Servir al Estado, servir al poder

la burocracia en el proceso de construcción estatal en América Latina

Abstract

This study focuses on the relations between the process of State-Building and the development of bureaucracy in Latin America from the end of the colonial period until the first fifty years after independence. In it, we will examine data about the cases of Guatemala, Costa Rica, Colombia, Equator, Chile, Argentina and Uruguay, which were gathered during our research project sponsored by the European Research Council. This information demonstrates that we are facing a complex reality as regards the functioning of the State´s bureaucracy and those agents that, even if they do not receive salaries from the state, have functions that are related to its administration in areas such as justice or tax collecting. The work will analyze above all the data that concern the central state, except for the province of Santa Fe in Argentina that has also been included.