ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the authors focus their attention on understanding how policy is made in various Latin American countries. They examine different kinds of regimes and explore the differences and the similarities among them. The authors provide a close look at the functioning of the political structures and the roles of various actors in the making of public policy. The term policy output actually is a redundancy. The authors also focus on the problem of determining whether or not there is a relationship between a regime type and a pattern of public policy. They also examine economic policy and describe the nature of social policy, and political and civil rights policy. In the case of Costa Rica, the "balanced" economic policy has been tipped to the left, or distributive, side of our line on the chalkboard. While significant efforts were being expended on economic growth activities, much less concern was evinced with regard to problems of distribution.
