Much has been written about the relationship between democracy and economic development or, conversely, certain types of authoritarian regime and market-oriented reforms. In this 36th Parallel Assessments Occasional Paper, Research Associate Dr. Kate Nicholls and Director Paul G. Buchanan compare and contrast market-oriented economic reforms in Chile and New Zealand. The first began under a military-bureuacratic regime and was “deepened” by its social democratic successor; the second occurred under a democratic regime governed by a Centre Left Party and later “deepened” by a Centre Right Party. The political and economic developmental parallels and contrasts between the two Southern Hemisphere models are worth noting.
The Paper outlines a theoretical and conceptual framework for evaluating such changes and their relationship to the state of democracy in both countries, then offers some tentative conclusions based on case analysis of specific policy areas in each.
The Paper can be found here: NZ and Chile
Note on the authors:
Kate Nicholls (Ph.D., Notre Dame) is a Research Associate at 36th Parallel Assessments and Senior Lecturer in Social Sciences at the Auckland University of Technology. She specialises in comparative political economy and issues of democratic governance.
Paul G. Buchanan (Ph.D. Chicago) is the Director of 36th Parallel Assessments. He specialises in comparative regime dynamics, international security, political risk analysis and strategic thought.
