Resumen

RODRIGUEZ, Ernesto. Políticas públicas de juventud en América Latina: de la construcción de espacios específicos, al desarrollo de una perspectiva generacional. Rev.latinoam.cienc.soc.niñez juv [online]. 2003, vol.1, n.2, pp.15-43. ISSN 1692-715X.

The paper schematically reviews the main theoretical notions used in comparative research on the subject of youth. It analyzes the broad experience gained during the nineties in the field of public policies for youth, distinguishing explicit policies (implemented by institutions specialized on the subject) from implicit (implemented by non-specialized institutions). Three types of evaluation are distinguished: programmatic, institutional, and resource evaluations (the last one centers on public expenditure on youth). From results of all three types of evaluations, the author concludes that the gained impact of explicit and implicit public policies on life conditions of youth and on their participation in society has been marginal. This has happened because of the intrinsic limitations of the chosen strategies (universalistic, centralistic, bureaucratic, paternalistic, etc.). Accordingly, the author proposes an alternative focus to current ones. It is built on the basis of a comparative analysis of current promotional focus of recent succesful work with youths, women and children. The axis of the proposal is centered on the need to overcome the classical effort to build specific spaces for youths, focus that has contributed to reinforce the social isolation of youth, and to work with the incorporation of a generational focus to public policies on this age group, emulating the work of feminists on the incorporation of the gender perspective. The author ends by proposing to invest more and better on education and health (as keys for the development of human and social capital), on violence prevention (as key for peaceful living together), and on citizen participation (as key for democratic strengthening).

Palabras clave : Youth; public politics; Latin America; Social development.

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