LIST OF PANELS

Studies and students of public policy have proliferated around the globe. Arguably, the field of research may have reached a point where regional contributions are now part of the mainstream of studies. Despite the richness in scope and breadth of the studies about public policy, further ways to push the knowledge frontiers of this field are still to be explored.

This panel invites authors to engage with the question about the Latin American regional contribution to the field. As in many other fields of knowledge, authors in the region may have offered key developments to the field, either on the grounds of theory, methodology, or even further, in terms of an innovative epistemological approach. However, such voices may have been eclipsed or overseen somehow due to a recurrent centralization of knowledge production, placing greater emphasis on authors and ideas that are able to publish in the US and Europe. 

The panel offers a unique opportunity to discuss the region's advancements and contributions to the study of public policy. Papers with the following topics are welcome:

1. Well-established contributions that were allegedly developed first in LA or by an author in the region alluding to cases of LA.

2. Applications of policy studies in the LA context have raised questions, prompted revisions, or placed key critiques to the mainstream approaches within the policy studies.
3. Methodological innovations in the field that have been initiated in LA perhaps as part of peculiar features that researchers face in the region (or due to some other reason).
4. A review of key authors and their ideas about policy studies in the LA region, either in one country or in a comparative way.
5. Specific policies in LA that have been regarded as worldwide valuable ideas or international contributions (ex. participatory budgets, cash-transfer program, bus rapid transport, etc.).
6. Specific features of and within policies in LA that have been shaped by the political regime, culture, or other socio-political traits available in the region.    

The previous topics should serve only as an indication of the type of discussion the panel intends to prompt. The objective is to begin a long-lasting discussion about policy studies in LA in order to recognize more fully and transparently what the region has offered and how the field can proliferate in our region. As part of the objective, the panel will attempt to seek and arrive at an editorial project.