-​income families, communities, companies, businesses, and the public sector to invest in reducing the risk they face; • apply and, if necessary, establish insurance coverage. The policies and incentives dimension refers to the development of municipal programs aimed at rewarding and/​or recognizing the efforts made by different public and private actors in DRM. Benefits and incentives may be granted through direct payments, economic exemptions, or non-​monetary benefits. It is positive to point out that the legislation of the municipality of Villa María regarding DRM indicates changes and budgetary adjustments aimed at achieving the objectives of the decrees or ordinances. For its part, the Risk Management and Civil Defense Area obtains its resources from a specific budget line for the area. The resource management procedure does not differ from that of the rest of the areas of the municipality and adheres to common purchasing protocols. Finally, it should be noted that the municipality does not currently have specific funds or budget items for emergencies. Despite this, it is possible to request extra resources to cope with the emergency. The municipality of Villa María has regulations related to incentive programs for civil society and private actors involved in risk management activities. Despite this, there are no clear incentive programs for cooperatives, non-​governmental organizations, or companies that develop activities related to the subject. In the case of the municipality of Río Cuarto, it allocates specific financial resources for DRM actions in its annual budget planning. On the one hand, resources allocated by ordinance (emergency fund) and, on the other hand, resources from different areas of the municipality can be differentiated, since they have specific budget allocations for DRM-​related issues within their budgets. In addition to these resources, it is worth mentioning the “Participatory Budget Program”. Although its purpose is not to generate a direct impact on risk reduction, as it is a participatory tool, it can incorporate projects related to these issues that arise from citizens or civil society institutions. It is an item that corresponds to a fixed percentage of the municipality’s revenues in the period prior to the one in which the projects are to be executed. In particular, the municipality does not have direct or indirect incentive policies that benefit public or private investments related to DRM issues. 124

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The municipality of San Francisco does not have a fixed fund, but a variable budget from month to month, which is used according to the needs that arise. However, the good practices carried out by the municipality are highlighted, which compensate and even justify this fact. The municipality grants tax exemptions to companies located in the Industrial Park, but the provincial level offers incentives for good agricultural and livestock practices that respect the environment. Planning The third dimension refers to planning and includes the components: incorporation of the DRM approach in planning; and DRM tools. In DRM planning, it is necessary to be prepared to face a hazard, which implies the involvement of technical, social and political elements (Herzer, 1990). The latter refer to the necessary agreements between public institutions, organizations, and the population. Based on these elements, Herzer defines planning as a dynamic and continuous process over time that involves the gathering of information and the generation of interpersonal and inter-​organizational agreements and relationships, which are subject to constant change (Herzer, 1990). Planning is ultimately the structured interaction between actors, who not only play different roles, but also control different types of resources and have different expectations. These differences among them make the planning process one characterized by the search for compatibilities, through continuous negotiation among them, in an environment that is, at the same time, dynamic (Herrera Gómez and Requena, 2002). Some aspects to be surveyed in this dimension are: the incorporation of DRM in social development policies and plans, urban and sectoral planning policies, health and education policies and plans, participating actors, the existence of contingency plans, inventories of disasters and losses, tools, and so on. The municipality of Villa María stands out for carrying out the planning of urbanization processes based on environmental values and sustainable development. Specific actions include the establishment of a conscious and responsible control and monitoring of urban growth. Specifically with regard to DRM tools, the Risk Management and Civil Defense Area acts in coordination with the Fire Department, through the creation of the Fire Department Committee. In the case of the municipality of Río Cuarto, DRM issues are developed by different programs carried out by the aforementioned departments within the structure of that agency. They also have tools for diagnosis and prevention. However, although a lot of data are generated, they are not approached from a DRM perspective. In San Francisco, a great effort has been made to incorporate DRM issues in the educational plans of children, adolescents, and university students and to include this sector in planning processes; however, similar progress has not 125

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yet been made in other areas such as urban planning and health. In terms of DRM tools, there is only one mechanism for monitoring and evaluating risks and damages, which is the responsibility of the Volunteer Fire Department, so it would be important for the municipality to implement a multi-​stakeholder project to carry out more exhaustive evaluations. Governance The fourth dimension refers to governance and includes the components accountability and access to public information, and networks and social participation. The term governance refers to those processes of participation, execution, and decision-​making in which several actors intervene in a cooperative manner, for the evaluation of matters of public interest. Governance implies a new way of governing: interdependent government. This means that the definition of the direction of society is no longer carried out exclusively by the government, but that private and social organizations also participate in this process. The government becomes a node in a network in which it jointly deliberates, interacts, and co-​produces with other actors in society (Aguilar Villanueva, 2007). Some of the aspects included in this dimension are the existence of anti-​ corruption protocols and mechanisms, the existence of mechanisms for registering donations and purchases, responses to requests for information, coordination, and linkage strategies with governmental and non-​governmental agencies, and mechanisms for citizen participation in the municipal planning process, among others. With respect to this dimension, it can be observed that the municipality of Villa María regulates and executes procedures through ordinances that explicitly imply the socialization of information, which is embodied in specific regulations related to risk management, establishing articles that refer to requests for information and the integral coordination between multisectoral actors for the treatment of the problem. The municipality of Villa María has different mechanisms of transparency, participation, collaboration, and citizen control, which work as perfect anti-​ corruption mechanisms. At the same time, access to public information is facilitated through an open data portal, where various data of social interest are published, such as reports on public works, tenders, open budget, transportation, employment, cooperatives, among others. All areas of the municipality have the possibility of requesting information, whether from a public or private organization, as well as from civil society. In this sense, the open data portal is a key tool for the socialization of information. In terms of citizen participation, there are multiple cooperation links between governmental and civil society actors, who intertwine their activities in an integral manner, generating a mutual and interdisciplinary enrichment in the projects presented. 126

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For its part, the municipality of Río Cuarto has spaces for participation with actors from civil society, the private sector, and representatives of different organizations, thus acting as an interconnected nucleus. The organic charter of the municipality stipulates different ways in which civil society can participate in public affairs, mainly through semidirect democracy instruments (consultation and popular initiative, referendum and popular recall, neighborhood councils and entities). Another resource available is a telephone hotline for neighbors, coordinated by the open government secretariat. The latter also has a participatory budget program that adds to the forms of social participation proposed by the community. The Secretariat of Open Government and Modernization is in charge of generating spaces for interaction between society and the state. In the municipality of San Francisco there are no formal accountability mechanisms. Access to public information, through the municipality’s official website, is limited to information related to services provided by the municipality and organizational chart issues, detailing the staff that makes up the municipality’s personnel. There is no record of a periodic publication of reports of the different areas of the municipality. The public and transparent access by suppliers interested in municipal bids to the different calls for bids open to them is highlighted. There are fluid channels of communication and cooperation between the municipal and provincial levels that allow not only collaboration in emergency situations, but also investment in essential infrastructure works for risk prevention. The city also maintains good coordination and communication with neighboring municipalities, such as Frontera and Freyre. However, with civil society institutions –​which usually lend their facilities or resources to deal with emergency situations –​coordination is informal, sporadic, and reactive rather than planned. Human capital The fifth dimension is that of human capital, which comprises three components: DRM work teams, occupant profiles of team members and leaders, external training and internal training. People are the fundamental axis of organizations and their activities. With regard to DRM, the management of human talent –​understood as the combination of skills, commitment, and capacity for action within the framework of a work team and at the service of a greater objective (Conrero and Cravero, 2018) –​ is of fundamental importance. Solid work teams, with high development of competencies and ad hoc profiles, with leaders who can articulate and empower these teams around DRM. This dimension includes aspects such as job descriptions and profiles, performance management systems, training of public managers in DRM leadership, training plans, DRM awareness campaigns for the public, inclusion of DRM in educational plans, conducting simulations, and so on. 127

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The municipality of Villa María has employees with a high degree of professionalism and training in careers related to the area of work. The development of skills in the teams is strengthened through internal training. The Universidad Nacional de Villa María offers a wide variety of courses and specializations in these areas that can be taken by municipal officials, although there is no connection between this institution and the municipality. In the municipality of Río Cuarto, there are officials trained in the specific topics of each area, although this training is already included in their profile externally to the municipal organization. There is no specific training within the municipality on DRM topics, but there is internal training on evacuation drills and on topics relevant to each area of government. As for external training, the Fire Department and Civil Defense provide training to civil society, not on a regular basis but at the request of the institutions or through small workshops. In the case of the municipality of San Francisco, it has highly qualified personnel for the task it performs, with specializations in their specific areas of work. These profiles are strengthened with periodic internal training, including access to international training. With regard to external training, there is an offer from the Fire Department, especially because of the good relationship developed with schools for training. There are no drills, and the creation of a mechanism for inviting the general public to training is pending. Communication Finally, the communication dimension comprises two components: communication management and dissemination. Managing communication is a great challenge, since inadequate, untimely, or unclear information generates confusion, disarticulates any planning to reduce risk, alters the understanding of the facts, often generates chaos, and does not contribute to an economy of resources. Perception is one of the fundamental pillars of communication, so the knowledge of opinions, beliefs, feelings, values, and attitudes that a person or community has about a possible risk must be a fundamental input for those who develop risk communication actions. It should be remembered that people respond only to those risks they perceive (Fontana and Conrero, 2017). This dimension covers aspects such as early warning systems, specific communication protocols in case of crisis, official means of communication, mechanisms for continuous communication, and interaction of national, provincial, and local networks, events, and dissemination actions on disaster response/​prevention/​official protocols, and so on. The management of communication in the municipality of Villa María is centralized, which means that any type of report, communiqué, or diffusion goes through the Coordination of Institutional Communication of the Municipality. This area elaborates the message and disseminates it to other media and in all its 128

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networks. It is also responsible for the publication of content within the open data portal of the municipality. On the other hand, civil society associations manage their own means of communication and dissemination. In Villa María, the only two means to issue an emergency alert are the municipality or the Fire Department, and this procedure is installed and protocolized. The Risk Management and Civil Defense Area is informed of weather alerts by the Meteorological Service, which is in charge of immediately informing all the press media, and the Protocol Area of the Municipality, which immediately sends its officials or whoever it deems necessary. Regarding the municipality’s dissemination policy, since communication is centralized, all areas that provide information, training, lectures, or other activities disseminate their proposals through the Institutional Communication Coordination Office. The communication of the municipality of Río Cuarto is in charge of the Secretariat of Communication and Press of the municipality. This area depends directly on the executive branch and it is the mayor himself who authorizes the different instances of the same. The municipality has a website and social networks. The Communication and Press Area disseminates official communication to the media and manages the municipality’s social networks. This area is also in charge of managing the participation of the population in networks and the interaction established with the community. It also manages the advertising guidelines and appearances of officials on radio and television. The existing communication does not have a clear focus on DRM, but there are some awareness campaigns developed and basic knowledge of the procedures to be followed in the event of an emergency. The Prevention and Response Program for disaster, emergency, or urgency situations of the municipality of Río Cuarto does not specify specific actions in relation to communication processes during disaster response. However, the communications area has at its disposal its communications apparatus so that, in the event of a risk situation, the competent persons can transmit the necessary communications. In terms of dissemination, the various campaigns carried out by the municipality have emphasized climate change, while risk management is a topic that has been rarely addressed by the municipality. The topics related to risk management have been more widely disseminated through the campaigns carried out by the volunteer firefighters. The municipality of San Francisco has a specific communication plan for crisis situations. In general terms and in the first instance, communication is mainly reactive and centralized in Firefighters and Civil Defense. In other words, communication is mainly focused on the moment when an emergency occurs. Regarding the management of information in the event of risk and/​or crisis, there is a detailed order of how to communicate and to whom. According to this scheme, information should only be communicated to the different media by the members of the emergency committee. All information in this regard is 129

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channeled mainly by the Secretary of Government or by a Civil Defense officer in the event that the Secretary of Government has delegated such responsibility to him/​her. The municipality also has a telephone number, 103, which is available to report emergencies to the Emergency Committee. Regarding dissemination to society, there is a scattered communication that is managed mainly by various local institutions.

Conclusion This chapter aimed to identify and analyze the incorporation of international norms, rules, and discourses on DRM in the policies and practices of local governments in the province of Córdoba (Argentina). To achieve this objective, a matrix was designed in a collaborative manner between academia and local government officials. In general terms, the application of this matrix in the three selected municipalities shows that local governments incorporate changes at the discursive level (policy definition) and in organizational design components more rapidly than in the implementation of specific projects on policy content. Moreover, these modifications are first adopted in centralized decision-​making processes in local governments, and then incorporate participatory processes leading to a governance approach. Specifically in relation to each of the dimensions of the matrix, the following reflections can be made: • There is formalization in one area or with functions distributed in different areas, which is a good sign that the issue is being incorporated into organizational management. However, there is still a lack of coordination mechanisms and a need to strengthen the change of focus from civil protection to DRM. • Planning mechanisms exist, but with very incipient approaches to DRM. In this area, in general, management is still reactive. • Although in some cases there are budget items with specific purposes related to DRM, there is not yet a comprehensive budget management approach in this area. The experiences of participatory budgeting in one municipality stand out, in which the neighbors themselves have selected some actions related to DRM to be implemented with that budget. • There are no clear incentive policies at the local level that promote the DRM approach, especially with the private sector. • Regarding the components of the governance dimension, in general the municipalities have mechanisms for transparency, participation, collaboration, and citizen control, which is a fundamental basis for making progress in terms of accountability and anticorruption mechanisms in relation to aspects of DRM. • Although all municipalities have formed networks of actors for specific projects/​actions, there is more of a linkage with other levels of government. 130

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There is still a need for greater linkages, in order to strengthen the DRM approach, with different organizations of the private sector and civil society. • There are some qualified personnel, but no explicit policy for human capital management in DRM, although there are some encouraging signs of progress. Training is a key policy for this strengthening, which is still very focused on emergency care, and it is necessary to begin to sensitize municipal personnel and society as a whole on the DRM approach. • In relation to communication, there is a certain centralization of communication in a specific area of each municipality, and some defined communication strategies in the event of a disaster (early warnings, actions to take in the emergency, and so on). Challenges remain regarding the articulation of communication with other actors and the development of risk communication from an integral perspective. Finally, one of the strengths of this matrix is that it is approached from an organizational perspective of local governments, understanding that this aspect is central to effective integrated DRM. The results obtained from the application of this matrix not only allow us to obtain a diagnosis and assessment of local government management of DRM, but also constitute a reference for decision making and the development of policies and practices aimed at strengthening these issues in local governments. References Aguilar Villanueva, L.F. (2007) ‘La dimensión administrativa de la nueva gobernanza; sus prácticas y aporte’, XII International Congress of CLAD, Santo Domingo: CLAD, 30 October. Clarke, C. and Pineda Mannheim, C. (eds) (2007) Riesgo y desastres: su gestión municipal en Centroamérica, New York: Inter-​American Development Bank. Comisión Nacional de Prevención de Riesgos y Atención de Emergencias de Costa Rica (2015) Índice de gestión del riesgo municipal, San José: CNE. Conrero, S. and Cravero, V. (2018) El talento humano en las organizaciones, Córdoba: Editorial Universidad Católica de Córdoba. Fontana, S. and Conrero, S. (2017) ‘Government strategies to manage disaster risk: Planning, organizational design and communication’, Estado Abierto, 1(2): 183202. Herrera Gómez, M. and Requena, A. (2002) ‘La planificación como proceso social’, Gestión y Administración de Políticas Públicas (GAPP), 25: 61–​77. Herzer, H. (1990) ‘Los desastres no son tan naturales como parecen’, Medio Ambiente y Urbanización, 30: 3–​10. IDB (Inter-​American Development Bank) (2010) Disaster Risk Indicators and Risk Management: Technical Notes. Available from http://​idbd​ocs.iadb.org/​wsd​ocs/​ getd​ocum​ent.aspx?doc​num=​35102​108 [Accessed 25 June 2019]. Laegreid, P. and Verhoest, K. (2010) Governance of Public Organizations: Proliferation, Autonomy and Performance, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. 131

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Prats i Catalá, J. and Vidal Beltrán, J.M. (eds) (2005) Gobernanza. Diálogo Euro-​ Iberoamericano sobre el buen gobierno, Madrid: Colex-​INAP. Ramió, C. (1999) Teoría de la Organización y Administración Pública, Madrid: Tecnos/​ UPF. Turnbull, M., Sterrett, C., and Hilleboe, A. (2013) Towards Resilience: A Guide to Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation, Rugby: Practical Action Publishing. UNISDR (United Nations Office for Disaster Reduction) (2005) Hyogo Framework for Action: Building the Resilience of Nations and Communities to Disasters, New York: UNDP. UNISDR (United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction) (2017) Self-​ Assessment Tool for Disaster Resilience at the Local Level. Available from https://​ eird.org/​camp-​10-​15/​docs/​herr​amie​nta-​eva​luac​ion-​detall​ada.pdf [Accessed 20 April 2021]. Vargas, J.E. (2002) ‘Políticas públicas para la reducción de la vulnerabilidad frente a los desastres naturales y socio –​naturales’, Serie Medio Ambiente, 50, Santiago: Environment and Human Settlements Division, ECLAC.

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Policy analysis in Argentine local governments: a growing, heterogeneous, and controversial field of study Rita M. Grandinetti

Introduction This chapter aims to identify and recognize the main milestones of studies on local government management in Argentina, from its rise in the 1980s to the present day. This is a recent field of study in national public policy and management studies. It has developed autonomously from the administrative studies, which were the dominant ones for the treatment of municipal affairs, since the return of democracy. It accompanies the historical processes of decentralization and complex management agendas up to the present day. This field of study is particularly relevant in Argentina since it is a predominantly urban country where more than 90 percent of its population lives in more than 2,300 cities distributed in the 23 provinces, according to the 2010 national census, exceeding even the rate of the most urban region in the world, Latin America, where it is estimated that 80 percent of the population lives in cities. The Argentine municipal system is made up of 2,317 local governments among the various provinces. This universe is made up of municipalities, communes, development commissions, municipal commissions, rural communes, neighborhood councils, and autonomous government boards, according to the different municipal regimes (INDEC, 2019). From this starting point, it is asked whether the production on the subject in Argentina has differentiated axes over time and whether a dynamic epistemic community has been built around it or, on the contrary, it is a poorly developed field of isolated productions. The working perspective is the identification of the main milestones in the academic production of the period, its actors, and the central topics of discussion to recognize the existence or not of structuring lines of production and an active knowledge community. For this purpose, the chapter draws on contributions from the author’s pre-​existing works and a search in the Google Scholar search engine, in addition to systematizing the trajectory of the subject. This is not the production of an exhaustive catalog, but the construction of the most relevant aspects of the field over time, so it is possible that some works from this time may not appear. 133

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The institutionalization of local governments Each province has its own municipal regime, which defines the territorial, functional, and organizational structure. Regarding their functions, a common core of actions reserved to the level can be identified, mainly related to basic urban services such as waste collection and public lighting (Centrángolo and Jiménez, 2004). Local governments in the national territory have autonomy recognized by the 1994 Constitution. Since the country’s institutional beginnings, Argentine municipalities have responded to the pattern of an administrative municipality (Stren, 2000), characterized by the provision of urban services and the exercise of local police power in a context of simple and relatively stable demands (Arocena, 1988). Since then, a sustained process of expansion and increasing complexity of the needs to be met by local governments can be recognized, accompanied by the consequent expansion of functions and modifications in the municipal role. This process began in the 1980s within the framework of neoliberal policies that preferred, at the central level of the state, the withdrawal of regulatory and economic promotion functions and the decentralization of social services to the regional and/​or local level (García Delgado, 1997). Following Iturburu (2000), it can be pointed out that in the political sphere, the process of democratic consolidation favored tendencies to strengthen the local level; nine provincial constitutions were modified and all of them included, to some extent, the autonomy of the municipalities. This process definitely influenced –​and the Supreme Court itself recognizes this –​the change in jurisprudence that in 1989 admitted the autonomy of the municipalities. Three major differentiated moments have been identified around the role of municipalities in the inter-​jurisdictional concert (Grandinetti, 2013). These can be organized as follows, according to the assignment of functions by jurisdiction, the level of complexity of the context, and the inter-​jurisdictional relations: 1. Administrative municipality. The prevailing type in the period between the national constitution (1853) and the end of the 1980s, was characterized by traditional functions and a “dual” type of relationship (Cao, 2007). Each jurisdiction acted independently based on the minimum constitutional prescriptions. At the municipal level, this period saw the development of the municipal regime with a strong emphasis on administrative functions and the provision of local services and control. 2. Local government. Prevailing model during the 1990s. From the constitutional recognition of municipal autonomy (Art. 123 CN of 1994) and the decentralization of functions (de facto and de jure) from the national and provincial governments. 3. Linked government. The third type of local government seems to have emerged since the 2000s. The return of the national government to a central role promotes new institutional maps for policy making and new relationships that 134

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do not ignore levels of municipal autonomy but rearticulate it with national and provincial decision-​making spaces. A more complex map is configured, with higher levels of exchange, and more conflictive, between the different levels of government. In 1994 the National Constitution was reformed and in its Article 123 the autonomy of the municipalities was recognized: “ensuring municipal autonomy and regulating its scope and content in the institutional, political, administrative, economic and financial order”. In this way, the role of the state was transformed towards the municipalities through the transfer –​de facto and de jure –​of functions and competencies that were previously in the hands of the national and provincial levels (Arroyo, 1997). According to Abal Medina: During the 1990s, in Argentina, following the processes of reform of the national State and the decentralization and privatization of many of its functions and competencies, provincial and municipal governments became key players in the democratic life of the country, by assuming an active role in the resolution of a series of citizen demands that until then had remained in the national sphere. (Abal Medina, 2009, p 205) This process produced a shift in the notion of municipalities as administrative agencies with simple functions to the notion of municipalities as local governments. The municipality as a local government in charge of the social and economic development of the territory displaces the former administrator and positions it as a policy leader, involved in territorial development programs and projects, within the framework of a great complexity of the context to be addressed and the functions to be assumed. Iturburu (2000) points out that, although this process broadened the competencies and spheres of intervention of the municipalities, by not being in tune with the Argentine municipalist tradition, and by not significantly increasing access to total public resources, it confronted the municipalities with their weaknesses and placed them at the crossroads of the necessary capacity building to take charge of the new situation. This varied set of institutional weaknesses has prevented the new tasks from being carried out effectively and efficiently (Abal Medina, 2009). Since the 2001 crisis, the nation-​state has been reconstructed as a central political nucleus. This implied resuming an active role in the design and execution of public policies in the economic and social sphere. This means that central policies intervene actively in municipal territories, bringing into play different modalities of inter-​jurisdictional articulation. And demand from the municipalities’ capacities to negotiate and manage successfully in this multilevel framework. According to Abal Medina (2009), the same pre-​existing decentralizing process is the one that generates the need for the configuration of policy coordination spheres, as it was said, the nation-​state returns with force to the policy arena, but the institutional map had been previously fragmented. In that context, the emergence of Federal 135

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Councils had been common in the 1990s in Argentina, precisely in response to the decentralization of competencies and the weak institutional capacities of the districts that were to assume them (Serafinoff, 2007). Within this framework, the municipalities have become “linked local governments”, which do not abandon the involvement in social and economic development that they assumed in the 1990s but must now also coordinate with the different jurisdictions and agencies that intervene with active policies in the municipal territory. A new expansion of the municipal context and functions. In short, since the end of the 1970s, it is possible to recognize a sustained process of expansion of the functions of municipalities. From the provision of basic services to the incorporation of the management of territorial development policies, to the active participation in complex multi-​jurisdictional and networked policies and projects with a multiplicity of state and social actors. This expansion of functions undoubtedly requires the municipality to develop new capacities that incorporate greater intelligence. The resulting dynamic, following Cao (2007), is that of a “cooperative or coordinated federalism”, in which the three levels of state work together. This inevitably leads to conflicts, overlaps, and interdependencies in the deployment of the task of each of the administrations. It also implies a decision-​making model with a plurality of actors and processes in which, overtly or covertly, multiple veto situations may arise. On the other hand, the articulation of national, regional, and local actors gives the process of state action a level of participation that strengthens it in terms of political and social legitimacy. (Cao 2007, p 1)

Production about local management Accompanying the transformation that took place in local governments, the number of scholars, the creation of study centers, and discussion forums on the subject have multiplied during this period. The production on the local question is consolidated as a field of its own within the study of management and public policies, it develops and diversifies. Between the 1980s and 1990s, different study centers related to the subject emerged in the central area of the country. Due to their relevance and continuity, the following can be mentioned: the Unidad de Fortalecimiento de los Gobiernos Locales (Unit for the Strengthening of Local Governments) of the Universidad Nacional de Quilmes, the Institute of the Conurbano of the Universidad Nacional de General Sarmiento, the Grupo Política y Gestión (Politics and Management Group) of the Universidad Nacional de Rosario, the Instituto de Investigación y Formación en Administración Pública (Institute for Research and Training in Public Administration) of the Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, and the study groups of the Universidad Católica de Córdoba.

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The development of the academic community reached a new milestone with the formation of the Network of Academic Centers dedicated to the Study of Local Governments in 1999, made up of various research groups. This network carried out an important task of promotion, dissemination, and discussion of studies in the field, which enabled its expansion and development. Its main activities were the annual seminars, which were held until 2014, with a large participation of scholars and local management teams. In the studies on local management, it is possible to point out different moments that account for a dynamic and complex process. The first moment of approach to the subject centered on the studies on decentralization and the participation of local actors. This first moment is characterized by the approach to the emerging theme of local management due to the demands of decentralization and staging. The studies have important influences from Ibero-​American authors such as Jordi Borja from Spain, José Arocena from Uruguay, and Sergio Boiser from Chile, with voices in Argentina such as José Luis Coraggio. A second moment, with the rise of the local issue, which was consolidated around the 1990s, with a focus on the characteristics of local management, is in line with the strengthening of democratic processes and decentralization. This period, without neglecting the previous issues, focuses on the study of new local issues, such as local development, strategic management, and social policies. Around these issues we can mention the significant production of local authors, Daniel García Delgado, Daniel Cravacuore, Mónica Iturburu, Marta Díaz de Landa, Claudio Tecco, Cristina Díaz, Mónica Bifarello, Patricia Nari, and Rita Grandinetti, among others. Already in this century, we can speak of the third moment of diversification of studies. These are advancing on issues that impact and make local agendas more complex: women, violence, culture, inequality, poverty, and so on. And, on the other hand, we can find works on the capacities and the tools for their construction: innovation, openness, participation, and so on. These issues are emerging from the same process by which the municipality is transforming its traditional profile, taking charge of a new agenda, and therefore, and inexorably, being forced to question its capacity. Following this path, it is possible to point out three moments of work on the local issue with their respective moments of emergence, boom, and decline: local decentralization in the 1980s; development and local management since the 1990s; and, since 2000, capacities and emerging issues of local management, as summarized in Figure 9.1. The approach to production can be read as a set of concentric circles, from the most “external” aspects to the local, which acted as triggers of interest, to the most internal knots of local government management. This is not a single line with tight temporalities, but rather a process of construction that accompanies the process of transformation of local management and redefinition of global-​ local links.

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Policy Analysis in Argentina Figure 9.1: Stages of local government production

1. 1980s: decentralization 2. 1990s: management and development 3. 2000s: capabilities and emerging issues

Decentralization: a moment of approach to the theme As pointed out, the topic of local governments began with a significant boost in the Iberian Peninsula and Latin America. Among the outstanding works are the contributions of Jordi Borja, from Spain, Dimensiones teóricas, problemas y perspectivas de la descentralización del Estado (1987) and Descentralización y democracia. Gobiernos locales en América latina,in collaboration with Fernando Calderón, María Grossi, and Susana Peñalba (1989). These works focused on the need for the construction of local democracy in Latin America, a tradition, according to Borja, nonexistent until now. Borja’s interest in decentralization lies in the potentialities it presents for popular democratization, while Sergio Boiser, from Chile, develops significant critical axes for the approach to the local: the scientific-​technological revolution at a world scale that significantly transforms the established orders; the transformations in the state and public administration, with important impulses to decentralization; the search for new spaces of participation and power on the part of civil society; and, finally, the privatizations in progress according to the perspective of the New Public Management in force. José Arocena from Uruguay incorporates into his studies on decentralization the problem of local development. He carries out an important production on the potentialities and limitations to thinking development from the local level in an increasingly globalized context and the structuring tensions of this relationship. His highlighted works are a hinge between the first and second production periods mentioned earlier (Arocena, 1986, 1988, 1994, 1999). In Argentina, most of these works correspond to research centers located in the capital city of Argentina and the greater Buenos Aires area. Among them, those corresponding to José Luis Coraggio, from the Universidad Nacional de San Martín, stand out, as well as the production of Daniel García Delgado from Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales (FLACSO), Pedro Pírez from the Universidad de Buenos Aires, and Roberto Esteso (Pírez, 1986; Esteso, 1989; García Delgado and Garay, 1989). José Luis Coraggio, for his part, articulated a political axis as a strategic coordinate that takes precedence over the economic axes of privatization and deregulation of neoliberalism (Coraggio, 1991). From the political axis, the state 138

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and political society are redefined. The territorial decentralization of the state, by multiplying the spheres of local management, will allow the generation of participatory and democratizing spaces (Haefner, 2000). Among the main contributions to the construction of the field are Borja and Coraggio’s notions of the local as an emerging sphere of democratization and citizen participation. Boisier and Arocena’s postulates on the local as a field strongly crossed by global trends, given by the transformations in the patterns of economic production and scientific and technological developments, which are articulated in tension with this emergence of spaces for participation and consolidation of identities from the local level. José Arocena’s early contribution shows the structuring tension between the logic of “global” technologies and “local” identities in local spheres is significant, relevant, and nowadays a very valid topic.

Local management: moment of “boom” In the 1990s, the number of studies and lines of approach on local issues multiplied. The production of this period is clearly focused on local management and, as a milestone, we can point out the text coordinated by Daniel García Delgado, which gathers works from the main work centers on the subject. It is marked by the emergence of local policies in contexts of crisis and the entry on the scene of new actors who converge in the need to create local wealth. Following Claudio Tecco, this is the moment when municipalities are recognized at a state level and therefore become a field of conflict and negotiation in which the issues to be integrated into the local agenda of current social problems are settled. Likewise, this expansion of functions demands a change in the way relations are exercised and in the municipal organization itself (Tecco, 1997). Richard Stren (2000) points out that until the 1970s it was common to refer to the lowest levels of government as “local governments”, in charge of providing minimum services to citizens, the “urban administration” (the traditional Alumbrado, Barrido, Limpieza (ABL) in Spanish; the “Lighting, Sweeping and Cleaning” paradigm).1 In the 1980s, partly due to the influences of business approaches to public administration, what was once “urban administration” came to be called “urban management”. It is possible to identify two approaches (Bozeman, 1998) in the transition from the concept of public administration to that of public management: the “P” approach, whose origin is related to the emergence of public policy schools in the US and their need to differentiate themselves from what is traditionally characterized as public administration. For this approach, management is complementary to the study of policies and has to do with the decisions and strategies inherent to the implementation of public policies. A second current, the “B” current, on the other hand, has its origin in business schools and focuses more specifically on the precepts of business administration 139

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and its usefulness for the public sector, without making too many distinctions between public and private. According to the author, the emergence of the concept of public management was more a response to a problem than a conceptually clear idea. It remained a nebulous concept and both currents, although with great differences between them, far from being dichotomous, give rise to the enrichment of views on the same phenomena. Taking up Stren (2000), it is possible to affirm that, in the same way as the public management approach, the urban management approach was never clearly defined, and we can also trace its influences from both conceptions of public management. However, this breadth, far from being a limitation for the approach to work on local management, provided considerable flexibility and a great richness for the development of research. This concern for local policies initiated a complex debate that is still open today: what are the real possibilities of building development and strategies from the local level; is there an “autonomy” at the local level; in short, how can we think of local-​global links? Much water has flowed under the bridge around this discussion. The most enthusiastic positions on the transformative power of the small arose from industrialized countries in crisis, such as Schumacher’s widely known “Small is beautiful”. This has repercussions in the region by recovering the view of the small, close, and local as an adequate dynamizer in instances of profound changes. Even positions that disbelieve in thinking of the local as a space for the construction of development and innovation policies, considering that: [F]‌ar from that theoretical figure that saw the city as a “place of reproduction of the labor force” or as a “place of reproduction of the general conditions of production” … the Latin American city appears more and more as a space for the construction of development and innovation policies, the Latin American city appears more and more as a “partial and substitutable locus” for the realization of economic, demographic, social, cultural and political processes, whose determinism is supralocal and whose dominant conscious forces also have supralocal spheres of calculation and action. (Coraggio, 1992, p 4) In this tension, there are positions that propose to overcome this polarity by arguing about the local and its insertion in globality. In other words, it is possible to study a process of local accumulation as an entirely particular reality, but inscribing in it certain structural regularities (Arocena, 1995; Díaz, 1999). It is thus argued that thinking about innovation and capabilities at the local level requires an argumentative approach based on the following: 1. The recognition of structural limits to the active role of the local state as a promoter of transformations in the development pattern. 2. The affirmation that despite them, the municipal state is in a position to effectively influence the degree and type of local development. 140

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As already mentioned, the book compiled by Daniel García Delgado, published in 1997, Hacia un nuevo modelo de gestión local (Towards a New Model of Local Management) is a remarkable contribution to advancing the state of the art in Argentina. The text gathers significant works focused on three major topics (which reflect the central concerns of the country’s academic circles in the 1990s regarding local issues): local public management, local development, and local social policy. It has the revealing contributions of José Arocena, Marta Díaz de Landa, Claudio Tecco, Daniel Cravacuore, and García Delgado himself, among others. From different perspectives (academic research, theoretical reflection, and the rescue of experiences), it addresses the transformations that are taking place at the local level. The text proposes keys for the reading of the emergence of a new model of local management, which implies: in the institutional political field, the passage from the administrative model to the governmental political one; in the economic field, the passage from the passive role to the local development; in the social field, the passage from the residual model to the social management. This new interpretative line, the emergence of a new model of local management, is also followed by Iturburu (2000). Other authors, on the other hand, starting from similar original diagnoses, advance in the proposal of the coexistence of diverse emerging local management styles. These works have in common a non-​deterministic reading of the process of local transformation, and the incorporation in the field of observation of the political system, as the core of decisions or space where the capacity of socio-​ political actors to assume the tasks implied by such transformations is condensed, giving them meaning and directionality (Díaz, 1999). The notion of public governance begins to make its way to deal with the local in this period, initially in Africa, this concept has been advancing in its incorporation in works on the local, and one of the reasons why the concept of urban governance entered the vocabulary was that the context within which local government operates has been becoming broader and more complex (Stren, 2000). “Governance can be understood as the exercise of economic, political, and administrative authority to manage public affairs at all levels. It involves mechanisms, processes, and institutions through which citizens and other groups articulate their interests, exercise their legal rights, fulfill their obligations and resolve their differences” (UNDP, 1997, cited by Stren, 2000, p 12). Governance includes governability (state capacity to govern and direct) incorporating the capacities to coordinate between policies and interests, it is associated with a less technical concept of the conditions of success of local policies by introducing the political factor and placing “the interdependence of the state and civil society at the center of the debate” (Coelho and Diniz, 1997, cited by Stren, 2000). In the same sense, Díaz et al point out: The current trend towards horizontalization of state relations runs along several axes … all of them converge, also at local levels, 141

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multiplying the actors involved in the decision and implementation of policies, all the more so when it comes to development-​oriented policies, and making a special effort of negotiated coordination exigent as opposed to the traditionally hierarchical and bureaucratic coordination. (Diaz et al, 2005, p 8) Some significant milestones can be pointed out in this journey: the agreement on the impossibility of sustaining the old model of local management when all the variables that configured and supported it have been modified (García Delgado, 1997); the shared need to think about the new challenges of local management from a relational perspective, closer to the postulates of governance than to those of governability (Díaz de Landa and Parmigiani de Barbara, 1997); and, the possibility of analyzing local management transformations as the emergence of a new model (García Delgado, 1997; Iturburu, 2000).

Capabilities and emerging issues: moment of diversification of production The transformations in local management shift the axis of discussion (as we saw in the previous point) from compliance with regulations to the possibility of achieving objectives in an increasingly complex context with scarce resources, that is, they place the crux of the discussion in the capacity of local government (Tecco, 1997; Díaz de Landa and Parmigiani, 1997; Díaz, 1999). Already in 1993, the Centro Latinoamericano de Administración para el Desarrollo (CLAD), in its journal –​Reforma y Democracia No. 1, November 1993 –​ published Barenstein’s paper “Comparative governance at the local level: new trends and old challenges”, which proposed to reflect in detail on the capacity of local governments, about the reliability of their institutional production, the responsible response to those administered, comparative competitiveness and the promotion of competition within the administrations, adequate regulations and methodologies for the solution of problems, and the harmonization of governance with “good government”. In Argentina, there is a profuse production on significant aspects of municipal management and its capacities. Following Bulcourf (2012), we can mention the study by Daniel Cravacuore of the Universidad Nacional de Quilmes (2004) and others by the same author on leadership, associativism, and municipal innovation. Cravacuore’s production is wide and very referenced in Latin America (Cravacuore, 1990, 2014, 2017; Cravacuore and Badia, 2000; Cravacuore and Villar, 2014; Cravacuore et al 2004), it is composed of individual works and others shared with colleagues such as Alejandro Villar, Gustavo Badía, and Sergio Illari. The works of the Universidad de Buenos Aires refer to metropolitan governments (Pírez, 2001) and the Instituto del Conurbano of the Universidad Nacional de General Sarmiento (Badía, 2004; Rofman, 2007). Likewise, the studies by Bressan, Tecco, and Lopez (2001) at the Universidad Nacional de 142

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Córdoba and the pioneering work on local policy networks (Díaz de Landa and Parmigiani de Barbará, 1997, 2007). The research work carried out by the Politics and Management Group of the National University of Rosario,2 particularly the results presented in the book Innovación y espacio local (Innovation and Local Space) (1999) and the advances of the Research Project “Innovation and capacity in the local state, towards an analysis matrix” provide elements to understand the importance of the notion of capacity when reflecting on the new role of the local state. Likewise, the work on technologies and local management (Díaz et al, 2002), coordinated by Cristina Díaz, Patricia Nari, and Rita Grandinetti, gathers contributions from authors of the different study centers belonging to RedMuni. During this decade, the works referring to the management of local development continue with a significant presence, such as the works of Oscar Madoery from the Universidad Nacional de Rosario and the Universidad Nacional de San Martín at that time, including La “primera generación” de políticas locales de desarrollo en Argentina: Contexto, características y desafíos (The “First Generation” of Local Development Policies in Argentina: Context, Characteristics, and Challenges) of 2005, where the author makes a review of the local development policies carried out, reconstructing the “legacy of this ‘first generation’ of local policies that highlights a series of indications that mark the possibility of thinking the endogenous logic as territorial creation of resources for development and of fostering local governance practices" (Madoery, 2005). In the same direction, another work was published in the same year by Rofman Adriana and Villar Alejandro, Desarrollo Local. Una revisión crítica del debate (Local Development: A Critical Review of the Debate), in which they review the actions taken by the municipalities in this regard based on the assumptions of the capacity of local governments and the local sphere to promote the coordination and articulation of actors, to know their territory and define its development profile, to promote, cooperate and form micro-​regions, to reconvert their practices towards greater democratization, transparency, and participation, forming proximity governments. In short, the capacity to assume the new role of the municipality as a promoter of development and coordinator of actions and interests of the actors in the territory. This work brings together two major topics of the moment, local development and the management capacities it requires. In the last decade, local issues have diversified widely, and it is possible to recognize a range of works that respond to the expansion of the municipal agenda: gender policies, popular sectors, urban fragmentation, security, environment, and waste treatment. The different disciplinary traditions on local policies in recent years (Da Representação and Soldano, 2010; Di Virgilio and Pelerman, 2014) point to a relatively limited menu of the main topics that integrate the concerns of local governments (Grandinetti and Nari, 2021). The academic world, experts, and managers of urban planning and policies recognized, before the COVID-​19 pandemic unleashed in 2020, a 21st-​ century urban agenda built from an epistemological framework and evidence 143

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bases structured in categories such as high density, proximity, environmental sustainability, public transport, welfare, and proximity care, as positive and proactive values for democratic urban life (Nari, 2016). Thus, post-​pandemic agendas are constituted by the combination of those pre-​existing and recurrent issues, with some recent ones, such as digital connectivity as a right, with old issues that have not been resolved and that are once again at the center of citizens’ concerns (O’Flynn, 2021; Grandinetti and Nari, 2021). Another significant nucleus of works is gathered around the characteristics of public management to address this agenda, and in the same way, they form a menu where some continuity is established with topics already addressed in the previous period, such as transparency, participation, intergovernmental relations, and associationism. This line has relevant works from the Instituto del Conurbano of the Universidad Nacional de General Sarmiento, by Adriana Rofman, Magdalena di Chiara, and Carolina Foglia, and from the Instituto Gino Germani with Mercedes Di Virgilio. Meanwhile, at the Universidad Nacional de Rosario, the works on participatory budgeting by Alberto Ford, Cintia Pinillos, and Gisella Signorelli address citizen participation in the implementation of this tool, which is very widespread in Argentine cities. A theme that has emerged in recent years is that of the municipal recentralization that has been taking place in Latin America in the last decade. This trend is developed in the work of Daniel Cravacuore and deals with the new configuration of the relationship between centrality and local governments since the return of the nation-​state to the centrality of policies after the withdrawal of the 1990s. Within management, there is also a core of productions that, although they have been developing since the 1990s, have gained a new centrality in the decade of the fourth industrial revolution and the ideas of open government, such as local public innovation and digital cities. The work of the Information Society Research Program, I-​Polis, part of the Program, and the Gino Germani Institute, directed by Susana Finquelievich, is particularly relevant in the regional context (Finquelievich, 2007, 2021). Similarly, PoliLabUNR, of the Universidad Nacional de Rosario, directed by the author of this chapter and co-​directed by Patricia Nari, gathers publications related to both axes of the period. In relation to territorial conflict and the new urban agenda, Rita Grandinetti and Patricia Nari produced several joint works, among them we can point out Gobernanza territorial: la difícil y tensiva articulación de la acción pública urbana (Territorial Governance: The Difficult and Tense Articulation of Urban Public Action) (Grandinetti and Nari, 2016) and Ciudades latinoamericanas: la necesidad de ser capaces de gestionar una nueva agenda urbana (Latin American Cities: The Need to be Able to Manage a New Urban Agenda) (Grandinetti and Nari, 2021). Patricia Nari from the Seminar Urban Provocations contributes significant works such as, for example, “Ciudades des-​tramadas. notas a partir de una metáfora sobre los territorios urbanos excluidos” of 2016 and “Provocaciones urbanas: materialidades de los territorios en disputa” of 2015 with L. Minuchin, J. Maino, M.J. Herrera, L. Bertolaccini, C. Rizzato, and A. Gelfuso. With Enzo 144

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Completa of the Universidad Nacional de Cuyo, Grandinetti and Nari likewise published in 2020 Capacidades Estatales de los Municipios Argentinos. Elementos para su Análisis Comparativo (State Capacities of Argentine Municipalities: Elements for their Comparative Analysis). Rita Grandinetti and the Group of Studies in Public Innovation, belonging to the same Polilab Center, produce a nucleus of works around local innovation initiatives and open government (Grandinetti, 2011, 2018; Grandinetti and Zurbriggen, 2021). Ezequiel Miller and Exequiel Rodríguez carry out a series of works on Public Innovation Labs and the development of Open Government in Municipalities in the country (Rodriguez and Grnadinetti, 2018; Grandinetti and Miller, 2020, 2021). It is necessary to point out that a characteristic of the production from the beginning, but particularly in this period, is the intertwining and joint production between the different study centers.

Conclusion During the period under analysis, there has been the emergence, development, and diversification of a relevant field in the study of public policies in Argentina: local policies and management. Several factors contribute to this relevance: first, the urban characteristic of the country’s population, one of the highest in the world, and the municipal decentralization process that began in the 1980s and 1990s. This transformed the municipalities from service providers to local governments and therefore relevant public policy actors. It thus became a field that needed to be studied, to be understood in its novelty and its challenges. This historical characteristic marks the starting point for the development of the field. On the other hand, the early emergence of research centers and the constitution of RedMuni led to the early development of an epistemic community that produces, debates, and exchanges knowledge. The community grows and consolidates, with the incorporation over time of work centers from regions such as Patagonia, the Universidad del Comahue and the Universidad de Tierra del Fuego, and the Universidad Nacional de Cuyo, among others. It is important to note that many of the initial centers have continued to produce throughout the period. This strong dynamic of the field continues up to the time of publication of this chapter and is a sign of the vitality of the field. For the same reason, works and scholars may have been left out of this study and this does not detract from their value, it simply speaks of the high dynamics and productivity of the field. Finally, it is important to point out, and here we agree with Daniel Cravacuore, that although the local government agenda has undergone important transformations in the last 20 years, the management topics addressed show a certain continuity, and it would seem that in this sense the field is showing a certain stagnation. This is a sign of attention and generates some questions that may be the subject of future research, beyond the fact that a thematic continuity may be recognized, for 145

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example, in the topic of local participation, is it always the same throughout time or is it an axis that is transformed in the course of history? Or, on the contrary, is there evidence of a kind of exhaustion or fatigue in the field that would require finding new axes and perspectives more adequate to the emerging realities? These concerns, typical of the reflection on practices, are part of the consideration of the relevance, today more than ever, of local policy management issues and the need for their deepening. Notes 1 2

“Lighting, sweeping, and cleaning” refers to the role of the municipality as producer and maintainer of urban infrastructure. Works signed by Cristina Díaz, Lilia Maxera, Mónica Bifarello, María Julia Reyna, Patricia Nari, María Julia Reyna, Adela Campostrini, and Rita Grandinetti.

References Abal Medina, J. (2009) Estrategias de Coordinación en el Estado, Buenos Aires: Proyecto de Modernización del Estado. Jefatura de Gabinete de Ministros. Arocena, J. (1988) ‘Discutiendo la dimensión local’, Cuaderno del CLAEH. Revista Uruguaya de Ciencias Sociales (45–​46): 7–​16. Arocena, J. (1989) ‘Descentralización e iniciativa, una discusión necesaria’, Cuadernos de CLAEH, 51, Montevideo: Centro Latinoamericano de Economía Humana Arocena, J. (1992) ‘El Estado, la descentralización y la iniciativa local en Uruguay’, in D. Raczynski and C. Serrano (eds), Políticas Sociales, Mujeres y Gobierno Local, Santiago de Chile: CIEPLAN, pp 117–​142. Arocena, J. (1994) El desarrollo local: un desafío contemporáneo, Montevideo: Centro Editor de Economía Humana/​Editorial Nueva Sociedad. Arocena, J. (1999) ‘Políticas Locales, Innovación y Desarrollo’, III Congreso Internacional del CLAD sobre la Reforma del Estado y la Administración Pública, Madrid: Consejo Latinoamericano de administración para el desarrollo. Arroyo, D. (1997) Estilos de Gestión y Políticas Sociales Municipales en Argentina. Hacia un nuevo modelo de gestión local , Buenos Aires: Oficina de publicaciones del CBC/​Universidad Católica de Córdoba Badía, G. (2004) ‘Cambiando el foco: la descentralización de Buenos Aires y la Región Metropolitana’, in M. Escolar, G. Badía, and S. Frederic (eds), Federalismo y Descentralización en Grandes Ciudades. Buenos Aires en Perspectiva Comparada, Buenos Aires: Prometeo, pp 64–​81. Barenstein, J. (1993) ‘Comparative governance at the local level: New trends and old challenges’, Revista Reforma y Democracia, 1. Bifarello, M., Díaz, C., Grandinetti, R., and Nari, P. (2000) ‘Innovación y capacidad en el estado local: un abordaje teórico-​metodológico’, Segundo Seminario de Centros Académicos dedicados al estudio de la Gestión en Gobiernos Locales, Buenos Aires: Universidad Nacional de Quilmes e Instituto Nacional de la Administración Pública. Argentina. 146

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Borja, J. (1987) ‘Dimensiones teóricas, problemas y perspectivas de la descentralización del Estado’, in J. Borja (ed), Descentralización del Estado, Santiago: ICI/​FLACSO/​CLACSO, pp 23–​74. Borja, J., Calderón, F., & Grossi, M. Susana Peñalva (1989) Descentralización y democracia. Gobiernos Locales en América Latina, Santiago of Chile: CLADSO, SUR, CEUMT-​Barcelona. Bozeman, B. (1998) La gestión pública, su situación actual, Mexico City: Fondo de Cultura Económica. Bulcourf, P. (2012) ‘El desarrollo de la ciencia política en Argentina’, Política. Revista de Ciencia Política, 50(1): 59–​92. Cao, H. (ed) (2007) Introducción a la administración pública argentina: nación, provincias y municipios, Buenos Aires: Byblos. Centrángolo, O. and Jiménez, J. (2004) Las relaciones entre niveles de gobierno en Argentina. Raíces históricas, instituciones y conflictos persistentes, Santiago: Instituto Latinoamericano y del Caribe de Planificación Económica y Social/​Área de Políticas Presupuestarias y Gestión Pública. Coraggio, J.L. (1991) ‘Las dos corrientes de la descentralización en América Latina’, Cuadernos de CLAEH, 16(1): 63–​78. Coraggio, J.L. (1992) ‘Consideraciones sobre la planificación urbana posible en los 90’, in F. Carrión (ed), Ciudades y Políticas Urbanas en América Latina, Quito: Red Ciudades/​CODEL pp 1–​12. Cravacuore, D. (1990) ‘Los Municipios Argentinos (1990 œ 2005)’, in D. Cravacuore and R. Israel (eds), Procesos políticos municipales comparados en Argentina y Chile, Bernal: Univ. Nacional de Quilmes/​Universidad Autónoma de Chile, pp 25–​50. Cravacuore, D. (2014) ‘La recentralización emergente en América Latina’, in C. Fidel and A. Villar (eds), Miradas y Controversias del Desarrollo Territorial. Aproximación a un Enfoque Analítico, Bernal: Universidad Nacional de Quilmes, pp 67–​86. Cravacuore, D. (2017) La recentralización municipal en la Argentina, Estado Abierto. Revista sobre el Estado, la administración y las políticas públicas, 2(1): 167–​190. Cravacuore, D. and Badía, G. (2000) Experiencias positivas en gestión local, Buenos Aires: Universidad Nacional de Quilmes. Cravacuore, D. and Villar, A. (2014) ‘El municipio argentino: de la administración al gobierno local’, in J. Flores and M. Lozano (eds), Democracia y sociedad en la argentina contemporánea. Reflexiones sobre tres décadas, Buenos Aires: Editorial de la Universidad Nacional de Quilmes, pp 189–​204. Cravacuore, D., Ilari, S.R., and Villar, A. (2004) La articulación en la gestión municipal: Actores y políticas, Bernal: Universidad Nacional de Quilmes Editorial. Da Representação, N. and Soldano, D. (2010) ‘Espacios comunes, sociabilidad y Estado. Aportes para pensar los procesos culturales metropolitanos’ Apuntes CECYP, 17: 79–​96. Di Virgilio, M. and Perelman, M. (2014) Ciudades latinoamericanas. Desigualdad, segregación y tolerancia, Buenos Aires: CLACSO. 147

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Díaz, C. (1999) ‘Pensar lo local’, in L. Maxera (ed), Innovación y espacio local: La gestión Municipal actual de la ciudad de Rosario, Rosario: Editorial P&G, pp 6–​35. Díaz, C., Galano, N. and Verdi, I. (2005) ‘Cuando políticos y técnicos hablan de gestión local. Una mirada desde la academia', proceedings of the VII Seminario RedMuni “La Gestión Local en Argentina: situación y perspectivas”, Los Polvorines, RedMuni, pp 1–​20. Díaz, C., Grandinetti, R., and Nari, P. (2002) Tecnologías y gestión local en Argentina: experiencias y perspectivas, Rosario: Homo Sapiens. Díaz de Landa, M.D. (2007) ‘Las relaciones intergubernamentales desde los gobiernos locales’, in D. Cravacuore and R. Israel (eds), Procesos políticos municipales comparados en Argentina y Chile, Bernal: Univ. Nacional de Quilmes/​ Universidad Autónoma de Chile, pp 229–​270. Díaz de Landa, M. and Parmigiani de Barbará, M.C. (1997) ‘Redes de influencia política, poder y desarrollo local’, in D. García Delgado (ed), Hacia un nuevo modelo de gestión local, Municipio y sociedad civil en Argentina, Córdoba/​Buenos Aires: FLACSO/​CBC/​Universidad Católica de Córdoba. Bs. As, pp 187–​232. Esteso, R. (1989) ‘Crisis y administracion publica: potencialidades y limitaciones de la descentralizacion estatal: el caso argentino’, Administracion Publica y Sociedad, 3: 41–​61. Finquelievich, S. (2007) ‘Innovación, tecnología y prácticas sociales en las ciudades: hacia los laboratorios vivientes’, Revista iberoamericana de ciencia tecnología y sociedad, 3(9): 135–​152. Finquelievich, S. (2021) I-​Polis: ciudades en la era de internet. Buenos Aires: Nobuko. García Delgado, D. (1997) Hacia un nuevo modelo de gestión local, Buenos Aires: Flacso/​Universidad Nacional de Buenos Aires. García Delgado, D. and Garay, A. (1989) ‘El rol de los gobiernos locales en la política argentina’, in J. Borja, M. Grossi, and S. Peñalva (eds), Descentralización y democracia. Gobiernos locales en América Latina, Santiago: CLACSO –​SUR –​ CEUMT, pp 13–​71. Grandinetti, R. (2011) ‘Innovación tecnológica en las organizaciones públicas: ERI, una propuesta metodológica’, Multidisciplina, 10: 43–​56. Grandinetti, R. (2013) ‘Capacidades y diseño de los gobiernos locales argentinos. El caso de la Región Rosario’, Revista Latinoamericana en Educación Superior y Política Pública (RELAES), 1(1): 56–​67. Grandinetti, R. (2018) ‘Treinta años de innovación en la gestión local, las voces y las experiencias’, GIGAPP Estudios Working Papers, 5(98–​110): 506–​525. Grandinetti, R. and Miller, E. (2020) ‘Tendencias y prácticas: políticas de gobierno abierto a nivel municipal en Argentina’, Revista iberoamericana de estudios municipales, 21: 89–​112. Grandinetti, R. and Miller, E. (2021) Laboratorios de gobierno: produciendo en la frontera , Rosario: Red Innolabs.

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Grandinetti, R. and Nari, P. (2016) ‘Gobernanza territorial: la difícil y tensiva articulación de la acción pública urbana’, in A. Rofman (ed), Participación, políticas públicas y territorio, Los Polvorines: Universidad Nacional de General Sarmiento, pp 53–​72. Grandinetti, R. and Nari, P. (2021) ‘Ciudades latinoamericanas: la necesidad de ser capaces de gestionar una nueva agenda urbana’, A&P continuidad, 8(14): 34–​45. Grandinetti, R. and Zurbriggen, C. (2021) ¿Hackear lo público? Innovación en la gestión pública, Caracas: CLAD. Haefner, C. (2000) ‘La descentralización y la planificación del desarrollo regional¿ Ejes de la modernización de la gestión pública? Algunas notas sobre su discusión’, MAD, 3: 22. INDEC (2019) Anuario Estadístico de la República Argentina. Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires: Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Censos. Iturburu, M. (2000) Municipios Argentinos. Potestades y restricciones constitucionales para un nuevo modelo de gestión local, Buenos Aires: Instituto Nacional de Administración Pública. Nari, P. (2016) ‘Ciudades des-​tramadas. Notas a partir de una metáfora sobre los territorios urbanos excluidos’, in R. Grandinetti, D. Beretta, and G. Schweinheim (eds), Retos e innovaciones de la Administración Pública para el desarrollo democrático en el Siglo XXI, Rosario: AAEAP, INAP, Universidad Nacional de Rosario, pp 95–​103. Nari, P., Minuchin, L., Maino, J., Herrera, M.J., Bertolaccini, L., Rizzato, C., and Gelfuso, A. (2015) ‘Provocaciones Urbanas: Materialidades De Los Territorios En Disputa’, in La ciudad en perspectiva. Abordajes interdisciplinarios en torno a problemáticas urbanas. Actas de las II jornadas de jóvenes investigadores en ciencias sociales, Buenos Aires: Pensamiento Penal, pp 3–​18. O’Flynn, J. (2021) ‘Enfrentando los grandes desafíos de nuestro tiempo: marcando la diferencia durante y después del COVID-​19’, Revisión de la gestión pública, 23(7): 961–​980. Pírez, P. (1986) ‘La coparticipación y descentralización del Estado nacional’, Revista Mexicana de Sociología, 48(4): 175–​224. Pírez, P. (2001) ‘Cuestión metropolitana y gobernabilidad urbana en la Argentina’, in A. Vázquez Barquero and O. Madoery (eds) Transformaciones globales, instituciones y políticas de desarrollo local, Rosario: Homo Sapiens Ediciones, pp 257–​286. Rodríguez, E., and Grandinetti, R. (2018) Laboratorios de Gobierno para la Innovación Pública: un estudio comparado de las experiencias americanas y europeas, Rosario: Polilab/​NOvagob. Rofman, A. (2007) ‘Políticas sociales locales como espacios de promoción de desarrollo local, en municipios del área Metropolitana de Buenos Aires’, XXVI Congreso de la Asociación Latinoamericana de Sociología, Guadalajara: Asociación Latinoamericana de Sociología. Serafinoff, V. (2007) El rol regulador del Estado en la concesión de obras viales (Master of Public Administration Thesis), Buenos Aires: Universidad Nacional de Buenos Aires, UBA. 149

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Stren, R. (2000) ‘Nuevos enfoques en la gobernancia urbana en América Latina’, Seminario: El CIID en la gestión del desarrollo urbano sostenible en América Latina: lecciones aprendidas y demandas de nuevos conocimientos, Montevideo: CLAEH/​ IDRC. Tecco, C. (1997) ‘El Gobierno municipal como promotor del desarrollo local-​ regional’, in D. García Delgado (ed) Hacia un nuevo modelo de gestión local, Buenos Aires: Universidad de Buenos Aires. Tecco, C.A. (2011) Gestión urbana y cambios en las estructuras de oportunidades territoriales. Revista Bitácora Urbano Territorial, 19(2): 89–​98. Tecco, C., and López, S. (2004) ‘Gobernanza local y servicios urbanos’, in R. Grandinetti, D. Beretta and G. Schweinheim (eds) Retos e innovaciones de la Administración Pública para el desarrollo democrático en el Siglo XXI, Rosario: AAEAP, INAP, Universidad Nacional de Rosario, pp 56–​63. Tecco, C., Bressan, J. C., López, S., and Fernández, S. (2001) ‘Innovaciones en la gestión municipal: análisis de casos. Los municipios de Jesús María, Colonia Caroya, Unquillo, UNDP (1997) Governance for Sustainable Huma Development, Nueva York: UNDP.

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Policy analysis at different levels of government: the managerial skills in leaders of policy networks in Argentina Alejandro M. Estévez

Introduction The explanations of public policy networks are not a new phenomenon. As governments grow in complexity, networks appear to be a more relevant subject of study. Since the 1970s, an explanation of how they work, change, and influence public decisions is strongly needed (Heclo, 1977, 1978; McCool, 1995; Theodolou and Cahn, 1997; Sabatier, 1999; Bulcourf and Cardozo, 2008; Picard, 2011, Reynoso, 2011; Estevez, 2014a, 2014b). In 1968, Dror drew attention to polycentric structures in policy making, at the same time that complex problems were increasing in relevance and visibility. Dror (1968, 1971) believed that it was necessary to look for “optimal” solutions to these problems and that structures (future networks) influenced how issues were defined. In his words (1968, p 206): “Polycentric structures with a few autonomous units have a basic operational rationale that is radically different from that of polycentric structures with many autonomous units … the latest, operate in terms of partisan mutual adjustment mainly by bargaining and forming coalitions with one another”. The increasing complexity of problems for governments is an issue that has grown since the 1970s (Burrell and Morgan, 1979; Denhardt, 1990; Baumgartner and Jones, 2009; Koppenjan and Klijn, 2015; Estevez et al., 2018). Concerning complexity, there would be three types (Koppenjan and Klijn, 2015): 1. Cognitive complexity: there are wicked problems, technologically very demanding and involving core values issues that are almost insoluble. 2. Strategic complexity: when several interdependent actors are involved with different perceptions and strategies. 3. Institutional complexity: when different institutions with different institutional structures and rules participate in a network. According to Koppenjan and Klijn (2015), public policy networks having to deal with complex problems have to develop a different and adapted theory

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of governance. They call this “Governance Network Theory”, which has the following characteristics: • They explain a highly dynamic game between multiple actors, with different perceptions and strategies. • Good decisions are those that satisfy the widest possible actor’s range in the network. • Success depends on cognitive, strategic, and institutional criteria of members participating in the network. • The manager tries to encourage interaction among the members, self-​ reflection, and designs procedures and rules to favor the dynamics of his network. On the other hand, Rice (2015) points out that reflection on networks has its tradition in public policy analysis, but studies on management skills to conduct networks do not show the same development. Therefore, it is necessary to study in depth how public policy networks are managed. Voets (2015) introduces the question of network effectiveness and the managerial roles that make them more effective.

