A light in the dark : labor reform in Guatemala during the FRG administration, 2000-2004

Recent literature on Latin America has highlighted cases of reform by the region's governments to increase State regulation of the labor market, offset the detrimental effects of the so-called Washington Consensus, and promote economic development. In Guatemala however, the FRG Presidential administration (2000 - 2004) seemed an unlikely candidate for this task. Linked to the military and marked by a conservative record, the FRG administration was surrounded by scandals of corruption, poor national economic performance, soaring crime rates and eroding approval ratings. Surprisingly, while in power the FRG enacted and implemented the two far-reaching labor reforms that are the subject of this thesis. The first was a legal reform to the Labor Code and the second was an administrative reform of the Labor Inspection. Most importantly, the two reforms sought to increase State regulation over the labor market, and both had substantial effects in terms of enhanced State regulatory capacity. As the thesis argues, the FRG labor reforms were possible because, unlike the governments preceding (e.g. PAN) and following it (i.e. GANA), the FRG was able to exclude the largest private conglomerates in the country ("the Big Boys") and their followers in the national peak business organization CACIF from influencing and controlling the Executive branch of government.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2007

Author dc:creator

• Fuentes, Alberto (Alberto Jose)

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Judith Tendler.

• Urban Studies and Planning.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/39937

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/39937