There is no development without experts”: International cooperation and the formation of public administration professionals in Chile

ABARZÚA CUTRONI Y RIZZO NATALIA

Academic Dependency: the challange of building autonomous social sciences in the South

EDIUNC

Lugar: Mendoza; Año: 2011;

Historically, Latin America has received a substantial amount of funds and technical assistance from Intergovernmental Organizations aimed at stimulating the professionalization of universities, promoting regional statistical studies, and developing scientific research. For the purposes of this work we will define “technical assistance” as those activities (granting scholarships, advice, presence of visiting scholars, etc.) aimed at promoting the formation of Latin American experts in a specific area of knowledge—“administration for development.” The IADB (Inter-American Development Bank), UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization), and the OAS (Organization of American States) played a central role in the development of public administration and political science schools, because these schools were envisaged to play a key role in the breeding of professionals that the region needed to implement economic development and “modernization” programs. Precisely these same organizations were publicly promoting this professional profile, both at the regional and international levels. Nevertheless, this perspective was severely questioned. The most famous critique was developed by Ernesto “Che” Guevara in his speech at the meeting of the Inter-American Economic and Social Council of the Organization of American States, on August 8th, 1961, in Punta del Este. Later, in Chile, many questions were raised on the foreign funding to universities. Such critiques reached their highest expression in 1966, during the Second Latin American Congress on Political and Social Sciences, held in Santiago.