About networks Our study deals with public policy networks in which the government is part. As defined by Agranoff (2003, p 7): “Networks of public organizations, involving formal and informal structures, composed of representatives from governmental and non-​governmental agencies, working interdependently to exchange information and or jointly formulate and implement policies and programs that are usually designed for action through their respective organizations.” Agranoff (2003, Agranoff and McGuire, 2015) and Mandell (2015) basically have studied public policies networks that have government members participating or conducting, for this reason, it is necessary to know how networks are managed and also if these managers behave in different ways in hierarchical state organizations concerning horizontal public ones. Therefore, we believe that our study is relevant because we have focalized the managerial skills necessary to conduct public policy networks. Network types There is no single network type, so it is necessary to point out a classification. According to Agranoff (2003, 2015), there are four types: 1. Informational networks: partners come together exclusively to exchange agency policies and programs, technologies, and potential solutions. Any actions that might be taken are entirely up to the agencies voluntarily. 152

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2. Developmental networks: partner information and technical exchange are combined with education and member service that increases member capacity to implement solutions within home agencies or organizations. 3. Outreach networks: partners come together to exchange information and technologies, sequence programming, exchange resource opportunities, pool client contacts, and enhance access opportunities that lead to new programming avenues. Implementation of designed programs is within an array of public and private agencies themselves. 4. Action networks: partners come together to make interagency adjustments, formally adopt collaborative courses of action, and/​or deliver services along with exchanges of information and technologies.

Management differences Several authors point out differences in management between hierarchical structures and networks. According to Rhodes (2008) and Agranoff and McGuire (2001), Agranoff (2003), public policy networks have changed the way to exercise leadership in government. They have a strong collaborative component and a more informal type of authority and although there are processes, they are a product of large agreements rather than regulations or laws. Usually, managers of pyramidal structures require a hierarchical exercise of authority, while in networks, they must constantly negotiate and reach consensus (Dror, 1968; Agranoff, 2003; Rhodes, 2008; Agranoff and McGuire, 2015). The decision To obtain a decision in public policy networks, the basic requirement is consensus. The decision is obtained as a result of a deliberative and participatory process between the different members of the network. The manager’s role is precisely to facilitate this consensus building (Agranoff, 2003; McGuire and Agranoff, 2015). Planning Planning arises from an internal network’s negotiation. Agranoff (2003) points out that the planning process in collaborative networks is of the “catalytic” type, that is to say, it needs a certain internal “maturation” between different actors. Implementation In public policy networks, different agencies participate. Therefore, the implementation can be shared and needs good horizontal coordination between the different members (Agranoff, 2003; Rhodes, 2008). 153

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Staffing Each network partner offers its best experts. This shows the level of commitment, involvement, and confidence of actors (Agranoff and McGuire, 2001; Agranoff 2003). Organizing Organizing a collaborative network is very similar to “herding cats”. The voluntary component is much stronger than the bureaucratic one. Within networks, there are voluntary committees with the simple objective of doing things. Some of the positions in the network can be chosen on a rotating basis, just as the administrative burden can be temporarily shared (Agranoff and McGuire, 2001; Agranoff, 2003).

The managerial skills of a collaborative network leader McGuire and Agranoff (2001) point out four necessary management skills for leaders of collaborative public policy networks: 1. Activating: it requires identifying the people and resources necessary to achieve the network’s objectives. 2. Mobilizing: it is necessary to mobilize internal and external network actors. Publishing the network´s achievements has a mobilizing effect on stakeholders. 3. Framing: the manager must give roles to participants, as well as regulations, agreements, values, and identities. They must generate a support or administrative network structure. They must constantly show “our” shared vision. 4. Synthesizing: managers must generate and increase trust among participants and also dissolve information blockages. This ability reinforces the internal collaborative environment and should also seek to increase positive member interactions. In his 2003 article, Agranoff adds: 1. Every network needs a leader promoter or champion and in each volunteer committee, there must be someone who fulfills the same function. The promoters are those who must maintain the “strategic vision”. 2. The leader must have a good technical knowledge of the network´s promoted issues. 3. It must be constantly expanding participation and looking for new members that provide more resources (expertise, money, contacts, and so on). 4. The leader should promote the best possible communication. Communication technology is key at this point, but face-​to-​face contact is still important. 154

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5. The network leader must have the ability to reach political levels and communicate with the media. 6. The leader should guide the process network’s learning and make decisions. 7. The leader must be aware of “management internal power” in his network, but this does not prevent consensus searching logics. 8. The leader must keep the network running as a way to improve his performance. 9. The leader must always remain within the limits set by his network. 10. The leader must adjust and maintain the initial purpose. 11. The leader must be as creative as possible. 12. The manager must have a lot of patience. 13. The leader must recruit new members constantly. 14. The leader must constantly emphasize the symbolic incentives of the network. On the other hand, Voets (2015) points out managerial skills that can make collaborative networks more effective and describes four types of channels: 1. Personal channels: these are the leader’s contacts with friends and relatives, that he usually had before entering the network, but also as time goes by, his new labor contacts. 2. Professional channels: these are the contacts you know from your professional activity or professional associations. 3. Philosophical channels: these are the leader´s contacts with whom he shares philosophical views (members of churches, scientific associations, Freemasons, Rotary, and so on). 4. Political parties channels: they are the party contacts that allow access to resources, information, unblocks, and so on. Voets (2015) also refers to a “new public governance” as a result of changes that were promoted in the 1980s by New Public Management. This administrative tradition implied a transformation from the “public servant” model to “public manager”. The first was oriented towards the legal processes and “citizen rights and duties”, while the second must be results oriented and aimed at client satisfaction standards. Referring to the skills of public servants needed by the new public service, Denhardt (1993, 2011) pointed out: • Commitment to values: the manager seeks organizational change less by attention to structure than by developing a pervasive commitment to the organization’s mission and values. • Serving the public: the manager gives priority to service to both clients and citizens. That priority is supported by high-​performance standards and accountability. Relating to the human side is very important to build a sense of community within the organizations and develop a will of cooperation outside. 155

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• Empowerment and shared leadership: the manager encourages a higher participation level and members’ involvement in the network’s objectives. • Pragmatic incrementalism: change occurs through a free-​flowing process in which the manager pursues a wide variety of often unexpected opportunities to move the organization in the desired direction. • Dedication to public service: the manager insists on the organization’s members maintaining high ethical standards. The public organizations’ role in the process of democratic governance is emphasized. As we can see, studying management skills to coordinate public policy networks has to be understood in the larger context of the public management changing paradigm (Christensen, 2008; Rhodes, 2008).

Methodology We have selected and studied three public policy networks: 1. Solidarity Network of Health Professionals: dedicated to exchanging medical knowledge about cases of “rare” diseases (which affect a small number of people compared to the general population). 2. Municipal Network of Institutional and Administrative Dialogues: dedicated to the promotion of administrative modernization and electronic government of the municipalities of the province of Buenos Aires, Argentina. 3. Network of Dialogue Spaces with the taxpayers of the Federal Administration of Public Revenues: dedicated to identifying and solving the different complaints of the biggest Argentine taxpayers. We have selected three networks: one dedicated to public health; another focused on administrative modernization; and the third focused on complaints of large taxpayers. Six in-​depth interviews with key informants and ten interviews were conducted with a semi-​structured questionnaire. We interviewed managers, politicians, public officials, researchers, and participants (or stakeholders) of the selected networks. Based on the perceptions and personal experiences of our interviewees, we have identified the following points: • • • •

the main managerial skills of leaders in public policy networks; the different ways in which managers adapt to the problems focused by networks; agenda formation; the network’s learning process as an organization.

This is a qualitative, comparative, and empirical case study of exploratory type. The conclusions can be generalized from an analytical point of view but not statistical (Yin, 1989; Casilimas Sandoval, 2009; Cresswell, 2009). 156

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Our semi-​structured questionnaire During the interviewing process, we utilized this questionnaire: 1. What are the management skills that an administrator of a public policy network should have? 2. How is the agenda-​setting of your public policy network? 3. How do they face the problems they choose? 4. How does a network learn? 5. How are problematic members or cases diverted from a network treated? 6. What is the great obstacle of a network? 7. Do you want to add anything else that we have not asked?

Answers analysis Managerial skills of public policy administrators Our key informants pointed out different managerial skills to manage a network of public policies. According to informant number 5: “I think that to manage a network you must have more artisan than technical skills. The coordinator must always be present, be able to listen, and also ask well to clearly define the problems. He must trust and build trust in his group. He has to know how to take up the topics discussed by the group; identify the real will of the network about the most sensitive problems; know how to negotiate within the network and with other networks. … He must have a certain balance between reflection and praxis. … He should have a strong will to take the projects to practice. … He must also know how to build the identity of the group and have a strategic look at everything.” According to informant number 6: “The main ability is to be constant and have a certain flexibility, but without losing sight of the strategic view.” Concerning the skills, informant number 3 responded: “He is a primus inter pares. … He must have a deep knowledge of the issues dealt with by his network. He must have technical knowledge of the problems and at the same time, good political skills. He should have a high capacity to generate consensus and good leadership. … I would put a lot of emphasis on participatory leadership. … He should also know how to maintain a certain discipline among the members.” 157

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On the other hand, informant number 4 said: “He must be very clear about how communication technology is handled in public policy networks. Nowadays, a network that does not manage well the technological tools is doomed to be invisible. The technology accelerates the internal and external processes of the networks. … He must also favor the constitution of the administrative nucleus of the organization.” Informant number 1 maintains that the administrator of a public policy network: “[I]‌s someone who must have a strategic vision of the objective to achieve … and he must understand how the problems he is dealing with work … must develop a working methodology that respects the stages through which an analysis of problems, objectives, and projects of his network must pass. It is essential to develop a methodology.” About this, interviewee number 2 said that the administrator “must be”: “He must be patient, patient, and patient. … He must have a good ability to coordinate, without forcing the members. He must strengthen the network’s learning mechanisms. It must be someone who seeks to maintain the internal balance of the organization.” Informant number 5 stated: “I think there are networks that have a very clear center or leader and others that are more horizontal. … The necessary skills will depend on these contexts. In any case, a network implies a permanent search for agreements, definitions, and motivations. Also, it must always be generating trust. It must keep the network in good physical condition, that is, in operation.” By the perceptions of our informants, we can summarize that the skills would be centered in the following nuclei, with high consensus: • • • • • • • •

strategic vision of the objective that the network must reach; political ability for dialogue and negotiation; deep knowledge of the network’s subject; participatory leadership capacity; knowledge of network technologies; ability to build trust; orientation towards results or praxis; keep the network active. 158

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With average consensus: • skills to develop an administrative core; • have skills to make the network learn; • develop a technical work methodology; • flexibility. With low consensus: • maintain the network’s discipline; • patience. How is the agenda-​setting process of a public policy network? The agenda-​setting is a very sensitive issue in public policy studies, since it shows the selection of priorities and problems that a network chooses to act on. According to informant number 2: “The agenda is usually proposed by the coordinator. He selects some issue that seems relevant to the objectives of his network and he presents them to the members. Then, the network reacts by defining the issue, limiting it, organizing it, etc. We are always looking for a debate in the network and for its members to commit to the agenda. It is the guarantee for the different members to move. … I, as coordinator, acknowledge that I try to organize the agenda of my network, but, always, the network has the last word.” There are also urgent issues that shift attention away from the network’s usual topics. According to interviewee number 4: “Every network has three or four important points that always have priority in the agenda … but there are times when, due to some change or crisis in the political scenario, some issue or question has to be addressed urgently. … In our case, we consult the network’s members that have more knowledge of the subject [primus inter pares] so that they propose a project to act. Then we submit that document to a network deliberation with a short period to take a decision. … Finally, the last decision is made by the network, but taking as a starting point for the debate the document produced by the experts.” About crises or changes, informant number 6 told us: “When an important unforeseen event occurs that demands a quick response, it is the coordinators who make the decision. … This 159

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decision could not be very far from the type of decisions that the network usually takes. … Every network has a certain personality, a certain identity. For example, a network of doctors cannot decide something far from the ‘culture’ of that network. In cases where there is a lot of distance between the decision and the culture of the network, there are internal crises that generally end in a change of coordination or with the arrival of other sectors of the network to the coordinating center.” Concerning agendas and coordinators, informant number 3 stated: “Our network has a meritocratic aspect. … If someone is coordinating this network it is because he has the necessary merits and knowledge. Therefore, if there is a crisis or an unforeseen agenda item, the coordinator is supposed to be able to respond quickly. … Then he must communicate his decision to the network. … Today technology allows us to quickly communicate to know network members’ opinions. … Therefore, the agenda can be perfectly assembled from the coordination, having some level of quick consultation with the members.” Informant number 5 maintains that some objectives come from inside the network and others come from outside: “Our network recognizes that there are objectives or issues that are dictated from the organizational context, but also thinks that there are objectives of its own. … In the process of implementing the network’s objectives, small decisions can also be taken, we have a certain margin of decision, creativity, motivation, etc. Networks also redirect the result of certain decisions or objectives. … They also select which parts of the main objectives they find most interesting to act on. … Sometimes, when the government decides to do something, we analyze which part of those decisions we would like to favor or promote.” In short, agenda-​setting is always a very varied process. A distinction is made between usual and urgent matters, and also between external objectives (of the governmental system) and the network’s own objectives. In any case, agenda-​ building implies priorities of action taken by the networks. How do they face the problems they choose? The networks select the problems on which they act. This implies some previous diagnosis. According to informant number 5: 160

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“We always do some reflection or analysis exercise. When we see that the problem requires greater capabilities than we have, we seek to expand our network, to make some kind of alliances with other networks and actors. … This adaptation always has to do with the nature of the problem.” According to informant number 2, concerning the way of facing the problems: “Each problem to face is different, for that reason, the work team that has the network is very important. In these work teams, dialogues and discussions are held about how to face a new problem or a new strategy. We always consider previous experiences to decide. Many times, we decide to split the problem into two or three simpler units, as a way to achieve greater effectiveness or improve our negotiation capacity and also as a way to lower the risks.” On the same subject, interviewee number 4 stated: “We first seek the opinion of the members of our network who have the most experience in such problems. There, we work on a first draft of how to face this problem and then submit it to the network’s decision. Generally, it receives some modifications. … The discussion enriches the project. … If something fails, we return to analyze the problem and try to change the methodology.” Informant number 1 told us about complex problems: “Complex problems require the participation of as many networks as possible. … That is the only way to generate a consensus that allows some solution, even partial.” There is also a problem maturation process that networks must have. According to informant number 1, regarding complex problems, he told us: “The complex problems also require a maturation time for the networks, there are political times. It is not simply a debate or exchange of information, there is also a process of maturation and analysis that must be followed. Otherwise, the network could reject it.” Based on the perceptions analyzed, we found that the way to deal with the problems starts with the diagnosis of the experts, and then this is submitted to some discussion in the network. In general, there is a first discussion on the part of a small group and then we move on to a slightly broader debate. It is also important to consider the necessary maturation that a problem must have to be treated. 161

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How does a network learn? Every organization has a way of learning and, therefore, it is relevant to know how they learn (Sabatier and Jenkins Smith, 1999; Sabatier and Weible, 2005). According to informant number 3: “My network learns by demand from the political, social, and economic context. Each problem is a new challenge and an opportunity to learn. The learning capacity of networks grows in direct relation to their use. The more we move, the more we learn. The crises of our context generate greater demands for growth. We pay a lot of attention to technical or specialized information; we also generate our information and we value our interpretative capacity. We seek to generate some reflection both when we succeed and when we fail.” About the learning process and competition between networks, informant 4 stated: “There are always other networks or groups that compete with us and others that are natural allies. Generally, the exchange of information is much easier with networks related to ours. When there is an open competition, we exchange information through the media and discussions. We can say that we also learn from the competition and criticism from other actors. We always seek to respond to any criticism that has any scientific basis.” Then, informant number 1 expressed: “Our network learns by interaction, sharing knowledge, experiences, good practices, and analyzing unsuccessful cases. … Within the network, the debate allows us to clarify our concepts, ideas, and projects. The coordinator has to look for a favorable climate for learning and, generally, the network responds favorably.” The notion of continuous learning is signaled by informant number 5: “Learning is continuous and we learn from everyone. There is a social construction of learning. We learn more from failures, as a result of concrete problems, as a result of successes. … But, generally, we learn more from adversity.” Regarding the points of break or “turning points”, informant number 6 indicates:

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“There are events, events that mark breaking points. These provoke reflection and passage to a higher level of consciousness. Then, we apply that knowledge to future problems.” From the perceptions analyzed, it is clear that networks learn from both successful and failed experiences; but they learn more from failures than from successes. Exchanging ideas and information with other networks and actors is an important element to take into account. To this should also be added group capacity for self-​reflection. As noted by Sabatier (1999), studying how coalitions learn allows us to understand how change occurs in public policies. How are problematic network members treated? Every network always has to deal with problematic members or deviant cases that at some point pose an internal crisis or challenge the central objectives or ideas. According to informant number 1: “There will always be different opinions within the networks. Who should contain and moderate these discussions is, first, the coordinator, and then, secondly, the rest of the members of the network. … I think the networks work as social groups that exercise a certain social order and discipline to cases that deviate from central ideas.” For interviewee number 3, the treatment of the problematic members is the responsibility of the coordinator. In his words: “It is the responsibility of the coordinator or administrator of the network to maintain certain discipline in the group. … When the coordinator observes that a member is problematic, he must dialogue and understand the deep reasons for his behavior. … Every network has four or five central ideas [a moral contract] and if the problematic actor does not share these ideas or is separated from them, he should leave. But sometimes, these problematic actors show alternative visions to the problem and can result in agents of innovation. … The problem is when disagreements impede or hinder any minimum consensus.” In the words of informant 4, the treatment of problematic actors is a very sensitive issue. According to his perceptions: “The rest of the network should not be allowed to discipline or punish the problematic actors, because it can end in a greater conflict. … It may seem like a lynching or public execution. … Therefore, it is always the coordinator who must remember and monitor the central ideas of the network. 163

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According to informant number 5, networks are a form of the organization very close to an elite: “Networks put limits on problematic individuals. … Networks work in a containment way, but also limit the scope of their inclusion. … They also function as an elite. When a problematic or dysfunctional actor is apperceived by the group or the coordinator, generally, he ends up adapting his behavior or voluntarily resigns or is expelled. … The limits of the network are slowly changing. … In a way, a network is an elite that can function as an open system, but when there are facts that question these limits, the network reacts in some way.” Informant number 6 introduces the treatment of problematic or dysfunctional actors as an indicator of growth: “Networks are always growing. … The problems and their transformations demand the adaptation of the network. … The existence of problematic actors is just an indicator of the growth of the network. … If a network does not seek certain adaptations to its context, it ends up dying. … The problematic members show, sometimes, that demand for greater adaptation. … Revolutionary or/​and conservative members are always showing a deeper problem … or a more complex one.” As a partial conclusion to this question, we find that the treatment of deviant cases can be done by the coordinator or by the group itself. It is interesting to note that the presence of these deviant cases can demonstrate the need to adapt the network to new problems or contexts. What is the greater obstacle that a network must face? Our key informants mentioned the obstacles that a network must face. In the words of interviewee number 6: “If your network has to interact with a higher authority, and that authority or other networks perceive your actions as a threat, it does not take a long time for power-​related conflict. … The individual interests of certain internal actors of the network are also a great obstacle. … Politics is sometimes the problem and also the solution.” Informant number 5 points out the obstacle of the lack of incentives: “A great obstacle to the functioning of networks is the lack or the weakening of incentives of their members. … There are two types 164

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of incentives: the symbolic one, related to an idealistic aspect of the members, and the material incentive, related to the minimum economic resources. … If the network has an altruistic component, the material incentives are not so important. … On the contrary, if it has a strong economic motivation, the answer is much faster.” The question of identities seems to be an important issue in the obstacles that networks have to face. According to informant number 5: “A network has to build an identity. … Identities can show some resistance to change. But, networks that do not have a clear identity end up dissolving in the short term. … The construction of identity is a difficult task that is in the hands of both the coordinator and the members.” The problem of professionalization or bureaucratization of networks is introduced by informant number 3: “As time goes by, our network required a more professional internal group, which had better management of communications technology, which could better manage the daily problems of the network (communication, financial resources, a central office, etc.). Little by little an administrative structure was consolidated. … Our network began to have a small bureaucracy.” According to informant number 1, the main network’s obstacle is precisely to keep working and be active: “Networks have to be maintained in operation. The first meetings of the networks are very productive, but then they slowly decline. … We must seek that the members maintain their commitment to the central objectives of the network. … In our case, the individual commitment is maintained if the members observe that the network has obtained some achievements. … I do not believe that a network can be kept active if it can not show any effect, even a minimum, on the problems, it is trying to solve.” Concerning the network’s objectives deviation, informant number 3 indicates: “A network fails when it deviates from the central objectives it had … or when it falls into the hands of personalist leaders. … It also fails when it cannot organize a certain administrative nucleus. … The network that remains always voluntary, goes away crumbling. A minimum of professionalization is required.” 165

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According to informant number 4, continuous operation improves the efficiency of a network: “In our network, we observe that the more we move, the better we improve our capacity as an organization. … Immobility is a great obstacle for a network. … But sometimes, due to an unfavorable or turbulent political context, networks tend to enter paused. … There, the network leader must generate some intelligent activity to maintain the action. … Just as you cannot maintain an organization if you do not show some achievements, you cannot maintain the activity of the network that does not have any concrete utility.” Our informants pointed out different obstacles or reasons for failure, such as lack of professionalism, motivation loss, immobility, lack of achievements, petty individual interests or personalities, lack of economic resources, power games, and so on. Do you want to add something else? As experience in qualitative work indicates, after applying a semi-​structured questionnaire, the key informant has a greater understanding of the purpose of the researcher’s questions, so Casilimas Sandoval (2002) advises introducing the last question that allows the informant to express some additional central idea. In this sense we add the perceptions of informant number 3: “Networks have to pay close attention to the value component of their members. We think that our network works like a rope, that pulls our members based on their values … but we are aware that simply with the will we cannot function in a professionalized way, therefore, it is important to develop this technical group or small bureaucracy of the organization.” About the impact of information technologies (Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, Instagram, emails, and so on) informant number 1 stated: “The proper use of network technology is fundamental. Our network would not have had the scope and speed of processing the information it had if the new technologies did not exist. I think that these technologies have produced more information available, both true and false.” Informant number 1 told us about complex problems: “Complex problems require the participation of as many networks as possible. … It is the only way to generate a consensus that allows some solution, even partial.” 166

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Conclusion Discussing the managerial skills necessary to conduct a network of public policies, our informants pointed out, with high consensus: • • • • • • •

strategic vision of the objective that must be reached; political capacity for dialogue and negotiation; deep knowledge of the subject of the network; participatory leadership capacity and knowledge of network technologies; ability to build trust; orientation towards results or praxis; keep the network active.

With average consensus: • skills to develop an administrative core; • skills to make the network learn; • develop a technical work methodology; • flexibility. With low consensus: • maintain discipline in your network; • patience. These skills are in line with those indicated by Agranoff (2003) and Agranoff and McGuire (2015). In a network’s agenda-​setting process, has a high consensus on the idea that the leader proposes to the organization the topics of the agenda, but these issues cannot be very far from the four or five problems that usually deal the net with. When there is an urgent issue, the leader must decide and then communicate to the organization about how that urgency was treated. There is an informal process of “accountability” to members of the network for how “urgent” problems were treated. Regarding the way of facing the problems, our interviewees showed a consensus concerning certain flexibility. Each problem is different and requires different diagnoses. There would be a first “circle of experts” with whom the leaders consult, and then they submit the draft for the wider consultation of the network. In terms of complex problems, networks generally seek to expand alliances with other networks to deal with them. Here, it is also observed that each problem needs a certain maturation or reflection on the part of the network. The learning process of the network is an interesting answer. Networks learn from successes as from failures, but more from failures. They learn also from the exchange of information with other actors and internal self-​reflection. Crises and “turning points” are mentioned as instances of learning. 167

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The network’s “problematic” members are treated as framed by the “big consensus” of the network and also the leader points out the limits that exist for the deviant behaviors. Networks are constantly changing boundaries, so these deviant cases can be a positive sign of growth. The major obstacles that a network must face are: • • • • • • • • •

how to deal with the authority or power of certain hierarchical organizations; the lack of clear incentives for its members; lack of technical knowledge or expertise; lack of minimum economic resources; the lack of an identity of the network; the lack of an administrative nucleus; the discontinuity of their tasks; overly personalistic leaders; a low efficiency and effectiveness rate.

The “free” question that we asked our interviewees prompted the following answers: • Information technologies or networks (WhatsApp, emails, Twitter, and so on) are a valuable tool for public policy networks. Without them, the work would be much more difficult and slower. • Complex problems require the participation of more networks and consensus is more necessary and difficult to achieve. The solution for the complex problems would seem to be the expansion of the networks and, at the same time, look for a simplification or fractionation of the complex problem. • Every network needs to develop an administrative and professionalized nucleus. Will, commitment, and values are very important, but organization and professionalism are also needed. References Agranoff, R. (2003) Leveraging Networks: A Guide for Public Managers Working across Organizations, Bloomington: IBM Endowment for Business of Government. Agranoff, R. (2015) ‘Bridging the theoretical gap and uncovering the missing holes’, in R. Keast, M. Mandell, and R. Agranoff (eds), Network Theory in the Public Sector, New York: Routledge, pp 193–​209. Agranoff, R. and McGuire, M. (2001) ‘Big questions in public network management research’, Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 11(3): 295–​326. Baumgartner, F. and Jones, B.D. (2009) Agendas and Instability in American Politics, Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Bulcourf, P. and Cardozo, N. (2008) ‘¿Por qué comparar políticas públicas?’, in Documento de Trabajo de Política Comparada, Buenos Aires: Política Comparada, pp 1–​49. 168

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Burrell, G. and Morgan, G. (1979) Sociological Paradigms and Organizational Analysis, London: Heinemann. Casilimas Sandoval, C.A. (2002) La investigación cualitativa, Bogotá: Editorial del Instituto Colombiano de Fomento a la Educación Superior-​ICFES. Christensen, T. (2008) ‘Smart policy?’ in M. Moran, M. Rein, and R.E. Goodin (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Public Policy, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp 448–​468. Cresswell, J. (2009) Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approach, Thousand Oaks: SAGE. Denhardt, R.B. (1990) ‘Teoría de la Administración Pública: El estado de la disciplina’, in N. Lynn and A. Wildavsky (eds), Administración Pública. El estado de la disciplina, Chatham: Chatham House, pp 91–​105. Denhardt, R.B. (1993) The Pursuit of Significance: Strategies form Managerial Success in Public Organizations, Long Grove: Waveland Press Inc. Denhardt, R.B. (2011) Theories of Public Organization (6th edn), Boston: Wadsworth Cengage Learning. Dror, Y. (1968) Public Policymaking Reexamined, New York: Chandler Publishing Company. Dror, Y. (1971) Design for Policy Sciences, New York: Elsevier. Estevez, A.M. (2014a) ‘Algunas características fundamentales de los estudios en políticas públicas’, in Cuadernos de Polipub.org, Buenos Aires: Polipub, pp 3–​19. Estevez, A.M. (2014b) ‘De las anarquías organizacionales a las agendas de políticas públicas’, in Cuadernos de Polipub.org, 15, Buenos Aires: Polipub, pp 3–​25. Estevez, A.M., Helfenstein, M., and Podmoguilnye, M. (2018) ‘Los diálogos cívico-​administrativos de la Provincia de Buenos Aires (2016–​2018)’, in Cuadernos de Polipub.org, Buenos Aires: Polipub, pp 3–​11. Heclo, H. (1977) A Government of Strangers: Executive Politics in Washington, Washington, DC: Brookings Institution. Heclo, H. (1978) ‘Issue networks and the executive establishment’, in A. King (ed), The New American Political System, Washington, DC: Enterprise Institute, pp 87–​107. Koppenjan, J. and Klijn, E.-​H. (2015) ‘What can governance network theory learn from complexity theory? Mirroring two perspectives of complexity’, in R. Keast, M. Mandell, and R. Agranoff (eds), Network Theory in the Public Sector, New York: Routledge, pp 157–​173. Mandell, M. (2015) ‘Understanding theory’, in R. Keast, M. Mandell, and R. Agranoff (eds), Network Theory in the Public Sector, New York: Routledge, pp 3–​14. McCool, D. (1995) Public Policy Theories, Models and Concepts, Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall. McGuire, M. and Agranoff, R. (2015) ‘Network management behaviors: Closing the theoretical gap’, in R. Keast, M. Mandell, and R. Agranoff (eds), Network Theory in the Public Sector, New York: Routledge, pp 137–​156.

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Picard, A. (2011) ‘¿Cuáles son los enfoques que explican el juego de los actores en el proceso de las políticas públicas?’, in Cuadernos de Polipub.org, Buenos Aires: Polipub, pp 3–​18. Reynoso, C. (2011) Redes Sociales y Complejidad: Modelos Interdisciplinarios en la gestión sostenible de la sociedad y la cultura, Buenos Aires: Editorial SB. Rhodes, R.A.W (2008) ‘Policy network analysis’, in M.L. Moran, M. Rein, and R.E. Goodin (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Public Policy, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp 425–​447. Rice, D. (2015) ‘Governing through networks: A systemic approach’, in R. Keast, M. Mandell, and R. Agranoff (eds), Network Theory in the Public Sector, New York: Routledge, pp 103–​117. Sabatier, P. (1999) Theories of the Policy Process, Oxford: Westview Editions. Sabatier, P. and Jenkins Smith, H.C. (1999) ‘The advocacy coalition framework, an assessment’, in P. Sabatier (ed), Theories of the Policy Process, Oxford: Westview, pp 117–​166. Sabatier, P.A. and Weible, C.M. (2005) ‘Comparing policy networks: Marine protected areas in California’, The Policy Studies, 33(2): 181–​202. Theodolou, S. and Cahn, M.A. (1997) Public Policy: The Essential Readings, New York: Prentice Hall. Voets, J. (2015) ‘Developing network management theory through management channels and roles’, in R. Keast, M. Mandell, and R. Agranoff (eds), Network Theory in the Public Sector, New York: Routledge, pp 118–​136. Yin, R. (1989) Case Study Research: Design and Methods, Thousand Oaks: SAGE.

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PART III

Internal policy advisory councils, consultants, and committees

11

Government Administrators Corps in Argentina: a transformative initiative of internal consultants for public administration Gerardo Izzo and Luz Piraino Martínez

Genesis After the return of democracy in 1983 and following the end of the dictatorial period that had been established in the country since 1976, the new government undertook a multiplicity of challenges of various kinds. The military government had replicated its dark dynamics both in aspects of citizens’ lives, as well as towards the interior of state institutions: “The radical party government had found a demoralized bureaucracy, characterized by a general evasion of responsibilities” (Oszlak, 2020). This problem generated the need to introduce several reforms aimed at the transformation and modernization of the stagnant public administration with the purpose of ordering the misalignments produced within the institutions. However, the initiatives were not limited to merely structural or functional issues, but sought to establish deeper changes aimed at reformulating the system of values within the institutions, in which respect for and defense of democracy would have to be essential: “The need for the existence of a public apparatus committed to democratic values was postulated” (Negri, 2005). Thus, in 1985, at the initiative of Jorge Roulet, as Secretary of the Civil Service and in order to redefine the civil service and constitute a new bureaucratic line, the Corps of Government Administrators (CAG) was created. The composition of the CAG would have its own distinctive characteristics, as it would be made up of professionals from various disciplines whose function would be aimed at: [P]‌lanning, advising, organizing, leading or coordinating at a higher level, in centralized or decentralized agencies, whatever their legal nature, including Official Financial Entities, Companies, Corporations whose capital is wholly or majority owned by the National State, Social Works and in any other state entity, whatever its jurisdictional dependence, dependent on the National Public Administration. (Decree 2098, 1987) 173

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The Corps was structured on the basis of specific statutory rules and scales, ensuring job stability and the development of a multidisciplinary administrative career in accordance with the importance of the functions to be performed and the profiles arising from professional experience. Thus, the objective was rooted in a more solid and effective construction of public training, emphasizing in them their public vocation and the values and duties with the Argentine democratic system. The objective was to “improve the administrative organization of the State and the professional training of civil servants, emphasizing in them their attitude of service and their commitment to the republican and democratic system of government” (Decree 2098, 1987).

Rise The formation of a diverse, apolitical and professionalized state elite required the implementation of atypical processes for the national public administration. Therefore, the selection method proposed by Roulet was only comparable to the corps formed by the Foreign Service every year. The original objectives were focused on a profound change of paradigm towards senior public management. The leadership positions were traditionally co-​opted by party sectors, generally possessing little knowledge of their own specificity, and always subject to the avatars of the unstable political situation: “Alfonsín’s intention was that the CAG would reach 1000 members and become a top-​ level management body, which would assume the responsibility of senior public management with a sense that would prioritize the professional quality of management over any political party adherence” (Oszlak, 2020). In consequence, the realization of the project meant the establishment of regular and sustained courses over time, with follow-​up and annual evaluations throughout the exercise of the function, in order to slowly start working in public management, and thus bring about the transforming effects for those who were being trained. Training Program for Government Administrators A priori, the model was based on the French École Nationale d’Administration (ENA) created in 1945 in Strasbourg, with the aim of professionalizing an elite corps through the dynamics of meritocratic competition, arbitrary selection and suitable training to form part of the French civil service and generating a profound democratic transformation of the bureaucratic system in the aftermath of World War II and under the government of Charles de Gaulle (1959–​1969). Therefore, taking the French experience as an inspirational guide and with the recent approval of the CAG in Decree No. 3687/​1984, the Training Program for Government Administrators (PROFAG) was founded. It would be dictated under the orbit of the National Institute of Public Administration (INAP) with the mission of exalting meritocratic values and competitiveness for the assumption of positions through a thorough training structured over two years. “The AGs 174

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[Government Administrators] were considered as the agents of change of a democratic government administration” (Piedemonte and Rivolta, 2019). Since 1985, four training programs have been developed based on open, transparent and demanding competitions, with a total of 207 entrants from the public and private sectors. Throughout the four calls for applications, there were a total of 9,153 applicants with an entry rate of 2.26 percent. In this sense, there were 2.04 percent of applicants out of 2,491 applicants in 1985, 6.42 percent in 1986, 2.91 percent in 1988 and 0.87 percent in the last call of the program in 1992 (Figure 11.1). In this regard, the admission course for the training of civil servants included several training courses that had to be taken and approved by each registered candidate. The first purpose of the training course was to provide a: [S]‌trategic and integral conception of the problems, the interdisciplinary vision and the team approach, through a curriculum organized in relation to the performance of government administrators: economics, public and administrative law, sociology of the State, public policies, management technologies, organizational change, projects, public resource management, international scenario and regional integration and other topics related to the field of the State and its transformations. (Asociación de Administradores Gubernamentales, nd) In order to be eligible for the competition, applicants had to have completed no less than four years of studies, whether at the tertiary or university level, with a limit of up to 35 years of age, and had to pass an initial period of eliminatory

Figure 11.1: Training Program for Government Administrators calls for applications 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0%

2,491

51 1985

840

54 1986 Enrollees

175

2,505

3,317

73

29

1988

1992

Applicants

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exams and a subsequent training process lasting an average of 27 months. In turn, “those interested in this call came from the most diverse careers” (Rizzo, 2018), with a predominance of specialists in law, economics, and engineering and systems, followed by careers related to other social sciences, political science and international relations and architecture, and also including –​although to a lesser extent –​experts from other disciplines, such as agricultural sciences, exact sciences, sociology, health sciences and graduates of tertiary careers. Likewise, the contest had a double evaluation stage of between four and five hours each, and a third final stage. The first stage consisted of a more general technical evaluation characterized by reading comprehension, general culture and logical-​mathematical exercises, and the second stage –​ which required the approval of the previous stage –​consisted of a more technical-​substantive evaluation focused on the realization of a strategic public policy planning project. Finally, the final stage was carried out from a psychological-​technical perspective of the selected profiles, also demanding high levels of exigency. “The candidates to enter the training system had to pass several exams in a context of transparency measures and demands never before used in the National Public Administration” (Revista Aportes, 2009). In addition, there was a third instance according to the interaction and teamwork skills of the applicants to public positions, in which they were evaluated, observed and interviewed, at a psychological and interrelational level in conjunction with the logical, cultural and socio-​affective aspects framed in the mission and objectives of the INAP. The evaluations, in turn, were anonymous, in order to maintain the values of transparency and political arbitrariness in the selection process. “Thus, entry into the civil service and career development shall be related to the suitability, experience, efficiency and effort of the interested parties and shall not be subject to the discretionary will of the political authorities” (Decree 2098, 1987). After the exhaustive selection process, on August 19, 1985, the first graduating class began to attend the PROFAG, with the opening class headed by President Raúl Alfonsín and given by the then director of the ENA, Simón Norá. The words of the first Argentine president during the first class corresponded to the proposal of modernization and professionalization of the state’s human resources by the government: “The purpose of transforming the State to put it effectively at the service of society cannot be carried out without the help of women and men who understand the problems, who want to act and who know how to do it” (Revista Aportes, 2009). Entering the final stretch of PROFAG, training included field work through internships in public agencies. Once the mandatory instances had been approved, the graduate corps was constituted as of mobility in the assignment of functions, in the stability of positions based on the annual performance evaluation and being subject to permanent and mandatory training. Ergo, it is the obligatory rotation of functions that has provided the CAG with knowledge of the scaffolding of the state, the different government administrations and the functioning of its public caste. 176

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Despite the solidity of the project and the promising start, problems for the project began to emerge as the first students were graduating from the program. The situation had changed substantially in the two years that the first PROFAG was delayed. The economic crisis, together with the electoral defeat suffered by the government, had several negative effects on the realization of the objectives as planned for the Government Administrators (GA). Even the mentors of the project, Jorge Roulet and Enrique Groisman, resigned in 1986. However, this unfavorable context would not prevent the implementation of two other GA training programs during the government of President Raúl Alfonsín. This action signified the confidence placed both in the project and in the renovating role of the new civil service elite. At the end of the first government after the return of democracy, two training programs had been carried out and the third was still in progress. The graduates of these programs were already performing different types of functions in various state agencies and playing central roles in the training of future agents. In spite of the hopeful beginning, the situation began to increasingly undermine Jorge Roulet’s original idea and those who were destined to professionally lead the high public administration had functions not entirely in accordance with what they had been arduously prepared for. As one AG pointed out, “after being ‘the President’s men’, the ‘top of the Administration’, we finally became just another group of policy implementers” (Oszlak, 1994). The electoral defeat by the ruling party and the early handover of power to the new President Carlos Menem in 1989 presented a great challenge to the CAG. In the first place, it required them to play an articulating role between the two administrations and, on the other hand, it generated doubts about the position that the incoming government would take vis-​à-​vis the new elite corps. Faced with the hasty transition, there was not only the need to maintain the continuity not only of the corps but also of the third course of the PROFAG that was underway.

Stagnation Despite the moments of uncertainty generated by the change in political leadership, the CAG managed to overcome the problems mentioned with ease. The first of these was particularly complex, as there was distrust towards this new public management elite on the part of the new officials. This trust was eventually cemented and, as a result, they were able not only to complete the course that was underway, but also to maintain the tradition of having the president present the diplomas. The work of the CAG also made it possible to sustain itself over time by holding a new course. As the new administration progressed, new and unexpected challenges arose, which were shaped by the profound reforms within the state that were beginning to take place at the beginning of the new government. This would be the hallmark of the ten years of President Menem’s administration. The direction taken positioned GAs in a central place in the implementation of reforms: “The 177

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Corps was summoned in turn for the First State Reform, integrating the organizations that were created for that purpose” (Piemonte, 2005). In the middle of President Menem’s administration, the project to reform the National Constitution was formalized. During this atypical event, GAs played an active role, although it is worth mentioning that they did not play a central role. The positive evaluation of the work carried out by the CAG, during the first part of Menem’s government, made it possible to see the creation of new similar elite bodies replicated. Thus, in 1991, the Minister of Economy Domingo Cavallo created the Higher Institute of Government Economists, whose purpose was “the responsibility in the processes of formulation, execution and control of action alternatives in the different fields of economic policy” (Zuvanic and Guidobono, 1997). The impact of the activities of the AGs at the national level also had its correlation at the subnational level. For this reason, in the province of Santa Fe, the CAG experience was used to replicate it in the province and create the corps of provincial administrators (PA). It should be noted that the fate of the new state management bodies was dissimilar. As for the government economists, they were dissolved as an elite corps and absorbed into the ministerial structure itself. For their part, the PAs would suffer a similar fate to that of their counterparts in the national civil service. Despite the activities carried out and the intervention in the generation of public policies and in the reform of the public administration itself, the evolution of the GAs began to move further and further away from the projections made at the beginning. During the 1990s, the CAG received lukewarm support for the execution of its functions. In 1995, the last batch of GAs graduated, and the program was discontinued, providing only 20 percent of the 1,000 government administrators initially planned. Another problem began to emerge at the beginning of the decade and would affect its later evolution. The restructuring of the administrative career with the creation of SINAPA (National System of the Administrative Profession) placed the GAs in an ambiguous situation. On the one hand, they assisted in the formulation of the system as well as its implementation. However, the application of the same took away the centrality of the CAG for which they had been conceived, specifically with regard to senior public management. Although in these creations values that the Body already had in its creation norms were taken up, it ceased to be, for the conception of Dr. Menem’s Government, the privileged strategy for the transformation of the administrative apparatus. After the fall of the emblematic place of transformation, it was difficult to generate new calls to keep the professional career dynamic, given the absence of political decision and therefore the difficulty to obtain the necessary funds. (Piemonte, 2005) Despite the conflicts that arose as a result of the creation of SINAPA, the real problem was largely due to the large number of contract personnel entering 178

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all levels (including public management). Ironically, this measure was directed against both systems and allowed the political sector to maintain control of the bureaucratic structure and have almost no dependence on career personnel. After a decade of Carlos Menem’s presidency, the GAs continued in office, in some cases fulfilling outstanding roles, however, they were far from carrying out the tasks for which they had been formed. Despite the changes in functions, the GAs managed to maintain their central role in the production of knowledge through the realization of several academic projects focused on public administration, the most significant being the creation of the journal Aportes. During this period, in parallel to the prolific academic career, the bureaucrats managed to cement their own institutionalization as an elite body of the state, creating the Association of Government Administrators “with a dual role as a professional organization and as an instance of defense of the interests of its members” (Negri, 2005). This last instance would be of vital relevance in the immediate future.

Academic contribution The high level of education, in addition to the experience that the function provided, allowed for a deeper academic study of public administration and public policies. Among them, a large number and variety of publications, participation in multiple forums and congresses, both national and international, and the creation of the journal Aportes stand out. Over the years, as an academic and interdisciplinary research body, they have managed to produce and publish a vast amount of bibliographic material. The changes that took place in the CAG allowed for an adaptation that did not fail to contribute to the generation of knowledge on administration and public policies: “the creation of the Government Administrators Program, although oriented more to management than to research, gave greater impetus to academic training in the field of studies on the state and public policies” (Oszlak, 1997). Along these lines, a total of 1,461 documents are published in digital format on the website of the Association of Government Administrators. This academic production is divided into 22 different research areas, as can be seen in Figure 11.2. On the other hand, since 1994, the journal Aportes was founded to record and encourage scientific participation and research in the field of public policy and the challenges of public management and state action. The journal had a total of 34 editions to date –​the last publication dates back to 2018 –​which encompass a broad spectrum of topics and have the participation of various actors –​ professionals of different expertise, political groups, national and international organizations, business groups, trade union associations, public officials, and so on –​denoting the high level of pluralism, diversity and democratic participation aligned with the estimated bureaucratic transformation. 179

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Figure 11.2: Government Administrator documents by subject area Documents 4 9 10 14 21 21 29 32 33 33 42 45 57 63 68 104 113 113 117 147 184 202 0 Source: Own elaboration based on asoci​acio​nag.org.ar/​doc​umen​tos/​

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Public contracting Social security Human rights Financial administration Environment Control of public services Security and justice Health Infrastructure Federalism and provinces E-government Ethics, transparency, and corruption Education, science, and technology Local development Social development Labor, employment, and human resources Administrative techniques Citizens' participation Public administration Sectoral policies Municipalities Modernization of the state

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The impact and relevance of the journal in the field of academic dissemination was crowned with several awards received from various legislative bodies. It was declared of legislative interest by the Honorable Chamber of Deputies (Resolution 5.363D/​1997) and by the Honorable Senate of the Nation (Resolution 92S/​1998) and of cultural interest by the Legislature of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires (Resolution 289/​2003). “The magazine for the State and government administration represents the indissoluble commitment of the AGs in the development of democracy and its institutions. It has deserved the declaration of interest by the Honorable Chamber of Senators and by the Honorable Chamber of Deputies of the Argentine Nation” (Pulido, 2005). Likewise, in order to encourage dialogue, academic dissemination and materialize public interest, the CAG decided to start holding a series of congresses and seminar cycles with the participation of honorable experts from the academic and political spheres. These activities allowed for dialogue and academic and professional deepening among a multiplicity of experts at the federal level and favoring public interest and political participation. In each edition, a series of multiple activities were proposed through various workshops, promotion of articles, publications and books, academic papers, as well as theoretical and practical debates among officials, professionals, students, and interested parties. The seven congresses held were framed within different concepts and were located in different parts of the country: 1. “Society, Government and Public Administration” (Rosario, 2001). 2. “Rebuilding Statehood: Transition, Institutions and Governance” (Córdoba, 2003). 3. “Rethinking the Relations between State, Democracy and Development” (Tucumán, 2005). 4. “Building the Nation State for Growth and Equity” (Buenos Aires, 2007). 5. “Public Administration and the Federal Issue” (San Juan, 2009). 6. “Democratic Governance and Economic Development with Social Equity” (Chaco, 2011). 7. “Leadership, Equity and Sustainability” (Mendoza, 2013). In addition, seminar cycles on Public Policies (2017) and on University, Public Management and Development (2018) were presented. The first cycle featured five seminars: “Country Brand in Argentina and Latin America”; “Governance and Management of Metropolitan Areas”; “Bioeconomy and Circular Economy”; “Information and Data Science”; and “Human Development: Actuality and Prospective”. The second cycle presented a series of three seminars in line with the centenary of the University Reform: “The University and its Impact on Development Management”; “The University and its Relationship with the Region and the World: Facing the Challenges of the New Millennium”; and “The University: Source of Thought, Art and Culture”. Lastly, two Athenaeums were held as spaces for dialogue and contributions to the study of public innovation during 2020. The first one was based on the book Benefits 181

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of Law 23.877 on Promotion and Encouragement of Technological Innovation 30 Years after its Sanction edited by the Forum of Science and Technology for Production and the second Athenaeum focused on the debate on public management post-​COVID-​19, with the Ibero-​American Charter of Public Innovation as initial trigger.

Crisis With the advent of the government of Fernando De la Rúa in 1999 –​a coalition led by the party that had given life to the GAs –​hopes had been renewed to resume the original role and to recover the time lost in the last five years. However, the serious economic crisis that the country was going through quickly cut short the illusions that had arisen from the change of government and also several measures taken had direct repercussions on the GAs: “the GA Corps is questioned as to its role, not being assigned –​for the first and only time since this project was forged –​any global function of relevance” (Negri, 2005). As a result of the need to reduce the fiscal deficit, actions focused on the elimination of state jobs through voluntary retirement resulted in a total of 29 members leaving the body, which represented 14 percent of the total number of CAG members. This loss of members was the beginning of the most conflictive period for the entire CAG. In mid-​2000, as part of the state’s restructuring plan, it was announced that the CAG would be dissolved: “José Luis Machinea announced that they would be restructured, a euphemism that means reduction of personnel. With this measure, the State will expel professionals that it cost a lot of money to train” (Clarín, 2000). After the public announcement, the Association of Government Administrators began to work in defense of its members, seeking support to keep the CAG in operation. As a counterpart to the crisis that arose, the Association of Government Administrators began to receive a vast amount of support. Several sectors questioned the measure promoted by the Minister of Economy and began to support the work carried out by the GAs, possibly the most prominent being the former president and mentor of the project, Raúl Alfonsín. Finally, the conflict was resolved in favor of the CAG: “It can be seen that the contact or closeness of the reduced body of officials with the sectors of power allowed them to stage the conflict and reverse the measure” (Rizzo, 2018). The Alianza government came to an abrupt end, in 2001, after a deep political, social, and economic crisis. The two years of government meant for the GAs a contrasting sum of the most extreme sensations. However, they managed to get through the worst moments, showing a strong esprit de corps and a great lobbying capacity to defend their work and interests.

Agony The government change after a difficult transition meant the end of the crisis suffered by the CAG, beginning a path that showed a certain appreciation of the work carried out over the decades. 182

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Within the problematic situation that was occurring in the country, the GAs resumed significant roles within the various processes of reconstruction of the state as well as of the social fabric, fractured during the previous crisis. One of the most notable cases was their work within the initiative “Mesa de Diálogo Argentino” (Argentine Dialogue Table), which sought to be a multisectoral environment to repair the problems arising from the 2001 crisis: “the GAs were invited to participate in this space of encounter among Argentines, accompanying the different phases of management of the actions carried out by the Dialogue Table” (Negri, 2005). Continuing with the process of revaluation experienced, the Chief of Cabinet Jorge Capitanich functionally relocated the members of the CAG under the orbit of the Chief of Cabinet, after years of belonging to lower hierarchy dependencies, “We rescued the Corps [of Government Administrators] from oblivion, we gave it a hierarchy, we assigned it functions” (J.M. Capitanich, personal interview, 26 January 2022). Precisely during the period of revaluation carried out by the Chief of Cabinet Jorge Capitanich, the Public Policy Observatory was founded under the orbit of the CAG. Its main functions were “to create an environment for the analysis and compilation of public policies applied in the strategic sectors of the State’s work, as well as to provide comparative studies on legislation and applied procedures” (Resolution JGM No. 203, 2002). The formation of the Public Policy Observatory allowed the GAs to deploy their analytical capacity, which experience and specific training had given them. As another form of academic dissemination “the Observatory operates in two areas. One area is the production of policy analysis, in which it acts as a space for reflection and exchange of ideas within the work teams. Another area, of an external nature, are the spaces for knowledge dissemination activities from which other actors also benefit” (Alabés, 2007). In the following years, the different administrations made direct or indirect reference to the need to train cadres in order to modernize and improve the public administration in different aspects. To this end, in 2008, the SINAPA was modified and transformed into the National Public Employment System, however, despite the modifications, it has not been possible to reverse the deficiency in its implementation. Despite the changes within the mass of public administration personnel, no concrete attempts were made to create new elites. The GAs maintained their usual advisory functions under institutional requirements and academic production, without the possibility of reinstalling training courses for new government agents or recategorizing their role within the public administration. During the last decade there have been no major changes to the process of lethargy suffered by the CAG. On more than a few occasions, attempts have been made to reformulate or improve the implementation of the administrative career, without seriously achieving a result in accordance with what was proposed. For his part, the current President Alberto Fernandez hinted, also at the beginning of his presidency, at a recreation of a system similar to that of the GAs, which would be called “Government Innovators Program” and, according 183

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to the president’s words, it would consist of “a professional, stable and creative body among the best public employees and among young people from all over the country with a vocation to join the civil service, so that they would be in a position to promote significant changes in the National State” (Página12, 2020). However, the irruption of the COVID-​19 pandemic between the years 2020–​ 2021 changed the axis of government actions and therefore the initiative has been delayed in taking shape. Relegated the impacts of COVID-​19, on October 15, 2021 through Resolution 77, the Secretariat of Strategic Affairs of the Nation launched the management of the “Government Innovators Program” within the framework of the Economic and Social Council with the mission of incorporating a total of 1,000 innovators in the coming five-​year period. The realization of the new program would partially satisfy the urgent need for a new elite within the civil service adapted to the new challenges of the 21st century. It is not surprising that the CAG itself is behind this new public policy that seeks to revalue the forgotten quality public management. At present, 11 of the members of the body work in the Secretariat of Strategic Affairs, the state agency that promotes the initiative, but two GAs are specifically in charge of carrying out this new “Government Innovators Program”. The expertise of the GAs allows them to be the leaders and trainers of what will become an elite that will continue with their legacy. If the aforementioned Government Innovators Program can become a reality, the trend towards the disappearance of the CAG, which had been forged by the actions or inactions of the different governments, would be reversed. The process of creating a new public management would provide the CAG with the possibility of generating new elite bodies that would allow it to continue and especially revitalize its work.

Conclusion In closing, the history of the CAG is a clear reflection of the inconsistency with regard to long-​term public policies concerning the organization of the civil service. The promising beginning with a specific idea of hierarchizing public management, which needed to be sustained over time, could barely be maintained for a decade and four training programs. The changes of government had a negative impact and the successive organizational reformulations of the national public administration were detrimental to the proper development of the GAs. This path has demonstrated the propensity of governments to prevent the development of elite corps within the civil service. This saturnine behavior that “devours” the elites of the public administration has been expressed in various ways. From the dissolution of the Corps itself, as happened with the government economists, or as in the case of the GAs and PAs, keeping them in a long agony far from their original functions. There is still a “tendency for elite corps to fail if 184

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there is no adequate design of incentives, remuneration, continuity and stability” (J.M. Capitanich, personal interview, 26 January 2022). It is worth noting that despite the negative actions that were breaking the original ideology of the CAG, they demonstrated a constant capacity for readaptation. This translated into work that transcended the generation of public policies that were part of its managerial function. Specifically, the CAG became a radiator of academic knowledge through the research carried out by its members, as well as through the generation of spaces for the exchange and dissemination of knowledge, such as the journal Aportes, the congresses, and the Observatory of Public Policies. To this should also be added the enormous amount of academic work, papers, and participation in different international environments of which they have been part. Beyond its capacity for adaptation and its great contribution to knowledge, the CAG suffers the consequences of political decisions. Today it is an aging elite corps, which has not been renewed since 1995 and has been decimated by voluntary retirements or retirements. Today, 72 members of the 207 graduates are still serving as advisors in various governmental areas, far from the logic Roulet had in mind at the beginning. The idea of putting an end to the sharp division between politics and administration could not be carried out and, unfortunately, the lack of a new PROFAG for more than 25 years marks a tendency towards a slow disappearance of the CAG. Almost 40 years after the creation of the CAG, we are faced with a reality that is very different from the one in which it was born and at the same time with several demands, similar to those of the time of its creation, still unsatisfied. For this reason, there is an urgent need to reformulate the civil service and its relationship with politics, making it necessary to delve into the formation of new elite corps, in line with the multiplicity of changes and transformations demanded by the 21st century. However, it is possible to foresee a response to the needs just mentioned. The impulse of the Government Innovators Program, carried out by the current government of Alberto Fernandez, would generate a body similar to the one of the GAs, with the stamp of the present times. According to the logic, it is the CAG members themselves who carry out the public policy aimed at generating a new elite corps that would mean its continuity. Finally, based on the experience of the CAG throughout its existence, the implementation of the new program would be a great achievement for the public administration and its sustainability over time and through different governments would be a feat. References Alabés, G. (2007) ‘El sentido y el interés del Observatorio de Políticas Públicas del Cuerpo de Administradores Gubernamentales’, IV Congreso Argentino de Administración Pública, Buenos Aires: Asociación de Administradores Gubernamentales/​AAEAP, 22-​25 August. 185

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Clarín (2000) ‘Corre peligro un cuerpo de elite’, Clarín, 24 June. Available from https://w ​ ww.clar​ in.com/e​ conom ​ ia/c​ orre-p​ eli​gro-​cuerp​oeli​te_​0_​ r​ y3​Vj5g​0Yx. html [Accessed 12 December 2021]. Decree 2098 (1987) Estatuto y el Escalafón para el Cuerpo de Administradores Gubernamentales [Office of the President of the Nation, 30 December]. Negri, S.E. (2005) ‘Ser o no ser administrador gubernamental’, X Congreso Internacional del CLAD sobre la Reforma del Estado y de la Administración Pública, Santiago de Chile: CLAD, 18–​21 October. Oszlak, O. (1994) ‘Los AG: la creación de un cuerpo gerencial de elite en el sector público argentino’, Revista Aportes, 1: 106–​127. Oszlak, O. (1997) ‘La administración pública como área de investigación: la experiencia argentina’, Congreso Interamericano del CLAD sobre la Reforma del Estado y de la Administración Pública, Margarita Island: CLAD, 15–​18 October. Oszlak, O. (2020) ‘Un cuerpo que ha sabido superar los embates de la grieta. La Nación’, 3 January. https://​www.lanac​ion.com.ar/​opin​ion/​colu​mnis​tas/​un-​cue​r po-​ que-​ha-​sab​ido-​supe​rar-​los-​emba​tes-​de-​la-​g ri​eta-​nid​2320​555/​ [Accessed 6 March 2023]. Página12 (2020) ‘Fernández anunció la creación del Programa de Innovadores de Gobierno’, Página12, 2 March. Piemonte, V.D. (2005) ‘El Cuerpo de Administradores Gubernamentales: la piedra fundamental’, X Congreso Internacional del CLAD sobre la Reforma del Estado y de la Administración Pública, Santiago: CLAD, 18–​21 October. Piemonte, V.D. and Rivolta, M. (2019) ‘El rol de los administradores gubernamentales en la administración pública del siglo XXI’, XXIV Congreso Internacional del CLAD sobre la Reforma del Estado y de la Administración Pública, Buenos Aires: CLAD, 12–​15 November. Pulido, N.L. (2005) ‘El Cuerpo de Administradores Gubernamentales: la perspectiva académica’, X Congreso Internacional del CLAD sobre la Reforma del Estado y de la Administración Pública, Santiago: CLAD, 18–​21 October. Resolución Jefatura de Gabinete de Ministros Nº 203 (2002) ‘Observatorio de Políticas Públicas’, 25 April. Revista Aportes (2009) In Memoriam Raúl Ricardo Alfonsín, 27: 9. https://​www. asoci​acio​nag.org.ar/​apor​tes/​est​ado-​y-​adm​inis​trac​ion-​publ​ica-​en-​un-​pais-​fede​ ral-​ii/​ [Accessed 6 March 2023]. Rizzo, N. (2018) ‘Funcionarios públicos de elite. La creación del Cuerpo de Administradores Gubernamentales en Argentina’, Estudios Políticos, 52: 82–​105. Zuvanic, L. and Guidobono, G. (1997) ‘Recursos Humanos y Reforma de la Administración Pública. La Experiencia del Instituto Superior de los Economistas de Gobierno (ISEG)’, in Proceedings of the International Association of Schools and Institutes of Administration (Iasia) Annual conference , Quebec: International Association of Schools and Institutes of Administration (Iasia), pp 1–​18. Websites asoci​acio​nag.org.ar/​instit​ucio​nal/​cue​r po-​de-a​ dmin ​ istr​ ador​ es-g​ uber​ name​ ntal​ es/​ 186

12

The Argentine Congress as an environment for public policy formulation: an analysis of its technical areas Natalia Staiano and Pablo Lozada Castro

Introduction Usually, when talking about public policy formulation, the focus is mainly on the executive branches, and even when it comes to researching the subject, most studies have focused on this branch of government. A few years ago, however, this began to change and the focus began to shift to the legislative branches. In general terms, most of the studies on the Argentine Congress have dealt with the relations between the executive and the legislative branches, the political career of lawmakers, legislative production, and decrees of necessity and urgency, and have not focused much on the technical areas of Congress, which are those that provide assistance to lawmakers and their teams, mainly in their missions and functions. In this sense, the purpose of this chapter is to summarize a series of aspects related to these technical areas in order to evaluate the existing capacities, and to think about strengthening policies for the legislative branch, taking into account the factors that limit the Congress as an area for the formulation of public policies.

