Francisco Robles-Rivera is an Associate professor at the University of Costa Rica. He conducts comparative research on inequality, media, elites, private financing of political parties and power in Latin America. Dr. Robles-Rivera holds a PhD in Political Science from the Freie Universität Berlin (DE), as well as a master’s degree in Latino American Studies from National University of Costa Rica. Most of his research has been focused on Central America, an under -studied region in Latin America. In the last three years he has been working on two international initiatives that promotes research on elites in Latina America.  One is the international network on Elites Research -REAL- and the other is the working group “Elites” of the Consejo Latinoamericano de Ciencias Sociales (CLACSO) that gather the most important scholars on Elites studies on Latin America. His work has been published widely in both academic journals such as ECLAC Review, Global Media and Communication, Colombia Internacional, Revista Española de Sociología, United Nations Research Institute for Social Development and media outlets. Dr. Robles-Rivera has been awarded different scholarships by international organizations such as the German Exchange Department (DAAD), the Maria Sibylla Merian Center for Advanced Latin American Studies (CALAS), the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies at Indiana University and CLACSO.

Selected Publications:

2021 (with Cárdenas, Julián). “Exploring the relationship between corporate networks and media Capture”. Global Media and Communication.

2021 (with Cárdenas, Julián). "Corporate Networks and Business Influence in Panama, Costa Rica, and El Salvador". Colombia Internacional, no. 107: 87-112.

2021. "Élites y estrategias de captura de medios en América Central." Revista mexicana de sociología 83.1: 9-40.

2020 (with Benedicte, Bull). "COVID-19, elites and the future political economy of inequality reduction in Latin America." CEPAL Review-Special issue.

2020 (with  Cárdenas, Julián y Martínez-Vallejo, Diego). «Los dueños de América Latina: las redes entre los grandes propietarios transnacionales». Revista CIDOB d’Afers Internacionals, n.º 126: 17-40.

2020 (with Cárdenas, Julián).“Business Elites in Panama: Sources of Power and State Capture". Occasional Paper 12, The United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD).

2020 (with Cárdenas, Julián; Martínez Vallejo, Diego). "Élites empresariales y desigualdad en tiempos de pandemia en América Latina." Revista Española De Sociología, 29(3). https://doi.org/10.22325/fes/res.2020.45

2020 “La captura de los medios durante las elecciones”. En II Informe del Estado de la Libertad de Expresión en Costa Rica. – Primera edición. – [San José, Costa Rica] :PROLEDI.

2018. "El «derecho de picaporte» Financiamiento privado de las campañas electorales en América Central."

2017. "Élites en El Salvador: cambios y continuidades (2000-2016)." Anuario de Estudios Centroamericanos 43: 99-124.

2017. "Transformaciones y concentración en grupos de poder económico en Costa Rica (1980-2012)." Revista mexicana de sociología 76.1: 37-58.

2016. "Fotografía de la Familia ¿Quiénes y cómo son los Grupos de Poder Económico en Costa Rica?", en Díaz, D. y Viales, R (2016). "Desigualdad(es) social(es) e Historia en Centroamérica", CIHAC, UCR.

2012 (with Voorend, Koen). Los dueños de la palabra en Costa Rica en un contexto de reforma neoliberal. Rev. Rupturas 1(2), San José: 144-161.

2011 (with Voorend, Koen). “Migrando en la crisis. La fuerza de trabajo inmigrante en la economía costarricense: construcción, agricultura y transporte público”. San José, Costa Rica: OIM, MTSS.

 

Research project as CALAS fellow

Title: Doors or padlocks? Covid-19, public policies, and corporate influence in Central America.

Abstract: The general objective of this study is to analyze the influence of Central American elites on the implementation of economic and fiscal public policies in response to the crises caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in Central American countries during the first six months of the pandemic. The temporal focus is based on the idea that previous trajectories may have been broken, as closer as it gets to the time of the initial shock (onset of the pandemic) (Martinez-Franzoni 2020b). The specific objectives are four. First, to identify and systematize the fiscal and economic public policies approved in the legislative and/or executive spheres by Central American countries since March 2020 to address the COVID-19 pandemic. Second, to analyze, characterize and contribute to conceptualize the main sources of power of instrumental type (financing of electoral campaigns, media capture, revolving doors) and structural type (disinvestment, reduction of production, departure from the country) with which the elites in each country arrive at the moment of the pandemic. Third, to identify whether the possible variations in the type of policies approved correspond to the types of power held by the elites in each country. Fourth, to study the implications of the influence of elites over state capacities to adopt redistributive policies in times of emergency.