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Politicians and Economic Reform in New Democracies: Argentina and the Philippines in the 1990s (2002) part 2

January 2002

Authors:

Kent Howard Eaton

University of California, Santa Cruz

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Politicians and Economic Reform in New Democracies: Argentina and the Philippines in the 1990s (2002...

January 2002

Kent Howard Eaton

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Book

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Politicians and Economic Reform in New Democracies: Argentina and the Philippines in the 1990s (2002...

January 2002

Kent Howard Eaton

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Article

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Can Politicians Control Bureaucrats? Applying Theories of Political Control to Argentina's Democracy

December 2003 · Latin American Politics and Society

Kent Howard Eaton

In the United States, an important literature shows that legislators use interest groups, courts, and budgets to assert political control over bureaucrats. Similar theories can be applied to study the scores of new democracies that have emerged in recent decades. In Argentina, politicians in the first administration of Carlos Menem (1989-95) rewrote administrative procedures and relied on both ... [Show full abstract] “police patrol” and “fire alarm” oversight to realign the behavior of tax bureaucrats in conformance with their own policy preferences. Whereas U.S. legislators generally prefer complex administrative procedures, different electoral incentives led their Argentine counterparts to support reforms that significantly streamlined those procedures. This finding challenges theories that attribute legislators' bureaucratic preferences to the separation or fusion of powers between the executive and legislative branches.

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Political Obstacles to Decentralization: Evidence from Argentina and the Philippines

December 2002 · Development and Change

Kent Howard Eaton

Decentralization has swept across the developing world in recent years. Although the speed and scope of the shift toward more decentralized practices is striking, decentralization is neither inevitable nor irreversible. Rather, it faces enormous political obstacles and can be subject to serious setbacks. This article accounts for attempts by national politicians to thwart decentralization in two ... [Show full abstract] countries that recently adopted some of the most significant decentralizing changes in their respective regions: Argentina and the Philippines. Based on fieldwork in each country, it suggests that even after the political decision to decentralize has been made, national politicians may face deep-seated incentives to preserve centralized control over fiscal policy. In Argentina, President Carlos Menem partially reversed the previous decentralization of revenue because fiscally-independent provincial governors were a challenge to his political interests and capabilities. In the Philippines, legislators attempted to reverse and then circumvent decentralization since it threatened their status as brokers claiming personal credit for negotiating fiscal transfers from the centre. The article identifies an intermediate outcome in both countries, according to which decentralizing policies are neither entirely reversed nor implemented as initially designed.

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