Public Policy in Latin America: A Comparative Survey (Pitt series in policy & institutional studies) - Softcover

"Richly informative and especially well written. . . . Anyone wanting to understand the nature, problems, and complexities of Latin America would find Sloan's survey of real benefit." --The Times of the Americas "Sloan makes excellent use of available literature to provide the reader with a number of comparative illustrations from throughout Latin America. . . . The book's major strength lies in the author's first rate job of synthesizing almost decades of research on policy successes and failure undertaken by a variety of Latin American governments." --Journal of Interamerican Studies "Sloan has written a very useful introductory text on the topic of public policy in Latin America." --Journal of Developing Areas

The study of Latin America has long been an ideological battleground. Scholars disagree on every major issue: the impact of the U.S. influence in the region, the political orientation of the middle class, the role of the military, the rate of socioeconomic change, and the viability of reform. Public Policy in Latin America is a masterful synthesis of scholarship on the region. Sloan studies political phenomena not by making superficial comparisons between leaders, parties or styles, but by examining what governments do-the creation of public policy through political process. The decisions to stress accumulation versus distribution of economic goods, the role of the bureaucracy, and the quality of political participation tell more about a nation than what party or persons are in power.