Michelle Dion

Eradication Efforts, the State, Displacement and Poverty: Explaining Coca Cultivation in Colombia during Plan Colombia

This study models the sub-national pattern of coca cultivation in Colombia following the implementation of Plan Colombia (2001–2005). The results suggest that aerial eradication reduces coca cultivation primarily through creation of significant displacement and that coca cultivation is less intense in areas with a significant state presence. Further, coca cultivation appears to be more common in less developed, agricultural regions where access to legal markets precludes other forms of agriculture. Poverty has a significant, non-linear effect on coca cultivation; cultivation is most intense in regions of moderate poverty. Based on the findings, efforts to reduce coca cultivation should emphasise developing local public infrastructure and market access in conjunction with poverty reduction efforts and investment in alternative development.

Exchanging and using research evidence in health policy networks: a statistical network analysis

BackgroundEvidence-informed health policymaking is a goal of equitable and effective health systems but occurs infrequently in reality. Past research points to the facilitating role of interpersonal relationships between policy-makers and researchers, imploring the adoption of a social network lens. This study aims to identify network-level factors associated with the exchange and use of research evidence in policymaking.MethodsData on social networks and research use were collected from seventy policy actors across three health policy cases in Burkina Faso (child health, malaria, and HIV). Networks were graphed for actors’ interactions, their provision of, and request for research evidence. Exponential random graph models estimated the probability of evidence provision and request between actors, controlling for network- and individual-level covariates. Logistic regression models estimated actors’ use of research evidence to inform policy.ResultsNetwork structure explained more than half of the evidence exchanges (ties) observed in these networks. Across all cases, a pair of actors was more likely to form a provision tie if they already had a request tie between them and visa versa (θ = 6.16, p < 0.05; θ = 2.87, p < 0.05; θ = 2.31, p < 0.05). The child health network displayed clustering tendencies, meaning that actors were more likely to form ties if they shared an acquaintance (θ = 2.36, p < 0.05). Actors’ use of research evidence was positively associated with their centrality (i.e., connectedness).ConclusionsThe exchange and use of research evidence in policymaking can be partly explained by the structure of actors’ networks of relationships. Efforts to support knowledge translation and evidence-informed policymaking should consider network factors.

Blogging in the Political Science Classroom

Weblogs (or blogs), as a form of communication on the Internet, have recently risen in prominence but may be poorly understood by both faculty and students. This article explains how blogs differ from other online communication tools and how political science faculty can make use of blogs in their classes. The focus is on using blogs as part of class assignments to reinforce important skills, including critical thinking, political engage ment, and essay writing. We also discuss existing academic and professional blogs that may be models for student blogging in political science. Over the last decade, information technology (IT) innovations, including in-class presentation tech nologies, course content-management systems (such as Blackboard, WebCT, and Sakai1), and e-mail, have transformed the ways that faculty teach and interact with students. Among the new technologies are a host of online tools, including Weblogs, wikis, discussion forums, and e-mail lists, that are often bundled into popular content-management systems. While these new technologies offer new opportunities, they may also present challenges for faculty who are less familiar with the differences among the tools and their potential educational uses. In this article, we focus primarily on the instructional applica tions of Weblogs (blogs), which offer particular challenges and opportunities for political science faculty who may be consider ing the use of this tool as part of their courses.2 In this regard, our purpose is to provide a basic introduction to blogging and offer some ideas, based on our experiences, for using blogging in the political science classroom.

International Organizations and Social Insurance in Mexico

AB STRACT How do international organizations (IOs) influence domestic social policy? This article answers this question using a comparison of IO participation in the social insurance policy making process in Mexico in the 1940s and 1990s. There are similarities and differences between the periods. During both periods, IOs contributed technical expertise to the policy design process. The principal IO participating in policy discussions and the means of influence differed in the 1990s from the 1940s. The comparison suggests that IOs use both hard and soft power resources to influence domestic social policy.

Globalization, Democracy, and Mexican Welfare, 1988–2006

Like many Latin American countries, Mexico not only underwent significant economic and political liberalization over the last two decades, but also transformed its welfare regime. This transformation included extensive reforms and seemingly contradictory trends. While social insurance underwent retrenchment, social assistance was ex panded.1 Mexicos privatization of its public pension system is recognized as one of the most extensive in the region, and its social assistance program has been cited as an exemplar of poverty alleviation policy for the developing world. For these reasons, Mexico has been central in comparative and qualitative studies of pension privatization and targeted social assistance and included in cross-national, quantitative studies of social spending in Latin America, though no study has combined an explicit analysis of both social insurance and social assistance. While studies may explain either pension privatization or the expansion of targeted social assistance, social insurance and social assistance have different funding mechanisms and serve different constituencies.2 These differences limit the theoretical purview of studies that address only social insurance or only social assistance. Likewise, recent quantitative research on welfare in Latin America, which often uses combined social insurance and social assistance expenditure data, does not sufficiently disaggregate spending to isolate the opposite trends of social insurance retrenchment and social insurance expansion, leading to contradictory results in this literature.3 This article explains changes in both social insurance and social assistance in Mexico over the last two decades, elucidating some apparent contradictions in existing studies of globalization, democracy, and welfare in Latin America. A comparison of social insurance and social assistance policy outcomes during the Salinas (1988-1994), Zedillo (1994-2000), and Fox (2000-2006) administrations demonstrates that, though globalization may constrain welfare policy options, its impact is often indirect, through its effect on the relative political capacity of domestic actors. Further, political liberali zation changes incentives for politicians to supply welfare, while existing welfare insti tutions create policy legacies that influence the interests of domestic political actors. In Mexico the overall pattern is one of partial retrenchment of social insurance and the expansion of targeted social assistance, a pattern explained in light of economic liberaliza tion, democratization, and policy legacies. The effects of globalization and democratic

Poverty, Inequality, Policy and Politics in Latin America

THE MICROECONOMICS OF INCOME DISTRIBUTION DYNAMICS IN EAST ASIA AND LATIN AMERICA. Edited by François Bourguignon, Francisco H. G. Ferreira, and Nora Lustig. (Washington, DC: The World Bank, 2004. Pp. 416.

All-Knowing or All-Nurturing? Student Expectations, Gender Roles, and Practical Suggestions for Women in the Classroom*

38.00 paper.) SOCIAL INCLUSION AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN LATIN AMERICA. Edited by Mayra Buvicnić and Jacqueline Mazza with Ruthanne Deutsch. (Washington, DC: Inter-American Development Bank, 2004. Pp. 361.

Sources of Support for Pension Reform: A Cross-National Perspective

24.98 paper.) CHANGING PATHS: INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND THE NEW POLITICS OF INCLUSION. Edited by Peter P. Houtzager and Mick Moore. (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2003. Pp. 304.

2008 APSA Teaching and Learning Track Summaries—Track Four: Teaching Research Methods

65.00 cloth.) ESCAPING THE POVERTY TRAP: INVESTING IN CHILDREN IN LATIN AMERICA. Edited by Ricardo Morán. (Washington, DC: Inter-American Development Bank, 2003. Pp. 125.

Planning for the Future: Methodology Training in Canadian Universities

15.95 paper.) DESARROLLO, EQUIDAD Y CUIDADANÍA: LAS POLÍTICAS SOCIALES EN AMÉRICA LATINA. Edited by Alicia Puyana and Guillermo Farfán. México, DF: Plaza y Valdés, 2003. Pp. 352.)