Latin American Policy最新文献

The article posits that the concept of technology policy maneuver helps to understand the different ways in which peripheral states may respond to the inducements and pressures of hegemonic powers to pursue a particular technology policy choice. Technology policy maneuver may or may not have a direction of alignment with the hegemon's preferences, depending on the state's foreign policy orientation and the existence of countervailing inducements and pressures by foreign states and related interest groups that offset those imposed by the hegemon. Moreover, the intensity of the policy state maneuver depends on the presence of a link between the country's foreign and national technology policies. This article illustrates technology policy maneuver by undertaking a comparative examination of three telecommunications policy choices made by different Argentine administrations—a digital TV standard, 5G, and Wi-Fi 6. These examples shed light on the kind of agency Argentine policymakers had amid hegemonic inducements and pressures.

This article explores how medicinal cannabis policy reforms in Colombia and Argentina evolved not through radical legislative overhaul but through incremental and contested adjustments during implementation. Drawing on the policy paradigms framework, we offer a Latin American application of recent conceptualizations that view paradigms not as fully formed at the time of adoption but as gradually constructed through actor responses to implementation anomalies—mismatches between policy expectations and real-world effects. Using comparative process tracing, we show how mid-level bureaucrats, civil society actors, and cannabis entrepreneurs reinterpreted these anomalies to revise instruments, redefine goals, and reshape ideas of legitimate medical cannabis use. In Colombia, a pharmaceutical, export-oriented paradigm was adjusted in response to market and bureaucratic bottlenecks by authorizing flower exports and tolerating informal access arrangements. In Argentina, civil society pressure led to reforms recognizing home and associative cultivation, culminating in an inclusive industrial legislation. These cases illustrate that implementation is not a neutral delivery phase but a key arena for paradigm construction and political contestation. The article contributes to scholarship on policy change, moral regulation, and cannabis governance by showing how post-decision reforms can recalibrate the content and direction of emerging policy paradigms.

Amazonia is one of the most ecological and culturally significant regions on the planet, yet it continues to experience deep social and economic marginalization. This article examines the paradox of a territory rich in biodiversity and environmental assets that struggles to convert this wealth into sustainable development and human well-being. Drawing on original fieldwork conducted in the Brazil–Peru–Colombia tri-border region, and combining insight from historical, economic, and institutional analysis, the article explores the forces shaping Amazonia's development trajectory. It assesses critically the emergence of the bioeconomy as an alternative to extractive growth models, highlighting both its transformative potential and its inherent contradictions, particularly regarding the commodification of ecosystem services and weak institutional capacity. Through 4 original community-based case studies, the article demonstrates how local initiatives led by indigenous and traditional actors are reconciling biodiversity conservation with inclusive economic strategies. The study's key finding is that sustainable development in Amazonia is not only technically feasible but already underway in many grassroots initiatives, though scaling these efforts requires institutional transformation grounded in territorial governance, intercultural dialog, and historical awareness. The article argues that Amazonia's future hinges not just on innovation but on rethinking development itself.

Understanding the contextual dynamics of development projects is essential for achieving effective and sustainable outcomes. While existing frameworks provide guidance for translating rural development concepts into structured thematic areas and indicators, they often lack specificity to regional characteristics. This limitation is particularly evident in regions like Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), where diverse socioeconomic and geographical contexts demand tailored approaches. Here, we developed a dedicated framework designed to capture the unique features of the LAC region. It is structured around four dimensions, 14 themes, and 33 parameters, providing a comprehensive foundation for planning and evaluating rural development initiatives. To operationalize this framework, we employed machine learning techniques to group countries based on shared characteristics and similarities, enabling an unbiased identification of key dimensions. Our analysis identified eight clusters, some reflecting geographical coherence—such as island nations in the Caribbean and countries in northern Central America—while others revealed unexpected groupings, including Brazil with Ecuador and Panama. These results underscore the utility of the framework in uncovering both intuitive and novel insights. This contextualized framework offers a robust reference tool for exploring rural development in LAC, facilitating evidence-based planning and fostering a deeper understanding of the region's diverse rural contexts.

We argue that affective polarization and foreign policy preferences are deeply connected in Mexico and the United States. Based on data from an online survey conducted by the authors involving graduate students preparing to influence public policymaking, this article reveals that polarized partisans in the two nations have contrasting viewpoints about the problems of the neighboring country and about the role that their own country should play in the binational relationship. In the United States, extreme Democrats and moderates are more prone to binational collaboration and more critical of the role that the United States has played regarding Mexico's policy problems. Extreme Republicans are more critical of the binational relationship and have a more negative view of Mexico and its problems than other partisan groups. In Mexico, polarized supporters of the Morena party have the most nationalist foreign policy preferences, while their political rivals are more prone to the United States. Our findings emphasize that the binational relationship is twice as divisive for Americans than for Mexicans and that there are a few policy issues where rival political groups converge. Our study uniquely examines the relationship between affective polarization and foreign policy preferences in the context of the Mexico–United States relationship.

Several studies indicate that characteristics of food environments affect eating behavior. The transformation of food environments depends on their regulation, and participatory bodies can provide greater relevance and legitimacy to these regulations. This article presents the results of the final phase of the study “Assessing food environments at home: a contribution to local policies.” Local stakeholders in two Chilean communes constructed the recommendations; inputs for the construction of the proposals come from previous phases, (1) adaptation and validation of the Perceived Nutritional Environment Measurement Survey (NEMS-P-Ch) and (2) application of NEMS-P-Ch in households in high and low socioeconomic sectors, and comparison of results. After conducting two workshops and two discussions, a matrix of public policy recommendations was constructed to improve food environments. The results show that the population is aware of the issue, that they are clear about the solutions to the problems that affect them, and that what was proposed requires political will on the part of both local and national authorities. There is a clear need to transform food environments from the regulatory, normative, programmatic, and legislative point of view, as well as to strengthen people's capacities and skills to manage their health.