Municipal Governments and Development in Latin America

The processes of democratization, State reforms and administrative de-concentration that have marked the last 15 years of Latin American societies have brought about a reevaluation of the role of municipalities. The decentralization of the State has been put forth as basic objective and the economic productive restructuring happening around the world calls for a response from local initiatives: that is to say, initiatives to effect a new strategy of development “from the bottom up” that values territory as a geographic space bounded by a community of interests. One of the important actors in these local initiatives are the municipal governments who, as a first government resort, must respond to the vast demands of the population. These institutions are not consolidated, however. Instead, they are generally weak, with little economic, political and ideological power, and are limited in their autonomy, authority, legitimacy and capacity for management. In the first part of the article, and in an effort to characterize the political autonomy of the region’s municipalities, their distinct elements are analyzed – the system of representative democracy, competencies and resources, etc.. The most notorious deficiencies of Latin American municipalities are also studied. The second section analyzes the roles that these municipalities should take on to overcome these deficiencies, and goes on to offer action proposals towards creating a new model for municipal management, new ways of making policy from the municipality, and an analysis of the different instruments for promoting the local economy