The latest edition in the International Library of Policy Analysis series explores a comprehensive overview of policy analysis in Argentina. It explores theoretical frameworks, views of the State, the development of the field, and current paradigms before examining knowledge produced at different levels (federal, provincial, and local); the application of the discipline by 'Internal Policy Advisory Councils, Consultants, and Committees'; the role of think tanks, NGOs, and political parties; and the developments provided by university teaching and research. Analysing the conceptual frameworks and methodologies used from a meta-theoretical perspective, it provides a panoramic picture of the perspectives and challenges of policy analysis in Argentina.

The authors have two purposes in this book, and they succeed admirably at both. They develop a general model of public policy making focused on the difficulties of securing intertemporal exchanges among politicians. They combine the tools of game theory with Williamson's transaction cost theory, North's institutional arguments, and contract theory to provide a general theory of public policy making in a comparative political economy setting. They also undertake a detailed study of Argentina, using statistical analyses on newly developed data to complement their nuanced account of institutions, rules, incentives and outcomes. Mariano Tommasi (Ph.D. in Economics, University of Chicago, 1991) is Professor of Economics at Universidad de San Andres in Argentina. He is past President (2004-2005) of the Latin American and Caribbean Economic Association. He has published articles in journals such as American Economic Review; American Journal of Political Science; American Political Science Review; Journal of Development Economic; Journal of Monetary Economics; International Economic Review; Economics and Politics; Journal of Law, Economics and Organization; Journal of Public Economic Theory; Journal of International Economics; and the Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics. He has held visiting positions in Economics, Business, and Political Science at Yale, Harvard, UCLA, Tel Aviv, and various Latin American universities. He has received various fellowships and awards, including a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2006. He has been an advisor to several Latin American governments and to international organizations such as the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank.

This study analyzes how elected leaders and high courts in Argentina and Brazil interact over economic governance.

Nállim chronicles the decline of liberalism in Argentina during the volatile period between two military coups—the 1930 overthrow of Hipólito Yrigoyen and the deposing of Juan Perón in 1955. While historians have primarily focused on liberalism in economic or political contexts, Nállim instead documents a wide range of locations where liberalism was claimed and ultimately marginalized in the pursuit of individual agendas. Nállim shows how concepts of liberalism were espoused by various groups who “invented traditions” to legitimatize their methods of political, religious, class, intellectual, or cultural hegemony. In these deeply fractured and corrupt processes, liberalism lost political favor and alienated the public. These events also set the table for Peronism and stifled the future of progressive liberalism in Argentina. Nállim describes the main political parties of the period and deconstructs their liberal discourses. He also examines major cultural institutions and shows how each attached liberalism to their cause. Nállim compares and contrasts the events in Argentina to those in other Latin American nations and reveals their links to international developments. While critics have positioned the rhetoric of liberalism during this period as one of decadence or irrelevance, Nállim instead shows it to be a vital and complex factor in the metamorphosis of modern history in Argentina and Latin America as well.

Carlos Escude explains the rationale for dramatic changes in Argentina's foreign policy following the inauguration of President Carlos Menem in 1989. After decades of confrontation with the West, Argentina has abandoned an intermediate-range ballistic missile project, left the nonaligned movement, thrown in with the United States in the Gulf War, reestablished friendly relations with Britain, and undertaken a course of unilateral disarmament. Escude argues that these changes reflect Argentina's recognition that citizens of poor and vulnerable nations are asked to pay the price of attempts to engage in power politics and that those attempts often endanger the nation's citizens and increase its subordination in world affairs. Moreover, he argues that mainstream international relations theory tends to obscure such processes by dealing with states as if they were individuals whose ultimate priority is "survival," or political independence. The state-as-person fiction generalized in I-R discourse obscures the fact that in a democracy the citizens and not the state are paramount. Following this distinction to its logical consequences, Escude undertakes a thorough deconstruction of I-R theory from a "citizen-centric" perspective - the perspective, he argues, that has inspired the Menem government's dovish foreign policies.

This Digital Government Review highlights the efforts taking place in Argentina to digitalise and improve data governance in its public sector and build the foundations for a digital government. The review explores Argentina's institutional, legal and policy frameworks and their strategic role in the digital transformation of the public sector. The report also discusses how to reinforce the capacity of the public sector to "go digital" and better respond to citizens' needs. It explores how ICT procurement, management, and commissioning can help improve public sector accountability and efficiency, as well as support greater policy coherence and compliance with digital government standards. The review ends with a discussion on the state of data governance in the public sector, including data leadership and stewardship, rules and platforms for data production, sharing and interoperability, data protection, data federation, and open government data initiatives.

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