Transforming Latin America: The International and Domestic Origins of Change

Extract

Transforming Latin America: The International and Domestic Origins of Change. By Craig Arceneaux and David Pion-Berlin. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2005. 280p. $27.95.

In this book, Craig Arceneaux and David Pion-Berlin examine the impact of international influences on policy change in Latin American countries. As the authors correctly point out, “the scholarship on political change in Latin America provides little direction for those seeking answers to the relative impact of domestic and international forces” (p. 29). This ambitious project seeks to explain the conditions under which international actors influence governmental decisions, as well as the degree to which government policies are or are not shaped by foreign forces. To this end, they advance an “issue-guided analysis” that attempts to identify the important actors, capabilities, and modes of influence associated with policy change. The book offers a stimulating overview of foreign influences in domestic policy decisions, yet its contribution to the literature on policy reform in Latin America is limited.