Who Does What To Whom and How: Toward a Comparative Analysis of Latin American Corporatism

Abstract

In James M. Malloy, ed., Authoritarianisrn and Corporatism in Latin America. Pitsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1977. DAVID COLIJER and RUTH BERINS COLLIER Who Does What, to Whom, and How: Toward a Comparative Analysis of Latin American Corporatism Recent research on Latin American politics has placed substantial emphasis on the authoritarian relationships between national states and interest groups characteristic of the region. Particular attention ‘has been paid to the limitation of pluralism and to “corporative” patterns of interest representation as distinctive features of the systems_ of state-group relations that have emerged. However, though many theo- retical statements and descriptive case studies have qexamined these themes; little cross-national research has systematically compared state- group relations across a number of cases. Yet systematic comparison can yield important benefits, both as a means of sharpening conceptu- alizations and ultimately as an approach to testing propositions about the emergence of different types of state-group relations. This chapter explores opportunities for the comparative analysis of stategroup relations in Latin America. It first evaluates the contribu- tion that quantitative cross-national research on national political regimes has made to the analysis of interest representation. Building on available conceptual discussions of corporatism, it proposes an approach to comparing corporative structures cross-nationally. It then argues that though the examination of corporative structures is an important starting point, it is essential to consider astwell the differing relationships of economic and political power that are ratified or consolidated by means of these structures. The answers to the question, ‘fWho does what, to whom, and how?” may be used for identifying a series of dimensions in terms of which these relationships can be compared. An‘ examination of the answers“ to these questions with reference to one major aspect of state-group'relations—the relationship between the state and organized labor in the, modern sector-—is pre- sented to illustrate the wide variety of uses to which corporative 489