Contemporary issues in the government and administration of latin american megacities

Abstract

This paper is the first to systematically analyze and compare the structures of city governance and administration for seven major cities in Latin America, four of which are megacities (population of over 10 million), and three others are large national capitais. U.S.and U. K. models of city administration are reviewed as baseline models against which differences in Latin American may be explored. Structures of Government in Latin America show several important features and trends: 1)the lack of metropolitan (cross jurisdictional) authority; 2) the existence of strong mayors and weak councils"; 3) high levels of partisanship; 4) overlapping rather than interlocking bureaucracies; 5) pressures towards the privatization of city services, but continuing tension over the desirability of public versus private control; 6)greater fiscal responsibility and autonomy; and 7), a continuing marginalization of public participation in megacity governance. In spite of these features, many cities throughout the region (regardless of whether they are megacity size or national capitais), are actively intensifying their efforts to develop more effedive, accountable and democratic governance structures.