Strategic concessions : elites, redistribution, and social stability in Latin America
department or school: Arts, Faculty of
department or school: Political Science, Department of
data provider: DSpace
degree campus: UBCV
creator: Rojas Lozano, Daniel
issued: 2025-10-29T17:35:29Z
issued: 2026
related degree: Doctor of Philosophy - PhD
degree grantor: University of British Columbia
description: Conventional wisdom is that redistribution in Latin America is state-driven and increases with electoral competition or left-wing governments. Contrary to this established understanding, I develop a theory and provide evidence that business elites and right-wing governments also redistribute as a strategy to thwart social unrest or dampen support for left-wing parties, respectively. My research lies at the intersection of comparative politics and political economy, offering insights into unconventional responses to redistributive threats in Latin America. My work relies on a mixed-method approach, incorporating observational and experimental empirical strategies, qualitative interviews, natural language processing techniques, and using administrative and original data sources. The first part of my dissertation argues that business elites respond to redistributive claims when expressed via violent social unrest by coordinating through business associations and creating jobs because they fear future destruction and economic losses. They are likely to do so when the state is too slow or incapable of addressing popular demands. I connect research on the political economy of development, which sees economic elites as pivotal actors in guaranteeing social stability, and those on contentious politics in developing democracies, which see violent unrest as an expression of low state capacity. In contrast to extensive work on state-led redistribution, this part of my theory spotlights the role of business elites as non-state actors who can use employment as a form of redistribution and who respond more directly to violent protests as opposed to electoral dynamics. My empirical findings show that redistribution might happen through non-state actors. Yet, in the second part of my dissertation, I also examine the conditions under which political elites are likely to provide state-led redistribution. I argue that conservative parties have strong incentives to pursue redistributio…
aggregated CHO: https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/92843
note: Strategic ConcessionsElites, Redistribution, and Social Stability in LatinAmericabyDaniel Rojas LozanoM.A., Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales - Mexico, 2018B.A., Icesi University, 2015A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OFTHE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OFDOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHYinThe Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies(Political Science)THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA(Vancouver)October 2025© Daniel Rojas Lozano 2025The following individuals certify that they have read, and recommend to the Faculty ofGraduate and Postdoctoral Studies for acceptance, the dissertation entitled:Strategic Concessions: Elites, Redistribution, and Social Stability in Latin Americasubmitted by Daniel Rojas Lozano in partial fulfillment of the requirements forthe degree of Doctor of Philosophyin Political ScienceExamining Committee:Alan Jacobs, Professor, Department of Political Science, UBCSupervisorMichael Weaver, Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, UBCCo-supervisorAlisha Holland, Professor, Government Department, Harvard UniversitySupervisory Committee MemberYang-Yang Zhou, Assistant Professor, Government Department, Dartmouth CollegeSupervisory Committee MemberClaudio Ferraz, Professor, Vancouver School of Economics, UBCUniversity ExaminerCallan Hummel, Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, UBCUniversity ExamineriiAbstractConventional wisdom is that redistribution in Latin America is state-driven and increaseswith electoral competition or left-wing governments. Contrary to this established un-derstanding, I develop a theory and provide evidence that business elites and right-winggovernments also redistribute as a strategy to thwart social unrest or dampen support forleft-wing parties, respectively. My research lies at the intersection of comparative poli-tics and political economy, o↵ering insights into unconventional responses to redistributivethreats in Latin America. My work relies on a mixed-method approach, incorporating o…
has type: Thesis/Dissertation
date issued: 2026-05
is shown at: 10.14288/1.0450671
language: eng
degree discipline: Political Science
provider: Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
publisher: University of British Columbia
rights: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
rights URI: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
scholar level: Graduate
contributor: Jacobs, Alan M. (Alan Michael)
contributor: Weaver, Michael
type: Text
identifier URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/92843