Decentralizing Development The Political Economy of Institutional Change in Columbia and Chile

by Angell, Alan; Lowden, Pamela; Thorp, Rosemary

• ISBN13: 9780199242313
• ISBN10: 0199242313
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2001-03-29
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Does decentralization work in practice? Does it strengthen local level democracy and economic development? This book examines these questions by analyzing the experience of seven medium sized cities in Colombia and Chile. The authors draw on extensive fieldwork involving numerous interviews with actors at all levels and from all sectors. The result is a unique test, at the local level in Latin America, of the outcome of reforms to the institutional structure of government.

Table of Contents

List of Tables	ix
The Political Economy of Institutional Change in Colombia and Chile	1	(16)
Why Colombia and Chile?	2	(2)
The analytical framework	4	(3)
Institutional change	7	(2)
The cities	9	(1)
The plan of the book	10	(7)
Part I. The Political Economy of Decentralization in Colombia and Chile
Colombia: Political Renewal and Decentralization in a Weak State	17	(28)
Regionalism, centralism and crisis	18	(1)
Politics and economics at the mid-1980s	19	(5)
Decentralization underway: developments to the 1991 Constitution	24	(3)
The 1991 Constitution and further reforms of the Gaviria government, 1990-4	27	(3)
Decentralization since the 1991 Constitution	30	(9)
Conclusions	39	(6)
Decentralization in Four Colombian Cities	45	(34)
The four cities and their departments	45	(2)
Development paths in the four cities	47	(7)
Local politics since the election of mayors, 1988-94	54	(7)
Clientelism, corruption and change	61	(7)
Fiscal management and administrative capacity building	68	(6)
Conclusions	74	(5)
Chile: Decentralization with a Strong State and Weak Regions	79	(26)
A political culture of centralism	79	(3)
The Pinochet era	82	(3)
Institutional change under democracy	85	(6)
The powers and functions of regional and local government in Chile	91	(8)
Conclusions	99	(6)
Municipal and Regional Government in Chile: the Persistence of the Centre	105	(26)
The cities and their regions	105	(2)
Development paths in the three cities	107	(5)
Regional and local politics since democratization	112	(4)
The municipalities: finance and administration	116	(5)
Regional governments	121	(4)
The municipalities, the regions and the centre	125	(6)
Part II. Development and Institutional Change
The Stimulus to Economic Development	131	(30)
The Colombian cases: local activism and national recession	132	(11)
The Chilean cases: growth, contradiction and frustration	143	(9)
Implications for economic development	152	(2)
The role of institutions and institutional change	154	(7)
Central Government Reform or Local Autonomy? The Case of Education	161	(29)
The role of decentralization in educational reform	161	(4)
Education in Chile	165	(9)
Education in Colombia	174	(10)
Conclusions	184	(6)
Decentralization, Participation and the Poor	190	(26)
Capacity building for poverty reduction in Colombia and Chile	192	(3)
Community organizations and NGOs in Colombia and Chile	195	(7)
Local governments, community organizations and NGOs: a pattern of mistrust	202	(3)
The role of central government programmes	205	(2)
Generating virtuous circles in Rancagua and Pasto	207	(4)
Conclusions	211	(5)
Conclusions	216	(9)
Decentralization and local economic development	217	(3)
Decentralization and education	220	(2)
Decentralization and poverty reduction	222	(1)
A final reflection	223	(2)
References	225	(8)
Index	233