Abstract
The study of decentralization and municipal governance has captured much scholarly attention. This article highlights the importance of factors that have been generally ignored, and, in the process, suggests dimensions that facilitate comparison, including at the cross-regional level. First, regarding the creation and reform of decentralization policy, scholars may compare cases based on thehorizontal andex-post vertical political processes of reform. Second, cases can be compared based on the degree of center-statepolicy fluctuation, i.e., the institutions and incentives generating continual policy change and delayed outcomes, over time. Finally, I encourage scholars to scale down to the municipal level, comparing cases based on the following variables: historical state-municipal fiscal relations, institutional innovations, and the policy-making process. I close by explaining the various benefits associated with these approaches and the new research questions and challenges that they pose for comparative scholars.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abrucio, Fernando and David Samuels. 1999. “A ‘Nova’ Política dos Governadores: Política Subnacional e Transicão Democrático no Brasil.”Lua Nova 40/41: 137–66.
Bennett, Robert J., ed. 1994.Local Government and Market Decentralization: Experiences in Industrialized, Developing, and Former Eastern Bloc Countries. New York: United Nations University Press.
Burki, Shavid, Guillermo Perry, and William Dillinger. 2000.Beyond the Center: Decentralizing the State. Washington, D.C.: The World Bank Group.
Corrales, Javier. 2001. “The Political Causes of Argentina’s Recession.” Paper presented at Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars, Washington, D.C., March 1.
Dillinger, William and Steven Webb. 2001a.Fiscal Management in Federal Democracies: Argentina and Brazil. Washington, D.C.: The World Bank Group.
—. 2001b.Decentralization and Fiscal Management in Colombia. Washington, D.C.: The World Bank Group.
Eaton, Kent. 1998.The Politics of Tax Reform: Economic Policy Making in Developing Presidential Democracies. Ph.D. Dissertation, Department of Political Science, Yale University.
—. 2002. “Fiscal Policy-Making in the Argentine Congress: Party versus Province.” Pp. 287–314 inLegislative Politics in Latin America, eds. Scott Morgenstern and Benito Nacif. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Eaton, Kent and Tyler Dickovick. Forthcoming. “Decentralization and Re-Centralization in Argentina and Brazil.” InDecentralization in Comparative Perspective: Lessons from Latin America and South Asia, eds. Eduardo J. Gómez, and Paul Smoke.
Edmonds-Poli, Emily and Eduardo J. Gómez. 2001. “The Politics of Decentralization and Municipal Autonomy in Mexico and India.” Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, San Francisco, August 29–September 2.
Escobar-Lemon, Maria. 2001. “Fiscal Decentralization and Federalism in Latin America.”Publius: The Journal of Federalism 31, 4 (Fall).
Echeverri-Gent, John. 1998. “Weak State, Strong Reforms? Globalization, Partisan Competition, and the Paradox of India’s Economic Reforms.” Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, Boston, September 3–6.
Geddes, Barbara. 1990. “How the Cases You Choose Affect the Answers You Get: Selection Bias in Comparative Politics.” Pp. 131–50 inPolitical Analysis, vol. 2, ed. James A. Stimson. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
Gilbert, Alan G. and Julio D. Dávila. 2002. “Bogotá: Progress within a Hostile Environment.” Pp. 29–64 inCapital City Politics in Latin America: Democratization and Empowerment, eds. David Myers and Henry Dietz. Boulder: Lynne Rienner Press.
Gómez, Eduardo J. 2000. “A Political Economy of Brazil’s Debt Crisis.” Paper presented atThe Political Economy of Reform in Latin America, David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies, Harvard University, November 15.
Gómez, Eduardo J. 2001. “Presidents, Coalitions, and Subnational Borrowing Controls in Developing Nations.” Paper presented at the Fiscal Affairs Department, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Washington, D.C.
Gómez, Eduardo J. 2002. “Subnational Authoritarian Withdrawals: Method and Evidence.” Unpublished manuscript, Brown University.
Gómez, Eduardo J. and Paul Smoke, eds. Forthcoming.Decentralization in Comparative Perspective: Lessons from Latin America and South Asia.
