Decentralization and Democracy in Latin America. Edited by Alfred P. Montero and David J Samuels. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 2004. 320p. $47.50 cloth, $27.50 paper.

The study of decentralization has become something of a fashion, not least because it seems to encapsulate the process of democratization in Latin America and the shift to a neoliberal policy framework, and because it has been adopted by the political Left in sharp contrast to the state-centered policies of previous decades. Decentralization has been seen as the answer to improving the quality of popular participation in Latin America, to improving the quality of public services, and to improving the efficiency in the allocation of public resources.