Explaining Social Spending Variation and National Income Inequality in Latin American Nations, 1980-2008 K

Florida State University Libraries Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School 2012 Universal Human Rights as New Political Power Resources: Explaining Social Spending Variation and National Income Inequality in Latin American Nations, 1980-2008 K. Russell (Kaiser Russell) Shekha Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact [email protected] THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND PUBLIC POLICY UNIVERSAL HUMAN RIGHTS AS NEW POLITICAL POWER RESOURCES: EXPLAINING SOCIAL SPENDING VARIATION AND NATIONAL INCOME INEQUALITY IN 18 LATIN AMERICAN NATIONS, 1980-2008 By KAISER RUSSELL SHEKHA A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Sociology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Degree Awarded: Summer Semester, 2012 Kaiser Russell Shekha defended this dissertation on June 28th, 2012 The members of the supervisory committee were: Jill Quadagno Professor Directing Dissertation William H. Moore University Representative Daniel Tope Committee Member Deana Rohlinger Committee Member The Graduate School has verified and approved the above-named committee members, and certifies that the dissertation has been approved in accordance with university requirements. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS To the Florida State University Department of Sociology I offer my heartfelt gratitude and thanks. Your encouragement and motivation helped me grow into a better person in my academic and personal life. I really want to thank you all for making my family and I feel at home in Tallahassee these last six years. To my dissertation committee, wow what a journey! To Deana Rohlinger, thank you for your ever ready guidance and suggestions and your efforts to help me grow as an academic. To Daniel Tope, your mentorship and guidance have been invaluable. Your savvy understanding of the political world influenced me beyond belief. I would also like to thank Brian Starks, whom sat on my committee and contributed a wealth of guidance. To William H. Moore and John Mayo, thank you so much. To Doug Schrock and Marc Dixon, my first graduate mentors! To Jill Quadagno, I have often wondered what my life, academic and otherwise, would be like without such a phenomenal mentor and guide. I am honored to be your student! I have so many dear friends that watched me as I took my first steps on this ride, joined me along the way, and sang me off to a better tomorrow. To Wes Salinas, Johnny Hardy, Fabian Luna, Elena Guerra, Jimmy Burgan, Chris and R.J. Cobb, Patrick and Dawn, Casey and Shyla , Matt Poston and so many more. To Jason Laguna, Sammy Rastagh, Sarah Conn, Carmen Von Rohr, Jenny Rothenberg, Brandon McKelvey, Orit and Khen Fischer, LJ Roman, and Sean Tabor. To Edward Kring, you taught me so much about teaching!!! To Patrick McGrady and Joellen Pedersen. Thank you for always believing in me and keeping me and my family in your minds and hearts. Your friendship means the world!! To my family, where would I be without my family? From my father Siddiq and Amijan Samina living afar, to my mother Sharon and my dad Bob, I love you so much! To the support of my sisters Sky and Mary Eleanor and their mother Barbara. To my brother, Sean Giles, for always saying what I needed to hear! To Daniel, Brenda, and Nick for being there, always! Most importantly, I need to thank my own little family. Damien Cienega, my son, I did it all to impress you and your love made it possible. Vikky Lea, my best friend, my wife, my partner. I could spend the rest of every day of our lives thanking you and I will! To my little Kaiya Rylea, I’ll never tire of chasing the deer on the hill with you at our new home at Denison University! iii TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Tables vi Abstract vii Chapter 1: Universal Human Rights 1 International Human Rights Treaties 2 Determinants of Treaty Ratification 3 National Human Rights Institutions 6 Determinants of NHRI Adoption 8 Guatemala 10 Argentina 12 Research Questions 14 Chapter 2: Political Theories 15 Logic of Industrialism 15 Social Spending Levels 15 National Income Inequality 17 The National Economy 17 Demographics and Society 21 The Economy and Globalization 27 Social Spending Levels 27 National Income Inequality 30 National Power Resources 34 Social Spending and National Income Inequality in Developing Nations 34 Power Resources, Developing Nations, & Social Spending 37 Power Resources, Developing Nations, & Income Inequality 38 Human Rights as a Power Resource 40 Social Spending Levels and National Income Inequality 40 Social Effects of Treaty Ratification 41 Social Effects of NHRI Adoption 43 International Civil Society 45 Chapter 3: Data and Methods 47 Research Design 47 Case Selection 47 Data and Measures 48 Dependent