In Ideas and Institutions, Kathryn Sikkink illuminates a key question in contemporary political economy: What power do ideas wield in the world of politics and policy? Sikkink traces the effects of one enormously influential set of ideas, developmentalism, on the two largest economies in Latin America, Brazil and Argentina.

Introduced under the intellectual leadership of Raul Prebisch at the U.N. Economic Commission for Latin America, developmentalism was embraced as national policy in many postwar developing economies. Drawing upon extensive archival research and interviews, Sikkink explores the adoption, implementation, and consolidation of the developmentalist model of economic policy in Brazil and Argentina in the 1950s and 1960s, focusing on the governments of Juscelino Kubitschek and Arturo Frondizi, respectively.

In accounting for the initial decision to adopt developmentalist policies in Latin America and the persistence of the policy package in the region, she highlights the importance of political and economic ideas, the comparative effects of different national institutions, and the variable ability of political leaders to mobilize resources and support.

About the Author
Kathryn Sikkink is the Arleen C. Carlson Professor of Political Science at the University of Minnesota. She is the author of Ideas and Institutions: Developmentalism in Brazil and Argentina and coauthor with Margaret E. Keck of Activists beyond Borders: Advocacy Networks in International Politics, also from Cornell, winner of the 1999 Grawemeyer Award for Ideas Improving World Order.

Reviews

Sikkink contributes significantly to the analysis of the role of ideas and institutions (as opposed to 'interests') in adopting economic development models, in this intriguing study of 'developmentalism' in Brazil (1956-61) and Argentina (1958-62).... Sikkink asks why both countries adopted this approach (mostly for ideological reasons), and why it largely succeeded in Brazil and failed in Argentina.

* Choice *

This is an outstanding study of a topic central to Latin America's development after 1945. It will give both experts and students a clear understanding of the state-directed developmentalism in Latin America that attained hegemonic status among progressive regimes by the end of the 1950s and that still garners powerful support in political circles.... Sikkink's work presents a fruitful approach to the vexed question of Latin America's stymied development in the years after 1945.

* Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science *



Book Information
ISBN 9780801478673
Author Kathryn A. Sikkink
Format Paperback
Page Count 288
Imprint Cornell University Press
Publisher Cornell University Press
Weight(grams) 454g
Dimensions(mm) 229mm * 152mm * 21mm