Grindle, Merilee, ed. 1997.Getting Good Government: Capacity Building in the Public Sector in Developing Countries. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
— 2000.Audacious Reforms: Institutional Invention and Democracy in Latin America. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Haggard, Stephan and Robert Kaufman. 1995.The Political Economy of Democratic Transitions. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Haggard, Stephan and Steven Webb. 2003. “Transfers and Incentives: Inter-governmental Fiscal Relations in Latin America,” Pp. 235–270 inDecentralization and Democracy in Latin America, eds. David Samuels and Alfred Montero. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press.
Hutchcroft, Paul. 2001. “Centralization and Decentralization in Administration and Politics: Assessing Territorial Dimensions of Authority and Power.”Governance: An International Journal of Policy and Administration 14, 1 (January): 23–53.
King, Gary, Robert Keohane, and Sidney Verba. 1994.Designing Social Inquiry: Scientific Inference in Qualitative Research. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Kirkow, P. 1996. “Distributive Coalitions, Budgetary Problems, and Fiscal Federalism in Russia.”Communist Studies and Economic Transformation 8.
Litvack, Jennifer, Junaid Ahmad, and Richard Bird. 1998.Rethinking Decentralization. Washington, D.C.: The World Bank Group.
Mainwaring, Scott and David Samuels 2003. “Federalism and Constraints on Economic Reform in Brazil.” Pp. 85–130 inFederalism and Democracy in Latin America, ed. Edward Gibson. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Manor, James. 1999.The Political Economy of Democratic Decentralization. Washington, D.C.: The World Bank Group.
Martinez-Vazquez, Jorge and Jameson Boex. 2001.Russia’s Transition to a New Federalism. Washington, D.C.: The World Bank.
Maurel, Marie-Claude. 1994. “Local Government Reforms and the Viability of Rural Communities in Eastern Central Europe.” Pp. 92–112 inLocal Government and Market Decentralization: Experiences in Industrialized, Developing, and Former Eastern Bloc Countries, ed. Robert Bennett. New York: United Nations University Press.
McCarten, William. 2003. “Soft Budget Constraints in India.” Pp. 249–86 inFiscal Decentralization and the Challenge of Hard Budget Constraints, eds. Jonathan Rodden, Jennifer Litvack, and Gunnar Eskeland. Cambridge: MIT Press.
McCarten, William and Vinod Vyasulu. Forthcoming. “Experiments in Indian Democratic Decentralization: The Case of Madhya Pradesh.” InDecentralization in Comparative Perspective: Lessons from Latin America and South Asia, eds. Eduardo J. Gómez and Paul Smoke.
Montero, Alfred. 2002.Decentralization and Subnational Industrial Policy in Brazil and Spain. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press.
Montero, Alfred. 2000. “After Decentralization: Patterns of Institutional Change in Argentina, Brazil, Spain, Venezuela, and Mexico.” Paper presented at the Congress of the Latin American Studies Association, Miami, March 16–18.
Myers, David and Henry Dietz, eds. 2002.Capital City Politics in Latin America: Democratization and Empowerment. Boulder: Lynne Rienner Press.
Nascimento, Edson. 2002. “Dos Anos de Lei Responsabilidade Fiscal.” Unpublished manuscript, Ministry of Finance, Brasilia, Brasil.
Nickson, Andrew. 1995.Local Government in Latin america. Boulder: Lynne Rienner Press.
North, Douglas. 1989.Institutions, Institutional Change, and Economic Performance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
O’Neill, Kathleen. 1999. “Tugging From the Purse Strings: The Politics of Fiscal Decentralization in the Andean Region of Latin America.” Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, Atlanta, September 1–5.
O’Neill, Kathleen. 2001. “Return to Center? Fiscal Decentralization and Re-centralization in Comparative Perspective.” Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, San Francisco, August 29–September 2.
Penfold-Becerra, Michael. 2001. “Institutional Electoral Incentives and Decentralization Outcomes: State Reform in Venezuela.” Paper presented at the Congress of the Latin American Studies Association, Washington, D.C., September 6–8.