The technical areas of the Congress The following is a brief analysis of the functions of the technical areas that we consider strategic for the legislative work, and for the state capacity building, in terms of their potential for public policies formulation. These areas are: the committees, the Parliamentary Information Office, the Library of Congress, the Budget Office and the research and training sectors of Congress. The committees We can assert, without fear of mistake, that the parliamentary committees are the heart of the legislative work in the formulation of public policies, since it is in them where the political forces with parliamentary representation, debate and reach agreements, or not, on the presented projects. There are different types of parliamentary committees: on one hand, there are permanent advisory committees, on which we are going to focus; on the 187

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other hand, special committees, which are created for a specific purpose during a period of time, such as, for example, an investigative or follow-​up committee; and, finally, the bicameral committees. The guidelines for the organization and functioning of the committees are established in the rules of procedure of each Chamber. In the case of the Senate, its rules of procedure allow committees to issue their own internal rules of procedure, and even to organize themselves into up to two subcommittees –​ maximum –​to study a specific issue for a specific period. In the case of the Chamber of Deputies, Articles 7 and 90 of the rules of procedure enable some standing committees to issue rules of procedure or their own rules of procedure in special cases. The rules of procedure are approved by the committees themselves, or also by the plenary of the Chamber. The permanent committees replicate the balance of power existing within the Chambers. In them, the presidencies of the committees are assigned proportionally according to the number of lawmakers that each of the party blocks has, traditionally leaving the so-​called management committees, which deal with issues of great importance for the government administration, for the legislative block of the ruling political party at the level of the executive power. This unwritten rule was broken only once since 1983.1 It was when, in 2009, a group of opposition political forces after the legislative renewal election, gained control of some of these committees (De Luca, 2020), although, as Mark Jones and Juan Pablo Micozzi (2011) point out, later on, after taking control of these committees, the opposition was unable to impose the public policy agenda. The committees are divided by thematic areas for legislative work, and since the return to democracy in 1983, their number has been varying –​mainly in the Chamber of Deputies. Out of 27 unicameral permanent committees (Jones et al, 2000), there are now 46. In the Senate, the number of permanent committees is currently 27. Regarding the increase in the number of committees, Ernesto Calvo (2017) points out that the increase in party fragmentation led to a greater number of legislative blocks and a consequent increase in positions of authority, to be distributed among the different blocks. Although in formal terms there are no parliamentary committees that have a higher hierarchy than others, in real terms they do, due to the public policy issues that are defined in them. They are generally chaired by lawmakers with political weight, which does not necessarily imply greater seniority in the Chamber, but what empirical evidence indicates is that those who comprise them have a higher level of specialization, either because of their training or experience (Calvo, 2017). Also, in some cases there are committees, such as, for example, those of Energy or Agriculture, where the regional issue has an influence. Generally, their members come from provinces highly linked to those production sectors (De Luca, 2020). In this sense, a recent study on the Chamber of Deputies in period 2000–​2019 indicates that there is also a very strong gender bias in terms of the members and authorities of the parliamentary committees (De Luca, 2020). In the case of the 188

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so-​called management or strategic committees –​such as those dealing with budgetary issues –​there is a high percentage of men, while in those dealing with issues related to children, the elderly, or the family, there is a higher percentage of women. After the legislative renewal election of 2021, and after the approval of Law No. 27,412 on Gender Parity in the areas of Political Representation,2 by which the lists of candidates for the Congress must be made up of 50 percent of women and 50 percent of men alternately, and in the Chamber of Deputies gender parity was applied for the presidencies of the committees, despite this measure the percentage of men in the so-​called strategic committees remained high (De Luca, 2020). Finally, it is worth mentioning that there are some bicameral committees that also have a strategic nature due to the public policy areas they control, such as, for example, the Bicameral Committee on Legislative Procedures –​known as the Bicameral Commission on Necessity and Urgency Executive Orders –​the Joint Committee for the Review of Accounts, or the Bicameral Committee for the Oversight of Intelligence Agencies and Activities, which also have their own budget. These committees turned into very desirable destinations for lawmakers. The Parliamentary Information Office The Parliamentary Information Office of the Chamber of Deputies is an information and counselling center, which, despite being within the Chamber of Deputies, offers services to both Chambers of Congress. Among its services, it advises on different issues related to legislative work, through a systematic record of information and background of legislative activity. It also provides documentation and foreign legislation to the authorities of both Chambers, to the lawmakers and their work teams, to the legislative blocks, to the parliamentary committees, and to the legislative officers who may require it. This technical area of Congress has specialized staff, who had to compete, through time, in open or internal competitions. The Congress Library The Congress Library was created in 1859 by Law No. 212, and since 1906 –​ when the current Palace of Congress was inaugurated –​it has been assigned an exclusive space within. It currently houses the Historical Library. The first organizational structure of the Congress Library was created in 1917, and a Bicameral Administrative Commission was appointed. Also in that year, the first Public Reading Room was inaugurated. Since 1923, the Congress Library has been autarchic, under the orbit of the Bicameral Administrative Commission. In 2015, the Congress Library joined the International Group of Parliamentary and Public Libraries, and was certified with the IRAM-​ISO 9001:2015 Standard. Since 2017, the Congress Library has been the headquarters of the Regional Office of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions for Latin America and the Caribbean. 189

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The Congress Library offers multiple services to the community, provides national and foreign parliamentary and legal information, has a catalogue of more than 10,000 translations on legislative topics, numerous collections in print and digital format, has a newspaper and magazine library, a reading room open to the public, and a room exclusively for children, in addition to a cultural space, where courses, workshops, and various exhibitions are held. As per the legislative work, the Congress Library has a legislative reference area that provides a service to lawmakers and advisors, parliamentary commissions and other congressional offices, as well as to provincial legislatures, other branches of government, and public and private organizations. This area offers national and foreign legal and parliamentary information, as well as doctrine and jurisprudence, thematic lists, studies and research, and an archive of legal and parliamentary documents from 1853 to the present, in addition to the databases of the Federal Network of Parliamentary Libraries. It also has a team of translators in English and French, who translate laws, treaties, decrees, legal norms, and legislation, and, at the request of lawmakers and parliamentary committees, rulings, reports, and comparative legislation. The Congress Library has a Research and Scientific Liaison Unit that coordinates various Congress Library initiatives and programs, with universities and national and international scientific and technological institutions. It also offers a scholarship program that finances research stays for one or two months. The Congress Budget Office In 2016, Law No. 27,343 created the Budget Office of the Congress of the Nation (BCO) by agreement of the main legislative blocks. This was achieved after long years in which numerous bills were presented. For instance, we highlight the bill presented in 2003 by consensus by Senators Raúl Baglini (Unión Cívica Radical, UCR) and Oscar Lamberto (Partido Justicialista, PJ) and which, although approved by the Senate Budget and Finance Committee, was not treated in the chamber due to the opposition of the executive branch. This office aims to technically assist the lawmakers of both Chambers. To this end, it prepares reports, such as, for example, those concerning the draft budget law. Also, at the request of the Budget and Finance Committees of the Chambers, the BCO makes estimates on the budgetary impact of the bills submitted by the lawmakers, or analyses the public debt and its sustainability, the execution of the budget or the budgetary impact of the programs, and carries out studies on fiscal federalism. The structure of the BCO has a General Management, four directorates (a Budget Analysis Directorate, a Tax Fiscal Analysis Directorate, a Studies, Analysis and Evaluation Directorate, and a Public Debt Sustainability and Analysis Directorate), two coordinating offices (one for Institutional and Parliamentary Relations and the other for Administrative and Technical Coordination), and a team of analysts. 190

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The selection process for the general director and the other directors, as well as for the analysts that make up his staff, was based on public background and competitive examinations –​in which renowned professionals participated. All applicants had to undergo different evaluations, which meant an important institutional learning process for the Congress. Following its creation, the BCO has been consolidating its position within the parliamentary sphere as an important technical area.

The areas of research and training One of the areas we have decided to investigate is that of training and research in the legislative sphere. As far as training is concerned, each sector of Congress (Senate, Deputies, Library, Printing Office, Directorate of Social Assistance) has its own training area; however, we will only focus on the training areas of the Chambers of Congress, since these are the ones that work on the training of the employees directly linked to the legislative task of designing and formulating public policies. In relation to research activities, we are not only referring to the specific research areas of the Chambers, but also, as we saw in the previous sections, to the research tasks developed by other areas of Congress, to assist the demand of lawmakers and their staffs. For several decades, the Chamber of Deputies has had a Parliamentary Training Institute (PTI) that depends on the Parliamentary Secretariat of the Chamber. The PTI carries out training and research tasks, as well as liaison with society. Perhaps the strongest action in terms of training in recent years has been the creation, around ten years ago, of the Diploma in Parliamentary Management and Public Policy. Originally, it was offered jointly with different national universities. Currently, this Diploma has its eighth graduating class, and is taught jointly with the San Martín National University. This Diploma initially aimed at training employees of the Chamber of Deputies, taking into account their different backgrounds in terms of education and life trajectories. It provides a knowledge base on legislative issues, administrative operation of the Congress, and public policies. Currently, and due to new technologies, the Diploma has a format that combines classroom and virtual lessons. Due to the COVID-​19 pandemic, the virtual modality has increased and has allowed it to expand its participants. Today, provincial and municipal legislative personnel can also be trained. Of the 1,006 people enrolled in the seventh intake, 865 met the requirements for approval. In the case of the Senate, numerous changes have taken place in recent years that have affected the training and research structures. Since the 1990s, the Senate had two training sectors: a Professional Training Centre (PTC), which depended on the Human Resources area within the Administrative Area, and was mainly in charge of technical-​administrative 191

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training; and a Federal Institute of Parliamentary Studies (FIPE), which depended on the Parliamentary Secretariat, and was devoted to research and training in legislative and public policy matters. This Institute had a predecessor in the 1980s: the Institute of Political Law. In 2016, the authorities of the Chamber took the decision to dissolve PTC and FIPE –​in the case of the latter, there was a very significant increase in the number of employees during the period 2011–​2015 –​and to create a General Management of Research and Training Programs (GMRTP), which depended on the Presidency of the Senate. The two aforementioned training areas now depend on this new Management. The difference is that, in this new organizational chart, FIPE was divided into two directorates according to their area of competence: training and research. The new GMRTP then was divided in three directorates: one dedicated exclusively to research, and two others to training: one on technical-​administrative issues, and the other on legislative issues. At the end of 2015, after the change of authorities, the new management decided to dissolve the GMRTP and transferred the three previously named directorates to the Human Resources area. In relation to this, perhaps an institutional design issue to be taken into account, would be the convenience that both research and legislative training depend on the parliamentary area, or in its absence, on the Presidency of the Senate, instead of on the administrative area; and that only the technical-​administrative training depends on Human Resources. Recently, within the framework of the strategic training plan, a Diploma in Legislative Management was created. It is taught jointly with the La Plata National University, and takes as a reference the Diploma of the Chamber of Deputies. This Diploma has a two-​term study plan, with a total of 176 hours of semi-​attendance courses, which due to the pandemic became virtual. The third promotion will begin to study as of August 2022. In the Senate, the idea of offering tertiary studies to the legislative staff is not new. There is a precedent, the University Technicature, that was dictated jointly with the University of Buenos Aires for some years, and that had articulation with other universities to complete undergraduate studies. However, due to a change of management, it was left without effect. It is also important to point out that since 1987, a Secondary Level Educational Centre has been operating in the Congress area. It depends on the Government of the Autonomous city of Buenos Aires, and is intended for people over 18 years of age who have not completed their secondary education. The original idea was to offer legislative personnel without a high school education, an orientation related to their jobs –​this Secondary Level Educational Centre grants the secondary degree of Expert in Legislative Administration. However, most of its students are not Congress employees, even though Congress has a large number of employees who have not completed their secondary education (about 28 percent in Deputies, 23 percent in Senate, and 7 percent in the Library). 192

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Factors conditioning the role of Congress in public policy matters The low re-​election rate of lawmakers and its impact on specialization One of the main investigations on the political careers of national lawmakers in our country during the period 1983–​1999 has been that of Mark P. Jones, Sebastian Saiegh, Pablo T. Spiller, and Mariano Tommasi (Jones et al, 2000). In it, the authors analyze why the Argentine Congress is not able to exercise effective control over the executive branch, and why its role is highly limited in the formulation of public policies. In some cases, the role of Congress is even restricted to that of a veto player. They compare it with the US Congress, where the tenure rate of national lawmakers is higher than in our country. The authors point out that for the period 1983–​1999, the rate of consecutive re-​election of national lawmakers was 17 percent, that is to say that most of the members of Congress only had a mandate for one term. If we analyze a longer period such as 1983–​2019, we find that consecutive re-​election rates have remained low: 20.6 percent for the Chamber of Deputies and 22.4 percent for the Chamber of Senators (Lozada Castro and Bembi, 2021). For the authors, there are two factors that discourage long legislative races. The first one is linked to the role of party leaders at the local level to define the candidates for national legislative positions, with a greater influence than the voters of the district; the second one is the weak institutional restrictions that the executive power has to act unilaterally, which subsumes the Congress to a residual role in the formulation of public policies, mainly as a veto player. However, it is also true, as the authors point out, that although most of the Congress members are amateur lawmakers, they are still professional politicians. Further, and related to this, the authors point out that there is a lack of specialization of national lawmakers. This is linked, on the one hand, to their short permanence in the national legislative sphere, and, on the other hand, to the large number of committees they have to integrate, which also hinders their specialization. For example, they point out that in the case of the Chamber of Deputies, there were 27 permanent committees in 1983, which increased to 40 in 1997, and currently stands at 46, while the number of deputies increased from 254 in 1983 to 257 in 1991, where it remains in the present day (Jones et al, 2000). This led to the fact that national deputies have had to assume responsibilities in a greater number of committees. In the case of the Senate, although after the reform of the National Constitution in 1994 the number of senators increased from 48 to 72, and their term of office was shortened from nine years to six, the number of committees is lower: each senator on average must integrate a greater number of committees than a deputy. On this point, Ernesto Calvo (2017) states that, despite the low rate of consecutive re-​election of national lawmakers, in the case of the Chamber of Deputies, there is a high level of specialization in the committees that are 193

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considered strategic. In these committees, the lawmakers who take part and chair them mostly have a related academic background or experience in the area. However, we believe that the low rate of consecutive re-​election is an important factor to consider. Delegation of powers to the executive branch Article 76 of the Argentine Constitution states the possibility for the legislative branch to delegate administrative or public emergency powers, during a specific term, and within the delegation basis established by Congress. Exceptionally, then, Congress may delegate certain legislative powers to the executive branch on a temporary basis. In this way, the executive branch avoids the ordinary procedure of enactment of a law, by an administrative act of the president with the chief of the Cabinet of Ministers. This type of delegation is usually justified on the slowness of the ordinary legislative procedure, and the need of the executive branch to fulfil its administration, but it is also true that this ends up limiting the Congress as a sphere for public policies formulation. The lack of an administrative career Public employment in the sphere of the national legislative branch is regulated by Law No. 24,600, which establishes a statute and scale for Congress personnel. This statute and scale exclude lawmakers, secretaries and pro-​secretaries, and personnel of the National General Audit Office, which, in turn, has functional autonomy and financial autarchy, beyond its dependence on the legislative branch. This statute includes permanent and temporary employees. The latter render services for national lawmakers, a party block or as committees’ political advisors. As in most of the public employment regimes in different areas of the national government, Law No. 24,600 guarantees the stability of the public employee, the administrative career, training and clear procedures for access to positions and promotion, and, as in most of the areas of the national government, many of these issues are enunciated, but are not effective in real terms. At present, approximately 10,000 agents work in the Congress Chambers, including permanent and temporary staff, and personnel hired as service or work contractors. The Senate has 2,555 permanent employees and 2,091 temporary employees, which gives an aggregate of 4,646 employees, and 536 employees hired as service or work contractors; the Chamber of Deputies has in aggregate 4,509 employees both permanent and temporary, not counting services or work contractors. In the case of the Chamber of Deputies, the number of employees has remained fairly stable in recent periods, but this is not the case in the Senate. For example, during the periods 2007–​2011 and 2011–​2015, there were around 3,000 and 194

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3,500 employees in aggregate. However, in the period 2011–​2015 the number of employees reached over 6,000 in aggregate, which represented a strong staff increase. In addition, most of the new employees during that period did not have university education. These data serve to illustrate the lack of a true human resources policy within the national legislative power. Although we understand the political nature and logic of the organization, it is necessary to build a legislative bureaucracy with clear procedures of access to positions and promotion, to avoid discretionary situations. In this regard, it would be important to take into account the job profiles of employees and their academic background when assigning them to a position, since they often end up performing functions in areas that have nothing to do with their training or experience. Although there have been attempts, for instance, during the period 2015–​2019 in the Senate, where a competition was called to fill the positions of vacant technical secretaries at some parliamentary committees, as well as those of Head of Department within the Administrative Area, this practice did not last. Accountability and access to public information For some years now, the national legislative branch has been advancing in actions that allow it to get closer to society, to make its work visible and, above all, to improve accountability. Some of these actions have been the creation of television channels in each of the Chambers that broadcast live the sessions and meetings of parliamentary commissions dealing with relevant issues; the dissemination of information through social networks; the publication on the Internet of bills introduced and laws passed; the publication of the agenda of activities; the creation of transparency and citizen service offices through which requests for access to information can be made; the publication on the Internet of purchases and contracts; the lists of lawmakers and staff, salary scales, subsidies granted; and the different administrative acts and decrees signed by the authorities of the Chambers. However, while in some aspects there was progress, there were also setbacks, and there are still pending issues to improve accountability and access to public information. Thus, there are two issues that we would like to point out here: one is the creation of the Legislative Agency for Access to Public Information, and the other is the failed attempt to promote the use of plain language in regulatory texts in the Senate, as a resource for the fulfilment of the right of access to public information. The Legislative Agency for Access to Public Information In February 2018, by joint resolution No. 003/​18, the Chairmen of both Chambers promoted the creation of the Legislative Agency for Access to Public Information within the framework of Law No. 27,275 on access to public 195

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information. This law reaches both Chambers and their dependencies, and all agencies that depend on the national legislative branch, and any other that could be created thereat. The proposal of its director must be made by a joint resolution of the chairmen of both Chambers, and before being submitted to a public hearing process with the participation of civil society, a period must be opened to allow the possibility of submitting challenges to the nomination. Although this agency depends on the national legislative branch, it has functional autonomy, and to this day the proposal of a director for the agency is still pending. Plain language in the legislative field During the period 2016–​2020, the Senate actively participated to promote the use of plain language in the texts produced in the legislative field, as a way to facilitate understanding and universal access for all citizens. It carried out different actions to meet this objective. In 2018, it created the Argentine Plain Language Network, together with the Presidential Legal and Technical Secretariat, and the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights. This network reflected the commitment of the three branches of government to work together towards a common goal: the need to give citizens a main place in state communications. This network formed a community of public agencies, private entities, and individuals interested in promoting the use of plain language in government agencies. What is interesting about this initiative is that it brought together many stakeholders who had been researching and training in plain language on their own, and gave public visibility to the issue. For example, the Senate, through its PTC, had been providing plain language training since 2006. Training was another action carried out to promote the value of plain language in government communications. Several workshops and training courses were rendered, so that the trainees could implement plain language projects in their workplaces. The Senate, through the network, also organized meetings, conferences, and workshops to publicize the initiative at all levels of public administration, and in the national and provincial judiciary and legislative branches. In this way, plain language was placed on the public agenda. Finally, the Senate reflected this commitment in its organizational chart. In 2019, it created a Department of Plain Language Law in the Committees General Management, with the aim that bills could have linguistic plain language advice, prior to their floor debate. Although this advice was of a counselling and non-​ binding nature, the initiative was not accepted by neither legislative advisors nor by the Committee secretaries, so it never became effective, and following the change of authorities, the structure was eliminated. Something similar happened with the Argentine Plain Language Network, which also ceased to operate following the change of management.

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Conclusion Throughout this chapter, we have tried to inquire about the existing state capacities within the legislative branch that are closely linked to the assistance of lawmakers and their teams, as well as on other issues related to the training of human resources, and the administrative career within Congress. In this regard, we have also addressed a series of issues that we consider to limit the legislative branch in the formulation of public policies. On some of them, we consider that there are greater margins for short-​term actions, and to such extent we consider the importance of carrying out a series of actions to increase state capacities, and revalue the role of Congress vis-​à-​vis society. On the one hand, we consider it vital to strengthen the administrative career within the legislative sphere, clearly defining procedures for access to administrative and technical areas, without losing sight of the political component of public administration, so as not to be shipwrecked with proposals that are difficult to implement. We strongly believe that strengthening the administrative career will make it possible to better sustain institutional projects beyond any current administration. On the other hand, we think it would be convenient to create a bicameral body to deal with issues related to research and training in the national legislative branch, following a model similar to the one that was carried out for the creation of the Congressional Budget Office, and for the appointment of its authorities and work staff. In addition, at the same time, we consider that it is of vital importance for the professionalization of the legislative staff, to link training with the possibility of progress in the administrative career. To that end, it would also be a good practice to reinstate the Clear Law Department in the Senate, and create it in the Chamber of Deputies, to benefit from the plain language advice that the specialized staff is already able to provide, with a direct impact on the economy of resources and lawmaking. Finally, we believe that it would be important to make progress in the appointment of the head of the Agency for Access to Public Information of the national legislative branch, an appointment that has been pending for four years. Notes 1

2

At the beginning of 2001, when the Senate had to renew its authorities, the main opposition party had a majority in that Chamber, and displaced the pro-​government senator Mario Losada (UCR) from the provisional presidency of the Senate, who was replaced by Ramón Puerta (PJ). Thus, the tradition of reserving that space for a senator of the same political space as the president was broken, since that senator is in the line of succession. In the aforementioned case, since the vice-​president had resigned a few months before, the provisional president of the Senate followed the president in the line of succession. There is the precedent of Law No. 24,012 on female quota approved in 1991, which established that at least 30 percent of the places on the lists of candidates should be occupied by women. This was the first law of its kind to be implemented at the national level in Latin America.

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References Calvo, E. (2017) Legislator Success in Fragmented Congresses in Argentina: Plurality Cartels, Minority Presidents, and Lawmaking, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. De Luca, A. (2020) La especialización legislativa: análisis sobre los factores que influyen en la integración de las comisiones de la Cámara de Diputados de Argentina (2000–​ 2019), master’s thesis, San Andrés University, Buenos Aires. Jones, M. and Micozzi, J.P. (2011) ‘Control, Concertación, Crisis y Cambio: cuatro C para dos K en el Congreso nacional’, in A. Malamud and M. De Luca (eds), La política en tiempos de los Kirchner, Buenos Aires: Eudeba, pp 49–​62. Jones, M., Saiegh, S., Spiller, P., and Tommasi, M. (2000) ‘Políticos profesionales –​ legisladores amateurs: el Congreso argentino en el siglo XX’, Centro de Estudios para el Desarrollo Institucional Working Paper # 45, Buenos Aires: Ministerio de Economía. Lozada Castro, P. and Bembi, C. (2021) ‘Las reelecciones consecutivas en el Congreso de la Nación en el período 1983 –​2019’, in M. D’Alessandro (ed.) XV Congreso Nacional de Ciencia Política : la democracia en tiempos de desconfianza e incertidumbre global : acción colectiva y politización de las desigualdades en la escena pública, Rosario: Sociedad Argentina de Análisis Político, pp 1217–​1235.

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Policy analysis by national government advisory councils: knowledge production and its role in policy design and implementation Nelson Cardozo and Paola Ferrari

Introduction Argentina has a federal political and administrative structure consisting of a national government, 23 provincial governments (with their local administrations) plus an autonomous city that functions de facto as an additional federative entity. However, this country, unlike other similar cases, shows a “centripetal” or “centralized” type of federalism, given its importance in many aspects of the country’s political and administrative structure (Gibson and Falleti, 2007) given the importance of the national level in many aspects of policy. According to the constitutional design, the primary responsibilities of the subunits are education, security, health, and local development, while the nation is in charge of large infrastructure works, foreign policy, and macroeconomic policy, among others. Therefore, the so-​called intergovernmental coordination function between the nation and the provinces is important. Federalism consists of an institutional design that combines the self-​ government of the provinces and municipalities with the major national interests (Cao, 2008). This shared governance is exercised through a variety of forms and institutions: from a second chamber of the federal legislature that provides for the representation of territorial interests at the legislative level, to regional veto powers in concurrent political spheres, to cooperation in the arenas of intergovernmental relations (formal and informal). In addition, the reform of the state in the 1990s gave more powers to the provinces and municipalities through the processes of decentralization, demonopolization, and privatization of many governmental activities. This makes necessary, beyond the legislative arena, structures that coordinate the different executive levels in the nation and the provinces to carry out public policies with a certain degree of effectiveness. At the level of the executive branch, sectoral policies are articulated through coordination and negotiation instances within the federal councils, which are within the orbit of the national ministries. We can think of them not only as instances of political and administrative coordination but also as spaces for the 199

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production of knowledge for the formulation of public policies. To guide their actions, they not only make political agreements and administrative decisions, but a complex federal country needs to resort to certain evidence and the elaboration of expert knowledge. This elaboration of knowledge in these organizations is materialized in books, technical reports, scientific articles, and working papers, among other types of communications. Thus, it is possible to understand these federal councils not only as places of negotiation and coordination of policies between the nation and the provinces, but also as agencies with a body of advisors and expertise in different sectoral policies. This work seeks to analyze the knowledge production by the councils and other similar instances at the national level. Traditionally, the process of formulating public policy has been highly focused on executive bodies with strong decisionist patterns from the presidency and the governing party. For this reason, the production of public policies in the legislative bodies in our country rests with the committees of the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies. Thus, there was no stable body of congressional advisors to produce documents, reports, and publications on public policy. On the contrary, the councils, committees, and advisory bodies articulated by the executive level played a leading role. They were more linked to the implementation and evaluation stage of public policies. This chapter will review the contributions made by these government agencies to the policy analysis. These integrate servants, experts, and stakeholders to develop production on different topics and at the same time support and coordinate policy implementation. The agencies we will take are: the National Council for Quality in Education; the Federal Health Council; the National Council for the Coordination of Social Policies; the Federal Investment Council; and, finally, the Secretariat of Social Security, which has a great academic production on the subject. To this end, we will review the reports, books, working papers, journals, and conferences that these agencies have produced. We will focus on social policies, which are the main policy area of our national government. In addition, we will look at the planning, implementation, and evaluation functions that these agencies perform in the policy process. Finally, from this study, we will make a brief state of the art of the production on the country’s four major sectoral policies: social welfare, health, education, and infrastructure.

Knowledge production in advisory bodies: a review of the literature The relationship between expert knowledge and government dates back to classical antiquity. Plato (427–​347 BC) and Aristotle (384–​322 BC) outlined this virtuous relationship between knowledge about the polis and the existence of good administrations. At the dawn of modernity, authors such as Niccolo Machiavelli (1469–​1527) warned of the importance of the prince’s advisors in the design of public policies and the maintenance of the power of a 200

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state (Ongaro, 2020). Later, the birth of the “Social Physiology” of Henri de Saint-​Simon (1760–​1825), renamed by Auguste Comte (1798–​1857) as sociology, was closely linked to answering the social question derived from the industrial revolution. However, it will be the birth of the sciences of public administration towards the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century that will mark this positive synergy between administrative knowledge and good implementation of public policies. This tradition, which began on both sides of the ocean with the ideas of Woodrow Wilson (1856–​1924) in the US and Max Weber (1864–​1920) in Germany, marked two lines of analysis of the implications of bureaucratic knowledge in democratic government. Thus, public administration as a field of knowledge has as its main assumption the existence of a body of trained professionals with expert knowledge. Technical rationality, provided by expert knowledge, will be central to achieving general welfare through the articulation of public and private interests, within what became known as “new liberalism” (Parsons, 1996). This new field, public administration, will be a confluence of political science, administrative sciences, and administrative law (Bañón Martínez, 1997). The corollary of this path will undoubtedly be the deliberate construction of the “policy sciences” by Harold Lasswell (1902–​1978). This social scientist delimited an applied disciplinary field whose main purpose was to improve the intelligence of governmental decisions. The purpose of this discipline was to make public policies more efficient and to improve the practice of democracy. Democracy’s ultimate goal was the realization of human dignity (Lasswell, 1951). The welfare state sought for 30 years the coexistence of democracy, capitalism, and a high standard of human development. All this took place in the context of the Cold War in a confrontation between the two superpowers. The birth of the Third World brought about the development of expert knowledge. Thus, experts from all over the world traveled from the US to developing countries. These scientists and advisors sought to prescribe growth and industrialization strategies to the governments of these nations, with a strongly technocratic imprint. This movement was known as development administration or comparative public administration (Heady, 1995; Otenyo and Lind, 2006). After the crisis of the welfare state and the fall of the Berlin Wall, new realities emerged in the heat of the globalization process. The role of international actors such as the International Monetary Fund, the Organisation for Economic Co-​ operation and Development, the World Bank, or regional blocs such as the European Union or Mercosur, revitalized the role of technical knowledge in public management. After an optimism in the market economy and democracy in the early 1990s, successive economic crises (Mexico in 1994, Russia in 1998, the subprime crisis of 2008, or COVID-​19 in 2020) or international crises (the 2001 attacks, the Arab Spring of 2010–​2011, or the war in Ukraine in 2022) raised questions about the limitations of technical knowledge to improve the living conditions of populations. 201

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In modern societies, public policies require expert knowledge to carry out successful social interventions. The exponential growth of available information irreversibly and dizzyingly changes how many how governments play their roles. A body of works recovers the interaction between expert knowledge and governmental decisions. Here we find several conceptualizations, such as “production of technical knowledge for the formulation of public policies” (Palamidessi et al, 2017) understood as the knowledge produced by academic centers, public entities, or their advisory bodies. The “ideas” and “expert knowledge” of these affect the elaboration of public policies. The content of governmental interventions is strongly conditioned by the ideas that guide them, which are supported by groups of experts, governmental advisors, and the public sector (Andersen and Breidahl, 2021; Bundi and Trein, 2022; Brans et al, 2022; Croci et al, 2022). The content of government interventions is strongly conditioned by the ideas that guide them, which are carried by expert groups, government advisors, or the bureaucratic capacity of governments through their particular way of building the public value of their servants (Peters, 2002; Berner and Hemelryck, 2021; Eshuis et al, 2022). All this is what we can encompass as “expert knowledge for public management”. According to Camou and Chain (2017), we find two trends to look at this knowledge production within the state in Argentina. One set of literature focuses its attention on the political decision process, trying to decipher the functioning of the “black box” of the state. The works that follow this particular orientation ask as much about how knowledge influences policies as about how knowledge influences policies. This literature emphasizes how social scientists participate in the formulation of programs, while also trying to show what factors do or do not favor this influence. This perspective, which explores how the state uses the knowledge produced by the social sciences to shape its policies (in turn influencing the production and dissemination of these ideas), is the one that marks the pulse of the works collected by Neiburg and Plotkin (2004). Another body of literature focuses on political action and decision-​making. The literature that is part of this orientation considers the process of coordination and interaction between individuals, groups, norms, and conflicts, in which the actors –​the networks of actors –​define their decisions concerning the state and each other. These texts focus on the formation of fields of expertise, the analysis of professions, and the sociology of science, concentrating on how social science professionals market their knowledge and establish their social position in the network of actors who can take part in public decisions (Bohoslavsky and Soprano, 2010; Morresi and Vommaro, 2012). This vernacular literature attempts to “open up” and “complexify” policy making in our country, breaking away from the traditional decisionist view of Latin America and Argentina. The conceptualizations that see centralization in the executives as a feature of Latin American presidentialism (Zermeño, 1989; Lanzaro, 2001; Tsebelis, 2007; O’Donnell, 2010; Scartascini, 2010) tend to blur the importance of knowledge production and the role of advisory bodies in 202

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policy content. In these pages, we will try to deepen the complexity of the “black box” and the role of the councils as articulators of the federal executive level and the provincial authorities.

A look at the federal councils in Argentina Institutions are human creations aimed at resolving existing conflicts in modern and complex societies. At the same time, the implementation of public policies in federal designs includes a multiplicity of multilevel actors such as the nation, the provinces, and the municipalities. These institutions of articulation between the nation and the provinces are what we will understand as “federal councils”. For this chapter, we will try to see what kind of production is generated within these instances to answer if they are indeed centers of knowledge for policy analysis, or on the contrary if they are mere instruments of political coordination. Thus, we can consider the federal councils in Argentina as procedural policy tools that attempt to integrate different actors into the policy-​making process (Singh Bali et al, 2021). In this case, they are nodes of articulation between the federal government and the provinces to coordinate formulation (political dimension) and implementation (administrative level). Since Argentina has a federal structure, it is necessary to coordinate the main lines of action with those primarily responsible for their execution, that is, the provinces. Different works in our country have addressed these organisms. Research such as that of Rey (2013) sees these agencies as part of the inter-​jurisdictional relations of Argentine federalism, which are in constant tension (Serafinoff, 2007). On the other hand, institutionalist perspectives such as that of Goyburu (2015) think of these organizations as spheres where two dimensions of coordination are articulated: political and administrative. Along these lines, we find works that see these councils as the migration from a dual (intermediate) federal model to a cooperative one, where federal councils are instruments that promote the integrality of public policies. These institutions “aim at coordinating specific areas of public policy in terms of articulating the decisions of national-​level authorities with those of the provincial level (and which, in principle, would not include the participation of the local level)” (Cao et al, 2016, p 79). In this sense, they are dimensions of intergovernmental relations at the executive level. The federal councils are spaces for negotiation between the national ministries and the ministries of the provinces in an area of public policy. In conclusion, they are arenas for executive coordination of sectoral policies at the federal level. In terms of their structure, a national authority and a representative of the area of reference of each provincial government form them. An authority of the federal executive generally chairs them, although in some cases provincial officials may chair them. It is also important to investigate the policy areas and the temporal dimension of these councils to understand their different degrees 203

Policy Analysis in Argentina Table 13.1: Stages in the creation of federal councils Stage

Features

Councils

First wave (1958–​1989) Developmentalism

Substitutive industrialization model Authoritarian governments Infrastructure and social policies

• Investments •  Road and Cadastre •  Culture and Education •  Social Welfare • Health

Second wave (1989–​2003) State reform

Economic reform Democracy New issues Neoliberalism

• Agriculture • Population •  Homeland Security • Fishing • Industry • Environment •  Road Safety •  Science and Technology • Drug Addiction and Drug Trafficking Prevention

Third wave (2003–​present) New role of the state

Crisis of neoliberalism Recovery of the production model and the capacity of the state

•  Federal Water •  Fiscal Responsibility •  Soccer Show Security • Productive • Childhood, Adolescence, and Family • Anti-​discrimination Public Policies • Planning and Land Management • Justice

Source: Own elaboration based on Cao et al (2016)

of consolidation and institutionalization. Table 13.1 shows the different stages in the creation of the councils studied. National Council for Quality in Education The National Council for the Quality of Education is a body created in 2006 by the National Education Law. Article No. 98 defines it as “a specialized advisory body, which shall be composed of members of the academic and scientific community of recognized experience in the field, representatives of the National Ministry of Education, the Federal Council of Education, the National Congress, labor and production organizations, and teachers’ unions with national status”. Among its strategic guidelines, the National Council for the Quality of Education upholds a broad vision of educational quality, also considering the results of standardized learning tests as a complementary aspect, in favor of a comprehensive perspective that encompasses the different dimensions of the right to education. Fourteen years after the enactment of the National Education Law, the National Ministry of Education, through Resolution No. 549/​2020, regulated 204

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the composition and operation of the Council. The Council will be made up of 35 permanent members: two representatives of the Ministry of Education, five provincial Ministers of Education representing the Federal Education Council, one for each region; four national legislators who are members of the education commissions of both chambers; five representatives of labor and production organizations; five representatives of teachers’ unions with national status and 14 counselors from the academic and scientific community. However, this body became operational in 2020 and has produced three documents called “recommendations”. These were important for outlining educational policies during the virtualization of teaching during the COVID-​ 19 pandemic, pointing out the importance of accompanying student learning, outlining policies to reduce educational inequities, and the presentation of a national evaluation plan. The authorities of the National Ministry of Education presented the preliminary proposal of the National Plan for the Evaluation of Education 2021–​2022, which is under discussion in different areas and will have to be considered, debated, and approved by the educational authorities of the whole country within the framework of the Federal Council of Education. The presentation of the plan showed the consensus on the comprehensive evaluation of education in the current agenda of educational policies. Although this agency mentions the incorporation of experts, it has not yet managed to institutionalize the elaboration of reports, documents, and publications of its own. Federal Health Council The Federal Health Council is a public body created by Law 22.373 of 1981 to coordinate public health actions in the Argentine nation. It is made up of the Ministers of Health of the provinces and is presided over by the Minister of Health of the nation. From the investigation of its actions, we can see that it is a technical-​political coordination body for the formulation and implementation of health policies. Since the Federal Health Agreement in 2003, its institutional production has taken the form of minutes reflecting a consensus on public policies. Contrarily, there are no technical documents, books, or reports that serve as input for health policies. Thus, the evidence suggests that this body is not an entity aimed at creating knowledge on public policies, but rather an instance of political-​administrative coordination. During the COVID-​19 pandemic, we could see that the different phases of formulation and implementation of actions were marked by an articulation between the nation and the provinces. The role of physicians, infectologists, epidemiologists, and clinicians, who took upon themselves the task of advising the political power on the best strategies to face a global epidemic scenario, recognized antecedents that date back to the end of the 19th century and cross the 20th century. Wise men, notables, “eminences”, leaders of the medical community recognized by their peers and relatively integrated into the political and technical elites of each period, these physicians have transcended 205

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their role as scientists and aspired to greater political and social visibility. The appointment of a commission of experts and the place they occupied in each of the stages of Preventive and Compulsory Social Isolation, since March 2020, marked a path that, in a certain sense, resumed the tradition of the role of medical knowledge in the design of health policy. The members of the commission became public figures. They are part of a wide range of actions aimed at diagnosing and reformulating the phases of isolation management and disseminating its advantages and obstacles (Ramacciotti and Rayez, 2020). Evidence seems to suggest that coordinated design of isolation policies, and later vaccination, was a successful case of articulation between the federal and provincial levels. The national government centralized the authority, technical knowledge, and acquisition of equipment and vaccines. On the other hand, the provincial authorities were in charge of the implementation of the entire health and vaccination policy, reaching, by July 2022, more than 80 percent of the Argentine population with a complete vaccination schedule as shown in Figure 13.1. National Council for the Coordination of Social Policies The National Council for the Coordination of Social Policies is an Argentine government agency for the articulation of the areas of the national state that implement social policies. The National Council for the Coordination of Social Policies aims to collaborate in the strategic planning of social policies and programs of the government. In addition, it must advise on the prioritization of public policies for the short term and strategic definitions for the medium and long term. It also aims to propose policies to promote the participation of civil society organizations and the private sector in the development, promotion, and monitoring of the social policies implemented. In the case of this agency, we can find a robust production of documents and reports for management. Within the Council, there is a technical area dedicated to the systematization of data and reports called SIEMPRO (Information, Evaluation, and Monitoring System for Social Programs). It assists government agencies with specific demands for socio-​demographic and economic information for the design, planning, and evaluation of social intervention strategies. This team carries out monitoring and evaluation of social programs and at the same time conducts training activities. Training includes the elaboration of theoretical materials (as shown in Table 13.2), courses with national universities, virtual workshops on public policies, impact evaluation of social programs for public officials, and discussions on different topics. Finally, a technical area of implementation is the Direction of the System for the Identification of Beneficiary Families of Social Programs and Services (SISFAM). Its purpose is to identify and select families in situations of greater poverty and social vulnerability to promote greater efficiency, transparency, and equity in the distribution of state resources. Currently, the SISFAM is working 206

newgenrtpdf

Figure 13.1: People who completed the initial COVID-​19 vaccination protocol, July 10, 2022

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207 Note: Alternative definitions of a full vaccination, for example, having been infected with SARS-​CoV-​2 and having one dose of a two-​dose protocol, are ignored to maximize comparability between countries. Source: Official data collated by Our World in Data

Policy Analysis in Argentina Table 13.2: The National Council for the Coordination of Social Policies: technical production Publication

Type

Features

Social indicators system

Statistics

Consolidates relevant social information generated from statistical surveys and administrative records. Provides an overview of the socioeconomic situation at the national level.

Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI)

Statistics

A complementary measure to income poverty, published every six months by National Institute of Statistics and Census (INDEC). The MPI is an unofficial measurement, prepared as an application exercise.

Multiple Deprivation Index

Statistics

It allows establishing interrelationships between a set of indicators based on census information by localities and census radii, scoring each geographic unit according to the incidence of deprivation linked to structural and more stable aspects of the population. It is presented interactively.

Child Risk Index

Statistics

It combines a set of indicators from different sources (census, vital statistics, and administrative records), which are self-​weighted into a single measure that makes it possible to account for the level of vulnerability in childhood at the local level.

Diagnosis of the provincial situation

Report

Annual diagnostic reports on the situation in each province concerning population and households, education, labor market, health, poverty and income distribution, social security benefits, housing and services, and monitoring of social programs.

Economic bulletins

Report

Summary bulletins on poverty and income distribution.

Guide to national and provincial social programs

Report

Compilation of information on social programs of the different ministries and national and provincial agencies.

Monitoring of social programs

Monitoring

Analysis of the execution of each component of the national social programs.

on the survey and follow-​up of suspended and extended entitlement subjects of the Universal Child Allowance,1 within the framework of the Protection for Children and Young People project together with the National Administration of Social Security and the National Ministry of Social Development. One of SISFAM’s priority areas of work is to accompany families by contemplating a comprehensive approach to the different social problems that presents this universe. It is also responsible for providing training on the use of the Social Card as a data collection tool to produce local diagnoses as input for the design of strategies to accompany families. The Federal Investment Council The Federal Investment Council is a key body for relations between the nation and the provinces. Its history dates back to 1958 when the need to create a 208

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Federal Investment Council was declared. The following year, the Preparatory Commission and the Plenary of Representatives set forth the idea of promoting local development through this organization. The Federal Investment Council arose from a political pact between governors of the same political party, taking up the developmentalist proposals of the federal administration (Flores, 2020). Thus, the Federal Investment Council was created as permanent research, coordination, and advisory body. It is in charge of recommending the necessary measures for an adequate investment policy and better use of the different economic means leading to the achievement of development based on decentralization (Iribarren, 2008). The Agency is managed by an Assembly made up of the governors of all the provinces. The funds for the financing of the Agency come from a percentage applied to the co-​participation of national taxes received by the provinces. As of 1987, it underwent a strong institutional reform that reduced its capacity as an organization. This included the elimination of employees, voluntary retirement of personnel, outsourcing of professional activities, abandonment of centralized planning towards a total transfer of technical decisions to the provinces, or contracting of works in the hands of the provinces, among others. Its current lines of work seek to provide innovative solutions for the development of Argentina’s provinces. This organization seeks to make available technical-​financial tools that will enable them to develop and enrich their potential in productivity, foreign trade, government management, technological innovation, cultural industries, and jobs of the future. This Council has an extensive production on public policies, linked to regional planning and economic and social development. Its repository has very valuable and, in many cases, unique information, produced by the institution’s technicians, hired experts and consulting firms, and studies resulting from agreements with national and international organizations. Its digital institutional library contains more than 9,400 documents for consultation, produced by the institution itself. This makes the Federal Investment Council a very important node of information on local development public policies, which seeks to develop state knowledge for the formulation and implementation of public actions. Currently, the Council works under the Federal Investment Council 2021–​2025 agenda agreed in an exchange and consensus with the provincial governments. Its lines of work are the result of the validation of interests and joint strategic objectives, including the Federal Training Program for Development Management, International Relations, Financing, Energy Efficiency Program, Argentine Creators in Network, Regional Productive Systems, and Infrastructure. In addition, the entity is carrying out teaching activities with the Federal Training Program, which provides innovation and leadership tools to young people to enhance the development of Argentina’s provinces. This program, which in 2022 is in its third edition, addresses key contents for Argentina’s development. It includes virtual and face-​to-​face activities such as master classes, provincial panels, project design workshops, and provincial integration days, which give young people the opportunity to learn in-​depth about the main strategic sectors of their 209

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province. The closing activity of the Program is the Federal Integration Week in the City of Buenos Aires during December. It includes visits to public and private organizations and different activities to promote meetings and exchanges among young people from all the provinces participating in the course. Federal Social Security Council and the Social Security Secretariat The Federal Social Security Council was created in 1990 and brings together the institutions involved in social security that voluntarily and autonomously adhered to it, as a coordinating body of social welfare policies. It carries out a training activity, through the Social Welfare Diploma courses offered in agreement with pro associations, and it has a jurisprudence library. Unlike other agencies, it does not have its knowledge production, but has a legislative repository, and carries out dissemination activities and links to pages of official provincial and national agencies in its portal. The Social Security Secretariat of the nation is in charge of generating policies aimed at protecting citizens from the different contingencies and social needs they face throughout their lives. For this reason, it intervenes in the elaboration and execution of integrated social security programs regarding retirement and pensions, labor risks, family allowances, and unemployment insurance. Another of its objectives is the implementation of plans, programs, and projects related to social security, as well as the generation of institutional, legal, legislative, organizational, and management policies. It is also responsible for the creation, organization, and supervision of the different social security systems and the different social protection agencies of the provinces. It also has the function of intervening in the coordination and harmonization of the Integrated Retirement and Pension System (national level) with the provincial, municipal, and professional regimes and voluntary pension systems, as well as with foreign states. Therefore, the function of articulation between the nation and the provinces in matters of social security falls on this centralized public administration body, “displacing” the Federal Social Security Council. In terms of the production of expert knowledge, it has been one of the pioneer organizations in making books, reports, and statistical series available in Argentina. Since 2003, it has produced 11 different publications, among which the following stand out: El Libro Blanco de la Previsión Social (The White Book of Social Welfare) in 2003, which made a diagnosis of the situation of the Social Protection System for Disability, Old Age, and Death in the country, as well as establishing the guidelines for its reform. In 2004, El Futuro de la previsión social en Argentina y el Mundo: evaluación y desafíos (The Future of Social Welfare in Argentina and the World: Evaluation and Challenges) was published, which gathers the papers of the roundtable held by the Secretariat. In 2017 and 2018, two editions of the Report of the Commission for the Strengthening of the Social Security System were launched, whose objective was to generate the necessary consensus from which to lay the foundations for a future reformulation of Social Security. In addition, the Social 210

National government advisory councils Table 13.3: Social Security statistical publications Publication

Periodicity

Description

Social Security Statistical Bulletin

Quarterly

It provides a consolidated, updated, and sufficiently dynamic statistical series on the most relevant variables of social security in Argentina.

Social Security Monetary Indicators

Quarterly

It brings together the main monetary indicators of Social Security benefits.

Social Security Institutions Report

Semiannual

Details the financial position and dynamics of these entities (National Administration of Social Security, Financial Aid Institute, and Federal Police Fund).

Scope of Social Security: Contributors and Beneficiaries

Quarterly

It analyzes the recent evolution of the number of beneficiaries and contributors covered by the different social security systems (Social Security, Non-​Contributory Benefits, Family Allowances, Unemployment Insurance).

Average Taxable Remuneration of Stable Workers

Quarterly

Shows the average variation of wages, which is used to calculate the evolution of national public pensions.

Security Review began in 2018, which gave birth to two issues, but was later discontinued. In addition, the Security Secretariat provides information for the monitoring of the social security system through different periodical publications, as shown in Table 13.3.

Conclusion In this section, we show some reflections on the evidence collected on federal councils. Returning to the question we asked ourselves at the beginning, we will try to outline some characterization of the role of these agencies within policy making and knowledge creation for public management. In the first place, we find different dynamics and different levels of expertise and knowledge production. Some, such as the National Council for Quality in Education and the Federal Health Council, appear as instances of political and administrative coordination between the nation and the provinces. In the first case, we see that its development as an instrument of coordination is incipient, while in the second case it was a powerful element in the successful implementation of health policies during the COVID-​19 pandemic. Thus, the national government has been able to exercise governance of the health system to manage containment measures, health policy, and the vaccination campaign during the pandemic. The highly technical nature of the problem definition and policy options gave great strength to the Federal Health Council, but at the same time, the political power at the federal level authoritatively delineated the political objectives in the pandemic. In sum, political direction and technical knowledge seem to meet in these interventions in times of exception. 211

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In the second place, we find councils with an enormous institutional legacy and a high production of reports, books, and documents. Here we can place the Federal Investment Council, the National Council for the Coordination of Social Policies, and the Social Security Secretariat. These agencies show a vigorous expert production, with a high capacity to systematize information and a body of specialized officials dedicated to the elaboration of contents. In the case of the Federal Investment Council, these competencies fall centrally on external consultants and provincial governments, while the National Council for the Coordination of Social Policies and the Social Security Secretariat are highly bureaucratized with a permanent staff dedicated to information gathering and document preparation. In the case of the Federal Investment Council, production is more sectoral, autonomous, and independent, while in the other two agencies we find a line of work and statistical monitoring aimed at providing useful information for public management. Consequently, when there is a body of public servants at the national level dedicated to the production of knowledge, likely, the problems of heterogeneity of capacities presented by the different provincial bureaucracies will be overcome. As final considerations, the evidence seems to suggest that although the federal councils are instances of executive coordination between the nation and the provinces, they are also nodes of production in policy analysis on sectoral policies. This shows that although the capacity to elaborate expert knowledge for policies depends on the federal level, they provide inputs and evidence necessary for the formulation, monitoring, and evaluation of social programs. Furthermore, at the political-​administrative level, they show enormous potential to advance towards cooperative federalism, within strategic governance of national sectoral authorities. Note 1

The Universal Child Allowance is a cash transfer for all children whose parents do not have a registered job.

References Andersen, N.A. and Breidahl, K.N. (2021) ‘The power of ideas in policymaking processes: The role of institutionalised knowledge production in state bureaucracies’, Social Policy and Administration, 55(5): 848–​862. Bañón Martínez, R. (1997) ‘Los enfoques para el estudio de la administración pública: orígenes y tendencias actuales’, in R. Bañón Martínez and E. Carrillo (eds), La Nueva Administración Pública, Madrid: Alianza, pp 1–​16. Berner, H. and Hemelryck, T.V. (2021) Social Information Systems and Registries of Recipients of Non-​Contributory Social Protection in Latin America in Response to COVID-​19, Santiago: CEPAL. Bohoslavsky, E. and Soprano, G. (2010) ‘Una evaluación y propuestas para el estudios del Estado en la Argentina’, in E. Bohoslavsky and G. Soprano (eds), Un Estado con rostro humano. Funcionarios e instituciones estatales en Argentina (de 1880 a la actualidad), Buenos Aires: Prometeo Libros/​Universidad Nacional de General Sarmiento, pp 9–​55. 212

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Brans, M., Timmermans, A. and Gouglas, A. (2022) ‘A theoretical perspective on the roles of political scientists in policy advisory systems’, in M. Brans and A.I. Timmermans (eds), The Advisory Roles of Political Scientists in Europe, London: Palgrave Macmillan, pp 15–​39. Bundi, P. and Trein, P. (2022) ‘Evaluation use and learning in public policy’, Policy Sciences, 55(2): 283–​309. Camou, A. and Chain, L.I. (2017) ‘Saberes expertos y elaboración de políticas públicas: el caso de los economistas en el gobierno’, in A. Camou and M.L. Pagani (eds), Debates teóricos y metodológicos actuales sobre las políticas públicas, La Plata: Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educación-​UNLP, pp 15–​52. Cao, H. (2008) ‘La administración pública argentina: nación, provincias y municipios’, in XIII Congreso Internacional Del CLAD Sobre La Reforma Del Estado y de La Administración Pública, Buenos Aires: CLAD, pp 4–​7. Cao, H., Rey, M., and Serafinoff, V. (2016) ‘Transformaciones en el modelo de gestión federal: una reflexión de los desafíos del federalismo cooperativo a partir de la experiencia en el sector educativo argentino’, Documentos y Aportes En Administración Pública y Gestión Estatal, 27: 67–​99. Croci, G., Laycock, G., and Chainey, S. (2022) ‘A realistic approach to policy formulation: The adapted EMMIE framework’, Policy Studies, May: 1–​21. Eshuis, J., Noortje De Boer, E., and Klijn, H. (2022) ‘Street-​level bureaucrats’ emotional intelligence and its relation with their performance’, Public Administration. doi.org/​10.1111/​padm.12841 (early view). Flores, R.D. (2020) ‘Consejo Federal de Inversiones, sus primeros años (1959–​ 1965)’, Prohistoria. Historia, Políticas de La Historia, años XXIII, 33: 149–​176. Gibson, E. and Falleti, T.G. (2007) ‘La unidad a palos. Conflicto regional y los orígenes del federalismo argentino’, POSTData, 12: 171–​204. Goyburu, M.L. (2015) ¿Coordinación intergubernamental en la Argentina? Una propuesta teórica y metodológica para la comparación de los Consejos Federales en la República Argentina, master’s thesis, Universidad Torcuato Di Tella. Heady, F. (1995) Public Administration: A Comparative Perspective (5th edn), New York: Marcel Dekker Inc. Iribarren, N.E. (2008) ‘Los consejos federales’, Aportes Para El Estado y La Administración Gubernamental, 26: 21–​37. Lanzaro, J. (2001) ‘Tipos de presidencialismo y modos de gobierno en América Latina’, in J. Lanzaro (ed), Tipos de Presidencialismo y Coaliciones Politicas en America Latina, Buenos Aires: CLACSO, pp 15–​49. Lasswell, H.D. (1951) The Policy Sciences, Stanford: Stanford University Press. Morresi, S. and Vommaro, G. (2012) ‘Los expertos como dominio de estudio sociopolítico’, in S. Morres and G. Vommaro (eds), Saber lo que se hace. Expertos y política en Argentina, Los Polvorines: Prometo Libros/​Universidad Nacional de General Sarmiento, pp 9–​38.

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Neiburg, F. and Plotkin, M. (2004) ‘Intelectuales y expertos. Hacia una sociología histórica de la producción del conocimiento sobre la sociedad en la Argentina’, in F. Neiburg and M. Plotkin (eds), Intelectuales y expertos. La constitución del conocimiento social en la Argentina, Buenos Aires: Paidós, pp 15–​30. O’Donnell, G. (2010) Democracia, agencia y estado: teoría con intención comparativa, Buenos Aires: Prometeo. Ongaro, E. (2020) Philosophy and Public Administration, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. Otenyo, E. and Lind, N. (eds) (2006) Comparative Public Administration: The Essencial Readings, San Diego/​Oxford: Elsevier. Palamidessi, M., Gorostiaga, J., and Aberbuj, C. (2017) ‘La producción de conocimiento orientado a la política en Argentina: un análisis de centros de política, organismos internacionales y centros académicos’, Revista Latinoamericana de Estudios Educativos, 47(3–​4): 27–​60. Parsons, W. (1996) Public Policy: An Introduction to the Theory and Practice of Policy Analysis, Cheltenham/​Northampton: Edward Elgar. Peters, B.G. (2002) The Politics of Bureaucracy, New York: Taylor & Francis. Ramacciotti, K.I. and Rayez, F. (2020) ‘La pandemia de coronavirus y el consejo de los expertos médicos. Reflexiones desde la historia’, Prácticas de Oficio. Investigación y Reflexión En Ciencias Sociales, 25: 16. Rey, M. (2013) ‘Federalismo y mecanismos de articulación intergubernamental: El funcionamiento de los consejos federales en Argentina’, Reforma y Democracia, 55: 71–​108. Scartascini, C. (2010) ‘¿Quién es quién en el juego político? Describiendo a los actores que intervienen, y sus incentivos y funciones’, in C. Scartascini, P. Spiller, E. Stein, and M. Tommasi (eds), El juego político en América Latina: ¿Cómo se deciden las políticas públicas?, Bogotá: Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo, pp 33–​74 Serafinoff, V. (2007) ‘Conflicto y colaboración entre el gobierno nacional y las provincias: los consejos federales como exponentes de una constante tensión’, in XXVII International Congress of the Latin American Studies Association, Montreal: LASA, pp 1–​25. Singh Bali, A., Howlett, M., Lewis, J.M., and Ramesh, M. (2021) ‘Procedural policy tools in theory and practice’, Policy and Society, 40(3): 295–311. 10.1080/​ 14494035.2021.1965379 Tsebelis, G. (2007) ‘La toma de decisiones en los sistemas políticos. Actores de veto en el presidencialismo, parlamentarismo, multicameralismo y multipartidismo’, in C. Acuña (ed), Lecturas sobre el Estado y las políticas públicas: retomando el debate de ayer para fortalecer el actual, Buenos Aires: Jefatura de Gabinete de Ministros, pp 651–​688. Zermeño, S. (1989) ‘El regreso del líder: crisis, neoliberalismo y desorden’, Revista Mexicana de Sociología, 51(4): 115–​150.

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PART IV

Parties, private research centers, and interest group-​based policy analysis

14

Policy analysis in professional organizations: the contribution of the Argentine Association of Public Administration Studies Diego Pando and Adrián Darmohraj

Introduction Behind every organization we find a history, that is, a set of individual and collective experiences generated by people with ideas, values, and interests who built that organizational way of being. In the terms of Arellano Gault (2010, p 83), “organizations are biographical entities that are composed of a series of actions, stages, encounters, concrete people who come and go, enter and leave. … This makes organizations a web of trajectories”. This chapter deals with the history of the Argentine Association of Public Administration Studies (AAEAP), a 20-​year-​old civil society organization (CSO) which set an innovative precedent in our country. Until then, there was no similar organization that acted as a space for building bridges between different society stakeholders (academics, public officials, politicians, union leaders, among others) for the generation of debates and the exchange of ideas aimed at strengthening state capacities. Thus, the aim of this study is to describe the trajectory of the AAEAP and analyze its impact on the administration and public policies of Argentina. To this end, the main data collection techniques used were documentary research and semi-​structured in-​depth interviews with founders, members, and directors of the association.1

The Argentine Association of Public Administration Studies in the world of civil society organizations As Chandler (1962) argues in a now classic study on the history of organizations, understanding the context is key to work of this kind. Thus, in Argentina, since the return of democracy, CSOs have been occupying an increasingly relevant place in various activities, such as education, health, environmental preservation, and the promotion of civil rights, among others. The functions performed by these types of entities are varied, and they are valued for their ability to provide services and for their potential social coordination capacity in order to assume the 217

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development of specific institutional areas of discussion. These organizations are also relevant for their condition as institutional laboratories for the deployment and experimentation of new approaches that emerge as a product of work models in which initiative and creativity are combined (Roitter, 2016a). Acuña and Vaccheri (2007) point out that organizations with diverse agendas and levels of transparency, purposes, structures, and methodologies coexist in the space conceptualized as civil society. It is a social, ideological, and cultural diversity typical of plural and democratic societies. Therefore, the different types of organizations are not born, or act, in a vacuum, but rather their emergence responds to a constellation of specific social, political, economic, and cultural factors. Particularly relevant in relation to our object of study are the changes that administrations have undergone over time and, with that, the transformations between those administrations and society. Thus, the reform of the state that took place in the 1990s in Argentina has had a strong impact, opening a wide range of studies and reflections by multiple actors on the functioning of public administration and public policy making. It is in this context that the AAEAP arose. Although the first meetings to confirm the association began in 1999, it was formally constituted in 2000 (registration by resolution of the Inspección General de Justicia no. 000561 dated May 19, 2000). Its foundation was strongly influenced by a group of academics, civil servants, and former career civil servants of the Argentine public administration. Their primary objective was generating knowledge of the public administration itself, fostering an “exchange”, according to the statute of the institution (2000), or “bridge”, according to the current president of the association, Diego Pando, between the knowledge derived from academia and that derived from government management.2 As stated in the introduction to this chapter, and in keeping with the importance of the context mentioned in what follows, the 1990s was the scene of various reforms of the state in our country and in Latin America, which gave rise to multiple studies and research groups that dealt with the subject. In this regard, CLAD (Latin American Center of Administration for Development) was one of the organizations that spearheaded the promotion of public administration studies and even encouraged the creation of academic institutions in several countries of our region for the purpose of analytical production. So much so that one of the main promoters of the AAEAP (and its first president), Alberto Bonifacio, was secretary-​general of CLAD in the period 1996–​2004.3 This experience, according to Bonifacio,4 was key for the creation of the AAEAP, given the characteristics of CLAD, particularly Bonifacio’s participation in the organization of the first three international congresses of CLAD on state and public administration reform. It is also worth mentioning that the National Institute of Public Administration (INAP) had organized the National Congress on Public Administration. However, the interruption of that congress created a vacuum in the discussion of these issues, which was compounded by the ruptures and changes that were taking place 218

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within the public administration. Thus, once constituted, the AAEAP began to organize its own congresses, with a broader view than those organized by INAP, incorporating governmental experience to the knowledge of the university environment in line with the objectives defined in its statute. The experiences of CLAD and INAP led Alberto Bonifacio to take the initiative to meet, first informally and then in a formal setting, with various personalities from government administration and academia. This gave rise to the first formal meeting of what would later become the AAEAP at the campus of the Universidad del Salvador located in Pilar, province of Buenos Aires, at the end of 2000. Luis Stuhlman (first vice-​president of the AAEAP), Jorge Remes Lenicov, José Octavio Bordón, and Gustavo Béliz were speakers at the meeting. A curious fact is that at first, the Association in question was called “Argentine Association of Public Administration”, but the General Inspectorate of Justice vetoed the name because it could be confused with a state institution, so a modification was made to overcome the objection, and the “Argentine Association of Public Administration Studies” was born.