Variables 48 Social Spending Levels 48 The GINI Coefficient 49 Independent Variables 50 Logic of Industrialism 50 Economics/Globalization 51 Power Resources 52 iv Power Resources and Human Rights 53 Methodological Controls 55 Analytic Plan 56 Analysis of Social Spending Levels 56 Analysis of Income Inequality 58 Chapter 4: Explaining Variation in Latin American Social Spending Levels 65 Latin American Social Spending Systems 65 Social Security and Welfare Spending Determinants 68 Health Spending Determinants 75 Education Spending Determinants 79 Chapter 5: Explaining National Income Inequality in Latin America 83 National Income Inequality in Latin America 84 Determinants of National Income Inequality 85 Chapter 6: Discussion 90 Explaining Social Spending Variation 90 Explaining National Income Inequality 93 Future Research Directions 96 Appendix A: Tables, Boxes, and Graphs 98 Appendix B: Political Coding Report 118 References Cited 121 Biographical Sketch 139 v LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Adoption of NHRIs in Latin America 98 Table 2: Description of Variables 99 Table 3: Summary Statistics after 100 Imputations 101 Table 4: Determinants of Social Security and Welfare Spending in Latin America 102 Table 5: Determinants of Health Spending Levels in Latin America, 1980-2008 104 Table 6: Determinants of Education Spending in Latin America, 1980-2008 106 Table 7: Number of Repressive Regimes by Year 108 Table 8: Determinants of National Income Inequality in 18 Latin American Countries 109 vi ABSTRACT Universal human rights include guarantees to adequate income and fair wages, sufficient healthcare, and investments in educations and are extended to all regardless of their social and citizenship status. Universal human rights are centered internationally at the United Nations and institutionalized at the national level through international human rights treaty ratifications and National Human Rights Institution adoptions. In this dissertation I ask if extending power resources theory to universal human rights lead to higher social spending levels and lower levels find that the logic of industrialism, which focuses on the effects of economic growth and associated demographic transitions, globalization theory, which emphasizes the effects of international trade, foreign investment, privatization, and fiscal austerity, and power resources theory, which links national political regimes and political balance of power to spending and inequality, continue to have significant effects on social spending levels and national income inequality in contemporary Latin America. However, the real story is the effects of universal human rights on social spending levels and national income inequality. I find that treaty ratifications improve health and education spending levels while they are associated with declining social security and welfare spending. Treaty ratifications are also associated with lower levels of national income inequality. National Human Rights Institution adoptions are associated with increases in all forms of social spending levels, but have no effect on national income inequality. Overall, universal human rights have mostly positive effects on social spending and reductions in income inequality, and provide positive proof of the continuing extension of social rights to income security, adequate healthcare, and quality educations. vii CHAPTER 1: UNIVERSAL HUMAN RIGHTS After the widespread destruction of WWII, international human rights norms increased in importance with the United Nations creation in 1945. The United Nations’ mission reflected goals of global peace and security for all member nations. The UN also wished to improve the human rights situation for individuals around the world, irrespective of their national background or social status. While state repression, torture, and imprisonment ranked highest among past human rights atrocities, UN members also recognized the importance of individual rights to personal economic, social, cultural self-determination without fear of repression or discrimination by state agencies (Donnelly 1998). The UN Economic and Social Council created the UN Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR) in 1946 which in turn drafted the 1948 United Nations Declaration for Human Rights. The document establishes individual universal rights regardless of nationality, sex, age, or gender (United Nations 1948). Articles 22, 25, and 26 specifically mandate the rights to social security, social assistance, health, well-being, and free and compulsory primary educations (UN 1948). The Declaration embodies the post-WWII push for international human rights, signals commitment on a national level, but lacks legal enforcement. There are two categories of international human rights: Civil and Political

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