Rasyid, Ryaas. 2002. “The Policy of Decentralization in Indonesia.” Paper presented at “Can Decentralization Help Rebuild Indonesia?” Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia, May 1.
Regulski, Jerzy and W. Kocan. 1994. “From Communism Towards Democracy: Local Government Reform in Poland,” Pp. 41–66 inLocal Government and Market Decentralization: Experiences in Industrialized, Developing, and Former Eastern Bloc Countries, ed. Robert J. Bennett. New York: United Nations University Press.
Remmer, Karen. 1990. “Democracy and Economic Crisis: The Latin american Experience,”World Politics 2: 315–335.
Rodden, Jonathan, Jennifer Litvack, and Gunnar Eskeland, eds. 2003.Fiscal Decentralization and the Challenge of Hard Budget Constraints. Cambridge: MIT Press.
Rodden, Jonathan. Forthcoming. “Comparative Federalism and Decentralization: On Meaning and Measurement.”Comparative Politics.
Samuels, David and Alfred Montero. 2003.Decentralization and Democracy in Latin America. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press.
Samuels, David. 2003.Ambition, Federalism, and Legislative Politics in Brazil. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Shah, Anwar and Theresa Thompson. 2002. “Implementing Decentralized Local Governance: A Treacherous Road with Potholes, Detours, and Road Closures.” Unpublished manuscript, The World Bank Group.
Shirk, Susan. 1993.The Political Logic of Economic Reform in China. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Snyder, Richard. 2001. “Scaling Down: The Subnational Comparative Method,”Studies in Comparative International Development 36 1 (Spring).
Stoner-Weiss, Kathryn. 1999. “Central Weakness and Provincial Autonomy: Observations on the Devolution Process in Russia.”Post Soviet Affairs 15, 1: 87–106.
Stoner-Weiss, Kathryn. 2001. “The Regional Sources of Russia’s Stalled Reforms.” Unpublished manuscript, Princeton University.
Sutela, Pekka. 1999. “Fiscal Federalism in Russia.” Pp. 151–172 inEconomic Institutions, Markets, and Competition: Centralization and Decentralization in the Transformation of Economic Systems, eds. Bruno Dallago and Luigi Mittone. New Hampshire: Edward Elgar publishers.
Tendler, Judith. 1997.Good Government in the Tropics. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Wescott, Clay. Forthcoming. “Decentralization Policy and Practice in Viet Nam: 1991–2001.” InDecentralization in Comparative Perspective: Lessons from Latin America and South Asia, eds. Eduardo J. Gómez and Paul Smoke.
Wetzel, Deborah and Anita Papp. 2003. “Strengthening Hard Budget Constraints in Hungary.” Pp. 393–428 inFiscal Decentralization and the Challenge of Hard Budget Constraints, eds. Jonathan Rodden, Jennifer Litvack, and Gunnar Eskeland. Cambridge: MIT Press.
World Bank. 2000a.Decentralization Network, <http://www1.worldbank.org/publicsector/decentralization>.
World Bank. 2000b.Decentralization “Toolkit” <http://www1.worldbank.org/publicsector/decentralization/toolkit.htm>.
Willis, Eliza, Christopher da C.B. Garman, and Stephan Haggard. 1999. “The Politics of Decentralization in Latin America.”Latin American Research Review 34, 1: 7–56.
Yang, Dali. 2001. “Economic Transformation and State Rebuilding in China.” Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, San Francisco, August 29–September 2.
Additional information
Eduardo J. Gómez is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Political Science at Brown University. His research interests are in federalism, decentralization, and the politics of economic and welfare reform in developing nations.
I would like to thank James Mahoney, Richard Snyder, Melanie Cammett, Jonathan Rodden, Kent Eaton, Tyler Dickovick, Steven Webb, Stephan Haggard, Philip Oxhorn, William McCarten, Thomas Bossert, Javier Corrales, and four anonymous reviewers for excellent comments and suggestions.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Gómez, E.J. Decentralization and municipal governance: Suggested approaches for cross-regional analysis. St Comp Int Dev 38, 57–80 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02686199
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02686199