Organization of the Argentine Association of Public Administration Studies The AAEAP is formally constituted as a non-​profit civil association. Based on this definition, its structure is made up of a Board of Directors (with the positions of president, vice-​president, secretary, assistant secretary, treasurer, pro-​treasurer, members, and alternate members), whose role is to lead the institution, and a supervisory body, with members and alternate members. As pointed out by González Bombal and Villar (2003) and Roitter (2016b), beyond the attributes and competencies that each CSO may develop, there is a fundamental factor that jeopardizes its management capacity and viability over time: its funding potential. The main economic support of the AAEAP is in the hands of its members through the payment of an annual fee. The importance of member participation is crucial and the various volunteer tasks are reflected in the publications produced by the association; in the benefits that members have in congresses and seminars organized and/​or sponsored by the AAEAP; and in the dissemination of the various activities of the members via the institutional website, social networks, and e-​mail, among others.5 We should add that the association has a list of honorary members; including renowned social scientists specialized in public administration, such as Carlos Acuña, Oscar Oszlak, and Roberto Martínez Nogueira, as well as prominent managers of the state apparatus, such as Ricardo Gutiérrez and Marcos Makón. One of the central axes of the AAEAP’s operation is its plural nature. The spirit of the association has always been to overcome the political-​partisan tensions existing in the country and to bring together officials and academics interested in public affairs, beyond their partisan positions. Thus, over the years, the construction of institutionality has been prioritized (not without its challenges, 219

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of course), reaffirming the role of the AAEAP as a bridge between academia and public management.

Main activities Over more than two decades, the AAEAP has developed multiple actions, such as the organization and co-​organization of congresses, conferences, seminars, and symposiums; the elaboration of documents and declarations; and the publication of books and articles, among others. We highlight the most important activities in the following subsections. Congresses Because of their impact, magnitude, degree of organization and mobilization required, and because they were the first activities to be organized, the most important AAEAP activities are its congresses. The first congress was held in 2001 in the city of Rosario together with the Association of Government Administrators, the Faculty of Political Science and International Relations of the National University of Rosario, and the Municipality of Rosario. For Ruth Zagalsky, founding member and secretary of the AAEAP board of directors, this congress was “the first milestone made by willpower and commitment in the midst of the economic crisis. We kicked off something that seemed impossible”.6 The activity was called the Argentine Congress of Public Administration, a name it would keep until 2013 (the last year it would be co-​organized with the Association of Government Administrators), with approximately 200 participants and 66 papers. Two years later, the second congress was held, this time in the province of Cordoba, with the collaboration of the Institute for Research and Training in Public Administration of the National University of Cordoba and the Faculty of Political Science and International Relations of the Catholic University of Cordoba. On this occasion, more than 400 people participated and the number of papers submitted also doubled (130). Guillermo Schweinheim, founding member and former president of the AAEAP, said: “Fortunately, we had a great attendance, which resulted in a huge organizational challenge because we did not expect such a large number of participants”.7 In 2005, the third congress was organized in San Miguel de Tucumán. In addition to the lectures and panels, a contest of monographic papers for university students was held as a pre-​congress activity. The winners participated in a panel at the congress, their accommodation and travel expenses being covered by the organizers. The congress had 225 speakers and reached 720 registered participants. International speakers for the first time included Luis Maira (Chilean ambassador to Argentina) and Regina Pacheco (professor at the Getulio Vargas Foundation in Brazil). The fourth congress was held in the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires in 2007, which set a record for the number of papers presented (347 in total), 220

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evidencing the intense exchange and dissemination of studies and experiences in the academic and management fields. The first competition of monographs by university students was held and, on this occasion, the international speakers were Nuria Cunill Grau (CLAD researcher) and Joan Subirats (professor at the Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona). The fifth congress was held in 2009, in the city of San Juan, and was co-​ organized by the Chief of Cabinet of Ministers of the Nation and the Government of the Province of San Juan. The main theme of the congress was federalism and coordination networks between the different levels of government. In addition to the lectures and panels, there was a new contest to select and disseminate monographic works by university students and public officials, with three prizes awarded in each category. Guest speakers were Luiz Carlos Bresser Pereira (Minister of State Administration and Reform during the Cardoso presidency in Brazil and President of the CLAD Board of Directors) and Julio César Fernández Toro (Secretary General of CLAD). In 2011, the sixth congress took place in the province of Chaco with the collaboration of the provincial government and the Chief of Cabinet of Ministers of the Nation. More than 2,000 attendees participated in the presentation of papers and panels oriented by the thematic areas of, first, public ethics, citizen control, and internal and external control processes of public administrations; second, experiences in the design, implementation, and evaluation of public policies; and, third, federal relations and the role of provincial and municipal governments in development. The seventh congress was held 2013 in the province of Mendoza with the support of the provincial government and the National Cabinet of Ministers. Approximately 4,000 people attended this activity, making it the most attended event organized by the AAEAP in its history. According to Ruth Zagalsky, “it was a feeling of having generated something very big, with a much greater impact than expected”. The speakers on this occasion were Bernardo Kliksberg (international consultant), Ernesto Laclau (professor at the University of Essex), and Carlés Ramió (professor at the Pompeu Fabra University). By 2015, the disagreements with the Chief of Cabinet of Ministers in a context of high political-​partisan polarization prevented the eighth congress from taking place. And although during 2016 there were attempts of rapprochement with the new authorities of the then brand new Ministry of State Modernization, the official support at the national level (by then key for the realization of this type of congresses) did not materialize. This event was an opportunity for the AAEAP to propose new actions aimed at (re)creating a space for dialogue and exchange of reflections and ideas between academia and public management. Thus, in 2018 it was decided to resume the theme with a congress organized solely by the association and to seek different partner institutions in each of the editions. And since the brand of the previous congresses (Argentine Congress of Public Administration) was registered property of the AAEAP and the Association of Government Administrators, the new 221

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congress was called National Congress of Public Administration Studies in tune with the name of the association. Thus, together with the area of Public Administration of the School of Political Science and International Relations of the National University of Rosario, the I National Congress on Public Administration Studies was held within the framework of the XIII National and VI International Congress on Democracy. The activity included more than 40 roundtables, 200 papers, book presentations, radio interviews, several special meetings (for example, the network of public administration careers, the public innovation laboratories, and an international virtual training project for civil servants on open government), and three main conferences by Francisco Velázquez (Secretary General of CLAD), Cristina Zurbriggen (professor at the University of the Republic of Uruguay) and Oscar Oszlak (senior researcher at Conicet).8 At the same time, different undergraduate and graduate courses at public and private universities were sponsors, together with the state workers’ unions Unión del Personal Civil de la Nación and Asociación de Personal de Organismos de Control. The second congress of this new stage was held in 2020. In addition to the usual challenges of organizing such an event, there was the situation of COVID-​19 and the challenge of virtuality. The pandemic was a window of opportunity for the AAEAP. Less than a month after the COVID-​19 lockdown, the association organized a series of talks entitled “Managing the public in times of pandemic. Challenges, innovations and pending accounts of public organizations” with international experts in administration and public policy issues, such as Ignacio Criado (professor at the Autonomous University of Madrid), Joan Subirats, and Carlés Ramió. This cycle had more than 100 participants in each talk, which gave greater visibility to the association and allowed it to grow its membership from 56 active members in 2015 to more than 300 in 2020. In this context, the second National Congress on Public Administration Studies was held in an asynchronous and synchronous virtual format. The congress was organized jointly with the Secretariat of State Modernization of the government of the province of Entre Ríos and the Faculty of Social Work of the National University of Entre Ríos, and was attended by more than 1,000 participants. In addition to the renowned figures already mentioned, such as Oscar Oszlak, Carlés Ramió, Regina Pacheco, and Francisco Velázquez, others such as Luis Aguilar Villanueva (member of the United Nations International Committee of Experts on Public Administration) and Manuel Villoria (professor at the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos de Madrid) also participated in the congress. In addition, there were institutional spaces for participation through unions linked to the state, public agencies, and international networks such as CLAD, Grupo de Investigación en Gobierno, Administración y Políticas Públicas (GIGAPP), and NovaGob. In the words of Ruth Zagalsky, “the pandemic was an opportunity that we took advantage of. From our network of contacts and within the framework of virtuality, we were able to make an important qualitative and quantitative leap in membership”.9 222

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The multiplicity of individual and collective actors with diverse ideas and interests, but all with the common goal of contributing and exchanging ideas and experiences to strengthen state capacities, is reflected in the topics addressed in the papers submitted and panels held over these two decades. A survey by Rosconi and Rodríguez (2020) shows that the papers presented at the congresses organized by the AAEAP focus to a great extent on the lines of research categorized as public policy analysis (19.9 percent), control and participation (12.8 percent), public employment (11.1 percent), and state capacities (9.6 percent). In the first, the analysis of specific government projects predominates; in the second, reflection on citizen participation experiences; and in the third, the study of training and professionalization initiatives for state personnel. As the authors point out, the works included in the state capacities category are more diverse and include everything from experiences in information management for decision-​making within public organizations to experiences and conceptualizations on public innovation, including experiences and reflections on the modernization and improvement of the state. As can be seen in Figure 14.1, the Other category includes 16.3 percent of papers analyzing areas of government, 12.9 percent of papers in the legislative and judicial sphere, and 11.8 percent addressing university management. Other subcategories are training in public administration, international politics,

Figure 14.1: Presentations according to line of research Policy analysis 19.9%

PA: political theory 2.7% Other 11.2%

Public services 3.2% State reform 4.4% Public finance 4.5%

Control and participation 12.8%

ICTs and digitalization 6.0% Subnational governments 7.2% Multi-stakeholder management 7.4% State capacities 9.6% Source: Rosconi and Rodríguez (2020)

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Public employment 11.1%

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gender and diversity, children and/​or youth, and electoral politics. None of the subcategories within the category Others has a higher value than the least mentioned category, in this case, political theory and public administration. Another relevant finding in the work of Rosconi and Rodriguez reflects this logic of dialogue between the academic and public management spheres inherent to the AAEAP. Thus, training and research centers constitute the type of institution most present in papers, with 54.2 percent. Then we find national and provincial governments in second and third place, in similar proportions. The executive branch of government, whether at the national, provincial, or local level, is the institution to which 32.5 percent of the total number of speakers belong, which shows, as the authors point out, that public administration is a field of study in which government officials, as well as teachers and researchers, participate to a large extent. In total, more than 2,000 papers were submitted at the congresses, which are available on the AAEAP website. It should be noted that within the category of training and research centers there are 66 different institutions, including public and private universities, research councils, higher education institutes, and executive branch centers dedicated to research, among others (see Figure 14.2). Following the same logic of articulation as the previous congresses, the III National Congress of Public Administration Studies in hybrid format (face-​to-​ face and online) is planned for 2022, together with the Faculty of Economic Sciences of the National University of La Plata. Finally, as can be seen in this section, all the congresses were co-​organized with governmental and/​or non-​governmental actors, which shows the relevance of

Figure 14.2: Type of institution of the speakers Professional associations Non-profit 2.0% organizations 2.3% Local government 5.6%

Others 3.5%

Legislative 3.4% Training/research center 54.2% National government 14.8%

Source: Rosconi and Rodríguez (2020)

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work networks and the shared knowledge generated from the very moment the organization was set up. We agree with Gore (2020) when he points out that in order to understand an organization we cannot only analyze its actions, but the link it has with others, which is just as important, if not more so. Publications The start of the congresses was also a leap towards other activities. Thus, in 2009, the association’s first book was financed, compiled by Guillermo Schweinheim with the aim of contributing to the critical and reflective debate on the state, management, and public policies. This text, with the same objective, was followed in 2013 by another book compiled by Alberto Bonifacio. By early 2022, the association already had seven publications of its own (see Table 14.1), including a special issue of the AAEAP in the prestigious journal of the GIGAPP in 2018; a compilation of papers by members made in 2020 by the president of the institution, Diego Pando, on public administration in disruptive times (available in virtual format on the official website of the association); and a compilation made in 2021 by María Estela Moreno and Alberto Bonifacio of the papers presented at the II National Congress of Public Administration Studies (also available in electronic format on the association’s official website). The main thread running through the publications (and AAEAP’s activities in general) is the importance of the role of the state and its capacities to advance towards the development of our societies, in a context of problems that are less and less susceptible to segmented or sectorial treatments and require a systemic and integral approach. The debate in the publications is not only (and not so much) about the size of the state, but mainly about the urgent need to strengthen it. The central focus of the texts is on ideas and reflections from different perspectives Table 14.1: Argentine Association of Public Administration Studies publications Title

Author/​editor

State and Public Administration

Schweinheim

2009

558

Administrative Reforms and Public Policies

Bonifacio

2013

630

Challenges and Innovations in Public Administration

Grandinetti et al

2015

190

For the Civil Service that a Serious Country Deserves

Salas and Wegman

2016

80

State, Management and Public Policies: Argentina under the Spotlight

Pando

2018

274

Public Administration in Disruptive Times

Pando

2020

405

State, Administration and Public Policy

Moreno and Bonifacio

2021

1179

225

Year of publication

Number of pages

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on matters related to the strengthening of the state apparatus, such as public employment, the intensive use of digital technologies, planning, coordination, control, evaluation, transparency, and participation, among other issues found in what could be called the backroom of the state, which is often invisible to citizens, but is key to promoting and sustaining public policies in tune with the needs and expectations of our societies. Public Administration Career Network Since its origins, the AAEAP has sponsored the formation of a Public Administration Career Network (of course, when we say public administration we speak generically, that is, we include in this category the designations related to public management, government, public policy, and other related areas). In fact, since the organization of the first Argentine Congress of Public Administration held in Rosario in 2001, a space was opened for exchange between the different state areas and university institutions with undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate degrees in this field. This initiative regained its strength in 2014 when the AAEAP, together with the National Institute of Public Administration, made a call on the occasion of the organization of a Training Day in the State, becoming a milestone for the integration of the Network. This was due to the large attendance of that meeting, in which more than 30 representatives of undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate courses attended and agreed on lines of work that have been continued since then. Among these lines of work are the publication of books, special issues in journals, monograph contests for university students, and the organization of panels and meetings at AAEAP congresses related to this field of training. Documents With the aim of putting up issues for debate in the public agenda aimed at strengthening the state and influencing the policy-​making process, the AAEAP, together with universities and other CSOs such as Centro de Implementación de Políticas Públicas para la Equidad y el Crecimiento (CIPPEC), promoted the Consensus for a Professional Civil Service for the Argentina of the 21st Century in 2018/​2019. Among the main courses of action proposed by this consensus (signed by more than a thousand academics and civil servants) are the entry through selection by competitive examination open to citizens; strategic planning with financial sustainability of the staff; promotions by rigorous criteria regarding background, promotion by training and qualifications to prove aptitude; the creation of a regime of senior civil service to preserve institutional memory and achieve the continuity of long-​term public policies; the fulfillment of the constitutional right to collective bargaining as well as the balanced presence of personnel hired under term employment contracts; gender 226

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equality; investment in training based on the needs of public agencies; and the creation of a National Civil Service Council with the participation of political parties with legislative representation, and the social, business, trade union, and academic sectors. Through newspaper articles, lectures and presentations at national and international congresses, the members of the group promoting this consensus disseminated this document, which was also presented to the heads of the areas of state and public administration of the different political forces of our country. In a critical and unprecedented context due to the consequences of the COVID-​19 pandemic, the AAEAP promoted two documents: one to recognize the effort of the state’s actions to respond to complex problems in real time and the other to give recognition to the thousands of public officials and employees dedicated directly and indirectly to health care. Integration of the Advisory Council of the National Integrity Strategy In order to monitor initiatives, prepare follow-​up reports and disseminate them, prepare proposals, produce, and disseminate information in relation to the National Integrity Strategy (ENI) 2019 –​2023, the Anti-​Corruption Office and the Undersecretariat of Institutional Strengthening under the Secretariat of Management and Public Employment invited the AAEAP to join the Advisory Council of the ENI in early 2020 as recognition for its institutional growth. The Advisory Council is made up of representatives of CSOs, the private sector, universities, international and multilateral organizations, and individual experts with an interest and/​or recognized track record in the subject. Thus, the president of the AAEAP, Diego Pando, was invited to speak within the framework of the ENI Cycle of Meetings to share and discuss initiatives between the Network of Public Integrity Liaisons and the members of the Advisory Council. He stressed the importance of generating the conditions for the continuous monitoring and evaluation of the ENI, which will serve for the development of evidence-​based policies. In this respect, Pando pointed out that “in addition to being a technical instrument, monitoring and evaluation fulfill a political function of providing a mechanism for justifying decisions and making our agencies accountable to the citizens”. Federal chapters With the intention of continuing to grow from a federal perspective, during 2021 the AAEAP began a process to generate synergies between groups of members at regional and local levels through the formation of chapters of the association in different parts of the country. Thus, the La Plata, Rosario, and Patagonia chapters began their formation processes with different public administration-​ related activities in their respective regions, while the Cuyo and Cordoba nodes are in full preparation. 227

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Conclusion The successes of the AAEAP, like those of many other organizations, are often best explained as what at the time were unplanned responses to immediate issues that over time showed unexpected robustness and developed into courses of action. Much of what we believe emerged from a plan are simply unplanned responses to which time and successive corrections gave a coherence that they did not have at first. There is no doubt that the AAEAP’s track record to date shows that the effort and commitment of its directors (and members) has left an important legacy in terms of building bridges between the world of academia and public management. There is also no doubt about the challenges that lie ahead to promote the growth of the association. Particularly, those related to the financing strategy and the professional management model to be strengthened beyond the voluntary effort, issues which do not escape the vicissitudes of this type of organizations when they bet on an institutional construction autonomous from the state and the private sector. Notes 1

2 3 4 5

6 7 8 9

An important remark should be made: not only are the authors members of the AAEAP, but also one of them (Diego Pando) has been its president since 2015. Therefore, in addition to the analytical interest, this interpretation of history is a way of constructing meaning in order to continue acting. As Gore (2020) points out, we understand the organization through our performance and we understand our performance by threading it into narratives that constitute the organization’s memory. The way in which that memory is distributed, its accuracy and the conditions under which it is treated are relevant characteristics. The organization will not be the same whether that memory is in a team, in a network of teams, or in a single person. Interview with Diego Pando. https://​clad.org/​ace​rca-​de/​secr​etar​ios-​genera​les/​jose-​albe​rto-​bonifa​cio/​ Interview with Alberto Bonifacio. In the beginning, the call for (and dissemination of) activities was made via e-​mail and telephone. Later, the social networks Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram were added (in addition to the renewed official website). A YouTube channel was also created where you can find videos of the activities of the last few years. Interview with Ruth Zagalsky. Interview with Guillermo Schweinheim. Institutional website of the AAEAP: https://​aaeap.org.ar/​congre​sos/​congr​eso-​nacio​nal-​dee​ stud​ios-​de-​adm​inis​trac​ion-​publ​ica/​ Interview with Ruth Zagalsky.

Acknowledgements The authors would like to thank Sebastián Barbosa, Agustina Mallamace, and Damián Espinoza for their valuable contributions to this chapter. References Acuña, C. and Vaccheri, A. (2007) La incidencia política de la sociedad civil, Buenos Aires: Siglo XXI Editores. 228

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Arellano Gault, D. (2010) ‘El enfoque organizacional en el estudio de las políticas públicas’, in M. Merino and G. Cejudo (eds), Problemas, decisiones y soluciones. Enfoques de Políticas públicas, Mexico City: Fondo de Cultura Económica. Chandler, A. (1962) Strategy and Structure: Chapters in the History of the Industrial Enterprise, Cambridge, MA: Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge. González Bombal, I. and Villar, R. (2003) Organizaciones de la sociedad civil e incidencia en políticas públicas, Buenos Aires: Editorial del Zorzal. Gore, E. (2020) ‘Compilación de artículos y reflexiones sobre el aprendizaje organizacional’, Cuadernos del INAP (CUINAP), 16, Buenos Aires: Instituto Nacional de Administración Pública. Roitter, M. (2016a) ‘Brief introduction to the social sector’, in P. Gecik (ed), Manual de Gestión para Asociaciones Civiles y Fundaciones, Buenos Aires: Fondo Editorial Consejo. Roitter, M. (2016b) ‘The contribution of civil society organizations and volunteers to Argentina’s welfare’, in E. Faur (ed) Repensar la inclusión social: políticas públicas y sociedad civil en la Argentina (1991–​2006), Buenos Aires: Editorial Capital Intelectual. Rosconi, A. and Rodríguez, E. (2020) ‘Una mirada sobre los estudios de administración pública en Argentina (2001–​2018)’, II Congreso Nacional de Estudios de Administración Pública, Argentina de Estudios de Administración Pública/​Facultad de Trabajo Social de la Universidad Nacional de Entre Ríos/​ Secretaría de Modernización del Estado de la provincia de Entre Ríos.

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Policy analysis by parties: political cadres formation and training for the public management in Argentina Melina Guardamagna

Introduction One of the great challenges for those who dedicate themselves to the study, analysis, and teaching of public policy is how to contribute to the resolution of public problems, mainly in the state sphere, and, consequently, what knowledge, skills, and tools are needed to be able to do so. This is not a new concern and even less easy to answer in contexts of increasing complexity of public affairs; societies with a diversity of actors and interests that demand higher levels of participation and technological advances that challenge us to think and project management in a different way. In Latin America we find governmental administrations where, many times, more open, flexible, and innovative schemes are opposed to the verticalism and rigidity of the more traditional structures. The validity of Weberian paradigms of the 20th century is evident in the resolution of new public problems (Subirats, 2021). This hinders the search for equity based on the recognition of the diversity of citizens who are part of a society. In addition, decision-​making processes, in contexts of uncertainty, are often characterized by improvisation, weak control mechanisms, and the lack of delimitation and interaction between spaces corresponding to politics and administration. For this reason, it is necessary to recover the role of the state and of those who work in it, in their capacity for intervention and control; achieving this requires education and training. In the Argentine case, which could be extended to the rest of Latin America, the analysis of training and capacity building of techno-​political cadres –​following Matus’ (2008) concept –​has not been a priority in the academic field. The studies carried out are scarce and partial since they deal with very limited periods, focusing on the analysis of the problem during a government administration (Sampay, 1951; Larriqueta, 2000; Pinto, 2003; Camou, 2006; Golden, 2010); or they do so transversally and/​or secondarily in studies on the development and institutionalization of Argentine political science (Fernández et al, 2002; Bulcourf and D’ Alessandro, 2003; Guardamagna, 2011; Bulcourf et al, 2019) and of the region (Bulcourf et al, 2017; Bulcourf and Cardozo in Freidenberg, 2017; Bulcourf, 2021). These fruitful investigations around the disciplinary fields of political science and public administration evidence the consolidation of a field 230

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of study that transcends the national and even regional scope. However, the study of the link between the state, administration, and public policies, within which this research is situated, is still incipient. In this sense, Ravecca’s (2019) research, which emphasizes the political dimension of political science, from a critical view of the prevailing rationalist and technocratic approaches, constitutes an interesting approach to a pending discussion in the development of the discipline. Consequently, the present work is situated in this field of study as a contribution to the analysis of the policies implemented by the Argentine state oriented to the formation and training of technical-​political cadres and the role that universities have played in them, from the 1950s to the present day. The working hypothesis is that Argentina has not been able to stabilize a model of education and training of technical-​political cadres as prescribed by the National Constitution (CN) in Article 38 because successive administrations have confused the roles and needs of the state with those of the government in both the formulation and implementation of the policy. In order to contrast them, this chapter begins by specifying the methodological strategy used and the theoretical conceptions that guide the research. Then, it analyzes the various policies formulated by the Argentine state at different times and under different theoretical-​methodological paradigms, those that resort to universities, those that delegate the formation and training of cadres to political parties and, finally, the most recent ones, which create state agencies for this purpose. The interpretation and understanding of the process of formulation and implementation of the policy oriented to the formation and training of technical-​political cadres in contemporary Argentina constitutes, in this way, an indispensable contribution in the search for diverse and possible solutions to a problem still pending for Argentines, but which can also illuminate other cases in the continent: the formation and training of the ruling class in charge of state administrations.

Theoretical-​methodological details of the study The approach to the policy that constitutes the object of study of this research was carried out through a longitudinal study using a qualitative strategy. For the development of the research, qualitative methods and techniques such as documentary analysis and in-​depth interviews with key actors were used. Through the combination of methods, key moments of state intervention in the definition of models for the formation and training of cadres for state management were identified. The policy components analyzed in each of these moments are derived from a theoretical-​analytical matrix (see Table 15.1) based on the now classic approach proposed by Oszlak and O’Donnell (1981). These are components that allow the analysis of the process of formulation and implementation of state policy as a dynamic expression of the state. At the same time, this approach is intertwined with other expressions of the state, that is, the state as a social relationship and as a set of institutions through which it materializes. 231

Policy Analysis in Argentina Table 15.1: Theoretical matrix for the study of the state policy oriented to the formation and training of technical-​political cadres State policy components

State as a social relationship

State as a set of institutions*

Problematization of the issue

Ideas justifying the problematization of the issue

Institutions through which the issue is problematized

Context

Context of the ideas at any given time

Institutional context in which the issue arises

Definition of the issue

Definition of the issue Profile of the addressees Ideas that enable the state to build social consensus

Political logic/​administrative logic

State position: state policy

State policy/​government policy Ideas that provide the basis for the state’s stance Purpose of state policy

Different levels of institutionalization of the policy Specific contents of the policy

Actors

Rationale of the actors with respect to the resolution of the issue

Institutions used by the actors for the resolution of the issue

Stakeholder positioning

Ideas underlying stakeholder practice

Institutions in which stakeholders carry out their practices

Resources and stakeholder support

Resources of trust; majority; human; financial; relational; chronological

Legal; economic; patrimonial resources

Institutional crystallizations

Ideas that support the creation or modification of institutions

Institutions through which the policy is implemented

Mode of resolution of the question

Justification of the mode of resolution of the issue

Dominant institutions in the resolution of the issue

Social changes and internal to the state

State contributions to social change Institutional changes Values aimed at strengthening democracy Rulers/​governed relationship

Note: *Mabel Thwaites Rey refers to this dimension of the state as a set of apparatuses (2005). Source: Guardamagna (2015).

With regard to the conceptualization of technical-​political cadres, we refer to the classification proposed by Carlos Matus (2008), who distinguishes between leaders, politicians, and statesmen. Of particular interest are the profiles of the politician and the statesman, since most of their capabilities can be acquired through education and training processes. The politician’s decision-​making capacity has to do with the expertise with which he or she manages the resources at his or her disposal. As the author clarifies: Government expertise is based on the experience capital weighted by the intellectual capital, including ideological capital, with which this experience is accumulated. If experience is zero, no matter how 232

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high the intellectual capital, expertise is zero. In the same way, if the intellectual capital is close to zero, no matter how long the experience is, the expertise is close to zero. (Matus, 2008, p 75) Thus, the politician accumulates expertise when he/​she has a theoretical basis from which to interpret reality. Finally, the technical-​scientific support allows the politician to differentiate the relative scientific-​technical value of each of the resources he possesses. In other words, “each control of a resource must be weighted by its relative technical-​scientific value” (Matus, 2008, p 77). This set of personal capabilities, although presenting a certain rigidity, admits “a significant learning process” (Matus, 2008, p 77).

The state turns to universities for the education and training of cadres In reconstructing the political process, it is possible to distinguish, for analytical purposes, three major paradigms put forward by different Argentine governments to solve the problem of the education and training of political technical cadres: one that entrusts this function to universities (1940 to 1980); another that discusses the role of political parties in this task (1980s and 1990s); and, finally, one that delegates it to state agencies (1990s to the present). The 1930s marked the end of the world crisis and the repositioning of the state at the center of the scene. Along with the establishment of the welfare state, it began to be seen that the state is the central actor in politics and to discover that it is not intended or designed to act as such. The new interventionist role of the state requires a ruling class capable of fulfilling the objectives of national policy. The heirs of the “Generation of the 80’s”,1 who were members of the Conservative Party, strangers to the interests of the majority and to the growing demands coming from the most sensitive sectors of society, had not had the need to form political leaders capable of responding to these demands, since until then the ruling elite had been made up of the same individuals who made up the country’s economic elites. However, in the 1940s, these conservative groups lost legitimacy to lead a national and popular project that went against the liberal ideology in force until then. Perón’s government2 meant a break in the reasoning of how the state should be and what should be the characteristics of its political class. It was necessary to have technical and political cadres trained under the concept of a strong and interventionist state. This need was reflected in the constitutional text of 1949. Thus, what Peronism did through Article 37 of the Constitution was to crystallize an issue that had already begun to be problematized in the last two decades: the need to provide political training to those who would be in charge of leading the state: Universities shall establish compulsory and common courses for students of all faculties for their political education, so that each student may 233

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learn the essence of what is Argentine, the spiritual, economic, social and political reality of his country, the evolution and historical mission of the Argentine Republic, and become aware of the responsibility he must assume in the enterprise of achieving and consolidating the purposes recognized and established by this Constitution. (Constitution of 1949, Chapter III, section 37, section IV, subsection 4) Article 37 of the 1949 Constitution enunciated a policy of education and training of technical and political cadres based on the principles of the Peronist doctrine and on the idea of promoting an educational program aimed at social inclusion and mobility through which the political and cultural revolution would be achieved. The aim was to form a plural political elite, which is why the universities were involved. In 1950, the first attempts were made to implement the policy through political training courses to be taught in state universities. However, the anti-​Peronist climate that prevailed in most of these universities made it difficult. At the University of Buenos Aires, the largest and one of the oldest in the country, the students, mostly opponents of the government, prevented the courses from being given (Halperín Donghi, 2008). Meanwhile, the National University of Cuyo, located in the province of Mendoza, was the only one that, with a rector aligned with Peronism, began to offer general and compulsory political education courses for the knowledge of the Argentine reality, which anticipated the creation of a university degree program and a specific academic unit for the development of regional political science. The courses were not only oriented to the “training of specialists for the high bureaucracy of the State”, but also to “union and political party leaders, public opinion makers and officials trained for the management of state public enterprises” (Sampay, 1951: 18). Through Article 37 of the National Constitution, an instance of political training was conceived for the students of all the careers taught at the university. However, the state ended up promoting the creation of a specific training unit for the study of politics and social issues, such as the School of Political and Social Studies, which in 1967 would acquire the rank of Faculty of Political and Social Sciences at the National University of Cuyo. In this way, the logic of the university organization, which assumed the arrangement of knowledge in specific academic units, ended up reinterpreting the policy of Perón’s government. Eventually, those who did not opt for such an academic unit had no political training. In 1955, after Perón’s government was overthrown by the military,3 several private confessional universities were founded in the country and many of them created Departments of Political Science within the Faculties of Social Sciences to train leaders close to the ideology of the Catholic Church and, in some way, contrary to the political project of Peronism (Fernández et al, 2002; Bulcourf and D’Alessandro, 2003; Guardamagna, 2011). The period that began in the mid-​1970s seriously affected these aspirations in terms of political activity itself, but not in terms of diplomacy and public 234

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administration, fields in which graduates from these private denominational universities and also from some public universities were able to enter. During this period, a narrowly technocratic perspective (Sarlo, 2007: 101) prevailed in the conception of these sciences. In short, until the early 1980s, it is evident that educational policies aimed at the education and training of technical-​political cadres were developed mainly through universities under the political-​ideological orientation of each of them and of the governments in power.

The role of political parties in the formation and training of cadres The return to democracy in 1983 marked a new stage for these policies aimed at the formation and training of technical political cadres. The urgent need to consolidate the democratic regime, to promote a project of modernization of the state, and to give way to the growing demands of the citizenry for political participation, posed new dilemmas for which the state needed a ruling class capable of “recovering politics and recomposing the liberal public space as a place where the subjects of democracy could appear” (Quiroga, 2005, p 17). In this context, the question arises once again as to who would be part of this ruling class and which would be the institutions through which their training could be articulated. In Alfonsín’s4 case, the answer to these questions was thought, on the one hand, through the approach of intellectuals to the government and, on the other hand, from the process of modernization of the state in democracy in which “channels of expression appropriate to political parties, social organizations, municipalities, neighborhood and neighborhood institutions” (Alfonsín, 1986, p 43) were established. In this project, unlike what would happen later, the role of political parties was not made explicit, “the party system seems to be the absent actor of the modernizing proposal” (Quiroga, 2005: 23). During this period, political training was left in the hands of party foundations and the University of Buenos Aires,5 without the state ever defining a specific policy to meet this demand.6 In 1989, the hyperinflationary and anomic situations led the radical government to bring forward the transfer of power to the newly elected president: Carlos Menem. From then on, and within the framework of the exhaustion of a populist or developmentalist public management model (Cavarozzi and Abal Medina, 2002), the restructuring of the state apparatus was promoted through the implementation of a set of neoliberal reforms –​first and second generation –​ following the prescriptions of international financing organizations. In this context, within the framework of the constitutional reform of 1994, the problem of the formation and training of technical political cadres once again acquired constitutional rank when political parties were recognized as fundamental institutions of the democratic system and, consequently, the training of technical political cadres was consecrated as a “State policy oriented to the management of the public sector and led by the State” (ENG, 1998, p 9), as stipulated in Article 38 of the National Constitution: 235

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Political parties are fundamental institutions of the democratic system. Their creation and the exercise of their activities are free within the respect for this Constitution, which guarantees their democratic organization and operation, the representation of minorities, the competition for the nomination of candidates for elective public office, access to public information and the dissemination of their ideas. The State contributes to the economic support of their activities and the training of their leaders. Political parties must publicize the origin and destination of their funds and assets. (Constitution of the Argentine Nation, 1994, Article 38) According to the provisions of the Constitution, the state, through this article, undertook to contribute to the economic support of the activities of the political parties and the training of their leaders, with which its obligation is to guarantee the financing of such activity and to control the fulfillment of the same. The model of the German political foundations –​Konrad Adenauer, Friedrich Ebert, and Friedrich Naumann –​which belong to the parties with parliamentary representation, although they are legally separated from them, was in the minds of the constituents. According to this scheme, the state grants resources to the foundations to develop training and research activities. These tasks are strictly controlled (Trigo Chacón, 2008). Unlike the provisions of Article 37/​CN 1949, where the state entrusted the universities with the training of political leaders, Article 38/​CN 1994 delegates this responsibility to the party system under the financing and control of the state. In this sense, the way in which the constitutional provision was interpreted in 1994 is confusing, not making it clear how and by whom the processes of formation and training of political leaders should be addressed.

The creation of state agencies This confusion or lack of precision of the constitutional article allowed a reinterpretation of the spirit in which Article 38 had been drafted, which led to the creation, in 1995, of two instances of state political education and training, one within the scope of the Secretariat of the Civil Service: the National School of Government (ENG) under the National Institute of Public Administration (INAP), the governing body of the training of the Argentine state; and the other in the orbit of the Undersecretariat of Youth of the Ministry of Interior: the Institute for Training and Formation of Political Leaders. Through these institutions, which since their creation overlapped in relation to their objectives and purposes,7 without being articulated and even less unified, the state sought to respond to the constitutional mandate. The policy implemented was based on the principle that since it is a matter that involves ethical and moral values, it is the state itself that should be in charge of the formation and training of its political class (ENG, 1998: 6). From this point 236

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of view, the training of technical political cadres by state institutions was based on objectives very different from those traditionally addressed by political parties. In 1995, for the implementation of the policy, the state resorted to the experience in the training of public officials of the INAP within the orbit of the Secretariat of Public Function and other programs implemented within the scope of the Ministry of the Interior. It took up political training experiences developed in the past, which beyond their results did not have continuity in time; international models such as the French National School of Administration, the German Political Foundations, and the John F. Kennedy School of Government of Harvard University; recommendations from the academic field; and the achievement of consensus among the main political parties on the contents and teachers of the programs. During this period, the idea of approving the creation of these political education and training instances through a law that would guarantee their institutional continuity was always present, although it never materialized. The project presented in 1999 before the Congress of the Nation for the creation by law of the National School of Government demonstrates this. In short, the state institutions created in the mid-​1990s aimed at the education and training of political leaders, became increasingly closed to the needs of each administration, generating the governmentalization of state components of an administration and where politics acquires a partisan bias. As Negri argues, “a capture of the public in terms of interests that are not necessarily collective” (2000, p 8) is produced, leaving unresolved a demand that time and again returns to the state and society: who, how and where are the technical-​political cadres trained for the management of public affairs. While public universities continue to have and increase their centrality in leadership training through, fundamentally, undergraduate and postgraduate courses, research groups, and publications in public administration (Cardozo, 2017; Agoff et al, 2020; Cardozo and Bulcourf, 2020). This is evidenced by the more than 70 undergraduate and graduate degree offerings in political science, international relations, and public administration distributed throughout the country.

Conclusion The review of the policies of formation and training of cadres in Argentina shows that beyond the evolution of these processes, all governments, even the de facto ones, have had initiatives based on the need to educate and train political leaders, although the consolidation of a format to do so has not yet been achieved. This indicates that it is a recurrent and unfinished public policy problem that appears discontinuously, as one more element of the crises that the development of the Argentine state is going through. So far, this need has not been institutionalized beyond the particular initiatives encouraged by each government. The paradigms from which it has been attempted to formulate and implement this policy have been diverse and 237

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consequently the questions of who does it and how it is done have had different answers in each administration: are they the universities, are they the political parties, are they the state agencies? It is an unfinished process, in which the political parties have also failed to take responsibility for this task. Meanwhile, the universities have not been given the explicit role of educating and training the political leadership, although they have always had, and still have, initiatives in this regard, both at the undergraduate and, especially, at the graduate level. In short, the multiplicity of training instances and their practically null articulation invites us to review the nature of the problem, the actors involved, and who are its recipients, bringing them closer to a much more complex and diverse reality that requires a present state, and consequently, elected and appointed officials with greater and better capacities and competences. It is also necessary for politics to open up to other decision-​makers in society, who will be in charge of guaranteeing the plurality of ideas in the construction of a model capable of transcending the interests of the moment. This does not deny that political education and training should continue to be promoted with state funding, but it is inevitable that it should be done with the active participation of the actors of society, because, ultimately, policies are developed in the most complex and controversial space of the state/​society relationship. In this sense, the role of the public university is central, both to discuss the contents and pedagogical models most in line with the needs of the various stakeholders, as well as to generate spaces for articulation among them. Notes 1

2

3

4

The “Generation of the 80’s” was a group of the ruling elite of the Argentine Republic between 1880 and 1916. It was a period known as the Conservative Republic, where the government was exercised by a small enlightened elite, with conservative and liberal ideas, belonging to a privileged sector of society. Juan Domingo Perón was president of the Argentine Nation on three occasions, interspersed with military governments: 1946–​1952; 1954–​1955; and 1973–​1974. In the 1940s, the Peronist movement –​later called the Justicialist Party –​grew up around his figure, promoting a nationalist project aimed mainly at the working classes. Its doctrine was based on the principles of social justice, political sovereignty, and economic independence, for which a strong and interventionist state was necessary. Between 1946 and 2019, justicialism won ten presidential elections: 1946 (Perón), 1951 (Perón), the two of 1973 (Cámpora and Perón), 1989 (Menem), 1995 (Menem), 2003 (Kirchner), 2007 (Fernández de Kirchner), 2011 (Fernández de Kirchner), and 2019 (Alberto Fernández), and lost the elections of 1983, 1999, and 2015. It was overthrown twice by military coups d’état –​in 1955 and 1976 –​and declared illegal by the dictatorship called Revolución Libertadora installed in 1955, the ban being maintained until 1972 and for Perón until 1973. After the establishment of secret and compulsory suffrage in 1912, there were six successful coups d’état in Argentina, in 1930, 1943, 1955, 1962, 1966, and 1976. The first four established provisional dictatorships, while the last two established permanent dictatorships according to the bureaucratic-​authoritarian state model. The 1976 dictatorship is the most violent and bloody period in Argentine history, due to the disappearances and tortures perpetrated by the military, which are still being investigated and tried to this day. Raúl Ricardo Alfonsín was president of Argentina from 1983 to 1989. He won the elections representing the Radical Civic Union. His government ended the de facto coup d’état and meant the end of coups d’état in the country. 238

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6

7

The ruling party had training institutions, such as the Karakachoff Foundation and the Foundation for Change in Democracy, for the indoctrination of party militants. Meanwhile, the hotbed of the political cadres of radicalism was the University of Buenos Aires and the Federación Universitaria Argentina. In fact, this context was favorable for the delayed creation of the political science career at the University of Buenos Aires. In 1986, the opening of the career “attempted, on the one hand, to concentrate the academic activity that was so dispersed in non-​university research centers, and on the other, the formation of a democratic and influential intellectual mass in the direction of politics through the transmission of scientific knowledge of politics” (Pinto, 2001, in Bulcourf and D’ Alessandro, 2003, p 162). However, in the case of technical training, the government defined a policy focused on the problem of the civil service, which resulted, in 1984, in the creation of the Corps of Government Administrators within the INAP. This program was mainly aimed at the training of technical cadres who would work in coordination with the political cadres in charge of policy formulation (Negri, 2000). The purpose of the Instituto de Capacitación y Formación de Dirigentes Políticos was to organize “courses and seminars in the fields of law, politics, economics and international relations”; to carry out “studies and research in the aforementioned areas”; and “promote direct contact with the ruling class of those who enroll in the courses and seminars” (Art. 3º). In this way, the aim was to respond to the “changes in the dynamics of government functions” produced by the constitutional reform that would impact on the “design of a new State”, which “will require specialized training of the Argentine political leadership … in order to efficiently implement political actions” (Whereas, Res. 1664/​95 MI). While the ENG’s mission was “to train and qualify political leaders” (Art. 1º. Res. 379/​95).

References Agoff, S., Mansilla, G., Fagúndez, P., Barrau Vera, M., Montes, K., and Cousillas, N. (2020) Mapa de la formación universitaria en administración pública en la Argentina. Su conformación en 2006 y en 2017, Los Polvorines: Universidad Nacional de General Sarmiento. Alfonsín, R. (1986) ‘Discurso Parque Norte’, in L. Aznar (ed), Discursos sobre el discurso, Buenos Aires: Eudeba-​FUCADE, pp 83–​94. Bulcourf, P. (2021) ‘Las texturas de lo político: construyendo una cartografía compleja de la historia de la ciencia política en América Latina’, Revista Complejidad, 39: 12–​55. Bulcourf, P. and D’Alessandro, M. (2003) ‘La Ciencia Política en la Argentina’, in J. Pinto (ed), Introducción a la Ciencia Política (4th edn), Buenos Aires: Eudeba, pp 133–​184. Bulcourf, P., Cardozo, N., and Campos Ríos, M. (2019) ‘El desarrollo de la Ciencia Política en Argentina y sus desafíos’, in M. del C. Roqueñí Ibargüengaytia, K. Valverde, and E. Gutiérrez (eds), La Ciencia Política: disciplina académica, profesionalización y nuevos horizontes, Mexico City: Universidad Iberoamericana, pp 177–​230. Bulcourf, P. and Cardozo, N. (2017) ‘La Ciencia Política en América Latina: un análisis comparado de su desarrollo’, in Freidenberg, F. (eds), La ciencia política sobre América Latina: docencia e investigación en perspectiva comparada, Santo Domingo: Fundación Global Democracia y Desarrollo-​F UNGLODE, pp 511–​558. 239

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Bulcourf, P., Krzywicka, K. and Ravecca, P. (2017) ‘Reconstruyendo la Ciencia Política en América Latina’, Anuario Latinoamericano. Ciencias Políticas y Relaciones Internacionales, 5: 17–​31. Camou, A. (2006) ‘El Saber detrás del Trono. Intelectuales-​expertos, tanques de pensamiento y políticas económicas en la Argentina democrática (1985–​2001)’, in A. Garcé and G. Uña (eds), Think Tanks y Políticas Públicas en Latinoamérica. Dinámicas globales y realidades regionales, Buenos Aires: Editorial Prometeo, pp 139–​176. Cardozo, N. (2017) ‘El desarrollo de los estudios sobre administración y políticas públicas en la Argentina’, Anuario Latinoamericano. Ciencias Políticas y Relaciones Internacionales, 5: 127–​155. Cardozo, N. and Bulcourf, P. (2020) ‘La enseñanza de la administración pública en la Argentina: Una mirada a los ciclos de licenciatura’, Revista Pilquen. Sección Ciencias Sociales, 23(5): 3–​25. Cavarozzi, M. and Abal Medina, J. (2002) El asedio a la política. Los partidos latinoamericanos en la era neoliberal, Rosario: Homo Sapiens. ENG (Escuela Nacional de Gobierno) (1998) Una experiencia novedosa, Buenos Aires: INAP. Fernández, A., Lesgart, C., and Kandel, V. (2002) La Ciencia Política en Argentina. Dos siglos de historia, Buenos Aires: Ediciones Biebel. Golden, H.D. (2010) ¿Vivir o seguir sobreviviendo? Una conceptualización de la capacitación estatal de dirigentes en Argentina, master’s thesis, Universidad de San Andrés, Buenos Aires. Guardamagna, M. (2011) ‘Marchas y contramarchas en el desarrollo de la ciencia política argentina’, Revista Persona y Sociedad, 25(3): 11–​27. Guardamagna, M. (2015) ‘Una matriz teórico-​analítica para el estudio de políticas: el caso de la formación y capacitación de cuadros políticos en argentina’, Revista Debates, 9(2): 159–​184. Halperín Donghi, T. (2008) Son memorias, Buenos Aires: Siglo XXI. Larriqueta, D. (2000) Manual para gobernantes, Buenos Aires: Ediciones de la Flor. Matus, C. (2008) El líder sin estado mayor: la oficina del gobernante (1st edn), San Justo: Universidad Nacional de la Matanza. Negri, S.E. (2000) ‘La Función Pública en la República Argentina: Impresiones de una historia reciente de avances y retrocesos. El caso del Cuerpo de Administradores Gubernamentales’, V Congreso Internacional del CLAD sobre la Reforma del Estado y la Administración Pública, Santo Domingo: CLAD, 24–​27 October. Oszlak, O. and O’Donnell, G. (1976) ‘Estado y Políticas Públicas en América Latina: hacia una estrategia de investigación’, Documento del CEDES, 4, Buenos Aires: CEDES/​G.E. CLACSO. Available from: http://​www.osca​rosz​lak.org.ar/​ gall​ery/​est​ado%20y%20po​liti​cas%20es​tata​les%20en%20amer​ica%20lat​ina%20ha​ cia%20una%20est​rate​gia%20de%20in​vest​igaci​ on.pdf [Accessed 6 March 2023]. Pinto, J. (2003) ‘La ciencia política’, in Pinto, J. (eds) Introducción a la ciencia pol ítica (4th edn), Buenos Aires: Eudeba, pp 1–​38. 240

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Quiroga, H. (2005) La Argentina en emergencia permanente (1st edn), Buenos Aires: Edhasa. Ravecca, P. (2019) The Politics of Political Science: Re-​Writing Latin American Experiences, New York: Routledge. Sampay, A. (1951) ‘La Formación Política que la Constitución Argentina encarga a las Universidades’, Boletín de Estudios Políticos, 2: 9–​53. Sarlo, B. (2007) La batalla de las ideas (1943–​1973), Buenos Aires: Emecé. Subirats, J. (2021) El territorio como base de la innovación y reactivación económica, social y ambiental (master class) V Foro Mundial de Desarrollo Económico Mundial, Córdoba. Available from: https://​desl.uclg.org/​sites/​desl.uclg.org/​files/​2022-​ 02/​SP_​Subi​rats​_​VWF​LED.pdf [Accessed 6 March 2023]. Trigo Chacón, M. (2008) Los Estados y las Relaciones Internacionales. Historia documentada, Madrid: Visión Libros.

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Democratic governance and the role of think tanks in the public policy cycle in Argentina Gonzalo Diéguez and Demian González Chmielewski

Introduction Civil society organizations (CSOs) play an important role in broadening and consolidating the processes related to democratic governance in Argentina. CSOs act as meeting points for local communities in all regions and provinces of the country, bringing people together for charitable, social, political, cultural, artistic, sports, and non-​profit purposes. This broad civil sector has, as of December 2021 according to the Superintendence of Corporations,1 13,651 organizations that contribute directly and indirectly to strengthen the processes of socio-​cultural and democratic development of the country. However, a small group of these organizations has a special mission: developing ideas and recommendations based on evidence in order to strengthen or make some of the four stages of the public policy cycle more sophisticated. Those organizations are think tanks. Sometimes they play a strategic role by building a bridge between the different stakeholders in the political, social, and economic arena and government administrations’ agendas. Likewise, they contribute to create quality knowledge on public policies and to reduce information gaps with stakeholders from the state itself, the market, and the civil society, fostering the ongoing improvement of the coordination efforts between the public policy development and implementation stages. In turn, over the last 15 years, they have also been actively involved in monitoring and evaluation processes, contributing highly technical professional analyses to the governmental decision-​making process, and taking an active part in the expansion and improvement of active transparency and accountability processes. The specialized literature on this kind of organizations is extensive and defines think tanks as research centers that produce knowledge and effective impact on public policies (Brown, 1991; Acuña and Vacchieri, 2007; Garcé and Uña, 2007; Leiras, 2007; Stone, 2013). A first general glance would allow us to say that Argentine think tanks assume the CSOs format and define themselves as independent, non-​profit, and non-​ partisan organizations. However, there are some relevant exceptions, taking into consideration variables such as ideological positioning and sources of funding. According to the Global Go To Think Tank Index Report of the University of Pennsylvania (McGann, 2021),2 Argentina has a total of 262 think tanks. They 242

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account for a small part of the universe of CSOs already mentioned, but still result in Argentina being ranked eighth in the world and first in Latin America. In the comparative analysis with the 46 countries of the Latin American and Caribbean regions, Argentina has three think tanks in the global ranking of the most prestigious and relevant think tanks. This ranking is a methodological proxy that shows the consolidated position of some Argentine think tanks; however, Argentina is far from being Thinktankland (Braun et al, 2010). This situation is the result, among others, of three relevant factors: 1. the fragmentation and sub-​nationalization of the institutional political ecosystem affecting the ideological repositioning of the main partisan political organizations; 2. the volatility of macroeconomic cycles affecting sustainable funding opportunities; 3. the weak institutionalization of cooperation processes with public and private universities affecting complementary coordination mechanisms. In this chapter we will analyze the limits and challenges the day-​to-​day operations of think tanks in Argentina face, their forms of political-​institutional interaction with government administrations, and their attempts to influence public policy cycles. First, we will analyze the economic and political-​institutional context of the last four decades, with a clear path given by the recovery of the democratic political regime in 1983, along with high levels of volatility in growth and recessive economic cycles. Second, we will analyze the conceptual and instrumental definition of think tanks, their functions and role in the dynamics of institutional governance, from the deployment of influences close to the different Argentine governments, to their gradual specialization in certain areas and public policy issues. In the third section, we will analyze specific cases of involvement and advocacy in the design and monitoring of different public policies, strategies for the internationalization of agendas, and the fluctuating tension between participation and permanence in the political scene. Finally, we will analyze how the most successful roles contribute to achieving their organizational missions and institutionalizing their work processes with the state, and which opportunities they find to support their advocacy role in the dynamics of democratic governance.

The return of democracy in Argentina: an opportunity to (re)build citizenship The return of democracy in 1983 set a path of greater civil and political liberties for the population. However, seven and a half years of military dictatorship left the state capacities damaged and limited to face many of the multiple challenges public administration had to face. According to data from the National Institute of Statistics and Census, inflation for that year was 364 percent year-​on-​year, 243

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with an average for the previous seven years of 189 percent per year. Foreign debt increased from 12 percent to 40 percent of gross domestic product, which grew at an average of 1 percent per year. Unemployment doubled during the same period. Thus, Argentina recovered democratic institutions and citizen involvement with many debts and challenges to be faced in terms of economic and social issues. In the previous decades and during the civil-​military government, civil organizations that assumed the think tank format focused mainly on the economic policy agenda, mainly through the design of fiscal tools and financial instruments. Over the years, the new organizations took on new legal, human rights, institutional, social, and political agendas, strengthening civil society and complementing public sector actions, which were increasingly focused on recurring external sector, debt, and financing crises. In this sense, think tanks played the dual role of proposing public policies to improve the quality of democratic institutional and economic processes in Argentina, but also the role of watchdog, overseeing public officials’ actions in the administration and execution of budgetary funds as well as the political stakeholders themselves in their access to office through national and subnational elections. However, the political party system shows a changing scenario since the restitution of democracy. According to data from the Centro de Implementación de Políticas Públicas para la Equidad y el Crecimiento’s (CIPPEC) Argentine Electoral Observatory, civic participation in national elections fell from 85 percent in 1983 to 76 percent of the electoral roll in 2017, with a sustained decrease in mid-​term legislative elections. The concentration of candidates also decreased considerably, from 92 percent in 1983 to 88 percent in 2019, taking into account that in that last year the design of electoral alliances allowed retaining votes from the most important political parties in Argentina. However, in 2003, said concentration reached an all-​time low of only 46 percent. The actual number of political parties went from around 2 between the 1980s and 1990s to 4.17 for the House of Representatives and 3.45 for the Senate, reaching historical fragmentation levels of 13.39 and 11, respectively, in 2003. This scenario of fragmentation and sub-​nationalization of the political system explains not only the volatility of party politics, but also the phenomenon of greater and growing independence of think tanks in Argentina. Unlike other countries with strongly institutionalized political parties dominating the public agenda, electoral competition in Argentina gave rise to a multiplicity of political stakeholders that are not necessarily aligned along party lines, although electoral alliances maintain the bipartisan inertia of the Unión Cívica Radical and the Partido Justicialista (Abal Medina and Suarez Cao, 2003; Suárez Cao, 2011; Calvo and Leiras, 2015). Thus, the independence aspect remains a central element for economic survival and institutional relevance of think tanks in a volatile political context. It should also be noted that party independence does not mean that these organizations do not take an ideological stance on different public policy agendas. 244

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As will be discussed in the following pages, think tanks are involved in the public policy cycle in different ways, often providing content for the design and evaluation of government plans and programs. Also, by providing highly qualified technical assistance professionals to support both public officials as well as government political authorities. These back-​and-​forth processes, known as “revolving door”, facilitate and promote knowledge and capacity transfer processes that do not substantially affect the think tanks’ thematic work agendas. It should also be noted that despite the existing public ethics law, the absence of specific regulatory frameworks aimed at exclusively monitoring public–​ private interaction formats is a critical variable. Likewise, the lack of a regulatory framework focused specifically on regulating interest management and lobbying, given the different forms of institutional relations between civil society and private sector organizations and the state, also entails a potential risk of conflict of interest.

Think tanks, roles, and functions in the Argentine institutional political ecosystem The definition of a think tank is a broad concept, which in general is not limited to an exhaustive set of analytical dimensions, but rather reflects the local characteristics and the performance of each organization. In general terms, they are recognized under the “not-​for-​profit” format, which have more or less complex organizational structures in accordance with the size and scale of the financial resources and human capital involved. Another particularly distinct element is that within their missions and functions, they are devoted to producing ideas, designing projects, spreading and connecting them with the different areas of public policy implementation (Stone, 2013; Abelson, 2018). This includes a series of activities such as conducting research with high technical standards on social, political, and economic issues, as well as teams of experts in specific fields of study. Also deploying public–​private institutional connection nodes and networks to translate these ideas and proposals into actual advocacy actions and feasible public policies to be implemented through the relevant governmental channels. To define think tanks, Brown (1991) uses the concept of bridging organizations. Its role is to connect different audiences and stakeholders, for example, between the creation of academic evidence for decision making and public administration. But he also sees them as key entities for shaping public policy issues inherent to growth in countries and, above all, as organizations that play a strategic role in making development processes sustainable. In this respect, it is consistent with Huntington’s (1968) theory of political modernization.3 Think tanks can be seen as a key element to supplement the role of the state in increasing and making institutionalization levels more complex so as to incorporate citizen demands and also to implement public policies in a more accurate, assertive manner. A common element of Brown’s theory and these discussions is that these bridging 245

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organizations focus, as regards the market, on analyzing and trying to reduce inequalities and, as regards the state, on strengthening public administration to reduce inefficiencies in terms of expenditure and allocation of human capital. Think tanks also play an important role in societies where decisions are more authoritative or where executive branches are strong and less dependent on public deliberation. Thus, these organizations provide evidence for the decision-​making process, but also generate information, enriching and broadening the public debate. In this sense, Uña (2006) analyzes the tension between participation and permanence as a distinctive feature of the Argentine case. According to the author, while participation is defined as the vocation of think tanks to influence public policies and become involved in implementation processes, exposing themselves to the erosion of the political agenda, the permanence is the continuity and validity of this type of organization within a relevant public policy agenda over time, regardless of the electoral or political-​partisan situation. Often, those think tanks with greater continuity over time in the political arena tend to have less intensive involvement in the public agenda and vice versa. This inversely proportional relationship occurs because the foundations and research centers that are institutionally anchored in the university ecosystem tend to work with a medium-​and long-​term intertemporal thematic agenda, despite the fact that on certain occasions their members, as individuals, are involved in certain political-​partisan processes. Their academic institutional affiliation tends to provide them with greater stability, away from the day-​to-​day political situation. On the other hand, regular involvement in the political arena exposes think tanks and their members to a greater erosion of legitimacy that usually has negative consequences in terms of continuity because they take away installed capacities and funding opportunities from the institutions as they move to work in the public sector or interact in processes that are more intense in terms of the implementation of public policies. For Argentina, we will take 21 think tanks as a reference universe (see Appendix Table 16.A1) that meet the permanence variable and, to a greater or lesser extent, also the participation variable. Although, as previously mentioned, Argentina has a larger number of think tanks, the list presented here includes the main organizations at the national level that have had relevance and prominence in the Argentine political scene and public policy agenda over the last 40 years4 since the return of democracy. The modalities of involvement in general can be summarized in three analytical dimensions: informing public debate, producing ideas translated into work projects, and systematizing evidence on policy implementation. First, we identified the research method applied and the publication of documents as the main strategy for disseminating evidence-​based public policy recommendations. Although not all these organizations do it with the same frequency, publishing documents with methodological and analytical rigor is usually an element for identifying the think tanks with the highest intellectual production and professional technical profile. On the other hand, public advocacy actions are 246

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fundamental when it comes to connecting the analysis with key public and private stakeholders that interact in the public policy ecosystem. These types of advocacy and dissemination actions include seminars, workshops, specific programs with governments, or even the involvement of experts or think tanks in the drafting of regulatory documentation. This second analytical dimension identifies the component of connection with the public sector or influential groups in the implementation of policies for advancing agenda items such as market freedom, social protection of vulnerable groups, individual rights, and institutional strengthening, among others. Finally, the technical assistance component involves the direct engagement of a think tank by a government agency to analyze the results and impact of the implementation of a specific public policy, usually based on international best practice standards. This third variable enables a closer and more operational institutional relation with the public sector, providing the necessary scale and scope for the recommendations developed and endorsed by the think tanks. As shown in Table 16.1, economic and fiscal issues tend to be recurrent areas of analysis in the think tanks’ agenda for generating ideas. But it is also possible to say that think tanks created after the return to democracy in 1983 are increasingly addressing institutional, social, and legal issues. If we use as a reference point those organizations created since the mid-​1990s, we notice that these brand new think tanks propose, in their organizational mission, to establish themselves as a complementary stakeholder to the actions of the public sector in some stages of public policy, addressing access to civil and social rights issues. Thus, over the last 40 years, think tanks in Argentina have shifted from a predominantly academic and economy-​oriented approach to a technical and professional profile aimed at influencing other dimensions of the public sector governance, such as institutional, legal, and social aspects. Performing applied research, advocacy, or technical assistance tasks is based on the legal format of non-​profit organizations, but with a wide range of nuances. To expand on that, we looked at four organizational structure variables related to the 21 think tanks in the sample. First, we will focus our analysis on the think tanks “independence” variable. Although all organizations have an ideological bias that drives their research approach and advocacy activities, think tanks base their work on professional methodologies and systematized evidence. However, although most of the think tanks analyzed here present themselves as independent –​both organizationally and politically –​some depend on supra-​institutional ecosystems. For example, Instituto de Estudios sobre la Realidad Argentina y Latinoamericana (IERAL) reports institutionally to Fundación Mediterránea and Poder Ciudadano to Transparency International. Although this dependence does not affect the quality or scope of their research, it does imply that they are actually part of an institutional framework that defines the orientation of their daily tasks. On the other hand, Centro de Estudios Distributivos, Laborales y Sociales (CEDLAS), as part of the Universidad Nacional de la Plata, has an academic bias and an economy-​oriented focus, although it also deals with broader issues, such as social 247

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Table 16.1: Content variables Content variables

Study subjects Document publishing

Advocacy actions

Technical assistance

Economical

FIEL

•

CLACSO

•

•

•

CEDES

•

•

ASAP

•

•

•

IERAL

•

•

•

CELS

•

CARI

•

CEMUPRO

•

•

IAE

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

CEDLAS

•

ACIJ •

IML

•

•

• •

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

• •

•

• •

•

•

• •

FA

Legal

•

PC •

•

•

•

CIPPEC

Social

•

FL ADC

Institutional

• •

•

• •

•

•

•

•

•

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CSO/​think tank

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Table 16.1: Content variables (continued) Content variables

Study subjects Document publishing

FP

•

DL

•

IP

•

GESTAR

•

Advocacy actions

Technical assistance

•

• •

Economical

Institutional

•

•

Social

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

Source: Own elaboration and based on input from Acuña and Vacchieri (2007), Garcé and Uña (2007), and Weyrauch (2009).

