CEPAL Review - Volume 1997, Issue 62, 1997

The World Summit for Social Development, held in Copenhagen on 11 and 12 March 1995, brought up once more the ideals which gave rise to the United Nations at the San Francisco Conference and which have since been reasserted in many forums of the Organization. The maintenance of peace and security, although an irreplaceable element in the peaceful coexistence of nations, was not the only objective of that Conference, however: it also sought to lay the foundations for a form of coexistence which would make possible more harmonious development. The United Nations Charter which emerged from that meeting was the clear expression of a humanistic spirit and of the quest for democratic ideals and values which made human beings the centre of governments’ concern.

Latín America is currently undergoing a strategic turnaround with far-reaching implications: from an inward-oriented form of development with heavy State intervention in production and the system of prices, to an outward-oriented development strategy in the context of a free market, with the private sector playing the leading role. This study analyses the seven main reforms associated with this neo-liberal strategy.

Public indebtedness -and especially domestic indebtedness- is steadily increasing in a number of countries of the region, despite the major fiscal adjustment processes that have been carried out since the mid-1980s. This article analyses the main problems that this raises for public policy. It first reviews the question of the sustainability of public indebtedness. It then analyses the possible effects of privatization processes, the accumulation of indebtedness against assets, the increase in indebtedness not backed up by prior financing or contingent liabilities, the sustainability of the debt in terms of the acceptable level of inflation, the factors determining expectations regarding the sustainability oT fiscal policy and the effects of those expectations on interest rates and sustainable levels of indebtedness, and the extent to which the management of the debt affects its sustainability, and vice versa.

In the 1990s, a considerable number of countries of the region embarked on substantial changes in their regulations governing the oil industry, with the aim of doing away with public monopolies, promoting competitive markets, and encouraging increased private investment under new forms of contracts. These reforms had a considerable impact on the economic stabilization programmes, since they involved price corrections which helped to reduce fiscal pressures, as well as leading to the restructuring and financial reorganization of public oil companies.

This article analyses the recent increase in the importance of indigenous peoples as political and social actors in the region, reviewing the changes that have taken place in the situation of the indigenous peoples, the relationship between the State and such peoples, the forging of new identities, and cultural changes: questions that are all being reappraised in the light of what has become known as “the ethnic question". The author highlights the existence of a number of leading threads which appear and reappear in the various types of indigenous movements.

Non-agricultural rural employment accounts for an increasing proportion of total rural employment in Latin America. Its potential for stimulating rural development has been noted, but it has also been analysed as a focal point of poverty. This article considers the magnitude and composition of this employment in some of the Central American countries and examines the conditions under which nonagricultural activities may help to improve rural employment and income.

Within Latin America, Uruguay stands out by its equalitarian income distribution, the solidity of its democratic institutions, and its level of social integration. Over the last decade, however, there have been signs of cracks in this desirable image which adversely affect the harmony of social relations. These cracks take the form of marginal behaviour: i.e., types of behaviour which are not governed by socially accepted patterns. In this study, the explanation for these types of behaviour has been sought in the divergences between cultural goals, the structures of opportunities for attaining those goals, and the shaping of individual capacities for taking advantage of them. A central premise of the approach adopted is that the factors determining marginal forms of behaviour build up their effects in a cyclical manner throughout the different stages of individual lives and from generation to generation.

This study looks at the main obligations arising from the World Trade Organization and their repercussions on the design of trade policy. First of all, the study analyses the content of the world trade system and the problems it raises, and highlights the fact that, as the number of questions considered expands and an ever-increasing number of policies are brought under international scrutiny, the delicate balance between trade policy and negotiations must be adjusted more and more exactly. It is pointed out that the commitments entered into within the context of the WTO indicate the direction but not the depth of trade reforms in Latin America. Closer analysis of the obligations arising from the WTO shows that they offer substantial leeway.

One aspect of globalization that Latin American and Caribbean countries will have to confront is the increase in trade restrictions on environmental grounds. Not by chance, the first dispute judged by the new Appellate Body of the World Trade Organization that began to function in February 1996 was an environmental dispute involving the United States and Latin American countries. Two trends -more open economies and rapid growth in international trade, on the one hand, and, on the other, the broader acknowledgement of “environmental responsibilities” by the international community, as expressed in a number of new multilateral environmental agreements- have brought to the forefront two questions: are trade restrictions an effective instrument for implementing environmental policy? and to what extent are environmental restrictions changing international trade and competitiveness? Policy-makers are in fact replying to these questions in contradictory ways, as empirical studies to assess the impact of environment-related trade measures and trade-related environmental measures are only beginning.

This study deals with the question of macroeconomic coordinanation in the context of MERCOSUR, analysing the contribution that different types of nominal anchors (monetary and exchangerate) could make to the achievement of convergence of nominal indicators and sustained economic growth. The possible gains in terms of well-being associated with policy coordination are explored, in order to permit a rational evaluation of proposals for greater monetary coordination. An analysis is made of the problem of selecting the nominal anchor most suitable for serving as the basis for cooperative agreements, in an economy affected by real and monetary disturbances.

Ten years ago the member countries of the Central American Common Market (Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua) began to turn away from the “inward-oriented development” policy they had been applying for decades. They are now encouraging non-traditional exports by lowering tariff barriers, unifying exchange rates, and giving exporters access to intermediate and capital goods at international prices.