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

ANABELLA ABARZÚA CUTRONI; NATALIA RIZZO

Academic dependency and professionalization in the south: perspectives from the periphery

EDIUNC - SEPHIS

Lugar: Mendoza; Año: 2014; p. 77 - 88

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 goal of this work is to analyze the character and impact of foreign aid aimed at the "administration for development" and the role of the Chilean state in the evolution of these academic disciplines between the 1950s and 1970s. More precisely, our work is focused on the Latin American School of Political Science and Public Administration (ELACP), which was part of the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences (FLACSO); and the Faculty of Juridical and Social Sciences of the University of Chile (FCJyS - Uch), which was home to three teaching schools and two research institutes. We are referring to the schools of Law, Social Work, and, fundamentally, the school of Political and Administrative Sciences (ECPA) and the institutes of the last two schools. Both institutions were connected to the University of Chile.