The Emerald Handbook of Public Administration in Latin America

The Emerald Handbook of Public Administration in Latin America

Edited By

B. Guy Peters

University of Pittsburgh, USA

Carlos Alba Tercedor

Autonomous University of Madrid, Spain

Conrado Ramos

Universidad de la Republica, Uruguay

United Kingdom – North America – Japan – India – Malaysia – China

Emerald Publishing Limited

Howard House, Wagon Lane, Bingley BD16 1WA, UK

First edition 2021

Copyright © 2021 Emerald Publishing Limited.

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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978-1-83982-677-1 (Print)

ISBN: 978-1-83982-676-4 (Online)

ISBN: 978-1-83982-678-8 (Epub)

B. Guy Peters is Maurice Falk Professor of Government at the University of Pittsburgh, and former president of the International Public Policy Association. He is currently Honorary Editor of the Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis and editor of the International Review of Public Policy. His most recent publications are Administrative Traditions (Oxford University Press) and Governance, Politics and the State, second ed. (Macmillan, with Jon Pierre).

Carlos Alba Tercedor is Professor Emeritus of Political Science and Public Administration at the Autonomous University of Madrid. During his long career, he wrote extensively in areas such as administrative reform, local government, administrative elites, and administrative reform. He also was involved in a number of projects and consultancies with the government of Spain and a number of international organizations.

Conrado Ramos is full Professor of Government and Public Administration at the Department of Political Science of the Faculty of Social Sciences, Universidad de la República. He has published extensively about public administration reforms in Latin America, with focus on civil service systems, models of public management, and the politics of patronage. Among his latest publications are Ramos Larraburu, C. (2019); The Politics of bureaucracy: A view from the South. British Journal of Politics and International Relations; Panizza, F., Peters, B. G., and Ramos Larraburu, C. R. (2019). Roles, trust, and skills: A typology of patronage appointments. Public Administration, 97(1), 147–161; Ramos Larraburu, C., Milanesi, A., and Casa, M. (2019). Desafíos de la construcción de servicios civiles en Brasil y Uruguay. Revista do Serviço Público, 70(1), 157–187;

Susan AlbertsIndependent Consultant, Washington DC
Martin AlessandroProfessor of Public Policies at the Master in Public Policies, School of Government, Universidad Torcuato di Tella
J. Ignacio CriadoAssociate Professor/Senior Lecturer in Political Science and Public Administration, and Head, Research Group Innovation, Technology and Public Management, Department of Political Science and International Relations, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
Nuria Cunill-GrauPrincipal Researcher at CEDER, Universidad de los Lagos, Chile
Mireya DavilaAssistant Professor in Public Policies at the Institute of Political Studies, Universidad de Chile
Francisco GaetaniCoordinator of the Professional Master Program of Public Administration, Fundación Getulio Vargas-Río de Janeiro
Diego Gonnet IbarraPublic Policy Specialist at the Office of Planning and Budgeting. Presidency of Uruguay
Mercedes IacovielloPublic Administration specialist and Visiting Researcher at CEDES
Mariano LafuenteLead Public Management Specialist at IADB
Mercedes LlanoAssociate Professor in Political Sciences at the Faculty of Political and Social Sciences, Universidad Nacional de Cuyo and Visiting Researcher at CEDES
Claudia MaldonadoProfessor of Public Administration at the Public Administration Division, CIDE-Mexico
José-Luis MéndezProfessor of Political Science at Center for International Studies, El Colegio de Mexico, Mexico
Alejandro MilanesiAssistant Professor Government and Public Administration at the Department of Political Sciences, Universidad de la República, Uruguay
Juan Javier NegriProfessor of Political Science at the School of Politics and Government, Universidad Nacional de San Martín, Argentina
Sonia M. OspinaProfessor of Public Management and Policy at the Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, New York University
Violeta PallaviciniAssociate Professor in Public Administration at the School of Public Administration, Universidad de Costa Rica
Pedro PalottiResearcher at the Institute for Applied Economic Research and Professor in Public Administration at the National School of Public Administration and at the Public Law Institute of Brasilia
Diego PandoProfessor in Public Management at the School of Business Management, Universidad de San Andrés
María del Carmen PardoAssociate Professor in Public Administration at the Public Administration Division, CIDE-Mexico
Roberto PiresResearcher at the Institute for Applied Economic Research and Professor at the National School of Public Administration
Conrado RamosProfessor of Government and Public Administration at the Department of Political Sciences, Universidad de la República, Uruguay
Christian SchusterProfessor in Public Management at the School of Public Policy, University College London
Arturo ValenzuelaEmeritus Professor of Government and International Service, Georgetown University, Washington DC
Manuel VilloriaProfessor of Political Science and Administration at the Faculty of Social Sciences and Law, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Madrid
María Victoria WhittinghamProfessor in Public Policy at the Escuela Superior de Administración Pública, Colombia
Cristina ZurbriggenAggregate Professor of Public Policies at the Faculty of Social Sciences, Universidad de la República, Uruguay

This Handbook is the culmination of many – too many – years of work attempting to bring together a collection of studies of public administration in Latin America. The project began approximately a decade ago and was motivated by the belief that there was inadequate knowledge about public administration in Latin America. There was a great deal of legalistic discussion on the ways administration should function, but much less about how public administration in these countries functioned in practice. A number of scholars had been publishing interesting material, but these needed to be brought together and made more accessible to a wider public, especially for an English-speaking readership. The project was started by Carlos Alba and Guy Peters; when additional energy was needed to complete the project, Conrado Ramos joined the editorial team.

The concept behind this Handbook was to have some chapters that covered the administrative systems of individual countries, as well as some that covered important topics in public administration across the region. We could not cover all Latin American countries with individual chapters, so attempted to include chapters that provided information about the largest systems, as well as those with distinctive features. Those choices were, of course, also constrained by the availability of authors interested in participating in the project. Likewise, the comparative chapters were intended to cover several important aspects of public administration in these countries; however, there is a big emphasis on issues of accountability, reflecting the history of corruption and clientelism in Latin American administrations.

In addition to those of us with chapters included in this volume, several other people and organizations have helped make this project a reality. We received funding from the Ministry of Public Administration in Spain for an initial conference. The United Nations Development Fund supplied additional resources for cooperation among authors. In addition, the Latin American Studies Center at the University of Pittsburgh provided additional resources.

This book has benefited greatly from the excellent editing and management by Morgan Fairless at the London School of Economics. We would also like to acknowledge the patience and professionalism displayed by Hazel Goodes and her colleagues at Emerald Publishing. They have endured endless delays in the completion of the manuscript with grace and have continued to support the project regardless. They, like us, are thankful that the project is now complete. We hope the readers of this Handbook are equally as happy.

B. Guy Peters

Conrado Ramos

Carlos Alba