Legal

•

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CSO/​think tank

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Table 16.2: Structure variables CSO/​think tank

Independent

FIEL

•

CLACSO

•

CEDES

•

ASAP

•

•

IERAL

•

•

CELS

•

CARI

•

University affiliation

250

•

FL

•

PC

Institutionally affiliation

• •

CIPPEC

•

CEDLAS

•

•

ACIJ

•

FA

IML GESTAR

Independent

•

ADC

FP

CSO/​think tank

•

•

IAE

Party affiliation

Policy Analysis in Argentina

CEMUPRO

Institutional affiliation

• •

• DL

• •

IP Source: Own elaboration and based on input from Acuña and Vacchieri (2007), Garcé and Uña (2007), and Weyrauch (2009).

•

Democratic governance and think tanks

protection studies. Finally, organizations such as Fundación Pensar, Instituto Patria, Centro de Estudios Municipales y Provinciales (CEMUPRO), Fundación Alem, Instituto Gestar, and Instituto Moisés Lebensohn have direct affiliations with political parties, such as Propuesta Republicana (PRO), Unidad Ciudadana, Partido Socialista, Unión Cívica Radical, and Partido Justicialista, respectively. In these cases, they operate as sources of ideas for political parties, feeding the party platform for each election, especially in the presidential elections held every four years (Etch, 2020). Although the structural variables analyzed here do not affect the output of each think tank, they do significantly influence the purpose of its tasks and actionable items. While independent think tanks strengthen public debate and promote programmatic ideas linked to short-​ and medium-​term issues, those with institutional, university, or party affiliation work to promote a specific agenda, build theories, or strengthen a political platform, respectively as shown in Table 16.2.

From words to action –​think tanks in practice: advocacy, public service, and internationalization While content variables reflect the scope and characteristics of each think tank’s actions in terms of content dissemination and advocacy tasks, structure variables condition the purpose of their actions to a greater extent by playing a larger role in policy design when they have a university or institutional affiliation and, alternatively, by being more involved in the implementation of evidence-​based policies and recommendations when they have a partisan affiliation or when they are independent. However, a recurring phenomenon for all of them was the influence and often the landing of their experts in certain areas of government administration. During the last 50 years, several governments of different political stripes appealed to think tank experts to design, implement, and assess ideas, especially in economic matters, in the hope of reversing the country’s complex contexts of inflation, foreign debt, and growth, usually referred to as stop and go cycles, stagnation, and external restriction (Díaz Alejandro, 1970; Diamand, 1973; Braun and Joy, 1981). The first case occurs in 1970, with Aldo Ferrer as Minister of Economy and Labor of the so-​called “Argentine Revolution”. It was in that year, after a brief period at the Ministry of Public Works and Services, that this economist arrived with industrialist ideas aimed at promoting the domestic market after being the first Executive Secretary of Consejo Latinomericano de Ciencias Sociales (CLACSO) between 1967 and 1969. This center of studies produced academic research on the economy and social issues based in the city of Buenos Aires and in association with different centers of studies in Latin America. Although his time in office was brief, his influence spread to subsequent progressive governments and, together with other scholars, he led the Fénix Plan from the School of Economics of the Universidad de Buenos Aires at the end of 2001, which would also be key in the economic recovery from 2002 and 2003 with a 251

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developmentalist and industrialist strategy based on fiscal incentives to production and consumption in the domestic market. However, during the 1980s, the foreign debt-​related crisis and the inflationary spiral led several private and public organizations to think about stabilization and growth plans. Among them, Fundación Mediterránea, based in the city of Córdoba, stands out, which through IERAL produces research on economic and fiscal policy in macroeconomic and sectorial aspects. Thus, in the early 1990s, after a brief period at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Domingo Cavallo was appointed Minister of Economy, Public Works, and Services. The influence of the work carried out at IERAL was twofold. On the one hand, he brought in a group of collaborators in second lines such as state secretaries and in third lines such as undersecretaries who managed the administration together with the minister based on the statistical analyses and econometric models developed at IERAL. On the other hand, stabilization proposals based on currency appreciation, fiscal balance, privatizations, and political and administrative decentralization were also the result of previous work at the think tank based at business organization Fundación Mediterránea. In 1999, Cavallo placed third in the presidential election and briefly returned to the Ministry of Economy in 2001. Also, during 2001, Ricardo López Murphy was Minister of Economy for barely two weeks in March. A technical-​political figure representing the Unión Cívica Radical, the majority party of the ruling coalition, but at the same time the former chief economist of the Fundación de Investigaciones Económicas Latinoamericanas (FIEL), López Murphy took the ideas of that think tank to the ministry, although his proposals of austerity, expenditure reduction, fiscal balance, and prioritization of financial spending were not well received by the social and political context. Two years later, he placed third in the presidential elections on a platform similar to that of his proposals at FIEL and put into practice during his brief term as minister. The arrival of experts and ideas from think tanks to design and implement public policies in governments became professionalized and gained greater magnitude and importance, mainly driven by political-​partisan platforms. In the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires between 2007 and 2015, during the administration of Mauricio Macri, the work of the think tanks Grupo Sophia and Fundación Compromiso por el Cambio resulted in several plans and projects, as well as the involvement of many technical and professional experts in public administration with high-​level political and institutional responsibilities. This background was the prelude to the actions of Fundación Pensar, a think tank made up of most of the former members of Grupo Sophia and Fundación Compromiso por el Cambio, which provided more than 50 experts who were part of the managerial space made up of public officials and senior political authorities of the national government that took office in 2015 during the Cambiemos coalition administration. Fundación Pensar also prepared and assisted in the effective implementation of numerous plans and projects in the areas of energy, mining, state modernization, and social policy. 252

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A relatively similar experience is observed in the local government of Rosario with the active involvement of CEMUPRO, in the municipal public administration led by the socialist party, a political organization that ruled the city of Rosario between 1989 and 2007 and then became part of the ruling coalition Frente Cívico y Social in the province of Santa Fe between 2007 and 2019. CEMUPRO’s role, developing plans and projects in the areas of urban planning, administrative decentralization, and social policies, was progressively increasing, gaining prominence and influence in local public administration and later at the provincial level. Over 20 experts and specialists of this think tank took on the roles of public officials and also political positions of varying hierarchy in the executive and legislative spheres, both at the local, provincial, and national government levels. In 2019, the national government changed administrations and was also accompanied by the influx of ideas and technical experts from the partisan think tank Instituto Patria. The thematic areas in which it had a critical impact were science and technology, culture, human rights, energy and the environment, developing plans and programs, and contributing a number of experts to the national government administration who assumed high-​level political positions. Although, as Uña (2006, p 97) points out, active and leading involvement is a variable that contributes to strengthening the continuous presence of think tanks’ ideas and projects in the public agenda, it often ends up becoming a factor that has negative repercussions in terms of permanence and sustainability over time. Other examples of actual impact on the design and monitoring of public policies are worth mentioning, where the intervention model of think tanks focuses specifically on agenda-​setting processes for long periods of time, and then distances itself from the policy makers at the time of implementation. Among the most recent cases we can point out: the role of the Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales with the active promotion of the social policy called Asignación Universal por Hijo (Universal Child Allowance) in 2010, the leading role of the Asociación Argentina de Presupuesto y Administración Financiera Pública pushing for the creation of the National Budget Office within the scope of the National Congress in 2018, and the promotion and advocacy actions of the think tanks consortium made up of CIPPEC, Poder Ciudadano, and the Asociación Civil por la Igualdad y la Justicia for the enactment of the law on access to public information in 2017. Some of the elements that contribute to a longer continuity of these organizations are a low level of political exposure as well as their affiliation, be it of an academic, institutional, or even partisan nature. However, another fundamental element for the continuity of think tanks over time is the globalization of their activities. In the case of CLACSO, the diversity of its funding sources, as well as the association with several universities and centers of studies in many countries within the region, allows it to take a certain distance from the current political agenda. 253

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In turn, Poder Ciudadano found in its institutional affiliation to Transparency International a way to become actively involved and contribute to the promotion of global standards of good practices in accountability and integrity, positioning itself as a think tank with an active watchdog role. In 2018 Argentina hosted the G20 summit. One of its task forces was the Think 20 (T20), led by CIPPEC and Consejo Argentino para las Relaciones Internacionales (CARI). The projection of the G20 think tanks group has several components that strengthen the global positioning of both institutions. First, they consolidate global cooperation processes beyond the experts, at the organizational level. Second, they open up global funding possibilities, contributing to the independence, sustainability, and continuity of think tanks. Finally, they allow for a relationship with other countries and a continuity of the global agenda through the troika model, which links, within the G20, the host country with the previous country and the next country on the list of hosts, providing three years of continuous involvement for the think tanks. In 2018, the T20 gathered 315 organizations from 56 countries and produced 83 policy briefs that contributed to the communiqué submitted to the president to contribute to the G20 agenda and influence global priorities.

Conclusion Throughout this chapter, think tanks were defined as complex organizations, whose institutional design falls under the format of non-​profit associations that contribute to inform public debate and provide evidence-​based recommendations aimed at improving the design, implementation, and evaluation of public policies. The Argentine case shows that, despite the volatility of the socioeconomic context and the institutional fragmentation of the party system, it is possible to see the growing and specialized role of think tanks in different public policy processes and with governments of different ideological and political orientations. These think tanks not only meet in daily practice their conceptual definition –​ at a higher level of theoretical abstraction –​but also play a growing and sustained role as connecting bridges between stakeholders, ideas, and policy makers. Through their daily actions, they nurture networks and expand the ecosystem of stakeholders, organizations, and institutions involved in the different public policy cycles. However, the institutional path of their actions is often winding and is closely linked to their researchers’ prestige and expertise, as well as to their relatively successful experiences of involvement, limited to very specific issues in successive governments. The recurring issues of sustainable and transparent funding reinforce the hypothesis that a greater involvement of think tanks, nurturing the government teams of different government administrations, affects their relative autonomy, as well as their continuity and institutionality over time. Nevertheless, it is also possible to point out that some think tanks have managed to weather the ups and downs of Argentine economic and political cycles with 254

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relative success, thanks to their more complex levels of institutionalization, the constant professionalization of their work processes and the diversified and successful strategies of their funding sources in public, private and international cooperation networks. In the last 15 years, the globalization of Argentine think tanks has become a critical variable of incidence to sustain the strategic relevance of this type of organizations in the social, media, and governmental agenda of public policies. Especially with regard to the funding of its activities in the medium and long term. The involvement in a global agenda and the strategic relationship with a diversity of international cooperation organizations under the United Nations system, as well as with countries that promote institutional strengthening programs through their embassies, allow think tanks to project activities beyond the political, social, and economic context. In Argentina during the last 40 years since the return of democracy, the work and advocacy agenda of think tanks shifted their focus of study and axis of influence from economic and fiscal analysis to the strengthening of civic freedoms, social rights, and the development of political institutions. This journey, with some progress and some setbacks, marks an important step towards the institutional consolidation of certain public policy processes in Argentine democracy, reducing information gaps and providing evidence-​based knowledge to be used in the design, monitoring, and evaluation stages. This last item gives rise to the following research question: to what extent can the role of think tanks continue to strengthen and supplement the role of the state in implementing better public policies in Argentina? To attempt a first outline of a response, we can consider two factors that we believe have a critical and strategic impact. First, the spread and institutionalization of cooperation and collaborative competition mechanisms among think tanks and the stakeholders and organizations that make up the public and private university ecosystem and the scientific-​technological community. Second, the potential role that think tanks could play as a reservoir of minimum thresholds of legitimacy in the actions promoted by civil society, in the face of the progressive weakening of certain state capabilities and the growing political discontent of citizens. These are recurrent socio-​political phenomena facing the democracies in the region in the 21st century. Notes 1 2

3

https://d​ atos.gob.ar/d​ atas​ et/j​ ustic​ ia-e​ ntidad​ es-c​ onsti​ tuid​ as-i​ nsp​ ecci​ on-g​ ener​ alju ​ stic​ ia/a​ rchi​ vo/​ justic​ia_​9​142b​160-​7445-​4fea-​bc27-​e35c1​e83a​6d6 , [Access on 14 June 2022]. The Global Go To Think Tank Index is the result of an international survey involving over 1,950 scholars, public and private donors, policy makers, and journalists who helped rank over 6,500 think tanks using a set of 18 criteria developed by the University of Pennsylvania’s Think Tanks and Civil Society Program on an interrupted basis since 2008. Huntington’s thesis states that countries with recurring and incremental social conflicts that affect their political stability are characterized by having scarce and insufficient tools and institutional mechanisms to effectively and efficiently channel the multiple, heterogeneous, and contradictory demands and requirements that sometimes stem simultaneously from the different stakeholders and organizations of civil society and the market. 255

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The 21 think tanks surveyed are located in the Buenos Aires metropolitan area and the humid pampas, geographic regions that account for 73 percent of Argentina’s total population and 67 percent of the country’s gross domestic product.

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Suárez Cao, J. (2011) ‘¿Federal en teoría pero unitaria en la práctica?: Una discusión sobre el federalismo y la provincialización de la política en Argentina’, Revista SAAP, 5(2): 305–​321. Uña, G. (2006) ‘Think tanks en Argentina: sobreviviendo a la tensión entre a participación y la permanencia’, in A. Garcé and G. Uña (eds), Think tanks y políticas públicas en Latinoamérica, Buenos Aires: Prometeo, pp 177–​220. Weyrauch, V. (2009) Acercando la investigación a las políticas públicas en América Latina: repensando los roles y desafíos para los institutos de investigación de políticas, Buenos Aires: Fundación CIPPEC. Appendix Table 16.A1: Civil society organisations and think tanks CSO/​think tank

Full name

Web page

Foundation year

FIEL

Fundación de Investigaciones Económicas Latinoamericana

​fiel.org​

1964

CLACSO

Consejo Latinoamericano de Ciencias Sociales

​clacso.org​

1967

CEDES

Centro de Estudios de Estado y Sociedad

​cedes.org​

1975

ASAP

Asociación Argentina de Presupuesto y Administración Financiera Pública

​www.asap.org.ar​

1977

IERAL

Instituto de Estudios sobre la Realidad Argentina y Latinoamericana

​ieral.org​

1977

CELS

Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales

​cels.org.ar/​web​

1979

CARI

Consejo Argentino para las Relaciones Internacionales

​cari.org.ar​

1979

CEMUPRO

Centro de Estudios Municipale cemupro.org.ar​ y Provinciales

1982

IAE

Instituto Argentino de la Energía “General Mosconi”

iae.org.ar/​institucional​

1983

FL

Fundación Libertad

libertad.org.ar​

1988

PC

Poder Ciudadano

poderciudadano.org​

1989

ADC

Asociación por los Derechos Civiles

adc.org.ar​

1995

CIPPEC

Centro de Implementación de Políticas Públicas para la Equidad y el Crecimiento

cippec.org​

2000

(continued)

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Policy Analysis in Argentina Table 16.A1: Civil society organisations and think tanks (continued) CSO/​think tank

Full name

Web page

Foundation year

CEDLAS

Centro de Estudios Distributivos, Laborales y Sociales

cedlas.econo.unlp.edu.ar​

2002

ACIJ

Asociación Civil por la Igualdad y la Justicia

acij.org.ar​

2002

FA

Fundación Alem

fundacionalem.org.ar​

2004

IML

Instituto Moisés Lebensohn

lebensohn.org.ar​

2004

FP

Fundación Pensar

fundacionpensar.org.ar​

2005

DL

Directorio Legislativo

directoriolegislativo.org​

2010

GESTAR

Instituto de Estudios y Formación Política

​gestar.org.ar​

2010

IP

Instituto Patria

institutopatria.com.ar​

2016

Source: Own elaboration and based on input from Acuña and Vacchieri (2007), Garcé and Uña (2007), and Weyrauch (2009).

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17

Policy analysis in private research centers: the Center for the Study of State and Society and its production on state and public policies in Argentina Pablo Bulcourf

Introduction Since the 1960s, the social sciences have experienced a flourishing development. Not only at the level of the creation of degree programs and centers in public and private universities, but also in civil society organizations. To mention a few of them, the Di Tella Institute, the Institute for Social Development, and later, in the 1970s, the Centro de Estudios de Estado y Sociedad (Center for the Study of State and Society [CEDES]) deserves to be mentioned. Several of these centers developed very relevant research, both under Argentine and foreign funding. They promoted the publication of books as well as research papers and scientific journals; some of them survive today as Desarrollo Económico. Created in 1975, the year before the military coup that would give way to the cruelest military dictatorship in Argentina, the organization was a shelter for independent scientific production while the universities and a large part of the intellectual field were persecuted and its members were dismissed, harassed, and many of them had to go into exile or formed part of the long lists of the disappeared. Financed by international entities and the action of its members, the foundation survived among the few “catacombs” of independent knowledge in Argentina. Oscar Oszlak, Guillermo O’Donnell, and Marcelo Cavarozzi, among others, developed their activities there. Among its conceptual production, the formation of the state in the country and categories such as statehood, “bureaucratic-​authoritarian State”, and more recently the “Open State” stand out. The areas of CEDES have been much broader and the exchange and work in common constitute an example in the construction of networks and nodes that have demonstrated a high prestige, both in the country and abroad. The approach we are adopting in this work is indebted to a tradition that has been strongly developing in Latin America and which in recent years has been called “disciplinary studies”. Within Argentina, two associations were central to the development of this type of studies. On the one hand, the Argentine Association of Public Administration Studies and the Argentine Society of Political Analysis. Within their spaces, the 259

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concern for the reconstruction of the field of administration and public policies in the country began to take shape. To this must be added the importance of the National Institute of Public Administration as a central area for research, education, and training, as well as the safeguarding of documentation and the library. This chapter and most of the others that make up this collective publication would not be possible without understanding the complex web of social relations that have these institutions as central nodes. The approach we adopted articulates institutional historical analysis with that of intellectual trajectories, focusing specifically on the contributions made by Oscar Oszlak and Guillermo O’Donnell at CEDES and other centers. It is an example of the link between macro and micro aspects. Hence the importance of structuration theory as a guiding thread in our reconstruction, together with the idea of both the intellectual field and the political field.

Basic theoretical and methodological guidelines Understanding the relationship between academic trajectories, institutions, and their political, cultural, social, and economic context is similar to drawing a map with their respective coordinates, limits, colors, and textures. Like any representation, it has its interpretations and arbitrary interpretations that allow for diverse readings. These will be rewritten as the contexts that produce and contain them change. In trying to account for the new space we relate it to others, in size and shape. Cartography of this nature is like an island in an archipelago of links: between the academic community itself and the society of which it is a part. Our apparatuses of inquiry are theoretical “toolboxes” that make up a metatheoretical framework of analysis that conditions our tracing and reading of the topography to be analyzed (Zabludovsky, 1995; Bulcourf and Vázquez, 2004; Bulcourf, 2007). Although our work is focused on the study of CEDES as an institution and its relevance in the field of administration and policy analysis, the most relevant aspect that has given it a central role in history are the contributions made by Oscar Oszlak and Guillermo O’Donnell. Hence the importance of focusing schematically on aspects of their intellectual trajectory. Here we see expressed the elements pointed out in the introductory chapter of this book. On the one hand, the importance of the institutions, the most relevant actors in the field, and their production. On the other hand, the work carried out at CEDES built a true network for Argentine political science. An example of this was the creation of the Argentine Society of Political Analysis, of which Oscar Oszlak was its first president (Ravecca, 2019; Bulcourf, 2021a). To analyze the development of science, it is essential to be aware of its “social” character. The search for truth based on objective criteria and through the use of a methodology that can be empirically contrasted is a relevant aspect. But we also need to understand the orientations and production of researchers within the “scientific community”, which presents, according to each discipline 260

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and historical moment, different degrees of development, heterogeneity, or homogeneity (Bulcourf, 2021b). Diversity is a distinctive feature of this work, especially in the field of social-​historical sciences. This should not be seen as a weakness or delay in cognitive development, but rather as something inherent to scientific development (Giddens, 1987). On the other hand, in disciplines that reflect on power and systems of human domination, any hegemonic attempt is detrimental to understanding the complexity of politics and tends to silence dissenting voices or produce extremely simplistic schemes (Bulcourf and Cardozo, 2010). It is necessary to keep in mind the ethical dimension that is in every process of knowledge construction, trying to contemplate the eventual consequences (known or unknown) of our actions. This introduces the responsibility that we must assume in our academic enterprise. Since we are dealing with the vast field of humanities and social sciences, we cannot fail to consider that our “objects” are “subjects”. This aspect introduces us to what many specialists have called the “epistemology of the known subject”, something that is often not contemplated in social research that we could call more traditional (Gialdino, 2019; Mallimaci, 2019). As we have pointed out, every scientific-​academic community is inserted into a given social reality. For this reason, it is essential to incorporate these patterns into its study. Many experts have pointed out two dimensions for this analysis. On the one hand, we find what they have called the “internal history”. This means the characteristics of the scientific group itself and its tasks and peculiarities. On the other hand, the “external history” implies the aforementioned conditioning factors (Lakatos, 1989). Between both dimensions, there is a true “dialectical game”, since scientific development also conditions and modifies social practices. Otherwise, the specificities of each national history, its linguistic, ethnic, and regional cleavages, establish differentiated criteria for institutionalization and professionalization within a nation-​state. The work of CEDES that O’Donnell and Oszlak have undertaken in their different writings has attempted to understand these links in the complex relations between the state “and” society, and their translation into the different institutions and spheres. This endows it with its historical specificity in each regional and national reality. Moreover, criticism itself is an element of the intellectual field within this dynamic of social links (Boltanski and Chiapello, 2010). The work consists of a qualitative methodological strategy focused on the basic reconstruction of the institutional history of CEDES, articulated with the academic and professional trajectories of Guillermo O’Donnell and Oscar Oszlak. For this purpose, we have used a series of interviews that we have conducted with different specialists over the last few years. To this, we added a set of focal interviews specific to this work that attempted to inquire about the contributions of these authors and the institutional importance of CEDES (King, 2002; Meccia, 2020a, 2020b). The focal interviews for this work were conducted with professionals and academics who recognize themselves as specialists in administration and public 261

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policy issues. In addition to this, we approached the specific works of both academics, especially the works that were considered fundamental throughout these years. In this way, we try to systematize an incomplete puzzle. This is also reconstructed with different contributions often marked by uncertainty and the “finding” of some documented piece of history or some reference that reorients our work. As Howard Becker often states with a certain air of metaphor, we resort to different “tricks” that make our work (Becker, 2009b, 2011). Our authors were followers of a kind of “theoretical pragmatism” articulated with the need to build an empirical policy analysis, possessing concepts capable of explaining and understanding the complex network of social relations. For this reason, “empirical evidence” is a central feature of all their contributions. For Oszlak and O’Donnell, the theory is “useful” if it makes it possible to grasp some of the aspects of these links. But phenomenon does not emanate neutrally and linearly but is always reinterpreted and reconstructed from theory. Every “social reality” has its historical specificity and its unrepeatable character. But also, if we try to make a comparative analysis, it will provide us with elements to understand similar situations.

The Center for the Study of State and Society as an institution The creation of CEDES represents one of the most relevant institutional milestones for the social sciences in Argentina. Its birth coincided with the military coup that would establish in the country the cruelest and somehow most hostile military dictatorship towards the academic and intellectual fields. Not only did it generate a wave of dismissals and migrations like the preceding dictatorship (“Argentine Revolution” of 1966) but also many researchers, professors, and students joined the list of the “Desaparecidos” of an authoritarian and genocidal regime. For this reason, as Marcelo Pettarin argues in his thesis, the private centers acted as a space in the “catacombs”. Here, some of the researchers who continued to work in the country were able to carry out their work undercover: From a clearly defined temporal and spatial axis, we propose an alternative approach: the analysis of the Center for the Study of State and Society during the period of the process. In our goal of advancing the understanding of the exercise of social science research in non-​public spaces and authoritarian contexts, CEDES functions as an optimal case study for a variety of reasons: First, it has survived the leaden years and consolidated its relevance after the democratic transition. Second, CEDES condensed, at the time of the catacombs, some of the most relevant figures in the country and the region in the field of social sciences: Marcelo Cavarozzi, Oscar Oszlak, Guillermo O’Donnell, and Enrique Tandeter. Many of them, after the radical party victory in 1983, occupied key positions in Alfonsín’s government. Finally, an approach of this nature will allow us to move away from the usual reflective axes that articulate the historiography on the subject. (Pettarin, 2015, p 13) 262

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By 1975, the Centro de Investigaciones en Administración Pública (CIAP)1 was facing serious funding problems and the Di Tella Institute2 itself was in a situation of budgetary restrictions. By then Guillermo O’Donnell had obtained funding from the Ford Foundation to create a new research institute. Some of them did not accept this funding and later created the Centro de Investigaciones Sociales sobre el Estado y la Administración (CISEA) (Roulet, Sábato, Caputo, and Lavergne) and the rest inaugurated the CEDES (O’Donnell, Boneo, Cavarozzi, and Oszlak). The former had studied for their postgraduate degrees in France and the latter, who will make up this last institution that concerns us, in the US (Oszlak, 2015; Pettarin, 2015). CEDES was officially founded on July 1, 1975, and was characterized by an interdisciplinary conception that allowed a fruitful theoretical and methodological dialogue until today. It had a modular structure where each researcher also sought funding mechanisms, mainly in the beginning from regional and international foundations. This international aspect also served as a “protective umbrella” against the military dictatorship that would soon be installed in the country. But it also allowed for a strong academic exchange with internationally renowned figures, with whom some of the members of the institute had developed close academic ties during their postgraduate studies abroad. Among them we can mention Albert Hirschman and Philippe Schmitter, Fernando Enrique Cardoso, and Enzo Falleto. The original core of researchers was soon joined by Elizabeth Jelin, Jorge Balán, and Guillermo Flichman. Between the last years of work at CIAP and the following period at CEDES, the teaching work carried out in the Political Science program at Universidad del Salvador stands out. This program underwent an important curricular reform in 1969 under the administration of Carlos Floria. This allowed for an interesting anchorage in the training of future political scientists. During these years there was also an ephemeral degree in Public Administration at the same institution under the direction of Oscar Oszlak, which had only two graduates (Bulcourf and Cardozo, 2021). The work carried out at CEDES allowed the construction, with a strong critical and reflexive sense, of the “historical-​structural approach” we have already mentioned. This was expressed in some of the most significant publications of Argentine political science, which will also have an enormous projection in the international academic debate. Here, innovation will allow the creation of analytical concepts with a strong empirical basis such as Oszlak’s “statehood” or O’Donnell’s “bureaucratic-​authoritarian state”.

Towards a critical view of the links between modernization and democracy Although it is part of works before the creation of CEDES, we can find a line of continuity in the works of Guillermo O’Donnell and Oscar Oszlak. In their undergraduate careers, they studied law and public accounting, respectively. They later pursued their doctoral studies in the field of political science in the US. This 263

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allowed them to come into contact with the main referents of the discipline and the topics of international discussion. To this, we must add the specific problems of Latin America and in particular Argentina. In 1972, O’Donnell published his first book, Modernization and Authoritarianism, both in Argentina and in the US. The great virtue of this work, strongly oriented by a Weberian conception of history and the possibility of comparing processes, consists first of all in being able to classify the existing states in Latin America. For this purpose, this author makes a tripartite typology according to the high, medium, or low modernization of the countries. In turn, this work introduces a more complex vision of economic development, since it is not based solely on GDP or per capita income. Instead, he analyzes elements of the diversity of production and consumption. Based on historical analysis, O’Donnell shows that this correlation does not appear in the most developed countries in this part of the planet, such as Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico. Here, authoritarian forms prevail. What he does observe in his so-​called “pessimistic hypothesis” is that there is a correlation between this development and what he calls “political pluralization”. That means an increase in the participation of different sectors that will not necessarily lead to the construction of democratic institutions. This strongly critical conception of modernization had an enormous impact on political science, not only in Latin America but also in the universities and research centers of the developed world. It will begin to outline a specific form, specific to Argentina and Brazil, which in its beginnings will be called “bureaucratic-​ authoritarian regime”, which will develop more clearly in the following years (O’Donnell, 1972; Bulcourf, 2015). Already within the production carried out at CEDES, O’Donnell will outline a theory of the Latin American state in his works Apuntes para una teoría del Estado and El estado burocrático-​autoritario published in 1982. The latter is a case study on the dictatorship of the self-​proclaimed “Argentine Revolution”. In these works we can clearly appreciate the “historical-​structural approach” that will characterize the works of CEDES, providing enormous originality to be able to capture the particularity of Latin American political and social realities, or as this author used to express: “giving a name to the beast”. These texts express an enormous conceptual solidity in which the theories of modernization and their critiques dialogue fruitfully with the neo-​Marxist tradition.3 This is how the state dimension is combined in the “bureaucratic” aspect of a complex and highly developed state with the “authoritarian” character of the political regime (O’Donnell, 1985, 1996; Cardozo, 2012).

State and public policies In connection with the theory of the state and the public policy process, it is essential to mention the importance of the work he carried out jointly with Guillermo O’Donnell, Estado y políticas estatales en América Latina: Hacia una estrategia de investigación, which originally appeared as a CEDES document in 1976. 264

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This paper originated two years earlier as a paper for an international seminar on the teaching of public policies in the region.4 The essay inserts the importance of the public policy process and the role of the different actors and interests involved in it into state issues. Since its publication in several international journals, the article has become the most cited work in studies on public administration and public policy in the region (Bulcourf and Cardozo, 2010). For Oszlak and O’Donnell it was fundamental to construct a dynamic and complex vision of the state, its link with society, and the relative “autonomy” it could acquire in the different stages of the historical process. They express this clearly: Discovering the problem of the State leads us to raise the issue of its relative autonomy, avoiding a pendulum swing towards a “politicalist” vision according to which all the dynamics of society and the State can be revealed from within it … this relative autonomy is not that of a global State as opposed to an undifferentiated society. On the contrary, there are very different degrees and patterns of autonomy depending on whether they refer to one or another social sector and depending on the issues that “matter” more or less to one or the other. The study of state policies should provide us with valuable lessons about these differences, but it is necessary to add immediately that the changes we have outlined imply that it is not obvious where to draw the demarcations separating the state and “the public” from society and “the private”. It may well be that certain inherited notions –​such as that of a sharp separation between “public” and “private” –​need to be rethought in the face of our emerging reality. In some areas (such as, for example, the question of who is responsible for the legitimate possession of weapons of war) it may still be possible to think of a clear line separating the “public” from the “private”. In other areas, however, we should think of an irregular contour that includes grayish areas in which it is difficult to pinpoint where one sphere begins and the other ends. In some cases (such as the corporatization of workers and peasants) we could speak of policies that imply penetrations of the State into civil society; in others (such as the mechanisms of representation of the other members of the trio) it would be more accurate to speak of mutual and variable interpenetrations, where the “command” component provided by the State is complemented by much more bidirectional relations of power, influence, negotiation, and co-​optation. This suggests that state policies are inserted in a “structure of arenas” that we must know better to understand why issues are raised and resolved in one or the other. (Oszlak and O’Donnell, 2008, p 559) One of the central aspects of this work has been the articulation of the theory of the state with the idea of the public policy process, without adopting a simplistic 265

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reading. In addition, it incorporates elements such as the socio-​political actors involved in the process as well as the public bureaucracies themselves. Thus, this paper allowed contact with ideas that had been discussed in the Anglo-​Saxon field since the early 1950s with a more critical conception of the state and linked to the specificities of Latin America. Moreover, since it was written in Spanish, it allowed easy access to Latin American experts. The authors deepen the analysis by pointing out: Whether or not the State initiates an issue, its position-​taking is often a decisive factor for others to adopt or redefine positions on it. … But State policies also generate processes internal to the State itself. To recognize them we must abandon the excessively generic terminology we have used so far concerning the State and start referring to “units” and “bureaucratic” processes internal to the State. Given an issue, the taking of a position on it by a certain unit empowered to do so on behalf of the State usually generates “horizontal” repercussions –​position-​taking and readjustments by other units –​and “vertical” ones. The latter consist mainly of the attribution of competence and the allocation of resources (time, personnel, money, and equipment) to units formally dependent on the one that adopted the policy. These vertical effects usually produce “institutional crystallizations”: the creation of bureaucratic apparatuses or the assignment of new functions to pre-​existing bodies, which are formally entrusted with the treatment and eventual resolution of the issue or some of its aspects, generally overlapping (and thus establishing an ambiguous and often conflictive relationship) with other bureaucracies formally specialized in other aspects of the issue or other issues closely linked to the one that concerns the former. The bureaucratic process implied by these horizontal and vertical repercussions is analytically distinct from the social process referred to above but is completely intertwined with it. What happens within the State is partly execution (“implementation”) of the policy, partly a causal factor for the adoption of new policies, and partly, also, the generation of specialized bureaucratic structures sometimes endowed with formal attributions and always with the de facto capacity to redefine the initial policy and, therefore, to change the State’s position on the issue. Each of these aspects is a point of access for social actors mobilized around the issue and thus points to as many areas of possible interpenetration between the State and society. These areas are added to that of the more formal instance (but not necessarily more effective in indicating what the content of the State’s position will actually be) in which a policy is announced and the bureaucratic process we are dealing with is launched. (Oszlak and O’Donnell, 2008, p 569) 266

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We find here one of the contributions considered most relevant both from a vision of the state and its theorization and with the incorporation of the idea of the policy process. This is going to be fundamental for the subsequent development of the more specific field of policy analysis, and as a practical guide for public management (Bulcourf and Cardozo, 2010; Cardozo and Bulcourf, 2016; Cardozo, 2017).

State theory and history: the process of state building Oscar Oszlak’s possibly most recognized text is La formación del Estado argentino (The Formation of the Argentine State). This book can be placed between political science and history, and became one of the most consulted works by Argentine political scientists. It also had an enormous repercussion outside the field of political science and policy analysis. To date, it has had two editions and six reprints with different publishers. The theoretical framework of the book was originally a CEDES document entitled “Formación histórica del Estado en América Latina: Elementos teórico-​metodológicos para su estudio” (Historical formation of the state in Latin America: theoretical and methodological elements for its study), originally published in 1978, four years before the first edition of the book was published. This original work expresses a fruitful dialogue between the theoretical traditions of the main “founding fathers”: Karl Marx and Max Weber. This is articulated with the critical views, both implicitly and explicitly received by Oscar in his doctoral training at Berkeley, as well as in his later work in Argentina, mainly at CEDES. Thus, we find references to authors such as Tom Nairm, Perry Anderson, or Charles Tilly. On the other hand, the problems from the Latin American critique find their echo in a clear approach to the contributions of the authors of dependency theory, such as Fernando Enrique Cardoso, Enzo Faletto, and Osvaldo Sunkel, among others. For our author, the state must be understood as a broader facet of the process of social construction, in which several factors that articulate actors and structures intervene. The terminology used by Oszlak expresses a theoretical pragmatism and confluence between a non-​deterministic vision of Marxism and Weberian contributions. At the beginning of his work, he states: The formation of the state is a constitutive aspect of the process of social construction. Of a process in which the different planes and components that structure organized social life are defined. Together, these planes form a certain order whose specificity depends on complex historical circumstances. Elements as varied as the relative development of the productive forces, the available natural resources, the type of production relations established, the resulting class structure, or the insertion of society in the web of international economic relations, contribute in varying degrees to its conformation. (Oszlak, 1990, pp 11–​12) 267

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Oszlak attempts to overcome the dichotomous views between voluntarism and determinism that have dominated the different historical interpretations. To this end, he incorporates the complex and peculiar character of every historical and social construction, incorporating a vision of the process that must be understood in each particular state’s history. This led him to elaborate the concept of statehood, considered decades later as one of his most original contributions, which he defined as follows: The existence of the State would then be verified from the development of a set of attributes that define “statehood” –​ the condition of “being a state” –​that is, the emergence of an instance of organization of power and the exercise of political domination. The state is, in this way, social relation and institutional apparatus. … Analytically, statehood supposes the acquisition by this entity in the formation, of a series of properties: 1) capacity to externalize its power, obtaining recognition as a sovereign unit within a system of interstate relations; 2) capacity to institutionalize its authority, imposing a structure of power relations that guarantees its monopoly over organized means of coercion; 3) capacity to differentiate its control, through the creation of a functionally differentiated set of public institutions with recognized legality to stably extract resources from civil society, with a certain degree of professionalization of its officials and a certain measure of centralized control over its varied activities; 4) capacity to internalize a collective identity, by issuing symbols that reinforce feelings of belonging and social solidarity and allow, consequently, ideological control as a mechanism of domination. (Oszlak, 1990, pp 12–​13)

Towards a theory of state bureaucracy One of Oscar Oszlak’s most interesting texts is his analysis and reflection on state bureaucracy, a subject that he had been investigating since his graduate studies at Berkeley and which he continued as a researcher at CIAP and CEDES. His eclectic background (between economic sciences and political science) allowed him to build a look among different theoretical traditions. With this lens, he accounts for a modern and complex phenomenon such as the emergence of bureaucracy and its central role in the process of state building, which we see in the quality of “differentiation of control”, mentioned earlier. To characterize this process Oszlak highlights: [T]‌he lack of social, cultural and historical contextualization of most of the approaches and models that have served as a substitute for the study of state bureaucracy should be pointed out. Their widespread and mechanical “application” to the analysis of public organizations 268

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inserted in contexts with characteristics very different from those of the environment in which these models were generated, made it difficult to generate interpretations more sensitive to national and regional specificities. (Oszlak, 1985, p 253) For this, our author resorts to the tradition of modern political thought, mainly referring to the interpretations of Marx and Weber. However, he does not fall into the reductionisms of the former, although he recovers from his more complex vision of the state present in works such as The 18th Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte, written in 1853. It is important to highlight his clarity in analyzing the Weberian conception: For Weber, bureaucracy constitutes the administrative apparatus of maximum affinity with the legal-​rational type of domination. This affinity is especially evidenced by the intimate link between the processes of rationalization and bureaucratization. Observed as a way of collectively organizing human effort, bureaucracy is conceived as the structure that makes possible the maximization of productivity levels attainable through organized labor, within a society permeated by –​or organized according to –​rational principles. From the detection of certain generic attributes of such a structure, Weber defines an “ideal type” of organization whose penetration and common function he discovers in different spheres of activity of modern society. (Oszlak, 1985 p 258) Oszlak links these more “sociological” visions with the tradition of the schools of scientific administration and the contributions of the Comparative Administration Group of the 1950s in the US, the development theories of those years, and comparative politics. These conceptions in turn are related to the criticisms that will come from the New Public Administration. This bibliographical review, in turn, allows us to outline a strategy of analysis for the emergence of its “emerging paradigm”, which appeared in other works. These will incorporate the contributions of the “historical-​structural” approach. This work was subsequently published in several versions and won first prize in the Centro Latinoamericano de Administración para el Desarrollo (CLAD) competition in 1976. The return to democracy will allow Oscar Oszlak to assume a fundamental position regarding the consolidation of the very field of study of policy analysis: the Undersecretariat of Research and Administrative Reform (inside the Secretariat of Public Administration). This agency is home to the National Institute of Public Administration. This agency will gradually become a reference center for experts in the field. On the other hand, together with some colleagues, he will create in 1984 the Argentine Society of Political Analysis of which he will be its first president. 269

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Military dictatorship and urban policies One of the sectoral policies that Oscar Oszlak investigated in depth is expressed in his book Merecer la ciudad. Los pobres y el derecho al espacio urbano (Deserving the City: The Poor and the Right to Urban Space), first published in 1991. This work was supported by the Population Policies for Latin America Program. The research set out to analyze and also bear witness to the urban and public space policies implemented by a military dictatorship that had displaced all systems of political representation and attempted a strong redistribution of the poorest sectors of society, who should “deserve” to dwell a city such as Buenos Aires. This also gave rise to the study of the public policy process within a dictatorship. This allows a reconceptualization of the idea of private property and its use. It is thus possible to establish different degrees of “titles” on the part of sectors of the population about the property. On the other hand, the work allows us to analyze the differential capacities of the state in the implementation of habitat policies as well as the possibilities of their evaluation (Oszlak, 1991). In this way, we find ourselves with a research that provides outstanding empirical material and allows us to account for sectoral policies under authoritarian regimes.

The challenges of the exponential era In 2020, during the COVID-​19 pandemic, Oscar Oszlak’s book, El Estado en la Era Exponencial (The State in the Exponential Age), was launched. This work is an example in itself of the strong technological changes that express new horizons both for institutions and for the social actors themselves. Several elements of these technologies have been around for a few decades and are modifying our lives daily. Computing, digitization, Big Data, artificial intelligence, robotics, and nanotechnology are combined in advances already present such as 3D printing, the Internet of Things, automated vehicles, cryptocurrencies, or virtual reality. There is no longer any need to resort to science fiction. They are available to a large part of the world’s citizens. What we are noticing is the exponential character that these devices are acquiring, which present a series of problems to be solved by the state as the central institution of politics since modernity. The author himself expresses in his introduction: Certainly, this book will discuss the future, but its interest does not lie in science fiction but will try to discern what processes and circumstances could come to combine for that future, imaginary and dystopian, to occur. Because these transformations, if they occur, would not be the result of chance or a spontaneous social demand to modify habits and routines, but of powerful forces –​scientific, political, economic and ideological –​that will drive them decisively. (Oszlak, 2020, p 27) 270

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This new stage does not see the state as the only institution. Rather, it articulates its involvement with the citizenry and the various social organizations; expressions also of the complexity of collective actors, values, and interests expressed in today’s world. But coincidentally, this state is still a leading “arbiter” in societies in the face of the sometimes ruthless principles of the market, but also of the scientific field itself and its technological implementation. The tragedy of the modern Prometheus is becoming more and more palpable where ethics must not cease to be present, since knowledge must be at the service of the human. This should lead us to rethink the state’s capacities for social intervention, which represents a challenge for decision-​making and the organization of public administration. One of the central aspects is the speed of this scientific revolution, which makes it necessary to foresee the directionality of this metamorphosis and to reorient the tools of state management. The state also faces the challenge of continuing to regulate the role of technology to prevent inequality between the countries that are leading these changes and the large corporations that have expanded into gigantic business conglomerates. Privacy itself and the manipulation of big data represent one of the central problems for states; something that in the last decade has manifested itself in examples such as the commercial and also political use of sensitive data existing in social networks. Oszlak puts it clearly: As the highest instance of organization and articulation of social relations, it is up to the State to intervene to minimize the risks and face the challenges posed by this acceleration of the current transformation process. This is the understanding of North American and European specialists, who have been analyzing and reflecting on the future of State management for some time now. In this regard, they wonder what the significance of scientific innovations is from the point of view of public management. Some, for example, limit themselves to formulating this question and, at times, offer various prognoses. Others are encouraged to propose recommendations or policies, with different degrees of specificity. (Oszlak, 2020, p 105) The acceleration of the processes and their impact on the various social spheres may possibly require a rapid and intelligent redefinition of the structures of public administration, where all these elements that Oszlak tries to describe systematically and synthetically must be present. The pandemic and its immediate consequences will catalyze this set of elements. As he rightly points out: The most obvious phenomenon that has produced the pandemic is the sudden (and absolutely essential) appeal to telework or telecommuting, given the mandatory confinement of a high proportion of workers, especially in the service sector and virtual commerce. In the public sector, the coronavirus turned telework into a massive social and labor 271

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experiment. Public administrations around the world had to hastily improvise new telecommuting routines because although regulations and guidelines existed in some countries, no one could have foreseen that a large part of the public sector workforce would have to confine themselves to their homes and continue working from there. This circumstance disrupted many of the criteria for eligibility, assignment of tasks, supervision, or determination of conditions for remote work. But at the same time, the crisis produced important lessons for anticipating and planning, as is typical in disaster management, the rules and protocols that should be applied in the face of a phenomenon of this magnitude. (Oszlak, 2020, pp 234–​235)

Conclusion In this short chapter, we have tried to investigate CEDES from some aspects of the intellectual trajectories of Oscar Oszlak and Guillermo O’Donnell, emphasizing their academic production. This constitutes a basic cartography that has left aside other specialists and topics. On the other hand, we have tried to address some topics that the authors developed after their first period at CEDES, but which had an enormous repercussion, both in Argentina and in the rest of the world.5 A facet linked to the field of administration and public policies that we have not developed is the consulting and institutional management works carried out by Oscar Oszlak, which have made him a reference also in matters of knowledge transfer for decision-​making and state reforms in Latin America. His work in the Latin American Center of Administration for Development and his most recent work as director of the journal Estado Abierto, a central activity to promote the area of policy analysis, are also still pending. In a recent work carried out by Nicolás Bentancur, German Bidegain, and Rodrigo Martinez, Oszlak appears as the most cited author in the entire region based on his original contributions. This is a clear demonstration of the prestige built during decades of work (Bentancur et al, 2021). Finally, this chapter, although it is a work with a high degree of autonomy, makes sense from its articulation with the whole collective work. This is how we will be able to have a more detailed and accurate map of the field of policy analysis in Argentina. Notes 1 2

3

Centro de Investigaciones en Administración Pública (CIAP), is a center of the School of Economics of the Universidad de Buenos Aires. The Di Tella Foundation and its institute were created on July 22, 1958, the tenth anniversary of the death of industrialist and arts patron Torcuato Di Tella. Instituto Torcuato Di Tella (ITDT) became an academic institution dedicated to scientific research with an emphasis on economics and social sciences, with strong links to foundations and research centers abroad. With the advent of democratization in the region, Guillermo O’Donnell together with Laurence Whitehead and Philippe Schmitter will undertake the broadest study of the processes 272

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4

5

of democratic transition from the Woodrow Wilson Center and Notre Dame University, giving rise to a set of publications commonly known as the “four volumes of transitions to democracy”. Once democracies were consolidated, he constructed the concept of “delegative democracy” to designate the specific type of political regime (O’Donnell, 1997; Lesgart, 2003). In his later years, he resumed the study of the link between the state and democracy through the concept of agency (O’Donnell, 2010). The publication of this paper and its subsequent versions have made it difficult to “trace” its origins, which Oszlak has pointed out as follows: “Likewise, it was in 1974 when, together with Guillermo O’Donnell and Philippe Schmitter, we organized in Buenos Aires the first course on Public Policy dictated in Argentina, for Latin American and North American students. At the end of that course, we convened an international conference on the subject, in which Albert Hirschman, Aníbal Pinto, Fernando H. Cardoso, Enzo Faletto, and Adam Przeworski, among others, participated. At that meeting O’Donnell and I presented a paper that, two years later, would be published by CEDES under the title ‘Estado y Políticas Estatales en América Latina: hacia una estrategia de investigación’ (Oszlak and O’Donnell, 1976). Later included in various compilations, it ended up being one of the most cited works in this field” (Oszlak, 2015, p 38). The importance of CEDES and both authors have been a constant in all the interviews conducted. The interviewees are detailed in the references of the work.

References Becker H. (2005) Manual de escritura para científicos sociales. Cómo empezar y terminar una tesis, un libro o un artículo, Buenos Aires: Siglo XXI editores. Becker, H. (2009a) Outsiders. Hacia una sociología de la desviación, Madrid: Siglo XXI Editores. Becker, H. (2009b) Trucos de oficio. Cómo conducir su investigación en ciencias sociales, Buenos Aires: Siglo XXI Editores. Bentancur, N., Bidegain, G., and Martínez, R. (2021) ‘La enseñanza de las políticas públicas en América Latina: estado de la situación y desafíos para la ciencia política’, Iconos, 25(71): 13–​36. Boltanski, L. and Chiapello, E. (2010) El nuevo espíritu del capitalismo, Madrid: Akal. Bulcourf, P. (2007) ‘Las nieves del tiempo platearon mi sien: reflexiones sobre la historia de la ciencia política en la Argentina’, Sociedad global, 1(1): 7–​35. Bulcourf, P. (2015) ‘Guillermo O’Donnell y el desarrollo de la ciencia política en la Argentina’, in I. Covarrubias (ed), Figuras, historias y territorios. Cartógrafos contemporáneos de la indagación política en América Latina, Mexico City: Publicaciones Cruz O, pp 45–​70. Bulcourf, P. (2021a) ‘Las texturas de lo político: construyendo una cartografía compleja de la historia de la ciencia política en América Latina’, Complejidad, 39: 12–​55. Bulcourf, P. (2021b) ‘Algunas reflexiones sobre la investigación científica y sus desafíos’, Documentos de Investigación, Working Paper # 1, San Isidro: Universidad de San Isidro. Bulcourf, P. and Vázquez, J. (2004) ‘La ciencia política como profesión’, POSTData: Revista de Reflexión y Análisis Político, 10: 255–​304. Bulcourf, P. and Cardozo, N. (2010) ‘El desarrollo de los estudios sobre administración y políticas públicas en la Argentina a partir del proceso democratizador’, Nuevo Espacio Público, 5: 13–​54. 273

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Bulcourf, P. and Cardozo, N. (2021) ‘El desarrollo de las ciencias sociales en la Argentina: una mirada desde el aporte de las instituciones jesuitas’, Discernimiento, 2: 81–​136. Cardozo, N. (2012) ‘Algunas reflexiones sobre Guillermo O’Donnell y su contribución a la teoría del Estado y estudios sobre políticas públicas en América Latina’, Studia Politicae, 26: 39–​72. Cardozo, N. (2017) ‘El desarrollo de los estudios sobre administración y políticas públicas en la Argentina’, Anuario Latinoamericano. Ciencia Política y Relaciones Internacionales, 5: 127–​157. Cardozo, N. and Bulcourf, P. (2016) ‘El desarrollo institucional de la administración y políticas públicas en Argentina. Un estudio de la enseñanza desde el proceso democratizador hasta nuestros días’, Estudios Políticos, 49: 216–​238. Gialdino, M. (2019) ‘La ética como fundamento de una epistemología para las ciencias sociales’, in I. Vasilachis de Gialdino (ed), Estrategias de Investigación Cualitativas II, Buenos Aires: Gedisa, pp 99–​160. Giddens, A. (1987) Las nuevas reglas de método sociológico, Buenos Aires: Amorrortu, Journal of Political Science, 32(3): 435–​454. King, A. (2002) ‘The outsider as political leader: The case of Margaret Thatcher’, British Journal of Political Science, 32(3): 435–​454. https://​doi.org/​10.1017/​ S00071​2340​2000​182 Lakatos, I. (1989) La metodología de los programas de investigación, Madrid: Alianza. Lesgart, C. (2003) Usos de la transición a la democracia: ensayo, ciencia y política en la década del '80, Rosario: Homo Sapiens. Mallimaci, F. (2019) ‘Epílogo, investigaciones cualitativas. La relación entre personas y pueblos que se conocen y personas que investigan: la epistemología del sujeto conocido’, in I. Vasilachis de Gialdino (ed), Estrategias de Investigación Cualitativas II, Buenos Aires: Gedisa, pp 375–​388. Meccia, E. (2020a) ‘Introducción. Una ventana al mundo, investigar biografías y sociedad’, in E. Meccia (ed), Biografías y sociedad. Métodos y perspectivas, Buenos Aires: Eudeba y Ediciones UNL, pp 25–​62. Meccia, E. (2020b) ‘Cuéntame tu vida. Análisis sociobiográfico de narrativas del yo’, in E. Meccia (ed), Biografías y sociedad. Métodos y perspectivas, Buenos Aires: Eudeba y Ediciones UNL, pp 63–​96. O’Donnell, G. (1972) Modernización y autoritarismo, Buenos Aires: Paidós. O’Donnell, G. (1985) ‘Apuntes para una teoría del Estado’, in O. Oszlak (ed), Teoría de la burocracia estatal, Buenos Aires: Paidós, pp 199–​250. O’Donnell, G. (1996) El Estado burocrático autoritario, Buenos Aires: Editorial Universidad Belgrano. O’Donnell, G. (2010) Democracia, agencia y estado: teoría con intención comparativa, Buenos Aires: Prometeo. Oszlak, O. (1985) Notas críticas para una teoría de la burocracia estatal, in O. Oszlak (ed), Teoría de la burocracia estatal, Buenos Aires: Paidós, pp 251–​307. Oszlak, O. (1990) La formación del Estado argentino: Orden, progreso y organización nacional, Buenos Aires: Editorial de la Universidad de Belgrano. 274

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Oszlak, O. (1991) Merecer la ciudad. Los pobres y el derecho al espacio urbano, Buenos Aires: Humanitas. Oszlak, O. (2015) ‘De contador público a contador de lo público’, Ciencia e Investigación, Reseñas, 3(1): 32–​49. Oszlak, O. (2020) El Estado en la era exponencial, Buenos Aires: INAP-​CLAD-​ CEDES. Oszlak, O. and O’Donnell, G. (2008) ‘Estado y políticas estatales en América Latina: hacia una estrategia de investigación’, in C. Acuña (ed), Lecturas sobre el Estado y las políticas públicas: Retomando el debate de ayer para fortalecer el actual, Buenos Aires: Jefatura de Gabinete de Ministros, pp 555–​578. Pettarin, M. (2015) Los centros académicos independientes durante la última dictadura militar: el caso del CEDES, bachelor’s degree thesis, Facultad de Filosofía y Letras –​UBA, Buenos Aires. Ravecca, P. (2019) The Politics of Political Science: Re-​Writing Latin American Experiences, Abingdon/​New York: Routledge. Zabludovsky, G. (1995) ‘Metateoría y sociología: el debate contemporáneo’, Sociedad, 7: 113–​131.

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PART V

Academics, teaching, and policy analysis in universities

18

Academic policy analysis: the development of production in public administration and policy studies in Argentina (2001–​2019) Exequiel Rodríguez and Anabela Rosconi

Introduction Modern political science was born in the 1920s, from the theoretical-​ methodological developments of behaviorism, and epistemologically consolidated as a science since the 1950s (Almond, 2001; Guerrero Orozco, 2001). In this sense, the discipline incorporated descriptive and explanatory elements for the analysis of phenomena inherent to politics, similar to economics and sociology. From this moment on, political science studies experienced rapid growth, which gave rise to a great diversity of lines of research and fields of action (Almond, 2001). In parallel, in the second half of the 20th century, in the US, public policy studies began to develop, aimed at improving the administrative performance and governmental actions of the state through the promotion of a new discipline: policy sciences. This approach, pioneered by Harold Lasswell, defended the need to create an interdisciplinary field of expert knowledge, with a strong emphasis on rational governmental planning to improve the quality of democracy (Ramió, 2017; Cardozo, 2020). As a result of this separation, it was not until the 1980s that the study of public policy was consolidated within political science, establishing itself today as a legitimate subdiscipline in the academic world and, in particular, the sphere of multilateral and development agencies, and has even spread to other disciplines within the social sciences (Valencia Agudelo and Alexis Álvarez, 2008). In Latin America, the study of public policies emerged in the 1960s, with the development of implementation studies and the analysis of the results of the particular model of the welfare state in the region. In the following decade, comparative studies gained visibility, and structuralist currents appeared, questioning the effective capacity of states to formulate public policies with autonomy. In the 1980s, government agendas and their definition problems began to be studied, as well as the configurations of actors that influence the public policy cycle. In the 1990s, due to the sharp changes in development models and in the structure of Latin American states as a result of neoliberal reforms, there 279

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was a renewal of public policy studies, incorporating new ways of understanding the state and democracy. In particular, discussions on the role of citizenship in public decision-​making stand out (Valencia Agudelo and Alexis Álvarez, 2008). In Argentina, the production on state and public policies was initially linked to the development of social sciences and law. Since the 1960s, several social and political scientists were concerned with studying issues related to the role of the state in development, the role of public bureaucracies, the instability of the political regime, the characteristics of democracy, military coups, forms of representation, public administration reform processes, among others (Barros et al, 2016). With the democratization process, which began in 1983, training in public administration began to gain relevance: the government of that time put democratic consolidation and the improvement of public administration on the agenda (Cardozo, 2020). In this sense, the field of administration and public policy studies is eminently an area of specialization of the social sciences that has its origin in graduate careers. The birth of undergraduate careers with the denomination public administration is a later experience, related to the creation of new universities and to changes linked to the vision of the discipline (Cardozo and Bulcourf, 2016). According to Agoff (2003), public administration studies emerge in the academic panorama as an area of specialization within political science. Since the 1980s and during the 1990s, the offer of training began to grow and consolidate, supplying a growing formative interest. This occurs simultaneously with the emergence of a greater concern at the research level regarding this field of study (Cardozo and Bulcourf, 2016). In this context, in Argentina there are two associations that bring together experts, academics, civil servants, public employees, teachers, and students, with the aim of consolidating and developing the field of political science in general and public administration and public policy in particular: the Argentine Society of Political Analysis (Sociedad Argentina de Análisis Político in Spanish) and the Argentine Association of Public Administration Studies (Asociación Argentina de Estudios de Administración Pública in Spanish), respectively. The Argentine Society of Political Analysis (SAAP, from its Spanish initials), founded in 1982, is a non-​profit civil association that brings together Argentine political scientists and professionals related to political science and international relations. As a scientific and academic entity, the SAAP has as one of its main objectives “to contribute to the further dissemination and development of Political Science and related disciplines in the scientific, academic, teaching and research fields, with the aim of improving their methods, techniques and results”.1 In this sense, SAAP promotes various activities, among which the biannual organization of national political science congresses, together with public and private universities and other entities related to the discipline, stands out. At the international level, SAAP is a permanent member of the International Political Science Association. It also periodically publishes a journal, actively participates in social networks, and promotes activities aimed at the methodological and 280

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thematic updating of its members, including roundtables, conferences, seminars, and competitions. The Argentine Association of Public Administration Studies (AAEAP, from its Spanish initials), founded in 1999, is a civil association “whose existence is the result of the convergence process of different actors who have public administration in common as a field of interest, a subject of research, study and teaching, and a field of labor, professional, political and trade union performance”.2 One of its objectives is oriented to the “development of knowledge and practices in public administration, favoring the exchange and dissemination of studies and experiences carried out in the academic and management fields”.3 In this sense, since 2001 it has been the driving force behind the Argentine Congress of Public Administration4 –​renamed since 2018 as the National Congress of Public Administration Studies –​a space that has established itself as a national and international reference on these issues. The congress has shown during the period 2001–​2013 a growth in both participants and papers presented (Bulcourf et al, 2013), observing a decrease after the pause between 2013 and 2018. This, however, seems to begin to reverse after the second edition of the renamed meeting, to be held during 2020 (Rosconi and Rodríguez, 2020). Thus, the congresses promoted by both institutions are recognized and consolidated spaces for the development of the discipline, so that their observation is appropriate for the purpose of this chapter: to illustrate the progress of public administration and public policy studies in Argentina over the last two decades. In order to achieve this objective, the following section presents the details of the survey work; in the second one, the characterization of the field of public policy and public administration is detailed; and finally, some final reflections are presented.

