On the 11th Dec, the International Policy Network (IPN) held
a lunchtime meeting on ‘Elections in
Participants at the meeting were: Dan Lewis (Economic Research Council), Maria Alemendra Mc Bride Perez, Diana Geddes (The Economist), Penelope Anthias (ODI), Carl Mortished (The Times), Alec van Gelder, Ellen Bisnathm and Mark Baillie (International Policy Network) Graeme Levin, Natalia Franco and Emma Gibbs.
Paulo Uebel began his presentation referring to Simon
Bolivar, who current left-wing governments in
He then gave an overview of current left-wing governments in
‘Light’ governments were those that showed respect for
liberal values and institutions such as property rights, the rule of law and
freedom of the press. The only governments in this category were Alan Garcia (
‘Moderate’ left-wing governments were those that only in
some cases showed respect for these liberal values and institutions. Governments
in this group were Lula (
‘Radical’ governments were those that did not respect any of
the above. In this category were Evo Morales (
In total, he noted that 300 million of a total 365
million inhabitants of
Uebel listed a number of factors that he considered threats to
These were:
- Populism
- Socialism, i.e. policies which represented a move towards socialism within a democratic framework.
- Protectionism and the tendency to view free trade as inherently bad, instead advocating the creation of a new regional blocs.
- Militarisation and weaponisation, justified as a defense against US intervention (Chavez)
- Weak institutions
- High transaction costs, leading to economic
slowdown
He then outlined what he considered to be the major
challenges for
- Respect for the rule of law
- Respect for property rights, including intellectual property
- Respect for contracts with multinationals (ignored or renegotiated by some left-wing governments)
- Reducing political corruption
- Reducing the tax burden
- Reducing regulation, e.g. the amount of time required to open a new business
- Sustainable development
He identified a number of ways in which he thought these challenges should be addressed. Firstly, he said, more education was required in order to convince poor people of the value of the free market. He thought a simplification of the message and more rhetoric was needed in order to communicate effectively with the masses. He referred to how left-wing politicians appealed to the poor through rhetoric which created hope of a better future and said that similar strategies could win people over to the ideals of the free market. He also suggested liberals should reclaim Simon Bolivar as a symbol of the values they advocated.
There then followed questions and a general discussion, which included the following issues:
The conflicts of interest between the interest between the poorest groups in society and big business
The issue of indigenous rights versus property rights
The prospects for
The prospects for greater regional integration
Whether the landless poor could be convinced of the value of property rights and a free market economy
How poverty and inequality can be addressed within a market-led development model
