Bulletin n. 1/2006
May 2006
CONTENTS
  • Section A) The theory and practise of the federal states and multi-level systems of government
  • Section B) Global governance and international organizations
  • Section C) Regional integration processes
  • Section D) Federalism as a political idea
    • Finot I.
    Decentralization and Viability of the Local Development in Latin America
    in Reforma y democracia (Venezuela) , n. 34 ,  2006
    For local communities can consider its own economic development, it is indispensable that they have competences and resources that allow them autonomously to decide on local public goods that are decisive for their development, such as basic infrastructure and public services. Nevertheless, fundamentally by financial limitations, most of the municipalities of the region cannot exert this autonomy, which besides to make difficult the local development could create a citizen rights' problem: why the right of a local community to provide itself by local goods must depend on its wealth? In this article, the origins of those financial limitations are analyzed: decentralization in Latin America was oriented not to enforce local autonomies, but mainly to execute central oriented social policies. But now, local autonomy for local development is crucial to Latin American countries in order to compete in global economy. A new orientation is needed and the grants can be the key instrument.To differentiate between social and territorial grants, and to link territorial grants to each fiscal relative effort (relative to the degree of poverty of each community), it could be increased the local autonomy under conditions of efficiency, and equality of opportunities for all local communities -and citizen rights- to build its own development. Under these terms, a deepening of the decentralization would contribute not only to make local development viable, but also to maintain the national fiscal balance and to build citizenship.
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