Ronald MacLean-Abaroa (born in La Paz, 1949) is a former Bolivian politician and leading international expert in decentralization, devolution of government powers to local citizens, and anti-corruption strategies.

Biography

MacLean-Abaroa was the first democratically elected mayor of

La Paz La Paz (), officially known as Nuestra Señora de La Paz (Spanish pronunciation: ), is the seat of government of the Bolivia, Plurinational State of Bolivia. With an estimated 816,044 residents as of 2020, La Paz is the List of Bolivian cities ...

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

, and was reelected four times between 1985 and 1991 to this office. Appointed the youngest minister at age 29, he has held five national cabinet positions including planning, foreign affairs, communications, finance, sustainable development and environment, under three different Bolivian presidents. He was

Minister of Finance A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", " ...

in 2000. In the late 1990s he spent three years with the Harvard Institute for International Development as a senior research fellow on governance, leading research on institutional reform and governance, and working on issues of decentralization, devolution of government powers to local citizens and anti-corruption strategies. He also lectures at

Harvard Kennedy School The Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), officially the John F. Kennedy School of Government, is the school of public policy and government of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school offers master's degrees in public policy, public ...

. In March 2002, MacLean-Abaroa won his party's first-ever primary election and the nomination as the presidential candidate of the right wing

Nationalist Democratic Action Nationalist Democratic Action ( es, Acción Democrática Nacionalista) is a right-wing political party in Bolivia led by Óscar Daza Márquez. ADN was founded on March 23, 1979 by the military dictator Hugo Banzer after he stepped down from po ...

or A.D.N (Acción Democrática Nacionalista), the party founded by former Bolivian Dictator General

Hugo Banzer Hugo Banzer Suárez (; 10 May 1926 – 5 May 2002) was a Bolivian politician and military officer who served as the 51st president of Bolivia. He held the Bolivian presidency twice: from 1971 to 1978 in a military dictatorship; and then a ...

). The June 2002 elections marked his first unsuccessful bid for the presidency of Bolivia. Shortly after, he joined the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Interna ...

as a Lead Public Sector Management specialist on

governance Governance is the process of interactions through the laws, social norm, norms, power (social and political), power or language of an organized society over a social system (family, tribe, formal organization, formal or informal organization, a ...

decentralization Decentralization or decentralisation is the process by which the activities of an organization, particularly those regarding planning and decision making, are distributed or delegated away from a central, authoritative location or group. Conce ...

and

poverty reduction Poverty reduction, poverty relief, or poverty alleviation, is a set of measures, both economic and humanitarian, that are intended to permanently lift people out of poverty. Measures, like those promoted by Henry George in his economics clas ...

. A founding member of

Transparency International Transparency International e.V. (TI) is a German registered association founded in 1993 by former employees of the World Bank. Based in Berlin, its nonprofit and non-governmental purpose is to take action to combat global corruption with civil ...

, he is on their advisory council and served as the first chairman of TI-Latin America. MacLean-Abaroa has served as a consultant and advisor on governance and anti-corruption issues to different international organizations and governments. He chaired both the Economic and Social Council of the Andean Pact Countries (1977) and the board of directors of the Andean Development Corporation (2000). In the private sector, he helped launch, and managed the largest gold mining company in Bolivia, and other mining ventures, before entering politics. MacLean-Abaroa received his master's degree in public administration (1980) from

, where he became a research fellow, and his bachelor's degree in development economics (1971) from the

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of M ...

Bibliography

He is the author of several articles and books, notably ''Corrupt Cities: A Practical Guide to Cure and Prevention'' (2000), coauthored with

Robert Klitgaard Robert Klitgaard is an American academic, former president of Claremont Graduate University and former dean of the Frederick S. Pardee RAND Graduate School, where he was also the Ford Distinguished Professor of International Development and Security ...

and Lindsey Parris, that has been published in five languages.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maclean Abaroa, Ronald 1949 births Living people Mayors of La Paz Foreign ministers of Bolivia Finance ministers of Bolivia Bolivian expatriates in the United States Bolivian people of British descent Candidates in the 2002 Bolivian presidential election People from La Paz University of Maryland, College Park alumni Harvard Kennedy School alumni Place of birth missing (living people) Nationalist Democratic Action politicians Mayors of places in Bolivia Harvard Institute for International Development Bolivian diplomats Candidates for President of Bolivia

Biography

Bibliography

See also

References

External links