Mercedes Botto Andrea Carla Bianculli - Flacso

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INDEX Introduction 1. Literature review and concept definition 2. Setting the context 2.1. A first move towards trade liberalization: Alfonsín and the Integration and Economic Program (PICE) (1987-1989) 2.2. Acceleration of the liberalization program: Menem and the Common External Tariff (CET) (1991-1995) 3. Characterization of the research-policy relationship 3.1. The Capital Goods Protocol (CGP) 3.1.1. Academic production 3.1.2. Research-policy articulation 3.1.3. Utilization in decisions 3.2. The Common External Tariff (CET) 3.2.1. Academic production 3.2.2. Research–policy articulation 3.2.3. Utilization in decisions 4. Impact evaluation: an initial comparative analysis 5. Some final remarks Bibliography List of interviewees 2
INTRODUCTION By the mid-1980s, the Argentine government launched a process of trade liberalization that would not be reversed in the future. This decision was framed within the political guidelines – conditionalities – that the World Bank demanded in order to release the loans the country needed to solve its foreign debt difficulties. However, within these broad guidelines, Argentina, as was the case with borrowing countries in general, still had ample freedom of action in terms of both strategic and contingency decisions, as when deciding to opt for either a unilateral liberalization process or a negotiated one; when deciding either to privilege a project involving deep integration or mere trade initiatives, or when choosing to establish bilateral agreements with border countries, or with Northern countries. In sum, options were not limited. The novelty1 and complexity of each of these definitions opened a window of opportunity for the influence of knowledge and academic research. Through their participation in the decisional process, academics could bridge the gap in terms of the uncertainty these new challenges posed, and also contribute to prevent or avoid the unwanted costs of the reforms, such as those brought about by trade liberalization. Political and academic literature has strongly debated about the impact ideas have on the decisional process since the early days of the Post-war. Two paradigms emerge within this debate. The first of these approaches argues that social researchers play a crucial role in the rationalization of the decision-making process. The second approach, which assumes a rather sceptical vision of this relationship, portrays the decisional process as chaotic and decisions as being the result of mutual adjustments among the different actors and arenas involved. Based on this second paradigm, this paper claims that researchers are only one of the agents involved in the decision-making process, endowed with a specific type of knowledge – namely, scientific knowledge – and their influence depends on their rivalry or imbrications with the knowledge of other local actors. The paper is thus aimed at analyzing and evaluating to what extent social research has influenced the trade policy-making process since the reestablishment of democracy until nowadays. In addition, we intend to identify which factors promote its influence in Argentina. Hence, this research emphasizes those least known or publicized aspects of the trade policy. This does not entail analyzing neither the scope nor the content of the trade liberalization process. Instead, we will focus on the processes, actors, and capabilities that have an impact on the decision-making process. Building on the current debate about the nexus between knowledge and politics, within this paper we analyze two processes of influence. The first, which can be characterized as a successful case, refers to the establishment of the Capital Goods Protocol (CGP), signed with Brazil during the 1 Even if these countries had participated in the negotiations within the Latin America Integration Association (LAIA) during the 1970s and/or implemented neoliberal policies before, the novelty and main implication of the new global context was given by the existence of multilateral mechanisms of control – namely, the World Trade Organization (WTO) – which keeps governments from reversing the path initiated and from establishing measures of unilateral protection as they used to apply. 3
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Page 21 and 22: objectives. First, he had to advice
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Page 41 and 42: International Organization, 46(1):

Mercedes Botto Andrea Carla Bianculli - Flacso

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