Analysis of the factors which affectted the indian institutional reform in Peru (2000-2011)

Abstract

This article analyses the agenda-setting process of the indigenous public bodies’ changes in the Peruvian government structure between 2000 and 2010. This research focuses on the analysis of the transformations of the institutional structure that deal with the indigenous people, as well as the factors that explain such governmental organizational changes through time. The authors employed Michael Barzelay and Juan Carlos Cortazar´s case study methodology to approach to the process of decision making for the institutional change. Using a qualitative methodology which involves ethnography, in-depth interviews, the review of primary documents and media, this article rebuild the process in a historical and political science perspectives. The research concludes that specific political junctures are capable of opening windows of opportunity that enables the discussion of indigenous issues; also, in this process, the role played by political entrepreneurs is relevant for the institutional change. It was found that, depending on the juncture, their participation can make the institution stronger or weaker; finally, the article demonstrates that the economic rationality that characterizes the Peruvian economic model tend to lead to the institutional weakness with competence in indigenous issues. In summary, the article empathizes the relevance of studying the stately institution not only from its formal structures or content, but on its processes, execution and changes taking place in the formulation of a public policy.