When Democracies Deliver: Governance Reform in Argentina and Brazil

Abstract:

Scholars of governance reforms in developing countries often argue that the surest way to address the maladies of the state—corruption, cronyism, inefficiency, and red tape—is swift, dramatic change enacted by political leaders during moments of upheaval. This research finds that a very different type of change is not only possible but also more effective and enduring. A comparison of attempts to increase accountability, transparency, and institutional strength in Brazil and Argentina demonstrates that incremental changes sequenced over time in response to failings in previous policy provide two crucial advantages over wholesale and rapid overhauls of the state: (1) continual adjustments and modifications benefit from learning; and (2) an incremental approach makes reform more durable and helps preserve bureaucratic autonomy.

 

Speaker Bio:

Katherine Bersch is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Center for Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law at Stanford University. Her research is broadly focused on democratic quality in developing countries, with an emphasis on governance reform and state capacity in Latin America. She employs a range of research methods to understand the political conditions under which policies designed to reduce corruption, increase transparency, and enhance accountability are successful and durable. Bersch’s work has been published or is forthcoming in Comparative Politics, the European Journal of Development Research, Information Polity, and in Miguel Centeno, Atul Kohli, and Deborah Yashar's edited volume with Dinsha Mistree, States in the Developing World. Her research on state capacity with Sérgio Praça and Matthew M. Taylor recently won the LAPIS Best Paper Award from the Latin American Studies Association. Bersch received her PhD in Government from the University of Texas at Austin.