POL 325 Latin American Politics Midterm Exam Study Guide

Vocabulary flashcards covering key political and economic development concepts, historical phases, institutions, and case study terminology for Argentina and Brazil from the POL 325 midterm exam study guide.

GINI

General Inequality Index; a metric used to evaluate economic inequality within political and economic development.

HDI

Human Development Index; a composite measure of development assessed alongside indicators such as literacy, infant mortality, and life expectancy.

Christian Base Communities (CEB)

Local religious communities linked to liberation theology and the Roman Catholic Church in Latin America.

Liberation theology

A theological movement within the Roman Catholic Church associated with Christian Base Communities (CEB) and social action among the popular sector.

Popular sector

A broad societal grouping comprising peasants, workers, and the urban poor.

Monocrop, monoproduct economies

Economies focused heavily on the export of a single primary commodity, typically in sectors such as agriculture or mining.

ISI

Import Substitution Industrialization; an economic strategy aimed at fostering domestic industry through tariffs, non-tariff barriers, state subsidies, nationalization, and state-owned enterprises.

SOE

State Owned Enterprises; government-established corporations utilized in state-led development and ISI strategies.

MNCs

Multi-national Corporations (also referred to as TNCs); foreign corporate entities engaged in foreign direct or portfolio investment in Latin America.

Foreign investment

Cross-border capital flows comprising Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and Foreign Portfolio Investment (FPI).

Dual transition

The simultaneous historical process in Latin America encompassing democratization and the adoption of neoliberal economic reforms.

CCT

Conditional Cash Transfer; a social welfare program designed to alleviate poverty and inequality by providing financial assistance conditioned on specific criteria.

Bureaucratic-Authoritarianism (BA)

An authoritarian regime type analyzed in Guillermo O’Donnell’s theory, tied to the timing and model of development in Latin American countries such as Argentina and Brazil.

The "dirty war"

A period of state repression in Argentina characterized by human rights atrocities committed by the military government.

Law of Full Stop

An Argentine legislative measure related to military amnesty following the human rights violations of the military regime.

Law of Due Obedience

An Argentine legal statute granting military amnesty for human rights atrocities committed during the military dictatorship.

Argentina's Convertibility Plan

A neoliberal economic policy implemented in Argentina during the democratic era under President Menem, contrasted with Brazil's Real program.

Cardoso's Real program

An economic stabilization program implemented in Brazil during the democratic era, contrasted with Argentina's Convertibility Plan.

Informal sector

An economic realm largely engaging the poor, where workers face challenges preventing them from advancing economically or socially.

State led development

A development model characterized by state subsidies, nationalization, the creation of SOEs, and national development banks to promote the production of capital goods.

General phases of Latin American historical development

The six historical periods: colonial, independence, export boom, industrialization, bureaucratic-authoritarianism, and democracy/competitive authoritarianism.

Inertial inflation

A persistent, self-perpetuating type of inflation in Latin American economies addressed by stabilization plans.