Globalization and Austerity Politics in Latin America (Cambridge Studies in Comparative Politics) - Softcover

Kaplan, Stephen B.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1107670764 ISBN 13: 9781107670761

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2013

Synopsis

In an age of financial globalization, are markets and democracy compatible? For developing countries, the dramatic internationalization of financial markets over the last two decades deepens tensions between politics and markets. Notwithstanding the rise of left-leaning governments in regions like Latin America, macroeconomic policies often have a neoliberal appearance. When is austerity imposed externally and when is it a domestic political choice? By combining statistical tests with extensive field research across Latin America, this book examines the effect of financial globalization on economic policymaking. Kaplan argues that a country's structural composition of international borrowing and its individual technocratic understanding of past economic crises combine to produce dramatically different outcomes in national policy choices. Incorporating these factors into an electoral politics framework, the book then challenges the conventional wisdom that political business cycles are prevalent in newly democratizing regions. This book is accessible to a broad audience and scholars with an interest in the political economy of finance, development and democracy, and Latin American politics.

About this title

Book Description

In an age of financial globalization, are markets and democracy compatible? The book explores the effect of financial globalization on Latin American economic policymaking. It investigates why left-leaning politicians from countries with high poverty and wage inequality often adopt conservative, market-oriented policies. Employing a multi-method research strategy that includes country studies from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, and Venezuela, the book investigates how relations between international creditors and national debtors affect economic policy choices. It finds that high bond market indebtedness and a history of inflation crises make austerity more likely, even during periods of political survival.

About the Author

Stephen B. Kaplan is an Assistant Professor of Political Science and International Affairs at George Washington University. He received his Ph.D. in Political Science from Yale University in 2009 and was awarded a postdoctoral research fellowship at Princeton University's Niehaus Globalization and Governance Center during the 2009-10 academic year. His dissertation won the American Political Science Association's Mancur Olson Prize for the best dissertation in the field of political economy. Prior to his doctoral studies, Professor Kaplan worked as a senior economic analyst at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York from 1998 to 2003, writing extensively on developing country economics, global financial market developments, and emerging market crises. His current work focuses on the political economy of global development, the politics of international finance and Latin American politics.

Edition details

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 1107670764
• ISBN 13: 9781107670761
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 360