Promoting policy debate in Argentina

Think tanks play a significant role in democracies around the world. They provide insightful analysis about pressing issues and recommend feasible policy interventions. This is precisely what CIPE partner Center for the Implementation of Public Policies Promoting Equity and Growth (CIPPEC) in Argentina has been doing in the last decade. Yet CIPPEC’s work also bridges the world of ideas with the world of policy and politics. With its Agenda for the President initiative, CIPPEC has sought to improve the quality of policy debate during this busy electoral year in Argentina. A general election is scheduled for October 2011 and numerous sub-national elections have been carried out throughout the year.

Like in many other countries, Argentinean policy discussions during election season tend to be vague and insubstantial. Remaining vague sometimes is part of a candidate’s campaign strategy. However, voters and investors alike need to hear more from candidates about what their general statements of promoting growth or improving education really mean. CIPPEC’s Agenda for the President gets to that task by developing a series of policy memos on 15 key issues including monetary and fiscal policy, education, transparency, and global integration. The memos identify policy issues that CIPPEC believes should be the priority of the President elected in the October elections and the new government.

In this Feature Service article, CIPPEC’s Executive Director Fernando Straface explains what drove Argentina’s leading think tank to play an active role in this election season through its Agenda for the President initiative. Straface highlights that, regardless of the election results, the issues presented in CIPPEC memos aim at spurring a meaningful debate throughout the months leading to October’s election and present a policy roadmap for the next President. The 15 policy memos CIPPEC produced can be found here.

Article at a Glance

• Political discussions in Argentina have traditionally focused on candidates’ personal attributes rather than on key policy issues.

• CIPPEC has been working to engage presidential
  candidates, key political actors, private sector, civil society
  organizations, and journalists in substantive policy debate
  ahead of the October 2011 elections.

• CIPPEC is using its 15 Memos to the President on
  issues ranging from social policy to good governance to
  spur discussion and build conditions for the first-ever
  presidential debate in Argentina.

You can read the full article at:
http://www.cipe.org/publications/fs/pdf/083111.pdf