Methodology The present work is a descriptive study. This type of study seeks to specify the properties, characteristics, and profiles of any phenomenon that is subjected to analysis (Hernández et al, 2014). It starts from a qualitative approach, based on the conceptual development of the analysis variables used. This approach seeks to understand the set of qualities that, when related, produce a given phenomenon. That is, to qualify and describe the social phenomenon from its determining features (Guerrero, 2016). Qualitative research seeks to understand a social situation as a whole, taking into account its properties and dynamics (Bernal, 2010). For the development of the study, the papers presented and accepted in the Public Administration Congresses organized by AAEAP between 2001 and 2018 and the Political Science Congresses organized by SAAP between 2001 and 2019 are collected and analyzed. A total of 18 congresses and 7,780 papers were surveyed, covering different participation modalities: panels, roundtables, free papers, and student tables.5 281

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Individual papers are counted, presented in free modality or as part of tables or panels.6 In the case that the tables and panels do not detail the papers that compose them, they are counted once. All papers were categorized according to their title.7 The inquiry is made on all the available papers except those presented by foreign speakers, representing an insignificant percentage in relation to the total. Table 18.1 shows the source of information consulted by each of the congresses, which, as can be seen, varied according to availability. The number of papers available in each congress is dissimilar. As shown in Tables 18.2 and 18.3, in the congresses organized by AAEAP, there is a peak Table 18.1: Congresses surveyed and sources of information used Congress

Source used

Argentine Association of Public Administration Studies 2001

I Argentine Congress of Public Administration

Papers available on the AAEAP website

2003

II Argentine Congress of Public Administration

2005

III Argentine Congress of Public Administration

2007

IV Argentine Congress of Public Administration

2009

V Argentine Congress of Public Administration

2011

VI Argentine Congress of Public Administration

Papers available on the

2013

VII Argentine Congress of Public Administration

AAEAP website

2018

I National Congress on Public Administration Studies

Congress program

Archive of presentations provided by AAEAP

Argentine Society of Political Analysis 2001

V National Congress of Political Science

2003

VI National Congress of Political Science

2005

VII National Congress of Political Science

2007

IIX National Congress of Political Science

2009

IX National Congress of Political Science

2011

X National Congress of Political Science

2013

XI National Congress of Political Science

2015

XII National Congress of Political Science

2017

XIII National Congress of Political Science

2019

XIV National Congress of Political Science

Congress program

Congress proceedings

Table 18.2: Number of papers analyzed per Argentine Association of Public Administration Studies congress Year Papers

2001

2003

2005

2007

2009

2011

2013

2018

Total

62

124

157

137

323

353

281

175

1,612

282

Academic policy analysis Table 18.3: Number of papers analyzed per Argentine Society of Political Analysis congress Year

2001

2003 2005 2007 2009 2011

2013

2015 2017 2019

Total

Papers

134

228

991

1138

6,168

276

378

568

719

1067

669

in the number of papers in congresses number five and six (2009 and 2011). In the congresses organized by SAAP, participation increases in a staggered manner until 2015, decreasing significantly in 2019. However, the abrupt decrease in 2019 may be due to a change in the source of information available for that congress. In line with what was developed in the introduction to this chapter, a first general distinction is made between specific papers on public administration and public policy, and political science papers outside this subdiscipline. Once this first distinction has been made, the public administration and public policy papers are characterized according to the main line of research in which they are framed. Then, the gender of the first author of each paper is identified and the institutional affiliation and the province where it is located are observed. In order to detect the lines of research within the set of papers previously recognized as belonging to the area of knowledge of public policy analysis and public administration, a categorization of lines of research was constructed specifically for this work based on the review of the papers.8 The lines of research identified were: • Organizational analysis: Includes studies dedicated to the organizational analysis of government areas, public or private management agencies, social organizations, among others, both in their operational and strategic management aspects. It also includes the analysis of procedures within specific organizational contexts. • Public policy analysis: Includes studies dedicated to the characterization or analysis of specific government programs and projects, whether in the problem definition, design, implementation, or evaluation phases, at any level of government, current or otherwise. • Legislative and/​or judicial sphere: Includes studies dedicated to the analysis of the administrative and organizational particularities of the legislative and judicial spheres, at the different levels of government, current or otherwise. • Control and participation: Includes studies dedicated to the analysis of the audit and control function of the public sector, transparency of public actions, and citizen participation. • State capacities: Includes studies dedicated to the analysis of public modernization and innovation processes and the analysis and improvement of management capacities. It also includes studies dedicated to the analysis of state reforms carried out at the national level, their characterization and impact analysis, both at the general level and in specific aspects. 283

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• Subnational governments and territorial development: Includes studies dedicated to the specific approach to the territorial dimension, including local, metropolitan, regional, and provincial. • Multi-​stakeholder management: Includes studies dedicated to the specific analysis of stakeholder networks, horizontal and vertical coordination, and mixed management for the design, implementation, and evaluation of public policies. • Public employment: Includes studies dedicated to the management of public administration personnel, the mechanisms for the insertion, promotion, and evaluation of agents and the professionalization of personnel, at any level or branch of government. • Public finance and services: Includes studies on public finance and budget, co-​ participation, and tax systems. It also includes studies on infrastructure, public services, and their regulation. • Information and communication technologies (ICTs) and digitalization: Includes studies on the inclusion of communication and information technologies in the areas of public management, including: use of information systems, digitalization of processes, and e-​government. • Theory, methodology, and teaching of public administration: Includes works that address theoretical-​conceptual and methodological discussions specifically in the field of public administration. It also groups those works that address administration as an object of academic teaching. • Others: Includes papers that do not fall into the previous categories and those that could not be characterized because their line of research was not clear. In the latter case because the title is confusing or ambiguous and the complete paper was not available.

Results As shown in Table 18.4, 40 percent of the papers analyzed belong to the area of administration and public policy, and more than half of the papers in this area were presented at AAEAP congresses. In proportional terms, the papers in this area of knowledge represent 25 percent of the papers in SAAP congresses and 98 percent of those in AAEAP, affirming the specificity of the latter congress in topics related to public administration. Looking particularly at the SAAP congress, one can see the behavior of the area of public administration and public policy over the years. According to the data shown in Figure 18.1, the representation of this area of knowledge remained constant throughout the years, averaging 25 percent, with the lowest representation in 2011, with 17 percent, and the highest in 2005, with 32 percent. Although there is evidence of nominal growth over the years, there are no trends of growth in the proportion of the area of public administration and public policy analysis within the broader area of political science. Within the area of knowledge of administration and public policies, summarized in Figure 18.2, the line of research on public policy analysis is the predominant 284

Academic policy analysis Table 18.4: Number of papers according to areas of knowledge per congress Congress

Administration Other and public policy

Total

AAEAP

1,578

34

1,612

SAAP

1,515

4,653

6,168

Total

3,093

4,687

7,780

one with almost 30 percent of the papers, doubling the next category, control and participation, which accounts for 14 percent. The third category with the greatest presence is state capacities, with 13 percent. If we observe Figure 18.3, the development of the lines of research in the different congresses we can see that the line corresponding to the analysis of public policies is widely preponderant in the SAAP congresses. Here there is also a greater development of the line of research on subnational governments and territorial development. Meanwhile, the AAEAP congresses present a more homogeneous distribution among research lines. Public employment, ICTs and digitalization, and public finance and public services are the three lines that are presented proportionally more in AAEAP congresses. Figure 18.4 shows how the different lines of knowledge have developed over the different years in which the congresses analyzed were held. The least stable lines of research are those of public policy analysis and state capacities. It can be seen that state capacities was the predominant category in the first congresses analyzed, being gradually displaced by public policy analysis in the following years. The public policy analysis line has been growing from the first congress onwards, gaining space among the rest of the thematic lines. Its peak of highest representation is in 2015, experiencing an abrupt drop in 2018 and then recovering in 2019.9 Regarding the behavior of the state capacities line, it shows a peak in the year 2001, falling until 2015, without recovering the proportions of that moment. Here it is necessary to remember that within this line of research are the works referred to state reform. The works referring to state reform represent an average of 35 percent within the major line of state capacities. However, during 2001 and 2003, this representation reached 70 percent and 72 percent, respectively, clearly linked to the analysis of the state reform processes that took place in Argentina in the 1990s. In addition to the lines of research, some aspects of the authors of the papers were investigated: their gender10 and institutional affiliation. In terms of gender, as shown in Figure 18.5, 50 percent of the papers were written by male authors and 46 percent by female. The remaining 4 percent corresponds to those papers in which it was not possible to identify the gender of the first author. 285

newgenrtpdf

Figure 18.1: Proportion of specific papers on administration and public policies over the total, in Argentine Society of Political Analysis congresses 1.2

0.8

286

0.6

72.39%

74.12%

68.48%

27.61%

25.88%

31.52%

2001

2003

2005

77.78%

72.18%

22.22%

27.82%

2007

2009

83.45%

73.76%

74.25%

78.26%

72.20%

26.24%

25.75%

21.74%

27.80%

2013

2015

2017

2019

0.4 0.2

16.55%

0 APP

2011 Other

Policy Analysis in Argentina

1

newgenrtpdf

Figure 18.2: Percentage of papers by line of research, within the field of administration and public policies Other

1.71%

Legislative and/or judicial sphere

1.39%

Organizational analysis 287

ICTs and digitalization Public finance and services Public employment Multi-stakeholder management Subnational government and territorial development State capacities Control and participation Public policy analysis

Academic policy analysis

Theory, methodology and teaching of public administration

2.46% 2.85% 3.43% 6.18% 7.05% 8.50% 9.60% 13.32% 14.45% 29.07%

Policy Analysis in Argentina Figure 18.3: Proportion of research lines, according to congress

6.34% 8.05%

4.22% 2.11% 8.98% Other

11.79% 8.05%

11.62%

11.16%

7.67% 15.45%

Legislative and/or judicial sphere Theory, methodology, and teaching of public administration Organizational analysis ICTs and digitalization Public finance and services

15.40%

Public employment Multi-stakeholder management 13.50% 39.34%

Subnational government and territorial development State capacities Control and participation

19.20%

Public policy analysis AAEAP

SAAP

Regarding the lines of research, the values oscillate around parity, with some categories such as public policy analysis, subnational governments and local development, and public employment, with a female authorship exceeding 50 percent, and others such as ICTs and digitalization, public finance and public services, and state capacities, with a greater male presence. With regard to the institutional affiliation of the authors of the papers analyzed, Figure 18.6 shows a notable predominance of universities and institutions oriented to knowledge production. With the exception of the ICTs and digitalization and public employment lines, in which authors from government agencies predominate, universities prevail in the rest of the research lines. The most prominent universities (that is, those with the largest number of papers) are, from highest to lowest, the University of Buenos Aires, based in the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, the National University of Rosario, based in the province of Santa Fe, the Catholic University of Córdoba and the National University of Córdoba, both based in the province of Córdoba, and the National University of San Martín, based in the province of Buenos Aires. Also noteworthy is the participation of various areas of the 288

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Figure 18.4: Number of papers by line of research per year

7%

9%

8%

7%

7% 6%

9%

289

24%

8% 7% 5% 10% 18%

7%

7% 5% 5% 7%

14%

17%

13%

38%

8%

10% 13%

18%

20%

12%

11% 15%

9%

5% 7%

8%

7%

12%

10%

8%

8%

8%

11%

11%

26%

4% 19%

9% 14%

12%

6% 8%

3% 3% 6% 8%

16%

21%

22%

23%

23%

2005

2007

2009

2011

32%

Control and participation

12%

State capacities

15%

Subnational government

14%

Multi-stakeholder management 47%

40% 23%

2003

2013

2015

2017

2018

Public employment Public finance and services

6% 2001

Public policy analysis

11%

16% 48%

15%

5% 4%

4% 3% 8%

2019

Academic policy analysis

7%

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Figure 18.5: Number of papers by line of research, by gender of the first author

Public policy analysis

56.6%

Control and participation

51.2%

State capacities

42.7%

44.1% 55.3%

56.9%

Multi-stakeholder management Public employment

44.9%

56.4%

4.7% 1.9%

41.4%

52.5%

2.3%

42.7%

1.7% 2.7% 0.9%

290

Public finance and services

40.8%

54.5%

4.7%

ICTs and digitalization

39.6%

55.7%

4.7%

Organizational analysis

46.6%

48.9%

4.5%

Theory, methodology, and teaching of public administration

48.7%

Legislative and/or judicial sphere

47.2%

49.1%

3.8%

Other

46.5%

48.8%

4.7%

Female

Male

N/A

43.4%

7.9%

Policy Analysis in Argentina

Subnational government and territorial development

41.0%

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Figure 18.6: Number of papers by line of research, according to type of institution

Public policy analysis

83.98%

15.72% 0.31%

Control and participation

85.82%

12.06% 2.13%

74.10%

State capacities

89.13%

Subnational government and territorial development

291

21.79%

17.39% 58.97%

66.67%

Organizational analysis

Legislative and/or judicial sphere

36.21%

21.21%

Other

36.84%

6.90%

Governmental

60.53%

Other

13.04%

12.12% 8.47% 6.78%

56.90%

2.63%

3.50%

19.23%

84.75%

Theory, methodology, and teaching of public administration

2.44%

Academic policy analysis

49.65% 69.57%

Public finance and services

University/knowledge production

23.41%

46.85%

Public employment

0.72%

7.39% 3.48%

74.15%

Multi-stakeholder management

ICTs and digitalization

25.18%

Policy Analysis in Argentina

national government (ministries, secretariats, directorates, agencies, and so on), grouped under this label. In this sense, the provinces that concentrate most of the work are the most populated in the country (INDEC, 2010) and those that generate 70 percent of the national gross domestic product (MECON, 2021). It is necessary to highlight the different representation of the different types of institutions in the different congresses. In SAAP, universities and institutions dedicated to the construction of knowledge represent 95 percent of the total number of participants in the field of administration and public policy. This proportion drops to 52 percent in the case of AAEAP, with government institutions accounting for 38 percent of this participation. Professional associations, councils or autarchic entities, legislative and judicial institutions, and state enterprises have been almost exclusively involved in AAEAP. Finally, regarding the territorial representation of the institutions identified, summarized in Table 18.5, the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, the provinces of Buenos Aires, Santa Fe, Córdoba, Mendoza, and San Juan, and those institutions with a national territorial presence stand out, with above-​average percentages. The different congresses analyzed have been hosted by institutions in the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires and the aforementioned provinces, even on more than one occasion, which may explain the predominance of these subnational entities over the rest.

Conclusion In the introduction to this chapter, it was mentioned that public administration studies have been gaining space among the main discussions taking place in the larger field of political science. However, the results presented here do not so much denote a growth of the field in terms of academic production, but rather a consolidation of public administration and public policy studies within the broader discipline of political science. This consolidation is manifested in a nominal increase in the number of papers and speakers at the congresses and in the maintenance of the diversity of topics addressed. The field of public administration has proven to be diverse and heterogeneous. This refers both to the different lines of research that it houses and to the great variety of institutions that are contained in this field. With respect to the first point, despite the diversity of lines, the greater development of works dedicated to the analysis of public policies has been evidenced. In line with what Barros et al (2016) identified, it is noted that the interest in this field contrasts with an increasingly scarce development of public administration theory. Second, although researchers play a predominant role, civil servants, professionals, public employees, and non-​governmental organizations enrich the discussion through the analysis of concrete experiences. Research and intervention meet, generating an environment conducive to exchange and feedback.

292

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Table 18.5: Number of papers by line of research, according to province Autonomous City of Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires Nation al

Santa Fe

Córdoba

Mendoza

San Juan

Public policy analysis

32%

33%

23%

31%

27%

36%

38%

Control and participation

14%

16%

10%

15%

16%

13%

9%

State capacities 293

15%

13%

16%

12%

13%

9%

5%

Subnational, government, and territorial development

8%

10%

4%

19%

11%

9%

19%

Multi-​stakeholder management

7%

9%

14%

7%

14%

10%

8%

Public employment

5%

6%

13%

4%

6%

13%

6&

10%

2%

6%

5%

4%

5%

5%

2%

1%

7%

3%

1%

2%

2%

Organizational analysis

2%

4%

3%

2%

3%

0%

4%

Theory, methodology, and teaching of public administration

3%

3%

2%

1%

3%

2%

2%

Legislative and/​or judicial

1%

1%

0%

1%

0%

1%

0%

Others

1%

1%

2%

0%

1%

1%

1%

Public finance and services ICTs and digitalization

Academic policy analysis

Line of research

Policy Analysis in Argentina

Finally, the representation of the different lines of research and institutions, according to the field of academic discussion, is striking. The SAAP congress, as far as the field studied here is concerned, has mainly concentrated researchers, teachers, and students dedicated to the analysis of public policies. The AAEAP congress, as a forum for discussion exclusively in the field of public administration, has shown itself to be more open to the approach of more varied topics and to the reception of other types of institutions that are fundamental for the development of the field. Notes 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

9

10

https://​saap.org.ar/​objeti​vos.html https://​aaeap.org.ar/​ https://​aaeap.org.ar/​ Until 2013, it was co-​organized with the Association of Government Administrators (Asociación de Administradores Gubernamentales in Spanish). Throughout the chapter, all papers, although of different modalities, will be referred to as “papers”. The different modalities of participation are not analyzed since they were not homogeneously sustained in all the congresses surveyed, nor in a considerable sample. In the event that the titles were not sufficient for categorization, the full papers were accessed to the extent that they were available. All papers were categorized by a single line of research. In those cases where more than one line of research could be assigned to the paper, the criterion used was to assign the category according to the central axis of the paper. This abrupt drop in 2018 can be explained because during that year only the AAEAP congress took place where there is less presence of papers of this research line according to Figure 18.3. The same happens with the public employment research line, which during that year experiences a significant jump. The gender of the authors was identified by their names. In the case of co-​authored works, the gender of the first author was used.

References Agoff, S. (2003) ‘Algunos problemas acerca de la emergencia del campo disciplinario y la formación en administración pública en Argentina’, Latin American Congress on Higher Education in the 21st Century, San Luis, 18–​20 September. Almond, G. (2001) ‘Ciencia política: la historia de la disciplina’, in R. Goodin and H.D. Klingemann (eds) Nuevo Manual de Ciencia Política, Madrid: Istmo, pp 83–​149. Asociación Argentina de Estudios de la Administración Pública (nd) Institucional website. Available from https://​aaeap.org.ar/​instit​ucio​nal/​ [Accessed 15 May 2022]. Barros, S., Castellani, A., and Gantus, D. (2016) Estudios sobre Estado, Gobierno y Administración Pública en la Argentina contemporánea, Buenos Aires: CLACSO, CODESOC and PISAC. Bernal, C. (2010) Metodología de la investigación (3rd edn), Bogotá: Pearson.

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Bulcourf, P., Dufour, G., and Cardozo, N. (2013) ‘Administración y políticas públicas en la Argentina: una revisión histórica’, Perspectivas sobre el Estado, las Políticas Públicas y la Gestión, 1(1): 137–​153. Cardozo, N. (2020) ‘Estado, administración y políticas públicas en América Latina’, Civilizar: Ciencias Sociales y Humanas, 20(39): 11–​34. https://​doi.org/​ 10.22518/​jour.ccsh/​2020.2a01 Cardozo, N. and Bulcourf, P. (2016) ‘El desarrollo institucional de la Administración y Políticas Públicas en Argentina. Un estudio de la enseñanza desde el proceso democratizador hasta nuestros días’, Estudios Políticos, 49: 216–​ 238. https://​doi.org/​10.17533/​udea.espo.n49​a12 Guerrero, M. (2016) ‘La investigación cualitativa’, Innova Research Journal, 1(2): 1–​9. Guerrero Orozco, O. (2001) Teoría administrativa de la Ciencia Política, Mexico City: UNAM. Hernández, R., Fernández, C., and Baptista, M. (2014) Metodología de la investigación (6th edn), Mexico City: McGraw-​Hill. INDEC (Instituto Nacional de Estadísticas y Censos) (2010) Censo Nacional de Población, Hogares y Viviendas 2010. Available from https://​www.indec.gob.ar/​ indec/​web/​Niv​el4-​Tema-​241-​135 [Accessed 3 March 2023]. Ministerio de Economía de la Nación Argentina (MECON) (2021) Informe de coyuntura económica regional. I Trimestre 2020. Available from https://​www. argent​ina.gob.ar/​sites/​defa​ult/​files/​ice​r_​i_​t_​20​20_​c​ompl​eto.pdf [Accessed 15 May 2022]. Ramió, C. (2017) La administración pública del futuro (horizonte 2050) Instituciones, política, mercado y sociedad de la innovación, Madrid: Tecnos. Rosconi, A. and Rodríguez, E. (2020) ‘Una mirada sobre los estudios de administración pública en Argentina (2001–​2018)’, II Congreso Nacional de Estudios de Administración Pública. Paraná, 13 October. Sociedad Argentina de Análisis Político (SAAP) (nd) Objetivos e Historia. Available from https://​saap.org.ar/​objeti​vos.html and https://​saap.org.ar/​histo​r ia.htm [Accessed 15 May 2022]. Valencia Agudelo, G. and Alexis Álvarez, Y. (2008) ‘La ciencia política y las políticas públicas: notas para una reconstrucción histórica de su relación’, Estudios Políticos, 33: 93–​121. Survey sources consulted Archives of papers from the V and VI Argentine Congresses of Public Administration, provided by the Argentine Association of Public Administration Studies. Consulted during the months of November and December 2021. Proceedings of the XIV National Congress of Political Science (2019). Consulted during the months of March and April 2022. Program of the National Congress of Public Administration Studies (2018). Consulted during the months of November and December 2021.

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Program of the XI, XII and XIII National Congresses of Political Science (2013, 2015 and 2017). Consulted during the months of March and April 2022. Website of the Argentine Association of Public Administration Studies, Congresses section. Available from https://​aaeap.org.ar/​congre​sos/​. Consulted during the months of November and December 2021. Website of the Argentine Society of Political Analysis, Congresses section. Available from https://​saap.org.ar/​congre​sos.html. Consulted during the months of November and December 2021.

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19

Emergence and development of public policies training tracks in Argentine universities Natalia Galano and Guillermina Curti

Introduction The present chapter describes the thorough investigation carried out into the process of the emergence and development of the study of public policies in higher education institutions (graduate and postgraduate) in Argentina. The reconstruction of this process allows us to track the theories that have influenced it, as well as the dialogues with the particular context that have encouraged its unfolding, gaining importance, and making its way through the agendas, syllabuses, and academic offers of social studies. The first part of this chapter consists of a historical overview of the milestones in the process of construction and institutionalization of the study of public policies in universities. The second part describes and analyses the current offer of graduate and postgraduate courses, based on the curricula and university programs.

Notes on the process of institutionalization of the studies of public policies in Argentine universities The higher studies in public policies in Argentina have been developed in the field of political science and public administration and/​or government. The structuring of these fields identifies political aspects and situations and/​ or contexts by which both its institutional drift and its own contents and problematizing are conditioned (VVAA, 2017). The process of construction and legitimization of public policy as an academic discipline has taken place historically in Argentina in the dynamic space produced by the confluence of the particular relational dynamics the state has with the institutionalized ambit of the production of socially relevant knowledge (Fernández, 2002; Neiburg and Plotkin 2004; Leiras et al, 2015; Bulcourf et al, 2017). The consolidation of the national management of the state, which dates back to the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, propelled the creation and development from a positivist matrix of state universities in different parts of the country. During the first decades of the 20th century, political affairs started gaining space in universities at the same time that there was a growing need for the consolidation of the state and the formation of a stable 297

Policy Analysis in Argentina

and professional bureaucracy. The group of liberal reformists from the bicentenary propelled the study of political topics, but from a formalist perspective, focusing especially on the public and public law (Bulcourf, 2012). The first program in the field of interest was the PhD in Political Science in 1927 in the Economics, Commercial, and Political Science College in the city of Rosario, strongly formalist and jurisdictionally biased (Bulcourf and Cardozo, 2009; Bulcourf, 2012; Bacolla, 2017; Cardozo, 2017) v. The Revista Argentina de Ciencia Política (Argentine Journal of Political Science) was created during this long period of development in this field (1910–​1928) as well as the Asociación Argentina de Ciencia Política (Argentine Association of Political Science), founded in 1957 and incorporated into the International Association of Political Science in 1961. The fundamental aspect of these impulses came from the conception of political science as different from public law, which led to the possibility of the construction of an autonomous field and a completely differentiated discipline (Bulcourf, 2012). The emergence of the social and political phenomenon of Peronism at the beginning of the 1940s started challenging the hegemony of the public law in the reflection of the policies and the political, as well as the elites that had previously been the driving force and had already gained and kept their places in the universities. It was from the outside of the universities that there was a renewal of the political approach and that was where access to the universities was promoted and forged. During Juan Domingo Perón’s first government, and in the context of a notable increase in the intervention of the state, the new National Constitution of 1949 introduced the compulsory teaching of political content and national identity in the universities. The National University of Cuyo was the first one to adapt its curriculum and in 1952 it created the graduate course in political science. The same happened in the National University of the Litoral with its headquarters in Rosario with a PhD in political science. The objective of this program was to form political groups for the management of the state, but now with a nationalist ideological perspective and with a very strong populist content. This was the first separation of political science from its traditional legal framework, which led to a new opportunity for the process of the constitution of an autonomous field. During the second half of the 1950s, there was another important innovation for the development of disciplines and the institutionalization of political science and public administration. The presidency of Arturo Frondizi, where there was a developmentalist state, brought about a reform in the university system in 1958, leading to the creation of private universities. New professional and intellectual teams joined the government, but they did not play an important role in the university, which were still occupied by the old liberal elites, in addition, during this period, there was a review and update of the teaching programs of the already existing political science courses and new educational proposals were outlined. 298

The emergence of public policies training

A case worth highlighting is that of the private university of El Salvador for it offered its program of graduate studies in political science, which was an innovative proposal in 1969. As opposed to other already quoted proposals, this one aimed at forming political scientists, not only bureaucrats for the administration and management of the state. The lecturing staff was composed of professionals who had originally graduated from Argentine universities and had completed their postgraduate studies in political science and/​or public administration in foreign countries, mainly in the US, including, notably, Guillermo O’Donnell, Natalio Botana, Oscar Oszlak, and Marcelo Cavarozzi. The renewal of these years propelled the creation of study and formative centers in the fields of social studies, political science, and public administration. Among the many institutes founded in those years, it is important to mention the State and Society Study Center (CEDES) founded in 1974 by Guillermo O’Donnell, Oscar Oszlak, and Marcelo Cavarozzi. These new institutes brought about a deep renewal in the field, bringing about dialogue with literary production, which had been, until then, marginalized in the academic world. The very same concept of public policy was now more relevant and was progressively gaining weight as a discipline in the academic setting of graduate and postgraduate studies. Towards the 1970s, the reflection on public policies spread throughout the region, and in 1974 O’Donnell and Oszlak, together with Philippe Schmitter, gave a “Seminar about Public Policies” and O’Donnell and Oszlak organized the “Conference on Public Policies and its Impacts in Latin America”, sponsored by the Social Research Council and the Center of Studies in Public Administration, associated with the Torcuato Di Tella Institute. These events were of great importance for the beginning of the study of public policies in Argentina, and it was here where Oszlak and O’Donnell presented the first version of the most influential text in our country about the study of public policies. In March 1976, at the Latin American Studies Association meeting (Atlanta, Georgia, US) the authors presented the final version of the text Estado y Políticas Estatales en América Latina: hacia una estrategia de investigación (State and State Policies in Latin America: Towards a Research Strategy). This study was part of a series of documents produced within the CEDES for the Group of Work about the State of Consejo Latinoamericano de Ciencias Sociales (CLACSO). The perspective of the text expressed is a neatly theoretical concern, as the authors claimed “Nuestra perspectiva aquí es de politólogos, no de policy advisors” (Oszlak and O’Donnell, 1976, p 1).1 The study of the policies is purely instrumental for the theoretical meaning of its approach consists of the comprehension of the Latin American state in the context of an authoritarian twist in the region. So, it is claimed that: [W]‌e will consider the study of the State policies as a chapter of a future theory of the Latin-​American State, and more generically, of the domination patterns related to relatively advanced forms of late and dependent capitalism. That is why, the state policies allow 299

Policy Analysis in Argentina

a vision of the State in action, not considered here as a rigid global structure, but instead, considered within a social process where it intertwines in a very complex way with other social forces. (Oszlak and O’Donnell, 1976, p 8) This text is part of the literature that brings about a new look at the state. Based on Guillermo O’Donnell’s production and his original concept of the “bureaucratic-​authoritarian state”, it develops strong criticism of the theories of development and modernization, which were at that time hegemonic. Public policies, then, evolved into being an object of theoretical investigation, essential for comprehending the deep processes of transformation that all the continent was going through in the 1970s. The coup d’état on March 26 in 1976 interrupted the development that was taking place in the fields of political science and social studies in general. The return of democracy in 1983 was a rebirth for the social sciences and political science in particular. From the beginning of the democratic transition, exiled intellectuals began to return and progressively reoccupied the positions from which they had been expelled or filled new positions. This movement brought about changes in the field and the discussions of social studies and political science, revitalizing the process that had begun in the 1960s. It is within this context that in 1982 the Argentine Society of Political Analysis (SAAP) was created, as an alternative to the old Argentine Association of Political Science, because the latter denied integrating the exiled political scientists that were coming back after the military dictatorship (Bulcourf, 2012). The SAAP was building up itself within a network of institutions related to the production of knowledge and teaching of political science, which was the most unique and influential in the country. Its first president was Oscar Oszlak, who promoted, from the very beginning, the circulation of debates through the publication of specialized magazines and books. Later on, this institution started to host interchange about the studies of policies. The presence of the democratic regime also posted the problem at the level of the political system, emphasizing the concern for the consolidation of the institutions of the democracy and the modernization of the state, and in this context, the relation of government and public management with the universities and study centers was strengthened. This gave way to the creation of new postgraduate courses and speeded up the introduction of the study of policies to the universities. In 1985, funded by the Inter-​American Development Bank, the postgraduate course in political science, “Economy and Public Policies”, was created at the Torcuato Di Tella Institute and, in 1986, the master’s in public administration was created in the Economic Science College in the University of Buenos Aires, with Oscar Oszlak as the Chair that introduced contents for the study of politics. During that period, new graduate courses in political science were offered, for instance, at the University of Buenos Aires in 1985 –​which, as of 2022, has the largest number of students in this discipline –​and there were deep 300

The emergence of public policies training

changes in the curricula, too (D’Alessandro and Gantus, 2021). An example that became emblematic of curricular changes was that of the Political Science and International Relations College at the National University of Rosario in 1984. With the assessment of the CEDES, the bachelor’s degree in political science at Rosario was the first one to include the study of public policies in its curricula. The analysis of public policies started to be taught in 1987 by Roberto Esteso, a lawyer who had studied public administration in the Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas (CIDE) in Mexico during his exile from the last Argentine dictatorship. Two years later, the Chair was renewed, and the new professor, Cristina Díaz, was in charge of new changes in the contents and bibliography. The compilation carried out by Luis Aguilar Villanueva2 in Mexico in the 1990s helped Spanish speakers to have access to classic texts that were produced in the Anglo-​Saxon world and these were incorporated into the new program. However, it was not until the presidency of Carlos Menem in 1990 that the public policies could finally have an important place, due to the processes of reformation (first and second generation) that the state went through during this period. The changes generated by the processes of privatization, liberalization, deregulation, and decentralization led to a new ambit of problematization that propelled the study of policies at universities. Between the years 1989 and 1990 Guillermo Schwenheim was in charge of the seminar on public policies, dictated in the graduate course of political science at the University of El Salvador. The course had a practical orientation to advisory work, since it required an understanding of the changes occurring within the state structure. It was particularly well received and since the mid-​1990s there have been new offers as regards specific studies of public policies. After the multidimensional crisis in 2001, and towards 2003, a new economic and political cycle began. With Néstor Kirchner as the new president, there was the “rediscovery” of the state. From 2005 onwards, new courses in political science and public administration appeared, which included specific subjects in the study of public policies. More recently, in 2015, the first graduate course in public policies was created in the private Metropolitan University for the Education and Work. As of 2022, there are more than 40 official graduate courses in political science, public administration, and/​or government, and almost 80 percent of them include one specific class which focuses on the analysis and study of public policies. In the new century, there was a strengthened subfield within the realm of public policies, which is that of evaluation. The processes of state reformation from the 1990s incorporated the evaluative practice in public administration. From 2015 onwards, a new cycle began, that of the creation of postgraduate courses dedicated to the study of public policies, and within the specific framework of evaluation, in a very short period, five postgraduate programs (masters and specializations) started to function and these aimed at the evaluation of public policies in different parts of the nation. In 2022, there are 19 specific programs of postgraduate studies in public policies, including those focused on 301

Policy Analysis in Argentina

evaluation and without counting the specific sectoral policies (social policies, development policies, educational policies, and those related to health, security, and so on). The rapid institutional and disciplinary strengthening of the study of public policies was helped by the publishing growth and expansion produced from the 1990s onwards, due to the presence of new publishers, local, regional and international spaces, and other private and state universities that contributed to the circulation of ideas and debates (Bulcourf, 2012). An important number of political studies began to circulate, whose authors are worth mentioning: Oscar Oszlak, Mabel Thwaites Rey, and Guillermo Schweheim. From the 1990s onwards, many specialized journals appeared and they had their own publishing rules, characteristic of the field of social studies. These publications spread studies and debates about public policies: Revista SAAP, POSTData: Revista de Reflexión y Análisis Político, and the Temas y Debates of the National University of Rosario can be mentioned, among many others.

The study of public policies in Argentina: a brief account of the current educational offers of graduate and postgraduate courses A wide variety of academic spaces for graduates and postgraduates have created programs where public policies play a relevant part. This could be either because of its substantive centrality or because of its emphasis on its instrumental character (Díaz and Curti, 2014). In this chapter, we will outline the main discoveries of an exploratory survey aimed at identifying the fundamental aspects of the public policies approach that the academic units adopt when it comes to graduate and postgraduate levels. To carry out this survey, the following institutions and programs have been investigated: 42 programs that belong to the bachelor’s degree in political science, public administration, and/​or government in both private and public universities; and 19 postgraduate programs focused on the study of public policies. Public policies and the offering of graduate programs The study of public policies has historically been focused on the courses of studies related to political science, public administration, and/​or government. The 42 bachelor’s degrees found in Argentina were offered equally by both private and state universities. As it can be observed, there is a strong concentration of these academic formative offers in the metropolitan region of the capital city of the country (42 percent of the academic offers). This phenomenon is reinforced by the lack of virtual courses, which would facilitate access to them. (Almost 92 percent of the courses are face-​to-​face, and only three of them are virtual.) The distribution of the rest of the degrees is not even and, as happens with the geographical distribution, it is located in the capitals of the provinces. The 302

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exceptions are the cities of Rosario, Mar del Plata, Río Cuarto, and Villa María, for, although they are not capitals, they have formative and educational offers which are an interesting object of analysis for us. The case of Rosario has been mentioned before for its main role in the development of political science and public policies in Argentina, apart from being the third most populated city representing 2 percent of the total population of the country. Eighty percent (33 courses of study) of the bachelor’s degrees include at least one subject that deals with public policies. Out of this 80 percent, 20 percent (six courses of study) include two or more subjects focused on public policies in their educational agenda and curricula. A case worth highlighting is that of the private Metropolitan University for the Education and Work. In 2015, it created, as we previously mentioned, the first bachelor’s degree in public policies and government, which has eight specific subjects on public policies.3 In many cases, the names of specific programs in public policy are linked to analytical techniques, management tools, stages of the public policy process. Others are linked to concepts such as the State, Administration, and Management. This has contributed to imprinting a level of specificity on each program, in terms of contents and approaches. However, it has been noted that cycle research is predominant when it comes to collecting data for the study of public policies. The phased approach is used here because the policies are conceived of as a cycle that goes through different stages, including the initiation implementation, the processes of scheduling and formulation of policies, as well as the evaluation moment (before, during, and after). This has to do with a heuristic tool that allows the decomposition and order of the complex process of the development of public policies. This approach shows interesting conceptual plasticity that gives way to the construction of a singular analytic frame (Galano and Curti, 2014), which is why the recurrent use of this analytical tool should not be considered as a hegemony of the formative and educational proposals. The number of educational offers within the subfield of political evaluation has grown at the postgraduate level, while, at the graduate level, there is some work to be done in this respect. Only a few subjects deal with the topic of evaluation. However, it is worth mentioning that some contents have progressively been incorporated in this sense.4 Many of the programs analyzed provide a reflection on approaches to the analysis of public policies. This occurs mostly in public universities, and in these debates it can be observed that the attention is driven towards the presentation of the classic discussion between rationalism/​incrementalism and the presence of constructivist perspectives, especially in the study of public issues. Lately, some programs have been incorporating other frames, such as the narrative and argumentative approaches, which, in Argentina, have recently been introduced especially by Alejandro Estévez, who has written papers and translations of relevant authors. He has also made important contributions to the edition of the text Teorías del Proceso de las Políticas Públicas by Paul Sabatier produced by 303

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the Cabinet of Ministers of Argentina in 2010 (the English version is Theories of the Policy Process). The central role that some classic discussions still have in the development of other cultural contexts have left a marginal place for Latin American production. Another central aspect that also plays a part in the programs for the treatment of policies is the questioning of the state from a conceptual and analytical perspective, but also an analysis of its institutional display and its roles in the processes of structuring. In this respect, the Latin American perspective is essential to understand this display, as described in the text written by Oszlak and O’Donnell (1976) which was mentioned earlier. In some cases, public policies together with administration and bureaucracy have been discussed.5 Although the approach to this topic is not so common in the analyzed subjects, some programs deal with it from the phase of the implementation of public policies. The technologies and management tools also have a main focus of attention in the curricula: the study of the capacity of management, strategic planning, project design, and public innovation. This approach is carried out in the context of public transformation and the different roles that governmental organizations have in the management of public policies. Here, different experiences and cases are constantly being studied. The literature behind these thoughts comes from a wide variety of theoretical roots and studies which have diverse roots. There is a great disparity between topics and authors considered here, as this goes from classic texts to new approaches published in scientific magazines or presented in different lectures of different congresses. In the study of public policies, 40 percent (seven) of the programs place special emphasis on the actors, who can be separated into different units of analysis to deconstruct this complex object and study a wide variety of actors’ rationalities. They are part of an interactive net of contextualized relations of power, which are expressed in multiple definitions, positioning and public positioning, alliances, and confrontation, orientations, interests, and valuation (Díaz, 2014; Galano and Curti, 2014). An important aspect that is worth highlighting about the analyzed programs and syllabuses is that, mainly in private universities, a special study of the political institutions and the functioning of democratic governments is carried out to understand the development of policies. Federalism, political party system, and the decision-​making process in the legislative, executive, and judiciary branches. The syllabus of public policies graduate courses and their bibliography are looked upon with a global perspective. This raises awareness of the lack of a native perspective. Moreover, it can be seen that there is a predominance of Anglo-​Saxon texts for teaching. There is, clearly, a tradition and attachment to certain theoretical and methodological texts about public policies which have become “classics” and which are still part of the essential corpus of the teaching of public policies in Argentina. The translated work by Wayne Parsons Public 304

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Policy: An Introduction to the Theory and Practice of Policy Analysis (2007) is an updated compendium of the main topics, discussions, approaches, and frames of the discipline, and became one of the most used and referenced texts in the courses. In addition to this text, there is also the European production, where you can find, first, Joan Subirats’ works and, second, those written by the French Yves Meny and Jean-​Claude Thoenig, followed by those by Pierre Muller. However, there is a tension between those classic texts and the local perspective –​with its specific problems and singularities, in Argentina, Oszlak and O’Donnell’s text (1976) expresses this situation. Oscar Oszlak himself has become the “key” author in the study of public policies, since that article, due to his profuse productions. Other Argentine authors that we can cite as examples are Carlos Acuña, who has various compilations that systematized the reception of milestones contributions for the study of public policies, Roberto Martínez Nogueira, and Alejandro Estévez.6 An aspect that has been emphasized in the graduate-​level courses in Argentina consists of a tacit agreement, particularly in state universities, as regards the language of the compulsory readings. Except for the case of one private university, all the bibliographies of the analyzed programs are in Spanish and do not include literature in another language. This restriction could determine the delay of the inclusion of some topics, approaches, and speeches that are current in other countries, and also the hegemony that some old discussions in the field still have. Public policies and the offering of postgraduate programs The National Commission of University Accreditation and Evaluation is in charge of the approval and categorization of graduate and postgraduate university courses. According to this commission, there are 19 registered postgraduate courses in public policies, whose programs deal with general contents in this field. Most of these (11 university courses, 58 percent) are master’s degrees, a considerably smaller number are specializations (5, 26 percent), postgraduate courses (2, 11 percent), with only one PhD (5 percent).7 Mostly, these offerings show the continuity of the contents of the graduate courses; the academic units are often the centers in which the analyzed bachelor’s degree, whose syllabus include specific subjects in public policies, is offered. Like at the graduate level, the geographical distribution is uneven and highly localized. Seventy-​nine percent of the degree courses are taught in the capital of the country and its metropolitan area (15 master’s, postgraduate, and specialized programs) and the rest is localized in diverse areas of the country (Córdoba, Mendoza, Paraná, La Rioja, and Río Negro). The Northeast and Northwest regions show a lack of specific formation in public policies at the postgraduate level. There are also interesting points to be noted about the teaching staff. Only a few degree courses have a high percentage of foreign teachers and/​or teachers 305

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who have attended degree courses in universities in the US, France, Spain, and the UK. The specialization and master’s in public policies of the Torcuato Di Tella University and the master’s in public policies and management of development of the National University of San Martin are clear examples of this situation. Some institutions have agreements with foreign educational institutions or networks in the area of public administration and political science, which facilitates the teachers’ transfer, at the same time that they try to generate more attractive offers, while in other situations, the participation of local teachers is more significant and it is observed that there is a circulation of different formative and educational proposals. This is particularly significant in the most recent proposals related to the evaluation of policies (Galano, 2021). The initiators of the construction of the fields of public policies as a discipline, be it Oszlak or Cavarozzi, still have an important presence in the ambits of postgraduate courses. This is mainly because they are Chairs or professors, or because their works have been included in the curricula. There is also a new generation of professors educated in the fields of policies that have chair positions and/​or are part of the teaching staff. Usually, a distinctive aspect of postgraduate courses, which differentiates them from graduate courses, is the bibliography they use. The higher level courses include a bibliography in other languages, especially in English, which is what allows for the inclusion of more recent literature. Even in some postgraduate courses, there is an academic requirement for those who want to access the courses: students need to have proficiency in the English language. A good deal of the postgraduate proposals have the cycle perspective, be it to structure the syllabus of the degree course or just as specific content. There is a certain difference between the contents of the graduate course proposals and the postgraduate course proposals, which clearly shows the specificity of each of them. Only a few postgraduate course programs include the study of methodology and theoretical-​methodological approaches in public policies. Others simply place policies in the articulation of state–​society and dedicate time for modules and seminars that allow them to study the contexts of production of policies in Argentina, including economic and social history, administrative rights, and conceptual aspects of public administration. In the global context of postgraduate courses, two syllabuses stand out due to their peculiarities. The Torcuato Di Tella University through its master’s in public policy suggests a strongly quantitative and economic approach, which cannot be found in any other postgraduate course proposals. Moreover, the specialization in public policies of the National University of La Plata is the only one that is not included in the College of Social Studies or Political Science. This course is taught at the Science Economics College, which is why its perspective is concerned with the economic/​financial management of policies. As regards the proposals, two situations can be observed, depending on the orientation since it can be more or less academic or professional. Take the particular case of the master’s degree, where diverse situations can be observed –​as 306

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the PhD is purely academic and the specializations and postgraduate courses are considered to be instrumental or professional. The profile of the degree holder implies that the former student has achieved competence in academic investigation and teaching as well as political management in the state, public, social, or private organizations. However, the analysis of the curricula and teaching-​learning methodology reflects significant differences. The normative frame that regulated postgraduate courses until 2011 incorporated the submission of a thesis as a requirement for the master’s degree. This implied a strong academic orientation for the writing of such investigation work that requires the development of strong methodological and theoretical competencies. Thus, the educational offer did not reflect the needs of professional training oriented to public management. To solve this, in 2011 these criteria were modified and a new professional master’s was created, differentiating itself from the academic master’s. Thanks to this new norm, the professionally oriented programs aim at the strengthening of the competencies belonging to the profession itself and, instead of a thesis, a final work related to a real situation should be carried out. The analysis of the syllabus shows that four master’s (36 percent of the cases) are clearly professionally oriented, more related to the policy advisor profile rather than that of a researcher8 and four (36 percent of the cases) have a strong academic profile.9 In the latter cases, even though the profile of the degree holder implies the development of competencies in the management of policies, the syllabus is overloaded with contents on methodology for social investigation –​both quantitative and qualitative, in addition to a syllabus that includes epistemological aspects, and they include the submission of a thesis as a requirement to obtain the degree. That is why there are one or two thesis seminars apart from the subjects on methodology and epistemology, in these cases, there are relatively not many instrumental contents included in the curricula. Last but not least, there are other groups of cases (three cases, 27 percent) that show a mixture of these contents, both professional and academic. They have the same amount of content on the instruments, tools, and management technology. They are hybrid programs, whose theoretical and instrumental components are more balanced.10 These programs provide students with training in methodology for social research as well as prepare students for the submission of an academic thesis.

Conclusion Public policies have come a long way, over more than five decades, until they finally became, with great difficulty, an object of study. The study of policies began to gain space within the realm of universities thanks to the breakthrough that Guillermo O’Donnell’s and Oscar Oszlak’s text, Estado y Políticas Estatales en América Latina, represented in 1976 in the Argentine and Latin American disciplinary field. The return of democracy, the later processes of reform of the 307

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state in the 1990s, and the resumption of state interventionism in the 2000s strengthened the relation between university knowledge and the management/​ government settings, propelling the emergence of a new distinct discipline. Within this framework, the educational training offering in graduate and postgraduate courses in public policy has not only grown but has also been strengthened. The proposals prove to be singular and particular in each case, though the influence of classic literature is still important. However, local productions started circulating, which, on the one hand, evidences the growth of local production, and, on the other, poses the challenge of creating a local perspective that can be significant and relevant in the field. Notes 1 2

3

4

5 6

7

8

9

“Our perspective here is that of a political scientist, not that of policy advisors” (Oszlak and O’Donnell, 1976, p 1). The books edited by Luis Aguilar Villanueva are: El estudio de las políticas públicas (1992); La hechura de las políticas (1992); Problemas públicos y agenda de gobierno (1993); and La implementación de las políticas (1993). According to the syllabus, the specific subjects are: introduction to public policies; design and implementation of public policies; evaluation of public policies; communication and management of public policies; public policies topics 1, 2, 3 and 4. We can mention, for instance, the National University of Rosario, which, since the last modification of the syllabus of the course of studies in science policies (2008), incorporates an optional workshop “Workshop of Evaluation of Public Policies”. It is understood that conceptually and analytically speaking, they can’t be treated in the same way, but the analytical category has been created for our analysis considering both notions. In Latin America, since the 1990s, highly influential texts have been published. Among these, we can find the productions of Enrique Cabrero Mendoza (México) and Pedro Medellín Torres (Colombia) and, currently, those of André Roth Deubel, who suggests a revision of the most recent approaches and the possibility of construction of new perspectives for the continent. These works can also be found in some of the syllabuses previously analyzed, though not as the main texts of these agendas. The Resolution of the Ministry of Education 462/​2011 defines the standards and criteria of each postgraduate degree course. The specialization aims at the thorough study of a topic or area within a professional field, broadening the professional training and making it intense; it has a final global evaluation. Master’s courses aim at providing students with higher academic and professional training, focusing on theoretical, technological, managerial, and artistic development in the field of the discipline; to obtain the academic master’s degree the submission of a thesis is required, while for the professional master’s degree a global final work/​project/​ case study is required. The PhD is oriented towards the production of novel contributions in an area of knowledge, that is, it focuses on academic research, and to obtain the degree the thesis must prove to be an original contribution in the area. They are: the master’s in public policy of the Austral University and Torcuato Di Tella University; the master’s in planning and evaluation of public policies of the National University of San Martin; and the master’s in design and analysis of policies of the Technological Institute of Buenos Aires. They are: the master’s in public policies and government of the National University of Comahue; the master’s in public policies and management of development of the National University of San Martín; and the virtual master’s in public policies and development and the face-​to-​face master’s in public policies for development with inclusion of FLACSO.

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They are: the master’s in administration and public policies of the San Andrés University; the master’s in evaluation of public policies of the National University of Entre Ríos; and the master’s in public policies and government of the National University of Lanús.

References Bacolla, N. (2017) ‘A propósito de Rafael Bielsa. Semblanza para una historia de la Ciencia Política en Argentina en los inicios del siglo XX’, Araucaria. Revista Iberoamericana de Filosofía, Política, Humanidades y Relaciones Internacionales, 19(38): 545–​574. Bulcourf, P. (2012) ‘El desarrollo de la ciencia política en Argentina’, Revista de Ciencia Política, 50(1): 59–​92. Bulcourf, P. and Cardozo, N. (2009) ‘Ciencia política y relaciones internacionales en la Universidad Católica de Córdoba: una mirada sobre su desarrollo’, Revista Studia Políticae, 18: 103–​133. Bulcourf, P., Krzywicka, K., and Ravecca, P. (2017) ‘Reconstruyendo la ciencia política en América Latina’, Anuario latinoamericano de ciencias políticas y relaciones internacionales, 12: 17–​31. Cardozo, N. (2017) ‘El desarrollo de los estudios sobre administración y políticas públicas en la Argentina’, Anuario latinoamericano de ciencias políticas y relaciones internacionales, 5: 127–​155. https://​doi.org/​10.17951/​al.2017.5.231 D’Alessandro, M. and Gantus, D. (2021) ‘Problemas y desafíos de la enseñanza de la Ciencia Política en la Argentina’, Revista Temas y Debates, 41: 131–​152. Díaz, C. (2014) ‘Introducción’, in C. Díaz, N. Galano, and G. Curti (eds), Miradas de Políticas Públicas. Cómo se enseña y aprende el análisis de políticas en América Latina, Rosario: Grupo P&G/​Facultad de Ciencia Política y RRII, UNR, 9–​60. Díaz, C. and Curti, G. (2014) ‘Reconstruyendo el camino: reflexiones sobre la creación de la Maestría en Monitoreo y Evaluación de Políticas Públicas’, in A. Ríos Cázares (ed), La evaluación de políticas públicas en América Latina: métodos y propuestas docentes, México City: CIDE-​Centro CLEAR para América Latina-​ Red Interamericana de Educación en Administración Pública-​INPAE, pp 33–​48. Fernández, A. (ed) (2002) La ciencia política en la Argentina. Dos siglos de historia, Buenos Aires: BIEBEL. Galano, N. (2021) Ecología de la evaluación de políticas públicas. El proceso de institucionalización de un sistema de Evaluación de Políticas Públicas en Argentina: trayectoria y actualidad, master’s thesis, Universidad de Sevilla. Galano, N. and Curti, G. (2014) ‘Caminos recorridos: el proceso de enseñanza aprendizaje para un hacer reflexivo. La experiencia de la cátedra de Análisis de Políticas Públicas de la Facultad de Ciencia Política de la Universidad Nacional de Rosario’, in C. Pliscoff (ed), Enseñanza y aprendizaje de administración y políticas públicas en las Américas, Santiago: Ril Editores, 119–​148. Gluck, M. and Mutti, V.G. (2009) ‘Política de masas y eficacia gubernamental en la Argentina de los años 20’: el surgimiento de los estudios de ciencias políticas en Rosario. Los proyectos de Rafael Bielsa y Juan Álvarez’, Revista de Ciencia Política y Relaciones Internacionales, 2(2): 147–​164. 309

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Leiras, M., Abal Medina, J.M., and D’Alessandro, M. (2005) ‘La ciencia política en Argentina. El camino de la institucionalización dentro y fuera de las universidades’, Revista de Ciencia Política, 25(1): 76–​91. Neiburg, F. and Plotkin, M. (eds) (2004) Intelectuales y expertos. La constitución del conocimiento social en Argentina, Buenos Aires: Paidós. Oszlak, O. and O’Donnell, G. (1974) ‘Estado y Políticas Estatales en América Latina: hacia una estrategia de investigación’, Documento de trabajo del CEDES, Working Paper # 4. Buenos Aires: CEDES. VV.AA. (2017) ‘Manifiesto de Popayán. Los estudios sobre historia y desarrollo de la ciencia política en América Latina: necesidades y perspectivas’, in K. Krzywicka (ed), Anuario latinoamericano de ciencias políticas y relaciones internacionales, 5: 231–​233. doi.org/​10.17951/​al.2017.5.231

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Postgraduate university training in public administration, management, and public policy in Argentina: structure and distribution in the period 1990–​2017 Karina Montes, Gabriela Mansilla, and Sergio L. Agoff

Introduction The development of public administration as a disciplinary field in Argentina sees higher education as one of its realms or core processes of analysis (besides professionalization, empowerment, and academic concentration). It could be about its universal or national history, the biography of a relevant actor, a field of studies, or some particular issues (Cardozo and Bulcourf, 2011). This education has increased at pre-​undergraduate, undergraduate, and especially postgraduate levels. It has been pivotal in the developmental process of public administration as a field in our country, following in the footsteps of the US and Europe. At the postgraduate level, the milestones have been the creation of the master’s degree program in public policies at the University Torcuato Di Tella in 1985 or the master’s in public administration at the Faculty of Economic Sciences –​ University of Buenos Aires. Today, there are 84 postgraduate programs, such as diplomas, specialists, masters, and doctorates, throughout Argentina, both in state and non-​state universities. This chapter aims to characterize and analyze the distribution and structure of postgraduate university education in Argentina from the 1990s to the present. Within the context of the state reform and the administration reform, university programs in administration, management, and public policies have proliferated, thus leading to a growing interest in studying and researching the institutional and curricular aspects of these academic provisions at the college, undergraduate, and graduate levels. Overall, we could identify the progress to institutionalizing public administration as an academic field in our country during 1990–​2022. This field has grown at all educational levels, mainly at the postgraduate. This scenario triggered a set of questions: What institutional and curricular features does the postgraduate university education have? How has it evolved in recent decades? What is the level of dialogue between the postgraduate university provisions and the public sector requirements? What kind of graduates does the academic offer produce? With this set guiding our work, we first describe the academic programs. We consider the postgraduate programs’ distribution in the public and private sectors 311

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and the region of the country. Second, we analyze the provisions by levels, that is, specialists, master’s, and doctorate according to the formats and contents of their curricula. Finally, we attempt to answer the question of to what extent these programs focus on state management and educating professionals to work in it, or developing a body of academic researchers, without these being mutually exclusive alternatives. As a result of the analysis, we present a conclusion on the whole of the postgraduate provision in Argentina.

Theoretical and methodological framework The conceptual-​theoretical axis structuring this work is grounded in the neo-​ institutionalist paradigm, in the notion of change and institutional isomorphism as processes developed in the organizational fields. Diverse trends within neo-​ institutionalism show an interest in explaining the so-​called “institutional change”. In some way, the ideas making up this notion are associated with organizational development. In fact, it is a trend within the field of organizational studies. Following Campbell’s (2009) conceptualization, institutional change proceeds in two ways or paths: combination and adaptation. The former assumes an incremental view, that is, changes occur by articulating or newly combining elements within the same system. This notion can be strongly related to innovation. The second path implies combining elements from different systems. The resulting transformation is not a mere “do it yourself ”, but suggests the presence of elements requiring contextual readjustment, hence the idea of adaptation. Di Maggio and Powell (1999) developed the notion of institutional isomorphism within the same realm of concern, creating an organizational field in which homogeneity predominates over variations. “The concept that better delimits the homogenization process is isomorphism. According to Hawley (1968), isomorphism is a constraining process that forces one unit in a population to resemble other units that face the same set of environmental conditions” (Di Maggio and Powell, 1999: 4). Therefore, change can also be considered as a movement towards similarities and not necessarily towards differences. Di Maggio and Powell (1999) distinguish three types of isomorphism: coercive, that is, supposing political power with governing or regulating capacity in an organizational field; mimetic, posed in terms of relationships of imitation as seen in the markets of goods, which attempt to adopt the modeling behavior of successful individuals; and normative, related to the regulative properties of the professional field. In methodological terms, we establish the criteria to define the universe of analysis, that is, what programs educating for the public sector would be considered, the period to study, the sources to use, and the classification of the curricular content or subject areas. We adopted ample criteria to define the universe of administration, management, and public policy postgraduate programs in Argentina. The set 312

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includes all academic provisions under the name of “administration”, public “management”, “public policies”, and/​or “government”. At the postgraduate level, university education includes provisions such as specialist’s, master’s, and doctorate programs. In this level, we also consider higher education diplomas, as we understand they are assimilable educational paths. The period 1990–​2022 was selected since the academic programs in the field started broadening considerably in the 1990s, when the first ones emerged at the postgraduate level. Only three undergraduate programs were recorded in the 1960s and 1980s. At the same time, a more significant research interest developed in field-​related topics. The sources used to classify the programs have been the postgraduate programs’ syllabi. The data was collected from their institutional web pages and the Argentine National Commission of University Evaluation and Accreditation. We also considered the program documentation, that is, their creation, approval, and accreditation from the Secretaría de Políticas Universitarias del Ministerio de Educación (Secretariat of University Policies –​Ministry of Education). The analysis focused on the names of the content subjects in each syllabus. Regarding the curricular analysis, the content subjects have been classified following their orientation, that is, disciplinary, specific (problems, public administration and practices), or others. The disciplinary courses aim to impart already constructed knowledge, understanding that a discipline is a systematic field of knowledge with its own syntactic structure, a set of knowledge objects, logics of discovery and validation, and habits of thinking, among others (Cols and Feeney, 2004). The disciplinary, in turn, are divided into unidisciplinary and multi or pluridisciplinary. By “mono” or “unidisciplinary” courses, we refer to those that develop the disciplinary content or specific field of knowledge (sociology, administration, political science, economy, law, history, exact sciences, research methodologies, and philosophy). Following the literature on curriculum studies, we consider “pluri” or “multidisciplinary” courses that assume the first mode of curricular integration, as the contents are addressed from different disciplines. In any case, independently of their type, both categories are tributary to an approach that privileges the learning of core disciplines in a particular field. These courses’ names usually are Administration and Public Policies, Contemporary Socio-​Economic Problems II, and Issues of Sociology, Economics, and Politics, among others. We identified content subjects that specifically deal with administration. We found three kinds of specificity: public administration, problems, and practices within the category. Public administration can also be found as public management. The curricular course problems addresses topics or problematized questions linked to particular necessities and conflicts within the state scope, its interaction with the local society to which it belongs, or even the international one. Practices refer to those courses in pre-​professional practices since they specifically deal with issues concerning public administration and its implementation. Finally, others encompass the content subjects that are neither disciplinary nor specific. They include foreign languages, information technology, and topics 313

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related to technologies not specific to the public sector, as well as the participation in symposiums on issues of interest to the program, among others. The course format is the second classification mode: courses, seminars, workshops, and practices. While in the courses, knowledge is imparted, issues and problems under research are identified in the seminars, thus enabling a breadth of discussion spaces. Meanwhile, in the workshops, the theory is articulated with practice and oriented towards obtaining a product or process. Pre-​professional practices are distinct as they develop in situ to put the constructed knowledge into play. The selected categories refer to some core discussion topics in curriculum studies. Briefly, we followed Roberto Follari’s developments (2010). In his view, professional education, which is undoubtedly our focus today, needs to think of a syllabus that “must be oriented to the abilities, capacities, skills, and theoretical knowledge typical of the professional field the individuals are preparing to enter. The professional profile must be specified, and the curriculum must be oriented towards its achievement” (Follari, 2010, p 22). In Follari’s terms, this direction is necessary to avoid educating future graduates “for the scientific contents of the discipline, but not for their professional role” (Follari, 2010, p 22). However, Follari’s claim should not be seen as rejecting the disciplinary content but as an approach nuancing and adding complexity to the issue. It is one of the critical points of organizing the debate. A way of overcoming the disciplinary content at a greater complexity level demands discipline integration. The interdisciplinary issue, as seen, has been considered as a mode of curricular integration attempting to overcome the discipline-​oriented approaches while restating the role of disciplinary education in the curricular discussion (Casimiro Lopes and Macedo, 2011). Nevertheless, following Goodson (1995), it can be claimed that the disciplines are not monolithic; they are “changing amalgams”, which seems to equip the concept with a dynamic and agonistic feature.

Programs by sector and geographical distribution Currently, postgraduate provisions total 84 programs, distributed in five higher diplomas, 33 specialist’s, 43 master’s, and three doctorates. As for their names, the specialists are Public Policies, Strategic Management of Public Organizations, Public Administration/​ M anagement, Provincial and Municipal Public Administration/​Management, Information Production and Analysis for Public Policies, Direction and Management of Public Organizations, Public Policies Assessment, Administration by Results and Local Government. The master’s programs are Public Management, Politics and Government, Public Policies and Government, Strategic Management of Public Organizations, Public Policies and Development Management, Government and Political Economics, Public Policies Planning and Assessment, Local Politics and Management, Sciences of the Government, Administration and Public Policies, Public Policies, Public Policies for the Development with Social Inclusion, Public Management and Governmental Development, Public Administration and Government, and 314

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Management of the Public Sector. The doctorates are Politics and Government, Administration and Public Policies, and Public Administration. As per their delivering modes and without considering the modalities adopted due to the COVID-​19 emergency, we could see that a great majority of the postgraduate programs, that is, 47 out of 56, are delivered on campus, while 10 (12 percent) have adopted hybrid mode, and 11 (13 percent) are fully delivered online.1 Regarding universities, 452 deliver postgraduate programs (we consider the universities that fully deliver the programs or conjointly with others), 32 of which are state institutions, and 12 are non-​state. We found that the public sector prevails as 64 programs belong to public universities –​three diplomas, 28 specialist’s degrees, 31 master’s, and two doctorates. We could find 20 programs in the private sector –​two higher education diplomas, five specialist’s, 12 master’s, and one doctorate. As for their geographic distribution, the postgraduate provision is predominantly located in the province of Buenos Aires, with 48 programs, 44 of which are in the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area (AMBA after its acronym in Spanish) and only four in the interior of the province. We could find 34 programs in other provinces, 30 delivered by the state universities. It should be noted that, in addition to the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, postgraduate education is available in 17 provinces, that is, Buenos Aires, Catamarca, Cordoba, Jujuy, La Pampa, Misiones, Tucumán, Santa Fe, Chaco, Entre Ríos, La Rioja, Mendoza, Salta, San Juan, Santiago del Estero, Río Negro, and Tierra del Fuego.

