The Politics of Consumer Rights in Latin America

This project is part of my pre-dissertation research and seeks to understand the politics of consumer rights in Latin America, and the role of government, consumer organizations and business in their development. It contemplates the study of formal institutions and governance structures in 18 Latin American countries, and case analysis in four countries: Argentina, Chile, Brazil and Mexico. For this part of the research project I conducted a dozen in-depth interviews with policy-makers and consumer advocates in Chile and Argentina. I also identified sources and conducted archival work. I was especially interested in understanding the development of the consumer movement in these countries and its influence in the formation of consumer policy. I obtained substantial evidence about the role of consumer organizations and I plan to use it to advanced several hypotheses about the development of this policy field in Latin America.