Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Analyzing Federalism: Stylized Models and the Political Economy Reality
- 2 Federalism in Argentina and the Reforms of the 1990s
- 3 Australia: Central Fiscal Dominance, Collaborative Federalism, and Economic Reform
- 4 The Brazilian Federation: Facts, Challenges, and Perspectives
- 5 Changing with the Times: Success, Failure, and Inertia in Canadian Federal Arrangements, 1945–2002
- 6 Fiscal Federalism and Economic Reform in China
- 7 Indian Federalism, Economic Reform, and Globalization
- 8 Mexico's Decentralization at a Crossroads
- 9 Transfer Dependence and Regional Disparities in Nigerian Federalism
- 10 Conclusions and Lessons for Further Study
- Index
- References
8 - Mexico's Decentralization at a Crossroads
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 July 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Analyzing Federalism: Stylized Models and the Political Economy Reality
- 2 Federalism in Argentina and the Reforms of the 1990s
- 3 Australia: Central Fiscal Dominance, Collaborative Federalism, and Economic Reform
- 4 The Brazilian Federation: Facts, Challenges, and Perspectives
- 5 Changing with the Times: Success, Failure, and Inertia in Canadian Federal Arrangements, 1945–2002
- 6 Fiscal Federalism and Economic Reform in China
- 7 Indian Federalism, Economic Reform, and Globalization
- 8 Mexico's Decentralization at a Crossroads
- 9 Transfer Dependence and Regional Disparities in Nigerian Federalism
- 10 Conclusions and Lessons for Further Study
- Index
- References
Summary
Democratization, decentralization, and development. These three sequential forces have swept the world over the last decade and have redrawn the maps of politics, power, and prosperity.
Giugale and Webb (2000)INTRODUCTION
The implicit assumption in this recent World Bank book on Mexico is that democratization leads to decentralization and that the latter leads to development. In all fairness, the publication and the Bank have been careful to point out that not all decentralization is good for development. This chapter argues that, in practice, not all democracies have equally auspicious forces driving the decentralization process.
Decentralization can, but does not necessarily, improve accountability, equity, and government performance. From the citizen's point of view, the specific benefits that decentralization can bring about depend on the way they are represented politically as well as the kinds of institutions that form and implement government policy. Moreover, the costs and benefits of decentralization depend largely on the entry points and intermediate goals for the transition from the centralized state to a decentralized public sector. There is no standard path toward decentralization; and countries also rarely plan their path toward a final version of the decentralized state – the process is more often the result of internally inconsistent accumulated reforms adopted over time in response to changes in the political balance.
This chapter is centered on two interconnected developments that account for the main challenges for Mexico's decentralization today.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Federalism and Economic ReformInternational Perspectives, pp. 364 - 406Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2006
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