Editorial
Abstract
We are witnessing the most recent expressions of the changes in the capitalist economy and the state that have been taking place since the crisis of the Bretton Woods system, which framed the development of the Welfare State in Europe, the United States, and some Latin American societies (with well-known regional and local variations) within the context of geopolitical and geostrategic competition with the Soviet bloc and the People's Republic of China. The capitalism of industrial chimneys and blast furnaces, as envisioned by Marx, and the mass production of consumer goods epitomized by Henry Ford, evolved into financial capitalism, which would reach exponential growth after the 2007-2008 crisis and continues to expand. The fiscal (O'Connor) and regulatory social-democratic, national-popular, and even liberal-democratic state was transformed into a state of indebtedness (Streeck), an effect and, at the same time, an active promoter of new forms of accumulation, reconfiguring the reciprocal interactions that fueled the history of the various forms of political and economic power. Concomitant transformations spurred equally profound changes in the configuration of social actors, giving rise to equally significant feedback loops.
Pamela Bravo's article analyzes the impact of these new forms of capitalism on political power in its state configuration and in the world of work. Criticisms of environmental deterioration and ecosystem degradation, identified as effects of the new political-economic-financial-ideological configurations, have stimulated the development of proposals to compensate for the balance between costs and benefits. Pablo Bortz and María Alejandra Garrido focus on the development of the market for social, green, and sustainable bonds in Argentina.
Another effect of these new configurations is the accelerated reduction of social policy to mere assistance. Ana Logiudice's text focuses, from a historical perspective, on social policy in far-right "libertarian" regimes, proposing explanatory hypotheses and pointing out continuities and ruptures with respect to previous experiences. Andrea Daverio highlights the sharp setback in gender policy during Javier Milei's administration. The evolution of the treatment of educational issues in Latin American public policies is the subject of the text by Jaime Augusto Porras Jiménez and Franklin Arévalo Flórez. In her article on neo-developmentalism and culture, Nancy Llantada proposes a retrospective look at a more socially balanced Latin American capitalism—notwithstanding its many tensions, conflicts, and contradictions—such as that which characterized Argentina and Brazil in the mid-20th century, each with its own particularities. Sharpening the contrasts between different types of capitalism and state policies, Katia Barros Esquivel's article discusses a proposed urban financing policy based on the design of target groups.
*** José Bell Lara, professor at the University of Havana and researcher at the FLACSO Program at that University, has been awarded the 2025 National Social Sciences Prize. An eminent sociologist and historian, he has been a member of this journal's Advisory Board since its inception. RPPP is honored to have his collaboration and joins in this well-deserved recognition.
*** With this issue, the journal Perspectives on Public Policy concludes fifteen years of uninterrupted publication. The product of an initiative by the then-director of the Department of Planning and Public Policy at UNLa, Dr. Ana Farber, the support provided from the beginning by Rector Ana Jaramillo was crucial for the journal's launch. The idea of creating a specialized academic journal on this topic at UNLa, and particularly within its Department of Political and Social Development (DPPP), was presented in a series of informal meetings among colleagues from various national universities during the Fifth Argentine Congress of Public Administration, organized by the Argentine Association of Public Administration Studies, which met in the city of San Juan in mid-2009. The idea was reiterated the following year at the Conference “State and Public Administration in Argentina in the Bicentennial” (May 2010), held as part of the national bicentennial celebrations. In both cases, the reception was positive. The same occurred at the First Extraordinary International Congress of Political Science (National University of San Juan/Government of the Province of San Juan, August 2010) and at the Second Conference on Political Science Research organized by the National University of Entre Ríos (Paraná, November 2010). All these meetings highlighted the existence of an academic discussion forum where diverse disciplines and approaches intersected, but which lacked a specialized publication. The journal Perspectives on Public Policy adopted as its central objective to help fill that gap. As we reach our 15th anniversary, we thank all those who, in one way or another, contributed to our success.
Carlos M. Vilas, Director
