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Decentralisation, Democratisation and Liberalisation: The History of Revenue Sharing in Argentina, 1934–1999

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 April 2001

KENT EATON
KENT EATON
Affiliation:
Princeton University.
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Abstract

This article critically evaluates hypotheses that attribute decentralisation in Latin America to democratisation and economic liberalisation. It examines these hypotheses in historical perspective by looking at the experience over time with revenue decentralisation and recentralisation in Argentina, one of Latin America's early decentralisers. Because neither the democratic election of subnational officials nor the pursuit of economic liberalisation is unique to the contemporary period in Argentina, the Argentine case represents an opportunity to gain analytical leverage on the theories emerging in the contemporary period. The paper presents qualified support for the argument that democratisation drives decentralisation and confounding evidence for the liberalisation hypothesis.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Latin American Studies , Volume 33 , Issue 1 , February 2001 , pp. 1 - 28
Copyright
© 2001 Cambridge University Press

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Footnotes

For helpful comments on this article, I would like to thank John Carey, Vanya Krieckhaus, Matthew Shugart, David Samuels, Al Montero, an anonymous reviewer at JLAS and the participants of the conference on ‘Causes and Consequences of Decentralization in Latin America’ at the University of Minnesota, February 2000. Rebecca Weitz provided valuable research assistance. This research was made possible by grants from the Fulbright Foundation, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and the Center for International Studies at Princeton University.