[EQ] OUTSIDERS? The Changing Patterns of Exclusion in Latin America and the Caribbean

OUTSIDERS? The Changing Patterns of Exclusion in Latin America and the Caribbean

 

Inter-American Development Bank, 2007 Washington, DC

Co-published by David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies, Harvard University

Harvard University Press Cambridge, Massachusetts- London, England

 

Available online as PDF file [302p.] at: http://idbdocs.iadb.org/wsdocs/getdocument.aspx?docnum=1154386

 

“….The 2008 edition of the Report on Economic and Social Progress deals with the changing patterns of social inclusion and exclusion, one of the most pressing concerns faced by policymakers in Latin America and the Caribbean. In fact, much of the lively debate on the economic and social policies needed to attain sustainable and equitable growth hinges on the issue of social inclusion. What this report shows is that attaining social inclusion demands not only redressing past injustices with resource transfers and affirmative action programs, but also, and more importantly, changing the way decisions are made, resources are allocated, and policies are implemented.

 

Social exclusion is the most dangerous threat that democracy faces in Latin America and the Caribbean. The advent of democracy in our region was the result of a dramatic social struggle that engaged the majority of the population under the banner of creating more modern, more prosperous, and fairer societies. Indeed, the past quarter century has witnessed significant progress that made our political systems more democratic, confronted the corrosive effects of rampant inflation, and integrated our economies into the world market. Yet progress has not been limited to politics and economics:

life expectancy, health, literacy, and other indicators of well-being have improved and continue to improve. But poverty, inequality, and lack of good jobs and opportunities to facilitate social mobility for the majority represent areas in which a great deal of work remains to be done—and in which Latin American and Caribbean societies are more than ever demanding results.

 

At the same time, social exclusion cannot be addressed by short-term or simple “fixes” because it is a complex phenomenon with many interrelated and mutually reinforcing features. Violence, crime, social protests, lack of integration into the financial system, and lack of access to the health and education systems, among other limitations, can condemn members of excluded groups to lives of poverty and squalor. Transforming societies into ones in which the color of a person’s skin or the wealth of a person’s parents does not determine the fate of present and future generations is a complex process aimed at promoting the integration of the majority into the mechanisms and institutions that allow included groups to work, do business, and prosper.

 

Promoting social inclusion requires well coordinated and carefully considered actions on the part of both governments and civil society to advance the rights of excluded groups. This includes changing both the wider rules by which societies operate and the specific ways in which programs and policies are implemented. …”

 

Content:

Part I The Changing Patterns of Inclusion and Exclusion

Chapter 1 Outsiders? .

Chapter 2 Traditional Excluding Forces: A Review of the Literature .

Chapter 3 Discrimination in Latin America: The Proverbial Elephant in the Room?.

Chapter 4 State Reform and Inclusion: Changing Channels and New Actors

Chapter 5 Bad Jobs, Low Wages, and Exclusion

Chapter 6 Social Mobility and Social Exclusion .

Chapter 7 To What Extent Do Latin Americans Trust and Cooperate? Field Experiments on Social Exclusion in Six Latin American Countries .

Part II Beyond Material Deprivation

Chapter 8   Privatization and Social Exclusion in Latin America.

Chapter 9   Exclusion and Politics

Chapter 10 Social Exclusion and Violence

Chapter 11 Exclusion and Financial Services.

Chapter 12 Modern Forms of Program Delivery and Exclusion.

Part III Advancing inclusion

Chapter13 Inclusion and Public Policy.

Chapter14 The Inclusion Process in Motion in Latin America and the Caribbean

References

 

 

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