LAPPRI Research Seminar Series: The People Problem

The Latin America Policy Process Research Initiative (LAPPRI) aims to advance established and emerging policy process theories in order to enhance scholarly understanding of policymaking in Latin America. The LAPPRI Research Seminar Series features scholars from around the world dedicated to researching policy process dynamics across the region.

Presenter:

Pablo Sanabria-Pulido (Universidad Icesi)

Title:

The People Problem: Human Capital, Public Management, and the Limits of Policy Analysis in Latin America

Abstract:

Public policy analysis in Latin America has systematically underweighted, or even ignored, the human factor. This paper argues that the behaviors, roles and processes of analysts, bureaucrats, and public managers are not merely instruments of policy processes but a central variable that explains persistent gaps between policy design and implementation outcomes.

Classical frameworks, developed largely in high-capacity state contexts, fail to account for the informality, politicization, and discretion that define Latin American administrative realities. This work makes three contributions. It develops a conceptually integrated framework connecting human capital formation, public employment design, and policy outcomes in a regionally grounded perspective. It then examines how politicization and patronage produce organizational consequences that directly undermine implementation capacity. Finally, it proposes a reform and research agenda organized around three axes: professionalizing the policy analyst role in academic and institutional settings, designing public employment arrangements aligned with regional political-administrative trajectories, and building collaborative data ecosystems to generate cumulative comparative evidence on how bureaucratic talent shapes policy results.