Poverty, Soc Pol Dem

3 Credits · Level: Undergraduate

Over the past decades an increasing number of developing countries have made transitions to democracy. But at the same time, these countries ha ve relatively large portions of their populations under poverty. An obvious tension emerges: citizens with political rights make demands about their lack of social rights. How do the poor express their demands? Who represents them under democracy? How do incumbent governments reply to these demands? In this seminar course we will explore answers to these questions as we seek to analyze who represents the poor in developing democratic countries and how governments reply to their demands to retain power. We will focus on social policy as a fundamental strategy to gather the support of the poor under democracy. We will study formal and legal institutions, such as Conditional Cash Transfers, as well as informal institutions, such as patronage and clientelism. Most, but not all, of the literature will focus on Latin America. The course will be taught by Fr. Rodrigo Zarazaga, the Visiting Jesuit Scholar at Georgetown and a Director and Professor of Politics at CIAS, the School for Political Leadership in Buenos Aires, Argentina.