Latin America Archives – Decentralization Net

Territorial income differences and dynamics within Latin American countries

October 7, 2025 LPS Alliance

For decades, Latin America has been characterized by deep territorial disparities in income and productivity. Stark divides between leading metropolitan regions and lagging rural areas have shaped economic opportunity, social cohesion, and politics. A recent […]

IADB releases framework for subnational governance and development in Latin America and the Caribbean

June 12, 2024 Lynn Wambu

The Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) was founded in 1959 as a partnership between the United States and 19 Latin American and Caribbean countries. The IADB currently comprises 48 member countries, including borrowers and non-borrowers. It’s […]

Decentralization in Latin America After 40 Years: Work in Progress

May 18, 2024 LPS Alliance

In 1995, Andrew Nickson, a leading scholar on decentralization (Honorary Reader in Public Management and Latin American Development at the International Development Department, University of Birmingham) wrote the first English-language book on local government in […]

Strengthening subnational fiscal management in Latin America

August 13, 2023 LPS Alliance

Latin America and the Caribbean are among the most decentralized global regions in the world. The nature and extent of (fiscal) decentralization in the region was recently established in the Outlook of Fiscal Relations among […]

Towards a Decentralized Haitian State

July 30, 2022 LPS Alliance

Decentralization was a prominent theme throughout Haiti after a 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck near the capital in January 2010, killing up to 300,000 people in just 35 seconds, and again more recently in August 2021 […]

Decentralization and Local Development in Latin America & the Caribbean

June 7, 2021 LPS Alliance

Decentralization and Local Development in Latin America & the Caribbean – Knowledge Sharing, July 27-28, 2022 Program sessions included: The outlook of decentralization and intergovernmental fiscal relations in Latin America and the Caribbean. (Wednesday, July […]

Webinar: The outlook of decentralization and intergovernmental fiscal relations in Latin America and the Caribbean

June 6, 2021 LPSAManager

Decentralization and subnational finance are important policy topics in Latin America and the Caribbean, as the region is among the most decentralized in the world. With this in mind, the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) and […]

Webinar: Decentralization in Latin America and the Caribbean: Reforms on the horizon

June 6, 2021 LPSAManager

Although some countries in Latin America and the Caribbean are among the most decentralized in the world, there is considerable variation within the region with respect to their level of decentralization. In different countries, contrasting […]

Reforms of fiscal relations in Brazil

April 2, 2020 LPS Alliance

Brazil is a three-tiered federation since the Federal Constitution of 1988 decentralized the political power and strengthened federalism, turning the municipalities into a member of the federation with administrative and political autonomy. The federal pact […]

The Role of Donors in Strengthening Local Governments and Decentralization

October 10, 2019 LPS Alliance

One of the most profound changes that have taken place in Latin America in recent decades is local democratic governance, driven largely by decentralization processes, and also by democratic ideals to open new spaces for […]