Understanding the third world welfare state after neoliberalism - The politics of social provision in Chile and Mexico

Most recent discussions of social policy in Latin America have been technocratic or have emphasized the convergence-inducing constraints of neoliberal development strategies and globalization. In contrast, a political explanation of welfare state development in Chile and Mexico emphasizes the persistent differences in models of social provision. Mexico has used means-tested consumption subsidies and measures to correct market failures affecting the poor, while Chile used an asset redistribution and universal entitlement approach before 1973 and quasi-universal but modest consumption subsidies after 1990. Three political variables-competitiveness of the party system, organization of the poor, and alliance patterns-account for differences in welfare regime outcomes and are framed by the structural and ideational constraints of the prevailing developmental model.