Welfare Regimes and “progressive” governments in Latin America: The cases of Venezuela, Ecuador and Bolivia

Several authors have applied the concept of Welfare Regimens for studying social policy in Latin America (Esping-Andersen, 1993 and 2000). Among others, Martínez Franzoni (2007) develops a typology, with fi eld work is at the turn of the millennium, and establishes three categories: State-productivist regime, state-protectionist and family orientated. Most countries in the region are placed in the latter category. The hypothesis of this article argues that with the emergence of governments considered “left” or “progressive” in several countries of the region from the late ‘90s and, more decisively, in 2000’, the map of welfare regimes models could have mutated substantively. The nationally transformative experiences are different (various socio-economic realities and political action in which they are located exists) but they have several contact points that can be summarized in a greater state intervention in different areas previously closed to their operating and recovery of important functions of welfare and care of the population by the government. The paper discusses with an exploratory and descriptive approach the welfare schemes that would shape in three countries that have constitutionalized the change from the neoliberal paradigm: Venezuela, Bolivia and Ecuador.

Controversy over the Taxation of Recogidas in the Philippines in the mid- 18th Century. The Case of Santa Rita de Pasig’s Spiritual Absorption

This article studies the house of seclusion established for devout Indian and mestizo laywomen in the town of Pasig in 1740, and the dispute over tribute obligations that affected retreated or “pious” women. Founded outside of the Royal Patronato, this house of seclusion was extraordinarily attractive as a place for voluntary retreat and as an educational center. The dispute over tribute payments brought to light misgivings and conflicts of interest between the parties involved, while revealing the fundamental problem: the traditionally undefined juridical status of this type of establishment on the Islands. The solution given to the problem (tribute exemption) was to be extended to other similar centers in the Philippines. This article, realized with the use of unpublished documentation from the General Archives of the Indies, contributes therefore to our knowledge of the world of women in the Philippine archipelago; an ambit of great complexity that, as of yet, has been insufficiently studied.