Dynamics of the educational offer in the field of public administration As said, the current postgraduate provision consists of 84 programs. It is mainly delivered by public institutions and is located in the AMBA. Of the programs, 76.2 percent belong to public universities, with the AMBA prevailing (52 percent), followed by the interior of the country (40.5 percent) (as shown in Table 20.1). Regarding the decade, the survey revealed that 7.1 percent were created in 1990, reaching 20.2 percent in the 2000s and 58.3 percent in the 2010s. During the 2020s, 11 programs were created, that is, 13.1 percent (see Figure 20.1).3 This increasing process reveals that the postgraduate level shows the most remarkable

Table 20.1: Current academic provisions according to sectors and geography Programs

84

Sector

Geographic location

PublicPrivate

Interior of the country

Buenos Aires province: Buenos Aires Metropolitan Region

76,223,8

40,5

4,852 315

Policy Analysis in Argentina Figure 20.1: Number of programs created in the period 1990–​2022 60 48

Number of programs created

50 40 30 20

17 10

10 0

6 0

0

0

1960

1970

1980

1990 2000 Decade

2010

2020

8

2022

growth compared to the undergraduate one, although there had been academic provisions in the latter. The first survey conducted in 2005 showed that 19 offers were distributed per sector and geography as follows: 13 belonged to public universities and six to private ones, whereas eight programs were in AMBA, and 11 in the provinces of Córdoba, Santa Fe, Mendoza, Catamarca, Misiones, Entre Ríos, Jujuy, Tucumán, and Chubut. Then, 12 programs were discontinued,4 six of them were delivered in the provinces of Catamarca, Entre Ríos, Jujuy, Misiones, Mendoza, and Cordoba, five in AMBA and one in the province of Buenos Aires. Most of their names were public administration/​management. Regarding the institutional character of the closed study programs, public and private universities are equally rated. However, 33 universities from Buenos Aires and the interior of the country joined the field or reformulated their provisions. In the first case, 15 new programs were created in AMBA (some in the municipalities of Lomas de Zamora, Quilmes, Florencio Varela, Tres de Febrero, and La Plata) and three in the province, that is, the cities of Bahía Blanca, Junin, and Mar del Plata, whereas in the second case, 15 universities started providing programs in the provinces of Corrientes, conjointly with Chaco, La Rioja, Santiago del Estero, Río Negro, and Córdoba (Río Cuarto City), among others. According to these data, the field and the educational level have grown significantly since the 1990s. From now on, we are interested in how this growth impacted the format and content of the postgraduate syllabi and the postgraduate 316

Postgraduate university training

profile. Our work attempts to account for a greater homogeneity, or on the contrary, the heterogeneity of this educational field.

Provision structure of the educational levels by formats and content subjects The following analysis of the postgraduate level is deployed considering each sublevel:5 diplomas, specialist degree, master’s, and doctorate. Also, we will reflect upon the set of postgraduate levels, taking all the necessary precautions, since we are bodily considering structures aimed at differentiated objectives. Specialist degree programs Overall, the sublevel of specialist degree programs aims to broaden the knowledge of a topic or area within a profession or application field of several professions, honing professional education through intensive training. Students become specialists with a concentration in the profession or the field of application. In Argentina, specialist degree programs stop short of a master’s program. Classroom work is at the graduate level, with a course load similar to a master’s degree. However, specialist degree programs do not require a thesis. Its educational structure predominantly displays the curricular content subjects considered “courses”, that is, 81.1 percent of the total, while the distribution of the remaining categories totals 18.9 percent. In the latter, the seminar format prevails, accounting for more than half of that subgroup (11.8 percent), with workshops (5.6 percent) and practices (1.5 percent) both being less present. Regarding the distribution between disciplinary and specific, the first reaches slightly more than 70 percent, being 87.9 percent uni-​or monodisciplinary prevailing over the pluridisciplinary courses. As for “specific” (23.2 percent), the aggregated information shows the prevalence of “public administration” at almost 65 percent. “Problems” implies 29.6 percent, while the category “practices” is less appreciable, with 4.6 percent. Finally, the category “other” is the least important with 0.9 percent, showing a significant decrease compared to a previous survey, which gathered 5 percent. Regarding the distribution of the relative load of the disciplines, the overall picture sees administration (32.7 percent), political science (15.5 percent), and multidisciplinary (12.1 percent) as the core disciplines (and increasing since 2017) in the structuring contents, which together with research methodology (14.2 percent) and law (12.4 percent), account for 87 percent of the category of disciplinary content subjects. Economics appears in a second step with 9 percent (see Table 20.2). There are no significant differences in the sublevel distribution between public and private universities. Regarding format, there are no major differences concerning the ideas mentioned earlier, given that the category “courses” is predominant in both cases, always around 80 percent. 317

Policy Analysis in Argentina Table 20.2: Format and content: sublevel specialist degree program

Format

Content

Absolute value

Courses

378

81.1

Seminars

55

11.8

Workshops

26

5.6

Practices Content

%

7

1.5

330

71

Political science

51

15.5

Law

41

12.4

Economics

Disciplinary

31

9

History

2

0.6

Philosophy

3

0.9

Sociology Administration Exact sciences

6

1.8

108

32.7

1

0.3

Multidisciplinary

40

12.1

Research methodology

47

14.2

108

23.2

Public administration

70

64.8

Problems

32

29.6

6

5.5

28

6

466

100

Specific

Others (practices) Others Total

The content analysis between “disciplinary, specific, and others” shows similar behavior. Although disciplinary content is strengthened in the non-​state provisions, the presence of the category “other” in private institutions is reduced to 1.6 percent, considering that it reaches 6 percent in the sublevel. It implies a lower load of “foreign languages” and the areas associated with “information technology”. Regarding “specific” courses, the distribution is somewhat different compared to the sublevels in its totality. In the case of private universities, the percentage of “specific” universities is slightly lower (16.1 percent), but their distribution shows a greater presence of “problems” (60 percent), almost equalling those of “public administration” in the sublevels (64.8 percent). Nevertheless, public universities show a similar structure to that presented for the whole set (variations do not exceed three points). Therefore, this point showed the greatest variation not only within the specialist degree program level but also for the other levels.

318

Postgraduate university training Table 20.3: Format and content: specialist degree program (public/​private)

Format

Curricular courses

Public

Courses

327

80.9

51

82.3

Seminars

47

11.6

8

12.9

Workshops

23

5.7

3

4.8

7

1.7

0

0

279

69.1

51

82.3

Political science

36

12.9

156

29.4

Law

35

12.5

10

11.8

Economics

21

7.5

1

19.6

1

0.4

Practices Content

Disciplinary

History

Private

Absolute value %

Absolute value

%

2

Philosophy

3

1.1

0

0

Sociology

6

2.2

0

0

101

36.2

7

13.7

1

0.4

0

0

Multidisciplinary

36

12.9

4

7.8

Research methodology

39

14

8

15.7

Specific

98

24.3

10

16.1

Public administration

66

67.3

4

40

Problems

26

26.5

6

60

Others (practices)

6

6.1

0

0

27

6.7

1

1.6

404

100

62

100

Administration Exact sciences

Others Total

Concerning the distribution of the relative load of the disciplines, administration prevails (36.2 percent) in the public sector, followed by research methodology with 14 percent, political science, and content subjects named multidisciplinary, not to mention law with 12.5 percent. However, in the private sector, there is a variant since political science prevails (29.4 percent), followed by economics (19.6 percent), leaving administration in the fourth place (see Table 20.3). Overall, in this sublevel, management/​administration/​public policies could be featured as disciplinary with an emphasis on administration. It is noteworthy that, at the postgraduate level, disciplinary teaching is still present. The privileged

319

Policy Analysis in Argentina

formats are courses imparting already constructed knowledge, whereas formats in which knowledge is put into play show a limited presence. Master’s degrees Overall, the sublevel master’s degree attempts to provide advanced disciplinary or interdisciplinary knowledge. It strengthens the theoretical, technological, and professional education for research purposes and the state of knowledge of such discipline or disciplinary area. Classwork includes the completion of a final task, project, or thesis that must show the conceptual and methodological skills corresponding to the current state of knowledge in the discipline or disciplines accordingly. Students are granted a master’s degree with a concentration in a discipline or an interdisciplinary area. Its educational structure predominantly displays the curricular content subjects considered “courses”, that is, 79.3 percent of the total, and the remaining 20 percent is distributed in the other two categories. The “seminar” format implied half of that subset (10.3 percent), followed by “workshops” (7 percent), with a lesser load in format. As for the distribution between “disciplinary” and “specific,” the former reaches 74 percent, being the 87.2 percent uni-​or monodisciplinary compared to the pluridisciplinary courses (12.8 percent). Regarding the “specific”, the aggregated information shows the prevalence of “public administration”, almost 62 percent, compared to “problems”, which implies 36.7 percent. This data shows a significant increase compared to previous surveys. The rest, “specifics”, belongs to the subcategories “practices” and “other” with 1.1 percent and 0.6 percent, respectively, thus suggesting a similar distribution to that of the sublevel specialist. Regarding the distribution of the relative load of the disciplines, the overall picture sees political science (24.7 percent), research methodology (20.5 percent), administration (18.1 percent), and economics (12 percent) as the core subjects in the structuring contents, representing 75.3 percent of the category. Multidisciplinary spaces are added with 12.8 percent (see Table 20.4). Regarding the distribution of the format between public and private universities, there are no significant differences in what was seen in the sublevel. The category “courses” prevails in both cases, exceeding 85 percent. Content analysis among “disciplinary, specific, and others” shows similar behavior. As for “specifics”, the distribution is much analogous to what was seen in the total private and public sectors. Public administration prevails, and there is a lack of “practices”. However, in the case of private universities, “problems” is slightly more present with 45.8 percent, compared to 35 percent shown by the private sector and the aggregate. Regarding the distribution of the relative load of the disciplines, public universities are closer to the overall distribution, while there are some differences in private universities, the main one being a higher predominance of political science, with 35.1 percent. 320

Postgraduate university training Table 20.4: Format and content: sublevel master’s degrees Curricular courses Format

Absolute value

Courses

733

79.3

Seminars

95.5

10.3

Workshops

64.5

7

8

1

Practices Other Content

%

23

2.5

Disciplinary

663

74.1

Political science

164

24.7

Law

48

7.2

Economics

79

12

History

4

0.6

Philosophy

6

0.9

Sociology

19

2.9

120

18.1

2

0.3

85

12.8

Research methodology

136

20.5

Specific

180

20.1

Public administration

111

61.7

Problems

66

36.7

3

1.7

Other

52

5.8

Total

895

100

Administration Exact sciences Multidisciplinary

Other (practices)

Overall, in the sublevel master’s degree, administration/​management/​public policy could be featured as disciplinary education, with an emphasis on political science. Significantly, there is still a strong presence of disciplinary teaching in this sublevel, although the master’s show a higher load of political science as opposed to the sublevel specialist degree (in which administration prevails) (see Table 20.5). Doctorate Since there are only three study programs in this sublevel (located in the interior of the country: two provided by a state and one by a non-​state university), there is no significant evidence to characterize it. However, as in specialist and master’s degrees, we could claim that the course format and disciplinary content (91.2 percent) prevail, with political science reaching more than 42 percent. 321

Policy Analysis in Argentina Table 20.5: Format and content: master’s degrees (public/​private) Public

Format

Curricular courses

Absolute value

%

Absolute value

%

Courses

503

77.9

230

89.8

Seminars

72.5

11.2

13

5.1

Workshops

39.5

6.1

13

5.1

8

1

0

0

23

3.6

0

0

Practices Others Content

Private

Disciplinary

461

73.2

202

76.2

Political science

93

20.2

71

35.1

Law

39

8.5

9

4.5

Economics

57

12.4

22

10.9

History

1

0.2

3

1.5

Philosophy

1

0.2

5

2.5

Sociology

14

3

5

2.5

Administration

94

20.4

26

12.9

Exact sciences

2

0

0

0

Multidisciplinary

66

14.3

19

9.4

Research methodology

94

20.4

42

20.8

132

21

48

18.1

Public administration

85

64.4

26

54.2

Problems

44

33.3

22

45.8

Specific

Others (practices)

3

2.3

0

0

37

5.9

15

5.7

630

100

265

100

Others Total subjects

Besides, a lack of areas related to the public sector is perceived, which seems reasonable given the academic nature of these provisions. It seems odd that the programs lack courses such as “problems”, which would account for exploring issues with a certain degree of openness, more conducive to developing dissertations. As for the “specific”, the subcategory “public administration” encompasses it both in the public and private provision.

Overall status of postgraduate degrees As a whole, the level format shows that the “course” format prevails as a privileged space, with the highest percentage in the sublevel of doctorate. “Seminars” and 322

Postgraduate university training

“workshops” follow, but with a minor significance. “Practices” means only 1.1 percent of the total areas. The distribution in the public universities imposes a condition on the total set since the state sector is the main provider. The distribution of the “disciplinary” and “specific” categories shows a bias favoring disciplinary with a percentage greater than 70 percent, while the “specifics” courses represent 22 percent approximately. The remaining corresponds to the category “others” to a smaller extent. Regarding the disciplinary orientation of the study programs (relative load of the disciplines) and the distribution of the “specific” curricular courses, we can claim that political science, administration, and research methodology seem to be the dominant disciplines. The difference becomes apparent when comparing public and private universities. In the former, there is a noticeable presence of administration and political science (replacing law, compared to 2017’s survey), whereas, in the latter, political science and research methodology (instead of economics) have acquired greater significance. In both cases, research methodology bears the similar load. Second, in terms of the “specific”, the subcategory “public administration” prevails with respect to the “problems”. A remarkable difference between public and private universities constitutes the seemingly absence of “practices” in the latter, even though this course, in the public sector, is present in a smaller number in the set (see Table 20.6).

Conclusion This chapter attempts to explain the sustained growth of the academic provision at the postgraduate level in administration, management, and public policies from the 1990s to 2021. It has also revealed a trend towards homogenization (in its sublevels, specialist, master’s, and doctorate degrees) as a space for predominantly disciplinary training and knowledge transmission. It traces a change process featured by mimicking other cases within the same organizational field constituted by the universities providing study programs oriented to education across the public sector. Therefore, we could claim that we are in the presence of a kind of normative isomorphism given the dominant load of disciplinary content in the educational structure. When looking into the institutional set of provisions of postgraduate courses in the field, comparing the 2005 provision and the current one, we find a sustained majority in the names Public Administration and Management of Public Policies, although we found high heterogeneity. As for the duration, the specialist degree lasts between one and two years, the master’s degrees generally last two years, and the doctorate, four, due to both mimicking relationships and the regulations that university study programs need to comply with. The analysis of the objectives set by the different postgraduate courses reveals that the specialist degree prioritizes technical skills for work in the public sector. In the master’s degrees, both technical and academic orientations are equated, while in doctorates, the object becomes academic again. 323

Policy Analysis in Argentina Table 20.6: Format and content: total postgraduate degrees (public/​private)

Curricular courses Format

Courses

Private

Absolute % value

Absolute value

%

867

81.1

309

88.3

122.5

11.5

21

6

64.5

6

19

5.4

15

1

1

0.3

Disciplinary

769

71.7

268

74.9

Political Science

142

18.5

92

34.3 5.6

7

10

15

13.1

Seminars Workshops Practices Content

Public

Law Economics

81

10.5

35

1.5

History

0

0

4

1.9

Philosophy

5

1

5

Sociology Administration Exact sciences Multidisciplinary

23

3

6

2.2

196

25.5

33

12.3

3

0

0

0

107

13.9

26

9.7

Research methodology

135

17.6

52

19.4

Specific

237

22.1

71

19.8

Public administration

156

65.8

38

53.5

Problems

71

30

33

46.5

Others (practices)

10

4.2

0

0

Others

67

6.2

19

5.3

1,073

100

358

100

Total subjects

Hence, the postgraduate level continues to show similar biases throughout its sublevels. It offers a “content-​based” type of education dominated by disciplines and rarely articulated –​at least, from the curricular perspective –​with the areas of the public sector, that is, potential pursuant and “users” of the academic provision in this field. Reviewing the previous points, we can ask ourselves how the isomorphic process works at this educational level. First, following Campbell, it is an institutional set to which the idea of combination rather than adaptation better applies, as defined by the author. There is no addition of heterogenous or external elements to the educational process. Instead, there is a recombination of the already existing elements in other educational levels in higher education in the field. The pre-​eminence of the disciplinary content as a key educational element is a common point 324

Postgraduate university training

that, in the case of postgraduate degrees, slightly modifies the relative emphasis between administration and political science, which continue to be the most important ones. Second, following Di Maggio and Powell, the pre-​eminence of two disciplinary resolves the isomorphic type towards the category of normative isomorphism. In this case, it seems natural that the disciplinary element defines the type of isomorphism since, for historical reasons, the governance capacity of the higher education system in Argentina is limited. The enactment of Act 24521 on Higher Education in 1995 meant a greater regulatory capacity on the part of the central government over specific professional fields. However, it did not reach that of administration, management, and public policy. In fact, some educational programs, equivalent to postgraduate degrees, such as Government Administrators or Government Economist, were developed within the state structure and constituted only marginally as a reference for structuring the university provision. The isomorphic process giving rise to the makeup of this educational field was featured by combining elements of mimesis among universities. It meant the buildup of a network of professionals moving within the university system. This movement resulted in a sort of professional “normalization” of the provision structure in which some kind of knowledge becomes legitimizer of the different proposals. This issue partially explains the prevalence of political science and administration, with economics in third place, and the loss of relative load of law, although its relevant reference. Again, isomorphism continued showing an “endogenous” feature since the professional normalization that the field was objected to seems to be placed at the level of certain groups of lecturers and research teams, rather than at the level of operating professional groups working in different institutional areas in different governing levels. This homogeneity shows, besides, the loose ties between public sector and the specific offer of university training. Regarding the objectives stated in the curricula, technical education oriented to labor market insertion in the public sector predominates in the case of the specialist degree. On the other hand, doctorates are aimed at the academic field, while master’s degrees reveal a professional character. Overall, the ties between the characterization of degrees’ objectives and what is observed in the curricular analysis stands out. Nevertheless, the curricula lack a significant number of content subjects such as “practices”, which shows that the program is delivered with limited curricular areas for practice and ties with state management. This issue questions the degree of consistency of the knowledge consequently constructed. Thinking, analyzing, and studying the state and its apparatus without in situ ties jeopardizes the possibility of understanding the process dynamics that involve the technical and political aspects of public management. Furthermore, this loose tie between the academic degrees and the state could weaken not only the academic objectives that the degrees pursue but the ability to question the public sector. It 325

Policy Analysis in Argentina

prevents constructing a “dialogue” with social demands, the problems the efforts encounter attempting to meet them, and their internalization in the form of disciplinary content. Notes 1

2

3 4

5

Nineteen percent of the programs do not provide data on their teaching modality. University of San Andrés, San Pablo Tucumán, University Torcuato Di Tella, University of El Salvador, University of the CEMA; the National University of Catamarca, Cuyo, Entre Ríos, Jujuy, La Plata, La Pampa, el Litoral, Lanús, Arturo Jauretche, La Rioja, Lomas of Zamora, University of Buenos Aires, Cordoba, Jose C.Paz, Río Cuarto, Misiones, Mar del Plata, Quilmes, Río Negro, Rosario, Salta, San Martin (cojointly with Georgetown), Austral Chaco, San Juan, Santiago del Estero, Tres de Febrero, Tucumán, Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires, the Nordeste, the Noroeste, Sur, Tierra del Fuego, Antártida e Islas del Atlántico Norte. One case (1.2 percent) of the academic offer lacks data. The program termination was considered as it is seen in the web pages, independently, that the same university has designed other provisions within the same field of knowledge (at any level) or has simply changed the names. Higher education diplomas are present in only five provisions, that is, at Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales (FLACSO), Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires (UNICEN), Universidad Nacional de José Clemente Paz (UNPAZ) , and Universidad Nacional Arturo Jauretche (UNAJ), thus constraining generalization. However, the sublevel analysis reveals analogies with the rest of the sublevels since the “course” format prevails. The disciplinary orientation grounded on political science and “public administration” within “specifics” seems to be the primary topic. However, there are differences among sectors around the disciplinary load or emphasis in the “problem” courses.

Acknowledgements The authors would like to thank María Gabriela Di Gesú and Cynthia Edith Quinteros for their work on the English version of this chapter. References Campbell, J. (2009) ‘Surgimiento y transformación del análisis institucional’, in E. Ibarra Colado (ed), Estudios Institucionales: Caracterización, Perspectivas y Problemas. La crisis de las instituciones modernas, Barcelona/​Mexico City: Gedisa Editores, pp 3–​34. Cardozo, N.D. and Bulcourf, P. (2011 ‘El desarrollo de los estudios sobre administración y políticas públicas en la Argentina desde la democratización hasta nuestros días’, Ponencia presentada en el, Sexto Congreso Nacional de Administración Pública: Asociación Argentina de Estudios de Administración Pública, Resistencia Chaco. Argentina, July. Casimiro Lopes, A. and Macedo, E. (2011) Teorías de Currículo, Sao Paulo: Cortez Editora. Cols, E. and Feeney, S. (2004) Estudio: Análisis de Programas de Asignaturas del PCU y SCU, Informe final, Los Polvorines: Secretaría Académica/​Universidad Nacional de General Sarmiento.

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Di Maggio, P. and Powell, W. (1999) ‘El retorno a la jaula de hierro: el isomorfismo institucional y la racionalidad colectiva en los campos organizacionales’, in W. Powell and P. Di Maggio (eds), El nuevo institucionalismo en el análisis organizacional, Mexico City: Fondo de Cultura Económica, pp 104–​125. Fagundez, P. and Mansilla, G. (2005) ‘Mapa de formación actual en Administración Pública en universidades públicas y privadas en Argentina’, Ponencia presentada en el Tercer Congreso Argentino de Administración Pública, Asociación Argentina de Estudios de Administración Pública. San Miguel de Tucuman. Argentina, June. Follari, R. (2010) ‘El currículum y la doble lógica de inserción: lo universitario y las prácticas profesionales’, Revista Iberoamericana de Educación Superior, I(2): 20–​32. Goodson, I. (1995) Historia del currículum. La construcción social de las disciplinas escolares, Barcelona: Pomares Corredor. Hawley, A. (1968) ‘Human ecology’, in D.L. Sills (ed), International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, New York: Macmillan, pp 328–​337.

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21

Policy analysis at the universities: teaching comparative public administration with a Latin American perspective Oscar Oszlak

Introduction In this chapter I present a possible approach to teaching comparative public administration (hereafter, CPA), based on my own experience as a teacher of this subject in Latin American universities. Training on CPA is quite familiar in master’s programs of the region, in which one course of the curricula is usually devoted to the comparative study of public management and public policies. Teaching these courses admits multiple approaches, in terms of goals, contents, and methodologies. Personally, I start CPA courses by asking students about their expectations regarding what they hope to learn at the conclusion of the instruction. The answer is consistently the same: they would like to know how bureaucracies function in other countries, what are their differences with those at their home country, and other similar concerns. Whether or not this should be CPA’s object of knowledge is of course debatable. I anticipate my negative point of view, acknowledging, however, that students’ expectations are justifiable. In effect, these courses are generally taught at an advanced stage in the career, but the usual contents of the core courses of the curricula seldom adopt a comparative focus: the empirical material employed tends to deal with domestic experiences based on issues or phenomena of the country where the programs are offered, with a frequent use of case studies. Students feel quite eager to gain knowledge on how does the state apparatus operate elsewhere, especially because their training seeks to find out the most efficient and effective ways of managing public affairs. Hence, knowledge of other successful cases or experiences appears as a natural correlate of this curricular orientation. Similarly, the literature in this field reflects, in a way, this same type of concerns. There are dozens of books and countless articles which, under the title of CPA, tend to offer collections of cases –​often recommended as best practices –​which analyze supposedly successful experiences about how organizational problems have been tackled or solved in public management, demonstrating an insufficient effort to transcend casuistry and search for more general trends and patterns through truly comparative analysis. 328

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Other books, like Ferrel Heady’s (1998) classic one, focus their analyses on the discussion of the different schools of thought in the field of public administration. Hence, its comparative intention is limited to a narration of the historical evolution of currents and ideas that consider public administration as an object of study, rather than to making a truly comparative analysis of those approaches. They are even less dedicated to compare cases or experiences than to identify regularities or recognizable patterns that have a higher value of theoretical interpretation. This circumstance has created great dissatisfaction among specialists and a healthy reaction expressed in the search for explanations about the scarce progress produced in this field. I will contend that the literature on CPA shows three different trends: 1. an inclination to repeat, time and again, the story of the development of this field of study; 2. a coincidental opinion in stressing that CPA has not met the great promises that used to exhibit in its time of greatest splendor; and 3. a high consensus that partly attributes this failure to the fact that American comparativists have failed to overcome the ethnocentric focus of their research. If these premises are acceptable, it seems necessary to reflect about which approaches and contents are more relevant to make comparative analysis in public administration and to transmit its contributions to students in postgraduate education. Especially in Latin American academic institutions, where programs of study in this area are based on literature and case studies largely originated in American and, to a lesser extent, European academic centers. In the organization of this chapter, I will successively discuss the three premises just described in order to sustain my argument with evidence collected in the abundant, available literature. Then, I will propose that CPA courses should devote a module to the treatment of comparison in public administration as a method of learning and possibly of generalization of knowledge, given the scant attention given to the use of these tools in typical research methodology courses. Finally, I will present a series of work experiences in which I was involved during my professional career, to illustrate various forms to address research projects where comparisons were required. The implicit assumption is that teaching CPA is also, and above all, teaching to comparatively investigate public administration.

A repetitive story The story is well known, so that I will not repeat it at length. But a few paragraphs are deemed needed because I believe that the evolution of this field of study explains, to some extent, its relative failure. Right from the beginning, CPA became intrinsically tied to the issue of development and bureaucratic modernization in the Third World. As Gant (2006) has noticed, the term ‘development administration’ came into use in the 1950s to represent those 329

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aspects of public administration and those changes in public administration, which are needed to carry out policies, projects, and programs to improve social and economic conditions. The process of decolonization in Asia and Africa, following the end of World War II, created high expectations about a rapid improvement in social and economic conditions in the newly independent countries. Governments were put under great pressure to accelerate development, giving rise to the need of building administrative capacities for public policy design and implementation. The end of World War II was a turning point. The map of the world had changed drastically. Rostow forecasted that the road towards economic development had to proceed through stages, following the well-​known pattern that the most advanced countries had experienced before. The route towards progress required modernizing structures and institutions. On the other hand, the war had generated a greater exposition of American scholars to the administrative systems of Europe and Asia. There was an increasing interest in learning how governments function in other places. There was a world to discover, much larger in area and population than the better-​known North-​ Occidental world. Mimetism, that is, the disposition to learn and copy things that work, has always been a concern of both developing and developed countries. Latin America partly adopted the American constitution, the French civil code, and the British commercial practices. The new Japanese samurais, turned into ministers of modernization, learned public management from the US. Americans became interested in European institutions like the Ombudsman or the public enterprises. The need for this mutual process of learning had already been proposed in 1887 by Woodrow Wilson, in his famous essay on the “Study of administration”, observing that comparative studies were necessary to see whether administrative processes in the US were relevant or applicable to other countries, or to see whether any administrative institution or practices can be transplanted from other countries to the US administration (Wilson, 1887). On the other hand, the initiatives of the American government for postwar reconstruction in Europe, as well as the policies to curb communist expansion, adopted during the Cold War, led to a significant expansion of training and research technical assistance activities in developing countries (Schaffer, 1978, pp 181–​185; Nef and Dwivedi, 1981, p 42). The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) technical missions, staffed by experts trained in the tradition of Western central countries, became one the key instruments of this policy.1 Meanwhile, political science experienced dramatic developments in view of the enormous interest in studying politics from a comparative standpoint. The important books published in the late 1950s and early 1960s reflected the influence of Talcott Parsons and his general systems theory. Macro approaches to the study of politics, like structural functionalism, became pre-​eminent paradigms in political science, and authors like Almond, Coleman, Verba and others paved 330

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the way of comparative political analysis. Their contributions had an enormous influence upon the studies of bureaucracies around the world by members of the Comparative Administration Group (CAG). To compare meant going to another country to verify how the institutions function and, based on such analysis, build models or theories that demonstrate that the world does not work according to the North-​Western model, as there are other realities where governance is set to different modes. Some authors, such as Robert Dahl, Dwight Waldo, and Herbert Simon, questioned the alleged universality of American public administration. In turn, the contextual relevancy in the comparison of public administrations was observed by Wallace Sayre and Herbert Kaufman. It is this academic climate, and the practical need of finding solutions to the problems of institutional strengthening of governments in the Third World, that created favorable conditions for Fred Riggs and his colleagues at the CAG to develop their frameworks based on a contextual or ecological perspective and a structural-​functionalist approach. In this way, the issue of development and the development of methods and techniques of comparison were constituted as twin fields of the study of public administration, both theoretical and practically (Farazmand, 1996). The rise in 1962 of the CAG, and its rapid diffusion, gave decisive impetus to the comparative analysis of public bureaucracies. Under the leadership of Fred Riggs, this movement had its period of greatest splendor over the following decade and began to decline in the 1970s until it practically disappeared. One of the reasons that supposedly explains the decline of the CAG is that the Ford Foundation, the main source of funding for scholars enrolled in this movement, came to the conclusion that their research was inspired by a more theoretical than applied motivation, as their work sought to create new analytical categories and broad interpretations about public management in the Third World, rather than searching for solutions to the vexing problems of underdevelopment in those countries –​the main target of the Foundation grants. Hence, the CAG declined during the 1970s. The oil crisis at the beginning of this decade and the Watergate scandal contributed to reduce funding for these kinds of studies, while agencies and foundations were shifting their priorities.

Comparative public administration under critique The substance and orientations of comparative research in public administration have been subject to criticism by different authors. Jreisat (2005) contends that CPA, in method and in content, has not successfully integrated with the main field of public administration, to the detriment of both. With globalization and changes in information technology, the current separation impairs public administration education. This assessment is based on a literature review and an appraisal of the contributions of comparative scholarship. For others, it has been confused with the field of development administration. In addition, CPA has not been able to rid itself of its original biases, as a field actually born with the 331

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intention to transcend the parochial frames and American ethnocentrism. But in this attempt, development theory scholars assumed incorrectly that progress would be linear with societies aiming towards a “takeoff” stage, after which development would be self-​sustaining. According to Peters (1994), the decline experienced by the CPA since the 1980s had its sequel in the successive decades, as a result of the rise of neoliberalism and its impact upon the processes of state reform, leading to the marginalization, if not total replacement, of the tradition of comparative research. In his view, this field is still disjointed, incoherent, and, therefore, uncertain.2 This trend had an expected impact upon the teaching of CPA. Looking at the earlier attempts to broaden the scope of this specialized teaching, van Wart and Cayer (1990, p 238) observed that “the major criticisms were that the field was too involved in the quest for a comprehensive paradigm or metatheory, that it was not empirical enough, and that it was too self-​absorbed in academic concerns and insufficiently relevant”. The same authors, reviewing the evidence presented in the leading journals for a change of attitude and approach towards the comparative context, observed the following features: [They] include a significant practitioner component, a substantial orientation toward policy recommendations, a relative paucity of theory-​testing studies, wide and mature coverage of a range of studies, and methodological studies that seem slightly better than in the past, but still far from ideal. The field as a whole, however, lacks features that give it clear identity (for example, state-​of-​the-​art critiques, methodological pieces, and broader, middle-​range theorizing), and thus the overall status of comparative public administration remains ambiguous. (van Wart and Cayer, 1990, p 238) Another issue closely related to the startling pedagogical indifference to comparative and international material in the approved core of degree programs, is the issue of tenure and promotion. A study conducted in the 1980s indicated that since this material received no official recognition in accreditation or core course construction, it turned out to be peripheral.

Cultural ethnocentricity of comparative public administration Robert A. Dahl (1947) was probably the first scholar to denounce the futility of trying to create a science of public administration through the formulation of universal laws. Laws or putative laws which would allegedly be “stripped of normative value, of the distorsions caused by the incorrigible individual psyche, and of the presumably irrelevant effects of the cultural environment” (Dahl, 1974: p 1). Although Dahl was reacting against the supposedly universal validity of the “principles” sustained by the Scientific Administration school, his critique could also be applied to the similar attempt by the comparative administration 332

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movement at finding such universal laws devoid of moral and political ends and independent of the cultural and social setting. However, scholars came to agree on the need to avoid imposing concepts “made in America” to other realities. They noticed that in any comparative study, there was a tendency to conceptualize in terms of their national or personal experiences. Not surprisingly, they found that most CPA analyses were ethnocentric in the sense that their hypotheses were not representative of other contexts. Heady stated the matter this way: “parochialism is a persistent dominant feature of American public administration, evidenced in the curricula of institutions of higher education and in the conduct of public administration by practicing professionals” (Heady, 1987, p 480). In turn, Baker rightly observed that public administration and, as a matter of fact, all systems of government are comparative in nature. The mistake lies in equating the term “comparative” to “foreign” or “elsewhere”. The need to decolonize CPA thinking, empirically and conceptually, began to be felt as a way to understand the American public administration itself. To learn what happens in other polities appeared as a sine qua non condition to understand what happens at home, for it provides a mirror against which comparison makes sense. Aberbach and Rockman (1988) put it this way, “the U.S. administrative system is best understood in a comparative context. … We not only understand our own systems better when we compare, we gain a better understanding of the methods, concepts, and theories we employ”. As the founding father of CAG confessed, “we were never able to focus directly on American public administration in a comparative perspective”.3 Similarly, Baker (1994) warns that as a subject, public administration has long had a parochial cast, but even the most avowed parochialist must be aware of some fairly radical forces at work in the local parish. The political history of the US is one of exceptionalism, a deep suspicion of international entanglements and organizations (unless there was a veto possibility involved), periodic retreats into isolation, and an increasingly pervasive ignorance of geography. How are these trends observed from a Latin American perspective? First, it should be recognized that, as it has occurred in other fields of scientific and technological knowledge, systematic research on public administration has not been a priority in this region, at least insofar as its academic production is compared with that in other latitudes. After all, most university programs in this field are nurtured to a large extent by bibliography originated in “North-​ Occidental” academic centers, and much of these materials have been found useful to compensate for the shortage of Latin American production. On the other hand, however, this body of literature has traditionally been considered by many scholars as a vehicle of cultural colonialism and a manifestation of dependency. Their models and interpretations have been criticized as inappropriate for interpreting the contextual and historical specificity of public bureaucracies of the region. But I suspect that there still exists a subtle and not sufficiently clarified relationship between scientific or technological progress in a given field of 333

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knowledge and its cultural impact upon the social reality in which that knowledge has originated. Probably this is due to the fact that the cultural assumptions of a given technology must be congruent with the technological premises of a culture. This dialogue between science, technology, and culture cannot be improvised. It is usually the gradual and systematic result of an interactive and articulated process between reflection and action. Research and technological development create the raw material and the instruments for action. Action, in turn, retrofits the creative process by promoting successive spirals of a virtuous circle that, ultimately, expresses the mutual necessity of an action based on reflection and a reflection inspired in reality. Specialized teaching constitutes one of the fundamental vehicles for transmitting its contribution to the understanding of reality.

Teaching how to compare Perhaps one of the problems of CPA is the adjective used to name the field, which contributed to “limit” it to comparisons between countries. Possibly, what is needed is to use comparative approaches to strip the study of public administration of its parochial bias. Training in public administration with a comparative orientation should not be limited to the contents of a “course” in CPA. Comparison must be a constitutive part of the entire curriculum. Graduates of a training program in this field must acquire a comparative vision about the processes of institution-​ building, formulation, and implementation of public policies, organizational models, or strategies for state reform in their own countries. The pedagogical aim is not to turn them into experts in the public administration of Portugal, Chile, or Mongolia. Perhaps it is more convenient to learn about a particular policy, process, or experience that has taken place in a given country, with the exclusive purpose to understand the conditions of its success or failure, without trying to uncritically transplant or adapt it. Hardly can a student, or a teacher for that matter, “understand” cause–​effect relationships explaining a certain process or outcome, without a personal involvement in the particular social and cultural milieu; at least without having reached a higher level of training (and, probably a deeper exposure), than those a typical master’s program in this field may offer. This does not mean that other concepts, analytical frameworks, or methodologies are needed to interpret a phenomenon of public administration in a different national context; probably, other data, variables, and hypothesis may be needed. After all, the secret that explains why something works (or not) may rest upon the very idiosyncrasies or culture of a people. And that hardly can be copied. Exotic plants are not easily transplantable: certain conditions of temperature, humidity, and soil may be required for them to grow in a different terrain. In other words, as several authors have pointed out, the main value of comparative study is to understand ourselves. Ultimately, to compare in public administration does not imply the pursuit of universal explanations or the construction of value-​free models of interpretation. 334

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It is neither a search for recipes that work, nor is comparative the task of piling up cases without an effort to establish what makes them similar or different. It is an analytical, not merely a descriptive, exercise which tries to explain rather than mumbling about a phenomenon. The common question of all work with a comparative intention should be what is it that you want to compare, which amounts to say, what is it that you want to know? To this end, it is necessary to teach to think, to tackle research with this intention, but above all, teach to reason about the meaning of the comparison itself. In general, research methodology courses, at least in Latin America, do not offer adequate training on the various forms of comparing. Even less so on specialized topics as CPA. In part, the problem is due to the fact that those who dictate methodology courses do not work in the field of public administration. The same happens with the CPA courses themselves and with the comparative contents of other courses in the program curriculum. It is rather unusual that professors in this field have experience in consulting for the public sector and, therefore, their knowledge of the actual functioning of public administration tends to be meager. Finally, the very fact that in Latin America, the CPA curricula are designed mainly on the basis of the literature that suffers from the biases outlined earlier, makes education in this field even less relevant. My purpose in this chapter is to engage in a dialogue with colleagues from America and Europe about alternative ways of teaching CPA. I do not intend to discredit the classical methods of teaching these courses nor hope to radically alter its contents. My only aspiration is that teaching CPA ceases to be, exclusively, a story about the evolution of the schools and approaches that have marked the history of this field; an analysis of “foreign” cases without a real comparative intent; or the exercise of explaining analytical frameworks and models of alleged universal application. Many years ago, I had the opportunity to participate in a research project in which the comparative method was used, precisely, for the purposes of finding generalizable answers to various research questions on public administration capable of transcending geographical boundaries and historical time.4 According to Ilchman (1984), five questions have been the central concern of scholars involved in the study of comparative administration and although other questions may come to mind, they could –​according to the author –​also be incorporated into some of the proposed ones: 1. What accounts for the variable political power of public organizations between and within political units? 2. What explains the variable productivity of public organizations between and within political units? 3. How can the variable systems of authority and organizational forms existing between and within public organizations and among political units be explained? 4. What explains the variable role congruence between public officials? 335

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5. What explains the maintenance and adaptation of public organizations to its environment, and its contribution to the maintenance and adaptation of the broader system? These questions formed a matrix in which the dependent variable of a given question could be used (except in the fifth question) as a source of variance of another question. According to the author, this set of questions would tackle and encompass the vast majority of subjects susceptible of comparative analysis in public administration. In his scheme, the variables implicit in the five questions may become independent or dependent, according to the case considered, thus closing an analytical scheme presumably capable of formulating a series of consequential propositions practically universal in scope, of the type “If A → B”, that is, the variance of any of the variables can be explained by any of the others. For instance, the greater the power of a bureaucracy, the smaller its productivity. The original intention of this conceptual framework was to carry out a research project aimed at finding some general laws or typical patterns of relationship among the five variables, irrespective of historical or contextual considerations which, at best, could function as intervening variables. With these assurances, Ilchman, associated with Todd La Porte, started a study with a team of research assistants who conducted a thorough reading of all kinds of books and articles which, without foreknowledge, and judging by their titles and their contents, could contain, implicitly, theoretical propositions that linked any pairs of the five variables. Such propositions had to be inferred through the reading and analysis of these various texts. Analysis of the information obtained in this way would consist in making systematic comparisons among cases, situations, or processes in which consequential propositions of the same nature (for example, the more decentralization as a form of organization, the less accountability as a pattern of behavior) had been developed, in order to identify possible similar patterns of relationship and thus reach generalizations with a greater scope and level of abstraction.5 The book never saw the light. This was probably due to the fact that the methodological approach, however imaginative it may have been, was unable to link the inferences made from such heterogeneous material or, even less so, to identify generalized patterns. From a broader perspective, I would argue that comparative analysis cannot progress (if theoretical generalization means progress) using this type of approach.

Towards broader approaches to comparative public administration To compare in public administration is not limited to learn about the organization and functioning of other bureaucracies. It encompasses many other aspects of the internal dynamics of the state organizations, as well as its links with civil society, the market, and the international domain. In my personal experience, I have found that comparison, in public administration, can be fruitfully addressed from at least four different perspectives, analyzing: 336

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1. what factors or circumstances converged to explain processes of state formation and institution building which followed different historical patterns; 2. what variables explained the process of formulation and implementation of public policies, the adoption of alternative courses of action in the face of similar social problems; the achievement of different outputs, impacts, and outcomes; or the degree of success or failure reached by a project or an organization, among other relevant questions; 3. what organizational arrangements, systems of authority, institutional formats, frameworks, resource management models, or administrative behavior patterns may explain, comparatively, higher levels of efficiency, effectiveness, or performance; and 4. what strategies of state reform are tried by various governments to produce substantial changes in the role of their institutions, in the scope of their intervention, in their organizational structures, or in their systems and management processes. We can easily see that this multiple perspective largely goes beyond the usual approaches of comparative statics. The first set of questions refers to the processes of formation of state bureaucracies and institutional construction in general. The second observes governmental organizations in action, through the processes of solving social issues included in the state’s agenda (Oszlak and O’Donnell, 1976). The third one examines the organization of bureaucracy through the study of its structures and processes. And the fourth one focuses on the analysis of strategies and mechanisms for transforming the institutional apparatus of the state. Thus, these approaches recreate a dynamics which, in a way, reproduces the “life cycle” of public administration: birth, structuring, operating, and reform. Based on my experience with these various kinds of studies, the remainder of this chapter will be devoted to an examination of several research projects in which I was personally involved. The purpose is to highlight the usually difficult decisions that researchers and consultants must confront when dealing with cases in which a comparative approach is required. I strongly believe that an account of the intricacies and dilemmas that so often must be faced in this type of projects constitutes a useful source of knowledge for teaching courses on CPA.

State formation and institution-​building As a first illustration, let us consider a possible strategy to address the comparative, historical study of processes of state formation. Several compilations collect studies on this subject conducted in different national contexts, like the well-​ known book by Charles Tilly (1975) on the process of state formation in Europe. Usually, editors introduce a chapter trying to compare the different cases, but in general the result is not truly comparative.6 Many research techniques may be used to study processes of state formation. For example, as I did in my research on the formation of the Argentine state (Oszlak, 1982), through the reconstruction of personnel censuses and statistical series of 337

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budget executions, during a critical historical period. Estimates were based on the figures contained in the annual memoirs of the Argentine Finance Ministry.7 It was interesting to compare annual budgetary expenses with the figures voted by Congress for any given period, to establish the degree in which executions departed from the anticipated budget calculations. Analyzing the differences between the approved budget for particular items of expenses and those actually spent, an “index of unpredictability” could be built showing very significant variations according to the years considered. But an analysis of these differences, in terms of the dichotomy “expenses for law and order” and “expenses for social and economic progress”, showed that between 1862 and 1880 –​a period of wars and uprisings of local caudillos against the national government –​spending for “order” largely exceeded budget forecasts, while the trend was totally reversed in the following decade, when spending on “progress” was virtually unforeseeable, exceeding several times the approved budget. Statistics helped to confirm the assumptions made regarding the historical evolution of the profile and the role of the Argentine national state. The use of this type of research techniques as part of CPA course materials may prove a valuable instrument to stimulate the interest of students in comparative analysis and in the use of techniques that help reveal historical trends at a higher level of abstraction. But other questions could also be formulated. For example, what factors explain the fact that, even though most Latin American nations were born within a very short period of the 19th century, after waging a common struggle for independence, their historical trajectories followed quite different courses. Probably the answers to the following set of questions may explain, to a greater or lesser extent, these different patterns of historical development. What is the relationship, for example, between the historical moment at which national independence is achieved and the relative development reached by the capitalist system? It was not the same for a new nation to gain political sovereignty at the beginning of the 19th century, as was the case with almost all Latin American countries, than to achieve it after World War II, as was the case with the majority of African countries. The same applies to the experiences of European countries born as nations during the second half of the 19th century (Germany, Italy) as compared to those other older ones (England, Belgium, Netherlands) in which capitalism was developed earlier. The density and distribution of the population at the time of independence may be another important variable to explain differences in terms of availability of labor force for the development of capitalist relations or the emergence of production and consumption markets within the national territory. In much of Latin America, independence took place in almost unpopulated countries and a geographical area comparatively much larger than the average European countries. The colonial legacy could be explored as another relevant variable to explain their differential impact on the culture and institutions of the new nations after independence. For example, the inertial effects of the British tradition on the bureaucratic organization of India were probably much stronger than those of 338

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Spanish dominance over, for example, the Philippines. It is likely that the remains of the colonial organization were much higher the longer the period of imperial dominance. Thus, for example, it could be hypothesized that the impact of colonial organization in Latin America was more important in those countries where the viceroyalties were created earlier, as is the case with Mexico, New Granada (Colombia), and Peru, than in the Río de la Plata (Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay), where the viceroyalty was short-​lived. On the other hand, there were nations whose economic activity benefited from the differential impact of immigration, which supplied the labor force required by emerging capitalist systems rapidly integrated to European markets. In addition, European immigrants brought with them their cultural and ideological background and their associational tradition, which had a very significant weight in the development of political parties and trade unions. In turn, this type of immigration could certainly have had decisive consequences on the working-​ class struggles and on the process of formulation and implementation of labor and social policies. Cardoso and Faletto (1969) have identified as another relevant variable for responding to our initial question, the extent to which new nations’ main exported commodities were produced by enclaves dominated by foreign capital, or, on the contrary, ownership of the land and the factors of production were in the hands of, or were controlled by, a local bourgeoisie. Therefore, the conditions that configured production and distribution markets, and the possibilities of appropriation and socialization of the economic surplus, had –​according to these authors –​a very different weight in the process of economic development and in the formation and consolidation of a local bourgeoisie. Finally, to understand the varied paths followed by the countries of the region after independence, we may consider the relative weight of ethnic, linguistic, and religious factors. These, in each national experience, favored or hampered the social integration process; triggered struggles in defense of ancestral rights (such as those of indigenous peoples); or explain variable degrees of secularization due, for example, to the different impact of the Catholic Church and its traditions on local institutions and culture. To illustrate this point, the influence of the Church upon education differed strongly in Mexico, Costa Rica, and Uruguay. The preceding hypotheses and propositions do not arise from a serious research on the processes of state formation in Latin America. Simply, they were suggested as an illustration of the type of questions that a course on CPA may raise on this issue, as a way of awakening in students concern with questions relevant to the design of a comparative research project.

Comparing public policies The comparative analysis of public policies, on the other hand, should not be reduced to comparisons of similar policies, as, for example, social security systems applied in different countries. Hirschman (1968) has made an excellent 339

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comparative analysis of state policies in Latin America with regard to three totally different issues: the Chilean inflation, the Colombian agrarian reform, and the fight against the drought in North-​Eastern Brazil. A common element to all three cases is the fact that the analyses encompasses very lengthy periods, along which these issues gave rise to different technical solutions and the creation of highly heterogeneous institutions to solve them. What Hirschman actually tries in that study, and does so brilliantly in a comparative chapter, is to identify which state management styles can be identified along those processes and to what extent it is possible to generalize a pattern of decision-​making, characteristic of Latin American governments. Hence, it was not a matter of analyzing how a similar problem is solved in different contexts, but to detect modes of reasoning for addressing and trying to solve public policy problems. Let me now provide a few illustrations on possible approaches to compare organizational performance. In a study conducted in 1967, I compared the historical behavior of the cost of tax collection over a century, by the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS). A rustic indicator, resulting from dividing the annual budget of this agency by the total revenue obtained during the same period, provided a time series showing that between 1865 and 1965, the cost to raise $100 had been reduced from $3.92 to $0.45. However, the series showed strong variations throughout the period, a true tendentially downward zigzag. The question, which had in fact inspired the research, was: what factors explain variations in the efficiency of the IRS over time? Of course, the reconstruction of the historical series only provided empirical evidence of changes, but not the explanation of their causes. A parallel investigation was required to find out the multiple transformations that occurred during this extensive period, such as legislative changes (for example, creation of the income tax); innovations in collection techniques (for example, introduction of tax withholding at the source of income); significant contextual events (for example, the two world wars, the great depression of 1929); the developments in computerized data processing; the assumption of new roles by the IRS (for example, production of statistics, international technical assistance) and a content analysis of Congressional hearings in which the Commissioner of Internal Revenue tried to justify his budgetary estimates before the legislators. A systematic comparison of the variations in the annual cost-​revenue index, in the light of those events and institutional transformations, provided a quite satisfactory explanation of the historical dynamics that so dramatically reduced the costs of collection. At the same time, the analysis helped explaining why, given the fundamental impact of the use of computers in the processes of collection, the cost-​revenue index remained relatively stable in the last years of the series and even may explain why the “floor” already reached in 1945 has been maintained practically unchanged until the present. From a didactic point of view, the exposition of this case study begins with a display of the historical series, showing the substantial reduction in the costs of revenue collection over the 100-​year period. Then, students are asked to analyze 340

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the shape of the curve, its peaks and valleys, and its final tendency to stabilize. At this point, they receive a written summary of the events and institutional changes during the period, for them to formulate hypotheses about the relationship between the mass of information received and the shape of the cost-​revenue curve. Small working groups may be formed in order to arrive at separate reports. The activity culminates with a collective discussion, in which the teacher provides his detailed knowledge of the case, filling the gaps that the students’ reports may have failed to consider.

Comparing organizational structures The comparative analysis of bureaucratic organizations admits numerous objects of study, as well as a multiplicity of approaches. A common research topic is the comparative examination of civil service systems, a subject that also lends itself to different approaches. A couple of cases may illustrate two different research strategies to study this subject. In the first case, I was part of a research team, the “Comparative Civil Service Systems Research Consortium”, based at Indiana University, which carried out studies on civil service systems in various countries and several continents, within a common framework developed by the program. To make it truly comparative, the research directors requested the contributing authors to employ a detailed protocol,8 in which the subject index was minutely specified, indicating the topics that each case should contain, and even the maximum extension to be devoted to each theme, so as to standardize the extension of every chapter. In this way the project directors expected that the comparative analysis of the different cases would be facilitated, given that all of them had to organize their analysis using the same script. As a matter of fact, they did not even have to undertake this job since, together with the protocol, the authors were instructed to establish to what extent did their studies fit any of the civil service types described in the typologies developed either by Ferrel Heady or Henry Morgan. In other words, once the authors finished the analysis of their case studies, they had to place them in the cells of Heady’s matrix or in Morgan’s conceptual map, implicitly considering both models as genuine theoretical paradigms. To tell the truth, the exercise constituted a conceptual and methodological nonsense, and a good example of the fallacies which may be incurred when attempting to exert such a strict control of a process of comparative research.9 In particular, the condition imposed on authors not only to observe a strict protocol, but also to find out in which cells of predefined models they had to locate their respective cases. Table 21.1 and Figures 21.2–​21.3 synthesize the models proposed by Heady and Morgan. Heady’s configuration is an important attempt at theory building, but the resulting analytic framework raises a number of doubts. One relates to a problem of covariance: several variables have a high probability of appearing in the same configuration because they may be mutually determining or strongly correlated. 341

Policy Analysis in Argentina Table 21.1: Configuration of civil service systems in Ferrel Heady Variables

Ruler trustworthy

Party controlled

Policy receptive

Collaborative

Relation to political regime

Ruler responsive

Single party or majority party responsive

Majority party responsive

Military responsive

Socioeconomic context

Traditional

Corporatist or planned centrally

Pluralist competitive or mixed

Corporatist or planned centrally

Focus for personnel management

Chief executive or ministry-​by-​ ministry

Chief executive Independent or ministry-​by-​ agency or divided ministry

Chief executive or ministry-​by-​ ministry

Qualification requirements

Patrimony

Party loyalty or party patronage

Professional performance

Bureaucratic determination

Sense of mission

Compliance or guidance

Compliance or cooperation

Policy or constitutional responsiveness

Cooperation or guidance

Examples

Saudi Arabia

China

France

South Korea

Iran

Cuba

Great Britain

Indonesia

Brunei

Egypt

United States

Ghana

For example, in a democratic system (or in a polyarchy) there will probably be a majority party; the sociopolitical context will obviously be competitive; and civil servants will be responsive and will observe the constitution or the policies enforced. These features simply characterize a democratic system, just as the other configurations feature other political regimes. To substantiate this point it may be observed that the only descriptive elements which are strictly applicable to the civil service (as opposed to its overall context) –​ such as “focus for personnel management” or “sense of mission” –​are never tied to a unique pattern; the different values that these variables may present suggest that other dimensions, such as existing technological or cultural patterns, may be playing a more determining role upon the observed phenomenon than those related to the nature of the political regime –​the obvious dominant referent in all configurations. Another weakness of this approach is that most of the topics addressed by the protocol –​internal labor market, representativeness, politicization, public opinion, reform, and diffusion –​were not recalled as variables in the proposed configuration analysis. One would expect that after examining the various features of a CSS in a given case, these same elements would fall into a particular pattern that could then be compared with other patterns or fit into more encompassing models. Instead, Heady and Morgan choose other dimensions or parameters, which may, of course, be valid as academic exercises, but not for the holistic characterization suggested by the protocol. 342

Policy analysis at the universities Figure 21.1: State’s configurations of Philip Morgan

Figure 21.2: Configurations of Philip Morgan according to professionalism and responsiveness

I would also observe that Heady’s configurations do not belong to the same level of analysis. To call a configuration “party controlled” implies that an external agent (let us say, a single or widely dominant political party) has absolute control upon the organization and functioning of the civil service, whereas to say “collaborative” alludes to a kind of attitude or behavior of civil 343

Policy Analysis in Argentina Figure 21.3: Configurations of Philip Morgan according to type of state

servants with regard to their masters. In the first case, the defining element of the configuration is external to the civil service; in the second one, it is an attribute of the civil service itself. But even more questionable is the attempt to embrace, as a configuration, the constitutive features of a complex social system (that is, its political system, its socioeconomic characteristics or a large portion of its institutional apparatus and internal dynamics) with reference to a single attribute (“collaborative”, “policy receptive”), no matter how diffused it may be. Something similar occurs with Morgan’s configurations –​which the author prefers to call “fields” –​resulting from the overlapping of different analytic dimensions and forming a sort of map.10 The fields do not seem to be mutually exclusive or adequately descriptive of the reality they intend to characterize, either in their denomination, level of analysis chosen, or historical connotation. As in the case of Heady’s configurations, they incur the same type of simplification as they attempt to capture in an exhaustive way, and presumably through universal categories, the diversity of configurations that may be found in reality. For instance, patrimonialism could well be associated with absolutism; positivism and pragmatism may not fall within opposing fields. Another subject deserving a more careful examination is the fact that in both, the configurations and the fields, a series of attributes of the civil service are inferred (that is, recruitment and compensation systems) without having been considered either in Heady’s variables or in Morgan’s parameters. This conceptual “elasticity” does not appear to be justified. When one finally arrives at his four quadrants, Morgan leaves us with an unfinished business: the fifth residual category, “to be explored further”, which ultimately indicates that the variety may be much greater (the central point in the map would synthesize all possible options) and, above all, that the quadrants tend to describe the extreme or “pure” cases, rather than those currently found in reality. 344

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In my opinion, however, some of the parameters and polar situations chosen may be scarcely relevant or highly questionable, as in the case of pro-​versus anti-​state feelings, since state, as a category, was almost absent in the Anglo-​ Saxon literature and still has little meaning at the social level, at least in the US. Another example is the level of institutionalization of the nation-​state. The US, highly ranked under this parameter, is not a good example of a fully integrated nation-​state and there are authors who consider the US as an extreme case of a country that has never become a true nation-​state. The level of independence of the civil service is a parameter that has an obvious relationship with the characteristics of the political regime (as is also the case in Heady’s configuration). And with respect to the degree of tension between process and outcome, it is debatable to place the United States as a clear example of a system emphasizing process over outcomes. If not for anything else, the US has been quite active in overcoming this tension by promoting a new paradigm of state reform (and hence, of civil service reform) that emphasizes the need to move from process to output in public management. I use this case in my CPA courses as an educational material to highlight errors and fallacies that may be incurred when one intends to design a comparative research project. The lesson extracted is that to pigeonhole cases within the conceptual framework may force reality to conveniently fit it into the proposed model. In another case on the same subject, I was responsible for a comparative research on the existing civil service systems in countries of Latin America and the Caribbean (Oszlak, 2002). The study, commissioned by the Inter-​American Development Bank (IDB), was based on a very comprehensive questionnaire aimed at gathering data about the different aspects covered by a civil service system. Questionnaires were sent to a total of 26 countries, and 19 answers were obtained. As in the previous case, the problem of comparison lay in the possibility of obtaining uniform data, the only way to gain control over the analyzed variables that could become the subject to comparison. Therefore, I decided to design a closed questionnaire, with multiple options for the various components of a Civil Service System, including the possibility of adding, if necessary, open answers with comments or additional clarifications. Since the study was carried out just at the beginning of this century, it was considered convenient to retrieve information on the processes of state reform that had taken place in almost all countries of the region during the 1990s. The questionnaire included, among others, questions regarding the magnitude and composition of the civil service, their degree of unity or fragmentation, the nature of the existing legal systems, the modalities of management of organizational structures and posts, the management of human resources, including recruitment, hiring, and stability of employment, the number of political appointees, the degree of unremovability of the public servants, their promotion systems, horizontal mobility schemes, systems of personnel evaluation and training, labor conditions, and the structure and composition of salaries. 345

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With regard to the components of the civil service systems, heads of the agencies in charge of the subject in each country were asked about the existing policies and mechanisms on each of these mentioned themes. But instead of posing open-​ended questions requiring long answers that, almost certainly, would discourage respondents, they were faced with multiple-​choice questions, as outlined in the following. Human resource administration Human resource management covers the set of activities that govern the relations between the public administration and its staff during the careers of public employees. Therefore, it includes selection and entry, development, promotion, training, remuneration, retirement, rights, and duties. It is generally formalized in statutes or personnel systems, complemented by a series of rules and regulations that rank lower in legal category. This part of the questionnaire (Table 21.2) also highlights the regimes applicable to political appointees or confidential employees, owing to their importance in some countries and to the ‘politicization’ this can entail, and to the impact on team continuity and public policies.    

General profile of public servants 1. What is the average age and distribution by age group of public servants on each level of government? Table 21.2: Age of public servants according to level of government Group

National government

Provincial/​state government

Under 20 21–​35 36–​50 50–​65 Over 65 Total

Comments:  

(…) 346

Municipal government

Total

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Statistical and quantitative aspects The magnitude and distribution of public personnel allows, among other things, to compare the relative size of the public sector in the various jurisdictions in which the public administration is divided within the country, as well as its relationship with the economically active population. Besides obtaining these data, this first section of the questionnaire attempts to know the distribution of personnel by sectors or areas of state activity, as an estimated indicator of the role of the state vis-​à-​vis society.    

