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| CEP (Centro de Estudios Públicos) | |
|---|---|
| Name | Centro de Estudios Públicos |
| Native name | Centro de Estudios Públicos |
| Established | 1980 |
| Type | Think tank |
| Headquarters | Santiago, Chile |
CEP (Centro de Estudios Públicos) is a Chilean research and policy institute founded in 1980 that produces studies, books, and events focusing on public affairs. It operates as a forum for debate and analysis involving scholars, politicians, jurists, and business leaders, engaging with national and international issues through publications, seminars, and surveys. The center has been associated with figures and institutions across Chilean political life and with international networks of think tanks and universities.
Founded in 1980, the institution emerged during a period marked by the aftermath of the 1973 Chilean coup d'état and processes linked to the Military dictatorship of Chile (1973–1990), attracting intellectuals connected to transitional debates alongside actors from the Pinochet regime, the Concertación, and opposition movements such as the Partido Comunista de Chile and the Unión Demócrata Independiente. Over the 1980s and 1990s it convened scholars influenced by works like The Road to Serfdom and texts produced in Chicago School circles, while also engaging jurists associated with the Constitution of Chile (1980). In the 2000s and 2010s CEP hosted debates involving personalities from the Christian Democratic Party (Chile), the Socialist Party of Chile, the Renovación Nacional, and the Movimiento Autonomista, and it interacted with institutions such as the Universidad de Chile, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Harvard University, Oxford University, and the Inter-American Development Bank.
CEP states goals of fostering public debate and informing policy choices through research, conferences, and publications that involve intellectual traditions represented by figures like Friedrich Hayek, John Rawls, Milton Friedman, Amartya Sen, and Robert Nozick in dialogue with Latin American scholarship such as Raúl Prebisch and Fernando Henrique Cardoso. Its objective encompasses producing empirical studies, normative essays, and curricular dialogues engaging jurists from the Corte Suprema de Chile, legislators from the Chamber of Deputies of Chile, and officials from ministries including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Chile) and the Ministry of Finance (Chile). CEP positions itself in conversation with policy frameworks advanced in documents associated with Washington Consensus debates and alternatives proposed in the Post-Neoliberalism literature.
Governance has included boards and directors drawn from academia, law firms, business groups such as the Sociedad de Fomento Fabril and media owners linked to outlets like El Mercurio (Chile). Funding sources have historically combined private foundations, corporate sponsorships, and grants from philanthropic organizations such as the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Ford Foundation, and international agencies including the World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank. Governance arrangements have engaged figures associated with the Instituto Libertad y Desarrollo, labor organizations such as the Central Unitaria de Trabajadores, and alumni from universities like Stanford University and the London School of Economics.
CEP publishes books, policy papers, and survey reports spanning topics connected to law, public administration, and social policy, often citing comparative cases from the United States, United Kingdom, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, and Peru. Research areas include constitutional law debates tied to the Constitution of Chile (1980), electoral studies referencing the 2017 Chilean general election and the 2021 Chilean constitutional plebiscite, judicial reform dialogues involving the Corte Suprema de Chile, and economic policy analyses that compare models like those of Chile and South Korea. CEP’s bibliographic output has engaged scholars who publish in venues alongside work on Neoliberalism, Democratization, and human rights instruments emanating from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.
CEP has been influential in shaping debate on constitutional reform, social policy, and regulatory frameworks by convening panels with actors from the Senate of Chile, the Supreme Court of Chile, and cabinets formed under presidents including Patricio Aylwin, Ricardo Lagos, Michelle Bachelet, and Sebastián Piñera. Its surveys and expert reports have been cited by commissions tasked with drafting policy proposals, and its events have hosted international figures from institutions such as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the United Nations Development Programme. CEP’s output has intersected with policy processes like labor reform discussions, pension debates linked to the AFP system (Chile), and education reforms associated with student movements represented by organizations such as Confederación de Estudiantes de Chile.
Critics have accused the center of ideological bias, pointing to links with media owners and business associations such as El Mercurio (Chile) and the Sociedad de Fomento Fabril, and to the presence of fellows with affiliations to parties like Unión Demócrata Independiente and Renovación Nacional. Public debates around the Plebiscite on a New Constitution (2020–2022) and investigations into influence have raised questions about transparency and funding comparable to controversies involving other think tanks like the Heritage Foundation or Cato Institute. Scholars from universities including Universidad de Santiago de Chile and Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso have published critiques in journals and op-eds challenging methodological choices in CEP surveys and interpretive frameworks.
CEP maintains partnerships and exchanges with academic and policy institutions such as Harvard Kennedy School, the Brookings Institution, Chatham House, Council on Foreign Relations, Centro Brasileiro de Estudos Latino-Americanos, and regional bodies like the Organization of American States. It participates in networks that include the Latin American Council of Social Sciences and cooperates with foundations such as the Open Society Foundations and bilateral agencies like USAID on select projects. These relationships have enabled comparative conferences involving delegations from Spain, France, Germany, Canada, and Argentina.
Category:Think tanks based in Chile