The politics of policies

After more than a decade of political and economic reform in Latin America it has become painfully obvious that good ideas and good policy recipes are not enough to achieve development goals. The policymaking process of designing, adopting and implementing good policies is equally important. Policymaking involves a variety of actors-from the president and political parties to labor unions and business groups-interacting in different arenas-the cabinet, the legislature, the street. The key players, their roles and incentives, the characteristics of the arenas in which the game is played and the nature of the transactions the players engage in, while having common elements, vary considerably from country to country and help explain the variety of reform experiences in the region in recent years.