Q11. What is the average permanence of political appointees in their positions (including cabinet officials, advisors, general directors, department chiefs, and so on). In case there are studies on the subject, please indicate in ‘Observations’ the source on which the data are based. Otherwise, provide your opinion based on other judgments (that is, experience, third party judgments, public opinion), adding any clarification in Observations: Less than 1  year Between 1   and 2 years More than   2 years Observations:

Q12. Indicate the systems used in your country for contracting personnel not included in the administrative career, that is, those agents that lack the possibility to acquire stability in employment. Also, indicate how the total of public employees is distributed among the various systems of contracting personnel: % daily laborers % contracted according to the legislation of the private sector % contracted for a fixed term with a non-​permanent status % contracted through contracts with international organizations

In other words, designing the questionnaires required previous knowledge of how the different career systems function in the real world. On the basis of typologies and classifications thereof, the questionnaires asked respondents to indicate the applicable choice, given the particular characteristics of their own systems. This previous knowledge of policies, models or systems which are possibly applied to every component of a Civil Service System, allowed respondents to locate 347

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their particular case within the potential universe, leaving open the possibility to describe a different one not considered in this universe or to specify the response through clarifications or ad-​hoc explanations. This procedure greatly reduced the effort to fill out a questionnaire of more than 100 questions and facilitated the subsequent comparative analysis of responses, since the options alluded to very precise descriptions of variants of each policy, system, or procedure. The result of this comparative research was a fairly comprehensive diagnosis of the organization and functioning of Civil Service Systems of the region, as well as of their institutional capacity deficit. Comparisons among systems provided, for the first time, a clear picture of the variety of existing situations with regard to relevant variables, such as the proportion of public personnel vis-​à-​vis the economically active population, the rate of personnel turnover, their distribution in terms of sex, age, educational level, and years of service. Also, it was possible to find out the most common systems used for the incorporation and selection of personnel, the evaluation of their performance, the composition of their salaries, the methods of education and training, among others. Particular attention was given to the existence and size of personnel working under special systems, like “critical posts”, political appointments, and the like. Similarly, it was possible to assess the gap between formal legislation and effective implementation of the Civil Service System in the different countries. This type of study is quite representative of the kind of knowledge a researcher or a high level civil servant should receive during his/​her university training, in order to produce diagnoses or make decisions related to the management support systems of a bureaucratic organization, as is the case for a considerable proportion of students in a CPA course.

Comparing organizational performance Sometimes, the comparison may include internal processes of a given public agency as well as its relations with the relevant environment. Its level of performance may be explained both by causes related to the internal organizational dynamics and to contextual variables. An interesting case arose when the president of a National Institute of Industrial Technology (INTI) wanted to determine what were the explanatory factors of the success or failure of the research centers for technological development which depended on the Institute (Oszlak, 1984). Given the time and resources available, two cases of successful performance and two failed experiences were selected for investigation. We decided to examine the technological problems of two sectors of the Argentine industry through the analysis of the network of interactions between enterprises demanding new technological developments and the institutes that supplied technological inputs, in the light of the structural characteristics of each sector and the framework of public policies relevant for these sectors. The implicit objective was to find out what happens when the public sector –​ whether associated or not with the private sector –​decides to provide research, 348

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development, and technological services in a particular field of industry; under what conditions it succeeds in articulating its efforts with a productive sector; and what lessons can be derived in terms of alternative strategies for action in view of the level of performance achieved. This entailed a double and parallel task: on the one hand, to explore the evolution of each of the industrial sectors studied, focusing the analysis on those factors and circumstances which imposed a particular profile to the technological problems of the respective sector; and on the other hand, studying the centers’ strategy of organizational development, taking into account the structural conditions of the productive sectors within which they operated. Even though the study focused especially on the problems involved in the articulation of the centers with their operational environment, considerable attention was also paid to the characteristics of the organization and functioning of INTI’s system of research and development centers to which they belonged. The selection of the sectors and centers was not fortuitous. Among the criteria that decided the choice I should mention: 1. the relative degree of success or failure of the centers, provisionally assessed according to the views of key informants; 2. the particular characteristics of the products and technologies employed; 3. the degree of concentration of the industries and the presence of foreign capital in the different sectors; 4. the existence of technological dependence; 5. the variable combination of promoters that jointly created the centers with INTI; 6. the location and span of influence of the centers in regional terms; and 7. the possibilities of access to information. It was not too difficult to determine which of the two dozen centers belonging to the institution were successful and which ones had frustrated the expectations of their creation. Neither a survey nor a thorough investigation was needed; it took only a few interviews with key informants to select the cases. As a result of the application of the criteria just mentioned, Center for Research on Pulp and Paper (CICELPA) and Center for Technological Research on Fruits and Vegetables (CITEF) were selected as successful case studies. These sectors were quite different both, in terms of their organizational-​functional aspects and in their clienteles. In a way, the comparative analysis of these cases offered the possibility to characterize the field of action of research and development institutes which venture into productive sectors that offer favorable prospects for a relatively autonomous technological development. The research focused more on the institutional aspects of the problems of incorporating technology in the productive process than on the economic ones. The main interest was to understand the reasons, identify the mechanisms, and highlight some of the restrictions that operate in the process of articulation between the state, the demanders, and the suppliers of technology in certain 349

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industries. It was not our purpose to quantify or assess the costs and benefits derived from the promotion, production, or incorporation of technological innovations, despite occasional references to this subject. The project studied carefully and separately the pulp and paper and the canning industries, in those aspects which, presumably, determined or influenced the incorporation and/​or domestic development of technologies in these industries. Thus, attention was given to such aspects as degree of economic concentration and integration of the production process, geographical distribution, local supply of equipment and inputs, characteristics of the market, degree of diversification of output, costs of production, competitive advantages at the international level, and participation in investment of state and foreign capital. We also analyzed, in each industrial sector, the framework of public policies within which the productive activity took place and their possible repercussions both on the technological profile of the industry and on the technological decisions of enterprises and research and development institutes. After characterizing the operational environment of each center, we examined its articulation with the respective productive sectors and its linkages with the rest of the state apparatus, especially the central unit of INTI. This entailed establishing the participation of the different promoters in the management of its center, the internal or external origin of the goals, targets and priorities, the source, magnitude and modalities for allocating financial and material resources, the promotional activities carried out in each case, the features of the respective clientele, and the relationship between the formal regulatory framework and work plans actually implemented. Through this approach it was possible to reconstruct the process of generation, transfer, and incorporation of technologies, with particular reference to the specific structural context of the organizational units and actors involved, and to the possibilities of overcoming its constraints. Finally, we made a comparative analysis of the experience of the two industrial sectors, trying to identify similarities, differences, and combinations of circumstances that could explain the relatively successful articulation between the government, the demanders, and the suppliers of technology in the two sectors. At this point, we examined the strategies of technological decision-​making at the enterprises and R&D institutes, in the light of the structural and regulatory constraints that operated in each sector. The premise was that the propensity of demanders and suppliers of technology to articulate their activities depended, primarily, on the technological profile of the respective industrial sector, resulting in turn from the structural characteristics of the branch and the positive or negative sign of the balance of public policies impinging upon their economic activity. We also tried to interpret other cases in which the supply and demand of technologies was weak or non-​existent. From the point of view of teaching CPA, the reading and analysis of the report that documented the results of this research was useful for students to learn how the examination and systematic comparison of concrete cases may lead to rethinking the premises, assumptions, and propositions underlying research in the 350

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scientific-​technological field. Macro-​systemic interpretations may not provide sufficient clues to understand the complexity of the process whereby technological developments are successfully incorporated into industrial productive activities. Very often, these policies have been implicitly based on a simple linear vision of the processes of innovation and, therefore, have found answers to all the problems of technological development in the establishment of R&D institutions, which, given their weak linkages with their clienteles, ended up as simple additions to the huge volume of scientific and technical resources alienated from productive activities. Hence, the importance of establishing under what circumstances these R&D institutions can be successfully inserted into their operational contexts. The specification of the operational context of an R&D institute means to establish what factors determine the disposition of other actors to interact with it, as well as the intensity and nature of the interactions maintained. It also requires turning those actors into the central object of analysis. In this way the context loses the diffuse and undifferentiated character with which it is usually reflected in studies investigating the bureaucracy–​environment interface.

Comparisons against a standard value The performance of a public organization may be evaluated not only in terms of the magnitude and impacts of its output but also observing its relative efficiency in the allocation of its inputs. Sometimes, it is possible to employ standards that serve to fix a reference against which organizational performance in the process of converting inputs into outputs can be compared. In general, it is not easy to estimate desirable standard-​values, especially when public management is involved and “output” may not be amenable to be measured in physical terms. One may agree that a 65mph speed is acceptable on certain highways, but it is not easy to find equivalent values in the fields of procurement, personnel administration, or maintenance. Since this is a typical problem that probably any professional specialized in public administration must deal with, I usually use a case study in which a group of consultants developed a sophisticated methodology to determine whether a public organization suffers from what I once called an “excess-​lack syndrome,” a usual problem that requires right-​sizing of its labor force (Oszlak, 1972). The study was commissioned by the World Bank, which was interested in finding out whether the staff of administrative personnel employed in the ministries of education of four different Argentine provinces was oversized or just adequate. Without any further methodological or technical specification, the terms of reference required the consultants to develop a “contrast model” against which to compare the situation found in each case in terms of size and composition of personnel. As a matter of fact, there was a double possibility of comparison. On the one hand, to contrast a theoretical model of the optimal size and distribution of personnel against the values found empirically. On the other hand, to contrast the results of the four provinces in terms of their relative distance with respect to the desirable values stipulated in the model. 351

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To build the “model”: 1. all management support processes, from daily control of absenteeism to procurement, from assessment of personnel performance to promotion and dissemination of information, were classified, making sure that every single support function was duly considered; 2. in each of the identified management processes (46 in total) we identified the sequence of tasks required to complete each single process (that is, making a purchase, maintaining an equipment); 3. we determined and classified the personnel profiles needed to perform each task for each management process; 4. we estimated the “normal” time required to perform each task as well as its frequency, according to the profile of the staff involved; 5. we multiplied the time required by each task by its annual frequency, for different profiles of staff. Each of the processes was validated by the personnel who acted as technical counterparts, in each of the analyzed provinces Aggregate results allowed an estimation of the total time required to carry out, in an annual period, all of the administrative support functions of educational management, classified in terms of months-​persons for each type of profile. Separately, the ministerial personnel were classified with the same functional categories of level and specialty used for the “contrast model”, so as to determine the number of months-​persons annually devoted to deliver each kind of specialized tasks. Then, by comparing these figures with those estimated according to the “model”, the differences obtained indicated the probable “excesses” or “defects” for each type of staff profile. As it was expected, excesses of human resources were found in most managerial processes, especially in lower level, non-​specialized tasks, while some shortages were observed in planning, information, and control functions. A second comparison, among the values found in the four analyzed provinces, helped to establish a sort of “ranking” of inefficiency among them. The result of comparing personnel excesses and shortages ranged from 11 percent to 35 percent net excess according to the process and province considered. In general, students of my CPA courses appreciate the knowledge gained in the application of this type of techniques, since unlike North American or European graduate students, most of them already work in the public sector during their training and thus they are advised about the potential instrumental use of these tools.

Conclusion In his Preface to Cromwell, Victor Hugo wrote: “when the body changes, how could the coat not change?” Hence, in a world that changes at an increasing 352

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speed, CPA cannot remain aloof of new issues, new phenomena, new challenges to decision-​makers. Problems of governance are getting more complex, rendering the role of administrative knowledge and skills much more demanding. “The global context, the information revolution, and democratization trends in many parts of the world are reshaping public organizations as tools of governance in modern society” (Jreisat, 2005). Therefore, there is a growing need to learn about how public management can be improved, how can we make a better use of our information, how can we innovate in the design of organizational structures. There is a growing need to broaden the CPA field beyond particularistic cases, to learn from the application of successful administrative technologies and to find out under what conditions may those experiences be adapted or transplanted into different contexts. Unfortunately, CPA in the North-​Western part of the world is still too parochial, while in the “remaining” three-​quarters of the world, it has not yet attained a relevant place in the academic disciplines dealing with public administration. Teaching CPA in Latin America suffers from both the ethnocentric biases of the large body of literature originating in the developed world and the scarce number of studies that are truly relevant for a comparative understanding the contextual and historical specificity of public administration issues in our region. This chapter has tried to highlight both types of weaknesses and to illustrate the utilization of certain methodological approaches and case studies that may prove useful for initiating a North–​South dialogue about ways to break the still narrow confines of comparative research in this field. Notes 1

2

3

4

5

6

As another manifestation of this trend, I may recall that CLAD (the Latin American Center for Development Administration) was created in the early 1970s, to improve the institutional capacity of member governments to bring about economic development. As Randall Baker (1994) commented, during the 1990s a small group of scholars attempted to bring the winds of international change into the curricula of the 230-​plus member institutions of National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration (NASPAA). Their efforts met with the indifference of most teaching institutions to the geographical realities of the late-​20th-​century context of public life. The international group quietly died from lack of generalized support. “I continue to think that the underlying reason for this decline of comparative public administration since the 1950s and 1960s has been our own ethnocentrism in continuing to view American public administration, and the truly exceptional solutions we have found for coping with our peculiarly presidentialist problems, as a general paradigm for the field as a whole” (Riggs, 1991, p 475). The project was directed by Warren F. Ilchman and Todd La Porte at the University of California, Berkeley, between 1967 and 1969. I participated as a research assistant, while completing my doctorate in political science. The results of the project were expected to be published under the title “Comparative Organization” in the McGraw-​Hill Comparative Politics collection, expanding in this way the series that the publisher had been disseminating with recognized success. At the beginning of the 1980s, with the support of the Ford Foundation, I designed the conceptual framework and promoted the organization of a research project on state formation 353

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7

8 9

10

in the five countries of Central America. The project was coordinated by Edelberto Torres Rivas at ICAP, the Central American Institute of Public Administration. As a result, five books were published, reflecting the historical experience of state formation in Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador. But it cannot be affirmed that the project was really comparative, since there was no further systematic comparison among the five cases. “Order and progress” were the main driving forces of capitalist development in the second half of the 19th century. Most government expenditures were allocated to either stabilize the social and infrastructural conditions for facilitating the advancement of capitalism (“order”) or to promote policies that would articulate the economic production function (“progress”). I am referring to the Protocol for Comparative Studies of National Civil Service Systems (hereafter, the Protocol), suggested by the Consortium to the authors. See Oszlak (1999). The following critique was included in my paper on the Argentine case (Oszlak, 1999) and raised in an oral presentation at the Conference on Civil Service Systems held at the University of Indiana. As a matter of fact, Morgan’s approach is not very different from Heady’s: their main differences are (1) the type of analytic dimensions that attract their respective interest; and (2) the way they represent the selected variables or continua: in one case, an expanded matrix; in the other, a multidimensional map.

References Aberbach, J.D. and Rockman, B.A. (1988) ‘Problems of cross-​national comparison in public administration’, in D.C. Rowat (ed), Developed Democracies: A Comparative Study, New York: Marcel Dekker, pp 419–​440. Baker, R. (1994) Comparative Public Management: Putting U.S. Public Policy and Implementation in Context, Westport: Greenwood. Cardoso, F.H. and Faletto, E. (1969) Dependência y Desarrollo em América Latina, Buenos Aires: Siglo XXI Editores. Dahl, R.A. (1947) ‘The science of public administration: Three problems’, Public Administration Review, 7(1): 1–​11. Farazmand, A.F. (1996) ‘Development and comparative public administration: Past, present and future’, Public Administration Quarterly, 20(3): 343–​364. Gant, G.F. (2006) ‘The concept of development administration’, in E.E. Otenyo and N.S. Lind (eds), Comparative Public Administration: Research in Public Policy Analysis and Management, Bingley: Emerald, pp 257–​285. Heady, F. (1998) Public Administration: A Comparative Perspective, New York: Marcel Dekker. Hirschman, A.O. (1968) Journeys towards Progress, New York: Twentieth Century Fund. Ilchman, W.F. (1984) ‘Administración Pública Comparativa y el `Sentido Común Académico’, in O. Oszlak (ed), Teoría de la Burocracia Estatal: Enfoques Críticos, Buenos Aires: Paidós, pp 54–​120. Jreisat, J. (2005) ‘Comparative public administration is back, prudently’, Public Administration Review, 65(2): 231–​242. Nef, J. and Dwivedi, O.P. (1981) ‘Development theory and administration: A fence around an empty lot’, Indian Journal of Public Administration, 27(I): 42–​66. Oszlak, O. (1972) Diagnóstico de la Administración Pública Uruguaya, New York: United Nations. 354

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Oszlak, O. (1982) La Formación del Estado Argentino, Buenos Aires: Editorial de Belgrano. Oszlak, O. (1984) El INTI y el Desarrollo Tecnológico en la Industria Argentina, Buenos Aires: Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Industrial. Oszlak, O. (1999) ‘The Argentine civil service: An unfinished search for identity’, in J.L. Perry (ed), Research in Public Administration, Stanford: CTJAI Press, pp 267–​326. Oszlak, O. (2002) ‘Sistemas de Servicio Civil en América Latina y el Caribe: situación actual y desafíos pendientes’, Revista de Servicio Civil, 13: 23–​34. Oszlak, O. and O’Donnell, G. (1976) ‘Estado y políticas estatales en América Latina: hacia una estrategia de investigación’, Documento CEDES/​G.E. CLACSO, Working Paper # 4, Buenos Aires: Centro de Estudios de Estado y Sociedad. Riggs, F.W. (1991) ‘Public administration: A comparativist framework’, Public Administration Review, 51(6): 473–​477. Schaffer, B. (1978) ‘Administrative legacies and links in the post-​colonial state: Preparation, training and administrative reform’, Development and Change, 9(2): 175–​200. Tilly, C. (1975) The Formation of National States in Western Europe, Princeton: Princeton University Press. van Wart, M. and Cayer, N.J. (1990) ‘Comparative public administration: Defunct, dispersed, or redefined?’, Public Administration Review, 50(2): 238–​248. Wilson, W. (1887) ‘The study of administration’, Political Science Quarterly, 2(2): 197–​222.

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Index References to endnotes show both the page number and the note number (72n7).

A AAEAP (Asociación Argentina de Estudios de la Administración Pública/​Argentine Association of Public Administration Studies)  3, 13–​14, 217–​29, 253, 259–​60, 280, 281, 282–​94 Abal Medina, J.  135 Aberbach, J.D.  333 academic courses in public policy/​administration 10–​14, 42, 279–​96, 297–​310, 311–​27, 328–​55 see also universities accreditation schemes  114, 332 action by omission  69–​70 actors  development models  27–​32 non-​state actors in the exponential era  271 power over private actors  82 prospective policy analysis  80 public policy study  304 social actors  66–​7 socially problematized issues  65, 66–​8 state as  29 supranational actors  32 Acuña, C.  43, 45–​7, 218, 219, 305 advisory councils  199–​214 ageing demographics  78 Agency for Access to Public Information  197 agenda-​setting processes  159–​60, 167 Agoff, S.  12, 237, 280 Agosti, General  93 Agranoff, R.  152, 153, 154, 167 Aguilar Villanueva, L.F.  10, 43, 126, 301 Alabés, G.  183 Alfonsín, Raul/​Alfonsín administration  11, 77, 94, 174, 176, 177, 182, 235, 262 algorithms  81 Alianza government  182 Altvater, E.  72n7 analytical frameworks of policy analysis  56–​73 Andean peoples  79 Andrieu, P.  11 anti-​corruption  126, 227 Anti-​Corruption Office  227 anti-​Peronism  8, 234

Aportes para el Estado y la Administración Gubernamental journal  179, 181, 185 Arce, President  32 Arellano Gault, D.  217 Argentine Association of Political Science (Asociación Argentina de Ciencia Política)  298, 300 Argentine Congress  187–​98 Argentine Congress of Public Administration 220, 221, 281 Argentine Electoral Observatory  244 Argentine National Commission of University Evaluation and Accreditation  312 Argentine Plain Language Network  196 “Argentine Revolution”  11, 251, 262, 264 Argentine Society of Political Analysis  259–​60, 269 Arocena, J.  34, 138, 139, 140, 141 artificial intelligence  116 Asian countries, lessons from  82 Asociación de Administradores Gubernamentales/​ Association of Government Administrators  14, 179, 182, 220, 221 Asociación Civil por la Igualdad y la Justicia  253 Association of State Workers  111–​12 Athenaeums  181–​2 authoritarianism  46, 94, 264, 300 autoethnography  1 automation  79–​80 autonomization  6, 134, 140, 265 Autonomous City of Buenos Aires  181, 192, 199, 220, 252–​3, 288, 292, 315

B Baglini, R.  190 Baker, R.  333 balance of payment crisis  24 Bañón Martínez, R.  6, 201 Barros, S.  292 basic concepts in administration and public policies field  2–​4 Basic Legal Regime of Civil Service  111 BCO (Budget Office of the Congress of the Nation)  190–​1 Becker, H.  262

356

Index behavioral sciences  81 Bentancur, N.  272 bibliography  306, 333 Bicameral Administrative Commission  189–​90 bicameral committees  189, 197 big data  270–​1 Bignone, General  93 “black box” decision making  202 Bolivia  31, 32 Bonifacio, A.  218, 219, 225 Boric, President  32 Borja, J.  138, 139 Borneo, E.  11 Bosier, S.  138 Botana, N.  299 bottom-​up planning  34 Bourdieu, P.  3, 43, 49 Bozeman, B.  139 Braun, M.  243 Bressan, J.C.  143 Brown, L.D.  244 Brown, W.  30 Budget Office of the Congress of the Nation (BCO)  190–​1 budgets  Congress Budget Office  190–​1 disaster risk management (DRM)  123–​5, 130 participatory budgeting  124, 127, 130, 144 state formation  338 think tanks  244 Bulcourf, P.  4, 11, 41, 42, 46, 58, 106, 142, 230, 237, 239n5, 260, 261, 263, 264, 265, 267, 280, 281, 298, 300, 302, 311 bureaucracy  bureaucratic logics  69 bureaucratic state type  76 bureaucratic-​authoritarian regimes  264, 300 comparative public administration (CPA)  331, 336–​7 legislative  195 networks  165 professional public management training  105–​18 public policy study  304 towards a theory of state bureaucracy  268–​9 business management, as father of public administration  6 business schools  139–​40

C Cabinet of Ministers of the Presidency  47, 194, 221 CAF (Development Bank of Latin America)  115

CAG (Comparative Administration Group)  269, 331, 333 CAG (Corps of Government Administrators)  11, 173–​86 Calvo, E.  188, 193 Cambiemos  21, 26, 95–​6 Camou, A.  202 Campbell, J.  312, 324 Cámpora, President  93 candidate selection processes  see recruitment processes Cao, H.  134, 136, 199, 203, 204 capabilities  140, 142–​5 capacity building  121, 285 capitalism  capitalist, Western patriarchy as dominant force  67 comparative public administration (CPA)  338 dependency theory  61 enlarged state  52 environmental crisis  65 hegemony of  28 prospective policy analysis  79 socially problematized issues  62, 64 and the state  57, 61 welfare state  201 capital-​labor ties  27 Capitanich, J.  183, 185 Cardoso, F.H.  5, 8, 25, 45, 58, 72n7, 263, 267, 339 Cardozo, N.D.  11, 12, 41, 45, 58, 106, 237, 261, 263, 265, 267, 279, 280, 311 career paths  108, 111, 116–​17, 174, 194–​5, 197, 226–​7, 347–​8 CARI (Consejo Argentino para las Relaciones Internacionales)  254 Casalis, A.  32, 33 Casilimas Sandoval, C.A.  166 Castells, M.  28 Castillo, President  32 Castro, Xiomara  32 Catholic Church  234, 339 Catholic University of Cordoba  220 Cavallo, D.  178, 252 Cavarozzi, M.  11, 259, 263, 299, 306 Cayer, N.J.  332 CEDES (Centro de Estudios de Estado y Sociedad/​Center for State and Society Studies)  11, 13, 46, 259–​75, 299, 301 CEDIAP library  93 CEDLAS (Centro de Estudios Distributivos, Laborales y Sociales)  247

357

Policy Analysis in Argentina CELAC (Comunidad de Estados Latinoamericanos y Caribeños)  32 CEMUPRO (Centro de Estudios Municipales y Provinciales)  251, 253 Center for Ecumenical Studies  48 Center of Studies in Public Administration  299 center-​left politics  85 centralization  109–​10, 199, 202 CEPAL (Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe)  49 Chain, L.I.  202 chairs  47, 49, 194, 203, 306 Chamber of Deputies  188, 189, 191, 193, 194, 197 Chamber of Senators  193, 194 Chandler, A.  217 chaos as norm  48 Chile  31, 32, 58 China  28, 31, 77, 78, 82 Chojo Ortiz, I.  25–​6 Christensen, T.  156 chronology of policy analysis  6–​10 Chudnovsky, M.  115 CIAP (Centro de Investigaciones en Administración Pública/​Public Administration Research Center)  14, 42, 44, 263, 268 CICELPA (Research Center for the Study of Cellulose and Paper)  349 CIPPEC (Centro de Implementación de Políticas Públicas para la Equidad y el Crecimiento)  13, 244, 253, 254 CISEA (Centro de Investigaciones Sociales sobre el Estado y la Administración)  263 CITEF (Center for Research in Railway Technologies)  349 cities  35, 81, 85 citizen mobilizations  31 citizen service offices  195 citizenship  79–​80, 243–​5 civil service  authoritarian government (1976–​1983)  93–​4 chronology of policy analysis  9, 11 comparative public administration (CPA)  341–​8 Consensus for a Professional Civil Service for the Argentina of the 21st Century (2018–​2019)  226 Corps of Government Administrators (CAG)  173–​86, 239n6 democratization  9, 13, 106 hierarchization in the civil service  110–​11

INAP (National Institute of Public Administration)  11, 93, 96, 97 National Civil Service Council  227 professionalization  11 regulation of  111 senior public management (SPM)  108–​9, 110–​13, 117 specialization  105 civil society  AAEAP (Argentine Association of Public Administration Studies)  217, 281 Alfonsín administration  94 collaborative governance model  119–​32 part of organization of domination  52 prospective policy analysis  79 social actors  66 think tanks  242–​58 third way  84–​5 CLACSO (Consejo Latinomericano de Ciencias Sociales)  251, 253–​4, 299 CLAD (Centro Latinoamericano de Administración para el Desarrollo)  42, 102, 142, 218, 222, 269, 353n1 class  61, 62, 66–​7 Clear Law Department  197 clientelism  68, 69, 111, 112 COFEFUP (Consejo Federal de la Función Público)  101–​2 Cold War  8, 77, 201, 330 collaborative governance model  119–​32, 153 collaborative networks  151–​70 Collective Labor Agreement  111 collectives in social democracy  85 Colombia  31 colonialism  57, 338–​9 see also decolonialism committees, parliamentary  187–​98 commodities revolution  28, 29 communication, managing  128–​9, 131, 158 Comparative Civil Service Systems Research Consortium  341 comparative public administration (CPA)  328–​55 competencies, training for  115 competitive recruitment practices  112–​13, 175–​6, 191, 195 complex problems  151–​2, 161, 166, 168 conferences on public administration  13–​14 conflict, basic concepts of  3 Congress Budget Office  190–​1, 197 Congress Library  189–​90 congresses  181, 218, 220–​5, 281–​3

358

Index CONICET (Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas/​ National Council for Scientific and Technical Research)  11, 12 Consensus for a Professional Public Function  14 consensus-​based decision making  153 conservativism  26, 29, 30 Constitution (1949)  233–​4, 298 Constitution (1994)  134, 135, 193, 194, 235–​6 consumption  28 continuous learning  162 contract personnel  178–​9 control and monitoring systems  108 cooperative/​coordinated federalism  136 Coraggio, J.L.  138, 139, 140 Cordeiro/​Millennium Project  79, 80 corporatism  93 Corps of Government Administrators (CAG)  11, 173–​86 corps of provincial administrators (PA)  178 corruption  81 see also anti-​corruption Council for the Consolidation of Democracy  11 coups d’état  24, 238n2, 238n3, 238n4, 300 COVID-​19  AAEAP (Argentine Association of Public Administration Studies)  222 Argentine Congress  191 CAG (Corps of Government Administrators)  184 disturbing social relations  77–​8 education  205–​6, 315 exponential era  106, 270 Fernández administration  96 health policies  207, 211 late neoliberalism  31 local governments  143–​4 technology  271–​2 Cravacuore, D.  142, 144, 145 Crespo, E.  29 criminality  81 crisis of 1930  76 critical theory  58, 60–​3, 67 Crozier, M.  69, 105 Curti, G.  302, 303, 304 cyclical societies  21–​40

D Dahl, R.A.  332 De la Rúa administration  95, 182 De Luca, A.  188 debt relief  29

decentralization  85, 96, 101, 109–​10, 133–​50, 199, 301 decisionist approaches  200, 202 decolonialism  67, 330 decree laws  93, 111–​12, 173, 174, 176 delegation of powers  194 democracy/​democratization  Acuña’s work  46 Argentina’s start  9 bureaucratic knowledge  201 chronology of policy analysis  8 civil service restructuring  106 civil society involvement  127 critical view of links with modernization  263–​4 democracy theory  24 democratic consolidation  134 INAP (National Institute of Public Administration)  94 local governments  138, 143 prospective policy analysis  79 public policy study  280, 304 public policy training  11 rebirth of social and political sciences  300 and rebuilding citizenship  243–​5 third way  84 towards a theory of state bureaucracy  269 demonstrations  31 demos  30–​1, 37 Denhardt, R.B.  155 dependency theory  8, 25, 61, 267 depoliticization  93–​4 deregulation  94, 134, 301 Desaparecidos  262 Developing Resilient Cities Campaign  121 development administration movement  5, 201, 329–​30, 331 Development Bank of Latin America (CAF)  115 development models  cycles, agency and power  27–​32 holistic analysis methods  25 multiscale analysis  32–​6 political cadres formation/​training  235 political cycles  30–​1 productive-​inclusive  25–​6, 28 progressive development  29–​30 public policy training tracks  298 Di Maggio, P.  312, 325 Di Tella Institute  13, 42, 44, 58, 259, 263, 272n2, 299, 300, 306 dialogical ruptures  58–​63 Dialogue Table  183

359

Policy Analysis in Argentina Diamand, M.  24, 27 Díaz, C.  141, 143, 301, 304 dictatorships  8, 11, 42, 58, 77, 91, 92–​3, 93–​4, 143, 259, 262–​3, 270, 300, 301 Diploma in Legislative Management  192 Diploma in Parliamentary Management and Public Policy  191 diplomas  191, 192, 311, 313, 314, 315, 317, 326n5 disaster risk management (DRM)  119–​32 disciplinary field, public administration as  106–​7 “disciplinary studies”  259 discourse analysis  69–​70 discretionary appointments to senior roles  112–​13, 117 disruptive technologies  45 dissemination of knowledge  128–​9, 131, 195 doctorates  298, 305, 307, 321–​2 dollar exchange rates  94–​5 double hermeneutics  22 double transition  9 Dror, Y.  151 drug trafficking  81 Duhalde administration  95

E Eastern Europe  82 Economics, Commercial, and Political Science College, Rosario  298 Ecumenical Association of Cuyo  47 efficiency, pursuit of  93, 95–​6 electoral participation  244 elites  Corps of Government Administrators  173–​86 creation of elite bodies under Menem  178 hegemony of economic elites  27, 29 networks  164 political science studies  298 post-​COVID  184 PROFAG  94 state capture by  30 employment  employment laws  194 exclusion from formal labor markets  65 Washington Consensus  28 ENG (National School of Government)  236–​7 English language materials  306 ENI (National Integrity Strategy)  227 enterprises with state participation  110 entrepreneurialism  79–​80

entry examinations  176 environmental crisis  31, 65, 78 esprit de corps  69, 182 Estado Abierto  10, 96, 272 Estado y Políticas Estatales en América Latina: hacia una estrategia de investigación  56, 70, 264–​5, 299, 305, 307 Esteso, R.  301 Estévez, A.  303, 305 ethnic-​racial social relations  67 ethnocentrism  332–​4, 353 European influences  271, 330, 338 evaluation  48, 301–​2 excess-​lack syndrome  351–​2 exiled intellectuals  42, 259, 300, 301 expertise  108, 167, 199–​214, 251–​4 exponential era  2, 106, 270

F failed states  81 Faletto, E.  8, 25, 263, 267, 339 Falleti, T.G.  199 federal councils  135–​6, 199–​214 Federal Health Council  200, 205–​6, 211 Federal Institute of Parliamentary Studies (FIPE)  192 Federal Investment Council  200, 208–​10, 212 federal public sector  110, 136, 199–​214, 227 Federal Social Security Council  200, 210–​11 Federal Training Plan  96 feminism  65, 67 Fénix Plan  251 Fernández administration  96, 110, 183–​4, 185 Fernández de Kirchner administration  21, 25–​6, 95 Ferrer, A.  49, 251 FIEL (Fundación de Investigaciones Económicas Latinoamericanas)  252 field (Bourdieusian)  3, 4–​6 financialization  28 Finquelievich, S.  144 First Peronism (1946–​1955)  10 First State Reform  178 FLACSO (Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales)  10, 21, 47, 49, 138, 253, 308n9 FLASCO (State and Public Policies Area)  21–​7, 28, 30, 32, 33, 37 Floria, C.  263 Follari, R.  314 FoPeCap (Fondo Permanente de Capacitación y Recalificación Laboral)  95, 101 Ford Foundation  263, 331

360

Index foreign debt  95–​6, 244, 252 foreign/​foreign-​trained teachers  305–​6 formulation/​implementation separation  69 fragmentation  65 Framework Law for the Regulation of National Public Employment No. 25, 164  111 Freire, P.  48 Frondizi, President  11, 298 FTAA (Free Trade Area of the Americas)  32, 36 Fukuyama, F.  28 Fundación Compromiso por el Cambio  252 Fundación Mediterránea  252 Fundación Pensar  252 Furlong, J.  92, 93 futurologists  79

G G20  254 Galano, N.  303, 304, 306 Galtieri, General  93 Gant, G.F.  329 García Delgado, D.  23, 24, 25–​6, 27–​8, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33–​4, 35–​6, 134, 138, 139, 141, 142 gender bias  188–​9 gender relations  67 general director appointments  112 geopolitics  Latin America as region of dispute  31–​2 “proto-​model”  66 rise of China  78 South–​South geopolitics  28 Washington Consensus  28 Ghibaudi, J.  29 Gibson, E.  199 Giddens, A.  1, 22, 261 GIGAPP (Grupo de Investigación en Gobierno, Administración y Políticas Públicas)  222, 225 Gino Germani Institute  144 glaciers  79 global financial crisis (2008/​9)  29, 31 globalization  26, 28, 33–​6, 79, 82, 255, 331 GMRTP (General Management of Research and Training Programs)  192 González Bombal, I.  219 Goodson, I.  314 Gore, E.  225, 228n1 governability  141–​2 governance  disaster risk management (DRM)  126–​7, 130

Governance Network Theory  152 local governments  141–​2 new public governance  155 prospective policy analysis  80, 85 Governance and Public Management Program  115–​16 government, overlapping with state  63 Government Administrators Corps  see CAG (Corps of Government Administrators) “Government Innovators Program”  183–​4, 185 Goyburu, M.L.  203 Gradin, A.  26, 27–​8, 30, 31 graduate studies  early development of  12–​13 institutionalization  237 master’s degrees in public administration  10, 11, 12, 47, 300, 306–​7, 317, 320–​1, 328 political leadership  238 political science studies  299 PROFAG (Programa de Formación de Agentes Gubernamentales)  176 public administration  237–​8, 280, 301, 302–​5 Public Administration Career Network  226 public policy training tracks  297–​310 training networks  42 Gramsci, A.  24, 51, 52 Grandinetti, R.  134, 143, 144, 145 Great Society  5 Groisman, E.  177 Grupo Sophia  252 Guidobono, G.  178

H habitus  49 Hawley, A.  312 Heady, F.  5, 329, 333, 341–​3, 344 Hegel, G.W.F.  78 Held, D.  28 Herzer, H.  125 heterodoxy  82–​6 hierarchies  hierarchical structures versus networks  153 hierarchization in the civil service  110–​11 parliamentary committees  188 senior public management (SPM)  108 Higher Institute of Government Economists  178 Hirschman, A.O.  45, 58, 263, 339–​40 historical structuralism  53n1, 56, 59, 60–​1, 69, 263, 269 holistic analysis methods  24–​7 Holloway, J.  51

361

Policy Analysis in Argentina Honduras  32, 49 horizontalization  106, 141–​2 Hugo, V.  352 human capital  127–​8, 131 human resources  94, 114, 191–​2, 195, 346 human rights  46, 48 Huntington, S.  244 hyperinflation  94, 235

I Iacoviello, M.  109 ICT  see technology IERAL (Instituto de Estudios sobre la Realidad Argentina y Latinoamericana)  247, 252 Ignatian Pedagogy  49 Ilchman, W.F.  335, 336, 340 ILPES (Instituto Latinoamericano para la Planificación Económica y Social)  49 IMF (International Monetary Fund)  32, 80–​1, 201 immigration  339 import substitution policies  76, 77 INAP (National Institute of Public Administration)  2, 10, 11, 47, 91–​104, 113–​15, 117, 174–​6, 218–​19, 236–​7, 239n6, 260, 269 incentives  124, 164–​5 India  82 individual choice, and the state  79 individual freedoms  80 individualization  65 industrialization  24, 77, 93 inflation  94, 95, 98, 243–​4 Information Society Research Program, I-​ Polis  144 innovation  140, 143, 145, 181–​2, 209, 217–​18, 351 Institute of Political Law  192 Institute of Studies on Latin America and the Caribbean  51–​2 Institute for Training and Formation of Political Leaders  236–​7 institutional isomorphism  312, 325 institutional-​coactive scaffolding  65–​6 institutionality  219 institutionalization  Association of Government Administrators  179 comparative public administration (CPA)  337–​9, 345 federal councils  203

institutional development of policy analysis  10–​12, 42 local governments  134–​6 neo-​institutionalism  46–​7, 77, 312 populism  83 postgraduate training in public administration, management and policy  311 public policy training tracks  297–​302 think tanks  242–​58 Instituto del Conurbano of the Universidad Nacional de General Sarmiento  142 Instituto Torcuato Di Tella  13, 42, 44, 58, 259, 263, 272n2, 299, 300, 306 integral regionalism  36 Integrated Public Employment Database  110 Integrated Retirement and Pension System  210 intelligence models  84 Inter-​American Development Bank (IDB)  47, 50, 80, 81, 83, 108, 120, 300, 345 interdisciplinarity  holistic analysis methods  24–​7 multiscale analysis  35–​6 policy analysis science  2, 5 postgraduate studies in public management/​administration  314, 320 State and Public Policies Area (FLASCO)  21–​7, 28, 30, 32, 33, 37 “interest groups”  69 intergovernmental coordination function  199 internal consultants  173–​86 International Association of Political Science  298 international corporations  83 international insertion  29, 30 international standards/​norms  79 internationalization  79, 82, 251–​4 internships  176 interventionism  233 INTI (National Institute of Industrial Technology)  348–​9 ISAP (Instituto Superior de la Administración Pública)  11, 93 issues, focus on  59, 61, 64, 65, 67 Iturburu, M.  134, 135, 141

J Japan  82, 330 Jelin, E.  11 Jessop, B.  82 Jesuits  46 Jones, M.  188, 193 journals  10, 42, 96, 225, 259, 298, 300, 302

362

Index Jreisat, J.  331, 353 judicial apparatus  68, 69 juridicist system  6, 9 justice, theory of  35 justice systems, state role in  80

K Karakachoff Foundation  239n5 Keynsian economics  5 Kirchner, President N./​Kirchner administration  21, 25–​6, 95, 110, 301 Klijn, E.-​H.  151–​2 Klimovsky, G.  46 knowledge  dissemination of knowledge  128–​9, 131, 195 epistemology of the known subject  261 history of links between knowledge and administration  200–​1 knowledge management theory  92 knowledge production and advisory councils  199–​214 knowledge society  107 networks  157–​66 professional public management training  105–​18 public administration and public policy studies  282–​94 scientific knowledge construction  22, 37, 59, 348–​51 specialization  107 technical knowledge  114–​15, 201, 211, 325 think tanks  242–​58 Koppenjan, J.  151–​2 Kuhn, T.  37

L La Porte, T.  336 Lakatos, I.  261 Lamberto, O.  190 language  305, 306 Lanusse administration  92–​3 Lasswell, H. D.  4, 5, 59, 201, 279 Latin American Administration Center for Development  42, 102, 142, 218, 222, 269, 353n1 Latin American Council of Social Sciences  52 Latin American Studies Association  9, 299 Latour, B.  1 lawfare  26, 30 leadership  151–​70, 174 learning networks  162–​3, 167 Lefort, C.  28

legal frameworks for public employment  111 Legislative Agency for Access to Public Information  195–​6 legislative branches  187–​98 legitimacy as basic concept  3 liberalization  81, 298, 301 libraries  10, 93, 189–​90, 209, 210 life history theory  43 Lindblom, C.  72n8 linked governments  134–​5 linked local governments  136 lobbying  182 local development  138, 141 local governments  COFEFUP  101–​2 collaborative governance model  119–​32 studies on local government policy analysis  133–​50 local levels, multiscale analysis of  34–​5 localism  34 López Murphy, R.  252 López Segregara, F.  82

M Macri, President M./​Macri administration  21, 26, 95–​6, 110, 252 Madoery, O.  143 Majone, G.  22 management by algorithm  81 management training courses  114–​15 managerial skills  151–​70 Mandell, M.  152 markets  interventionism  83 organized crime  82 prospective policy analysis  79–​80, 81, 82 social democracy  85 Martínez de Perón, President  93 Martínez Nogueira, R.  219, 305 Marxism  Acuña’s work  46 analytical frameworks  56, 63–​70 dialogical ruptures  60–​3 historical structuralism  59 Marxist sociology in chronology of policy analysis  6 Oszlak’s work  45, 57 “proto-​model”  58 state building theory  267, 269 Thwaites Rey’s work  51, 52 Vilas’ work  50 Massera, General  93

363

Policy Analysis in Argentina master’s degrees in public administration  10, 11, 12, 47, 300, 306–​7, 317, 320–​1, 328 Matus, C.  48, 230, 232–​3 McGuire, M.  152, 153, 154, 167 media coverage  64 Medina Vázquez, J.  83, 84 megacities  78 Menem, President Carlos/​Menem administration  11, 94–​5, 101, 177–​9, 235, 301 Mercosur  36, 201 meritocracy  30, 94, 108, 109, 111, 112, 117, 160, 174 “Mesa de Diálogo Argentino” (Argentine Dialogue Table)  183 Mexico  31 Micozzi, J.P.  188 middle classes  67, 80 Miliband, R.  51 militant bureaucracy  112 military dictatorship (1976–​1983)  8, 11, 42, 58, 77, 91, 93–​4, 143, 259, 262–​3, 270, 300, 301 military dictatorship (Revolución Argentina)  92–​3 military dictatorships in the chronology of policy analysis  8 military juntas  93, 94 Miller, E.  145 mimetism  330 Ministry of Economy  93, 98 Ministry of the Interior  237 Ministry of Justice and Human Rights  196 Ministry of State Modernization  95–​6, 98, 221, 222 modernization  comparative public administration (CPA)  329–​30 critical view of links with democracy  263–​4 knowledge society  106–​7 mimetism  330 O’Donnell’s work  264 Oszlak’s work  45 political science studies  300 PROFAG  176 pursuit of efficiency  93 return of democracy  173 think tanks  244 Modernization Ministry  95–​6, 98, 221, 222 monetarism  29 Montero Olivares, S.  82 Moreno, L.A.  108

Moreno, M.E.  225 Morgan, H.  341, 342 Morgan, P.  343, 344 Mugica, C.  46 multidisciplinary courses  313, 317 multipolarity  30, 77, 82 multiscale analysis  32–​6 municipal level  collaborative governance model  119–​32 increasing importance of  34 legislative branches  191 studies on local government policy analysis  133–​50 Municipal Network of Institutional and Administrative Dialogues  156

N Nari, P.  137, 143, 144, 145 NASPAA (National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration)  353n2 nation states  135, 345 see also state National Civil Service Council  227 National Commission of University Accreditation and Evaluation  305 National Congress on Public Administration  218 National Congress of Public Administration Studies  222, 223, 224, 281 National Council for the Coordination of Social Policies  200, 206–​8, 212 National Council for Quality in Education  200, 204–​5, 211 national director appointments  112 National General Audit Office  194 National Institute of Industrial Technology (INTI)  348–​9 National Institute of Public Administration (INAP)  2, 10, 11, 47, 91–​104, 113–​15, 117, 174–​6, 218–​19, 236–​7, 239n6, 260, 269 National Institute of Statistics and Census  243–​4 National Integrity Strategy (ENI)  227 National and Latin American Thought (UNLA)  48 National Office for Rationalization  93 “national project”  50 National Public Administration  45 National Public Employment System  112, 183 National School of Government (ENG)  236–​7 National System of the Administrative Profession  111, 112

364

Index nationalism  29, 298 national-​popular era  29 Negri, S.E.  173, 179, 182, 183, 237 Neiburg, F.  202 Neirotti, N.  43, 47–​9 neo-​developmentalism  29 neo-​institutionalism  46–​7, 77, 312 neoliberalism  comparative public administration (CPA)  332 development models  27–​32 environmental crisis  31 holistic analysis methods  25 international actors  201 late neoliberalism  26, 29–​30, 201 local governments  134 and localism  34 methodologies and interpretive frameworks  23, 24 state structural reforms  77 third way  84–​5 and the welfare state  28 neo-​Marxism  8, 9, 264 networks  Argentine Plain Language Network  196 leaders’ managerial skills  151–​70 Network of Academic Centers  137 Network of Dialogue Spaces  156 professionalization  165 Public Administration Career Network  226–​7 New Political Economics  46 new public governance  155 New Public Management  5, 42–​3, 81, 138, 155, 269 New Right  5 Nicaragua  49 Norá, S.  176 normative models  64 Nosetto, L.  28

O O’Donnell, G.  9, 11, 24, 27, 44, 45, 46, 49, 50, 51, 56–​73, 231, 259, 260, 261, 263, 264, 266, 272, 299–​300, 304, 305, 307, 337 OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development)  201 oil crisis  77, 331 Onganía, General  42 online courses  see virtual training open data  129 open government  81, 106, 127, 145

open regionalism  81 open state paradigm  45, 106, 259, 272 organizational performance, comparative studies of  348–​51 organizational structures, comparative studies of  341–​8 organizational studies  312 organized crime  81, 82 Oszlak, O.  9, 10, 11, 13, 24, 42, 43, 44–​5, 46, 51, 56–​73, 105, 106, 109, 173, 174, 177, 219, 231, 259, 260, 261, 262, 263, 265, 266, 267–​9, 270–​2, 299–​300, 302, 304, 305, 306, 307, 337, 345, 348, 351 “others,” recognition of  49 Ouviña, H.  52

P Palamidessi, M.  202 Pando, D.  218, 225, 227 parliamentary committees  187–​8 Parliamentary Information Office  189 Parliamentary Training Institute (PTI)  191 Parsons, T.  330 Parsons, W.  201, 304–​5 Participatory Budget Program  124 participatory budgeting  124, 127, 130, 144 patriarchy  67 Peirano, M.  28 pensions  210 “people” as concept  30–​1, 37 Pérez Sánchez, M.  4 permanent committees  188, 193 Peronism  10, 93, 94–​5, 233, 298 Peronism–​Antiperonism  8 Peru  32 Peters, B.G.  105 Pettarin, M.  262 PhDs  298, 305, 307, 321–​2 philosophy and ethics  35 Piemonte, V.D.  175, 178 plain language  195, 196, 197 planning  disaster risk management (DRM)  125–​6 networks  153 think tanks  253 Plotkin, M.  202 plurality  219, 264 pluridisciplinary courses  313, 317 Poder Ciudadano  253, 254 police power  134 policy analysis science  3, 4–​6, 328–​55 “policy conflict”  68

365

Policy Analysis in Argentina policy cycle  303, 306 policy theories  3, 7, 24, 151, 297 PoliLabUNR  144 political appointments  112, 117 political cadres formation/​training  230–​41 political education courses in First Peronism  10 political parties  think tanks  244, 251 training of political technical cadres  233, 235–​6 Political Science and Public Administration degree (Cuyo)  10–​11 political science studies  279–​96, 297–​310 polycentric structures  151 Popayan Manifesto  4 Population Policies for Latin America Program  270 populism  and the ‘demos’  30–​1 dystopia  84 economic basis  29 Menem administration  235 Peronism  298 prospective policy analysis  81, 83–​4 rise of  77 Portantiero, J. C.  24, 27 position-​taking  69–​70 positivism  59, 297 post-​empiricism  22 postgraduate studies  FoPeCap  101 PhDs  298, 305, 307, 321–​2 public management/​administration  11–​12, 47, 94, 226, 311–​27 public policy study  297–​310 training in public management/​ administration and policy  311–​27 post-​industrial society  84, 85 postmodernism  28 post-​neoliberalism  28 post-​structuralism  61 Poulantzas, N.  51, 56, 57, 61, 72n7 poverty  81 Powell, W.  312, 325 power  accumulation by a group/​party of political power  69 basic concepts  3 capitalist, Western patriarchy as dominant force  67 cycles, agency and power in development models  27–​32

development models  27–​32 globalization  28 hegemonic standoffs  24 international corporations  83 methodologies and interpretive frameworks  22 political cycles  30–​1 over private actors  82 prospective policy analysis  80 relational  24 and the state  50, 74–​5 Presidential Legal and Technical Secretariat  196 presidentialism  202 privacy  271 private confessional universities  234 private investment levels  29 private property  80 private research centers  259–​75 private sector  119–​32 private universities  298, 301, 303, 304, 319, 320 privatization  43, 45, 51, 77, 81, 135, 301 production levels  29 PROFAG (Programa de Formación de Agentes Gubernamentales)  94, 97, 99, 174–​7, 185 profession, policy analysis as  41–​55 professional organizations  179, 217–​29, 292 professional public management training  105–​18 professional training in policy  307, 311–​27 professionalization  CAG (Corps of Government Administrators)  177 civil service  109 networks  165 senior public management (SPM)  112–​13 progressive development  29, 30, 31 prospective policy analysis  74–​88 “proto-​model”  56–​73 “proto-​verbal” model  9 provinces/​provincial government  96, 101, 119–​32, 133, 134, 135, 178, 191, 196, 199–​200, 203, 205–​6, 209–​10, 212, 221, 224, 253 see also regional integration Przeworski, A.  45, 58 psychological testing  176 PTC (Professional Training Centre)  191, 196 PTI (Parliamentary Training Institute)  191 Public Administration Career Network  226–​7 Public Administration and Policy Studies  279–​96

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Index public information, access to  195–​6 Public Innovation Labs  145 public policy, basic concepts of  2–​4 Public Policy Observatory  183, 185 public policy theories  3, 7, 24, 151, 297 public salaries  94 public spending cuts  95–​6 public-​private articulations  34, 244, 265 publishing  302 see also journals Pulido, N.L.  181

Q quasi-​state governance  85 Quiroga, H.  235

R radical party  94 Ramió Matas, C.  5, 82, 116, 279 rationality  6, 59–​60, 269 Ravecca, P.  231, 260 Rawls, J.  35 realist epistemology  22 recentralization  135, 144 recession periods  94, 95 recruitment processes  competitive recruitment practices  112–​13, 175–​6, 191, 195 discretionary appointments to senior roles  112–​13, 117 entry examinations  176 meritocracy  30, 94, 108, 109, 111, 112, 117, 160, 174 political appointments  112, 117 selection processes  112–​13, 175–​9, 191, 193, 195 Redalyc (Red de Revistas Científicas de América Latina y el Caribe)  10 RedMuni  143, 145 re-​election rates of lawmakers  193–​4 regional integration  30, 32, 35–​6, 188 regulation, of civil service  111 regulatory capacity  32 relative autonomy  56, 61–​2 remote work  2 Repetto, F.  42 Research Center for the Study of Cellulose and Paper (CICELPA)  349 research centers  1, 2, 42, 138, 145, 224, 242, 246, 259–​75, 348–​9 research networks  137, 191–​2 resilience  121

Revista Argentina de Ciencia Política (Argentine Journal of Political Science)  298 Revolución Argentina  92–​3 Rey, M.T.  43, 51–​2, 203, 232, 302 Rhodes, R.A.W.  153, 156 Rice, D.  152 Rifkin, J.  28 Riggs, F.  331 Rivolta, M.  175 Rizzo, N.  176, 182 robotization  116 Rockman, B.A.  333 Rodríguez, E.  145, 223–​4, 281 Rofman, A.  143 Roitter, M.  217, 219 Rosconi, A.  223–​4, 281 Roulet, J.  173, 174, 177, 185, 263 Ruiz del Ferrier, M.C.  29, 31 rule of law  65–​6, 81 Russia  82

S SAAP (Sociedad Argentina de Análisis Político/​Argentine Society of Political Analysis)  280–​1, 282–​94, 300 Sabatier, P.  303 Sampay, A.  49, 234 Sarlo, B.  235 Scannone, J.C.  35–​6 Schmitter, P.  45, 46, 58, 263, 299 scholarships  11, 44 Schweinheim, G.  220, 225, 301, 302 Scielo (Scientific Electronic Library Online)  10 scientific knowledge, construction of  22, 37, 59, 348–​51 scientific revolution  271 Secondary Level Educational Centre  192 Secretaría de Políticas Universitarias del Ministerio de Educación (Secretariat of University Policies –​Ministry of Education)  313 Secretariat of Public Function  237 Secretariat of Social Security  200, 210–​11, 212 Secretary of Civil Service  94 secular stagnation  29 security, state role in  80 selection processes  112–​13, 175–​9, 191, 193, 195 seminar cycles  181, 299 Senate  188, 194, 196 Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction  119, 121

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Policy Analysis in Argentina senior public management (SPM)  105–​18, 174 sequential model  59–​60 SERPAJ (Peace and Justice Service)  46 service, public  155–​6 SIEMPRO (Information, Evaluation, and Monitoring System for Social Programs)  206 SINAPA (Sistema Nacional de la Profesión Administrativa)  94, 95, 178–​9, 183 SINEP (Sistema Nacional de Empleo Público)  95 Singh Bali, A.  203 SISFAM (System for the Identification of Beneficiary Families of Social Programs and Services)  206–​8 social accountability  80 social class  61, 62, 66–​7 social democracy  84–​5 social identities  84 social justice  65 social networks  271 social pacts  83 social reality -​methodologies and interpretive frameworks  22–​3 Social Research Council  299 social sciences  8, 32, 42, 201, 202, 259, 260–​1, 280, 300 Social Welfare Diploma  210 social welfare model  23 socially problematized issues  62, 63–​70 sociology  1, 3, 6, 8–​9, 41, 59, 176, 201, 202, 269, 279, 313 soft coups  30 Solidarity Network of Health Professionals 156 South–​South geopolitics  28 Soviet Union  85 Spanish language  305 specialization  in knowledge and technology  107 low re-​election rate of lawmakers  193–​4 public policy study  280 specialist degree programs  317–​20 stagnation, economic  81 stakeholder participation  66–​8, 122–​3, 247 state  bureaucratic-​authoritarian regimes  264, 300 in capitalism  57, 61 CEDES (Center for State and Society Studies)  264–​7 comparative public administration (CPA)  337–​9

complexity of  68–​70 conflicts of society  59 critical conceptions of  266 formation  267–​8, 337–​9 forms of  74–​6 growth of  110 and individual choice  79 institutional display  304 interventionism  83 late neoliberalism  29–​30 as only hope  83 open state paradigm  45, 106, 259, 272 overlapping with government  63 overload  84 process of state building  267–​8 prospective policy analysis  74–​88 “rediscovery” of  301 reform of  285, 300, 301–​2 regulatory capacity  32 relative autonomy  56–​7, 61–​2 revalorization of  28 rule of law  66 as social relation  24, 51, 56, 59–​60, 68, 83–​4, 231–​2 state in action  61, 62 state in motion  65, 68 “state positions”  68 state terrorism  93 statehood  57, 70, 259, 263, 268 state-​society relationship  22–​4, 33, 35–​6 structures of  109–​10 think tanks  245 third way  84–​5 Vilas’ work on concepts of  49–​50 State and Public Policies Area (FLASCO)  21–​7, 28, 30, 32, 33, 37 state reform  285, 300, 301–​2 state theory/​theory of state  61, 267–​9 statehood  57, 70, 259, 263, 268 state-​owned companies  110, 292 strategic competencies  115 Stren, R.  139, 140, 141 structural complicity  72n7 structural functionalism  45, 46, 59, 330 structuralism  25 subaltern classes  65 Subirats, J.  9, 230, 305 subnational governance  119–​32 see also local governments; municipal level supranational actors  32, 80–​1 Supreme Court  134 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)  119

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Index T tax collection  340 teacher training  305–​6 teachers of public policy studies  305–​6 Tecco, C.  139, 141 technical knowledge  114–​15, 201, 211, 325 technocracy  201, 235 technology  comparative public administration (CPA)  331, 348–​51 COVID-​19  271–​2 cultural assumptions  334 disruptive technologies  45 exponential era  270 local governments  143 management technology  108 networks  166, 168 prospective policy analysis  78, 79 specialization  108 technological revolution  28 third way  84 techno-​political cadres  230–​41 temporary contracts  112, 194 tenure rates  193 terms of office (lawmakers)  193 territorial levels  34 territorial revaluation  32 terrorism  81, 93 theology  46 Think 20  254 think tanks  242–​58 third industrial revolution  83 third way  84–​5 Thwaites Rey, M.  43, 51–​2, 203, 232, 302 Tilly, C.  337 Torcuato Di Tella Institute  13, 42, 44, 58, 259, 263, 272n2, 299, 300, 306 trade unions  93, 95, 96, 100–​1, 111–​12, 205, 222, 339 training  CAG (Corps of Government Administrators)  174–​7 Federal Training Program  209 legislative branches  191–​2 plain language  196 political cadres formation/​training  230–​41 professional public management training  105–​18 public policy training tracks  297–​310 virtual training  115, 191, 192, 302, 315 trajectory, as concept  43–​4 transparency  80, 176, 195

trials  94 turnover of positions  113

U Uña, G.  245, 253 Undersecretary of Civil Service  93, 97 unemployment  244 Unión del Personal Civil de la Nación (UPCN)  100–​1, 111–​12 unions  93, 95, 96, 100–​1, 111–​12, 205, 222, 339 United Nations (UN)  emergence of supranational entities  80–​1 institutionalization  255 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)  119 UNDP (United Nations Development Programme)  102, 141 UNESCO  47–​8 UNISDR (United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction)  121, 124 Universidad Argentina de la Empresa  12 Universidad Austral  115 Universidad de Buenos Aires  11, 12, 45, 51, 142, 192, 234, 235, 251, 300–​1, 311 Universidad Católica de Córdoba  12 Universidad del Comahue  12, 308n9 Universidad del Salvador (USAL)  3, 11, 45, 46, 219, 263, 299, 301 Universidad de San Andrés  12, 47, 115 Universidad Metropolitana para la Educación y el Trabajo  12, 301, 303 Universidad Nacional de Córdoba  10, 12, 220 Universidad Nacional de Cuyo  10–​11, 12, 234, 298 Universidad Nacional de Entre Ríos  12 Universidad Nacional de General Sarmiento 12 Universidad Nacional de La Plata  192, 306 Universidad Nacional de Lanús  10, 47, 49 Universidad Nacional del Litoral  12, 298 Universidad Nacional de Quilmes  142 Universidad Nacional de Rosario  12, 143, 144, 220, 222, 301, 303, 308n4 Universidad Nacional de San Martin  12, 47, 138, 143, 306, 308n9 Universidad Nacional de Tres de Febrero  12 Universidad Torcuato Di Tella  12, 311 universities  comparative public administration (CPA)  328–​55 development of public policy analysis  42 political education courses  10

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Policy Analysis in Argentina postgraduate training in public administration, management and policy  315–​17 private universities  298, 301, 303, 304, 319, 320 public administration studies  10–​11, 280 public policy study  279–​96 public policy training tracks  297–​310 research (public policy) in  12–​13 think tanks  246 training of political technical cadres  233–​5, 237, 238 University Technicature  192 UNLA (National and Latin American Thought)  48 UPCN (Unión del Personal Civil de la Nación)  100–​1, 111–​12 urban administration/​management  139–​40 urban policies  270 urbanization  78–​9, 133 Uruguay  58 USA  31, 82, 330, 331, 332, 333, 340, 345

Villar, A.  143 Villar, R.  219 Viola, General  93 virtual meetings  222 virtual training  115, 191, 192, 302, 315 Voets, J.  152, 155

V

xenophobia  29

Vaccheri, A.  218 van Wart, M.  332 Videla, General  93 Vilas, C.  43, 49–​51

W war  81 Washington Consensus  28, 30, 42–​3, 50 watchdog roles  244 wealth concentration  31 Weber, M.  22, 23, 50, 51, 61, 84, 105, 201, 230, 264, 267, 269 welfare state, beginnings of  5 Western ideas  5, 67, 85 Wilson, W.  201, 330 Wirth, M.  72n7 women  189, 285 World Bank  47, 50, 80–​1, 201, 351 world markets  57 World Trade Organization  80–​1

X Z Zagalsky, R.  221, 222 Zuvanic, L.  109, 178

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