Necessary pillars for autonomous decentralization without cooptation of the central power: exploring the Chilean process of decentralization

Abstract

The debate on decentralization in Chile has taken a new impulse, mainly through the demands of many regionalist collective actions that took place since 2011. These social movements have established a “new cycle”, redefining, at some point, the relations between state and society. This period has confronted different positions on how to achieve decentralization that should accomplish two important objectives: developing the necessary autonomy and competences that would avoid the capture of subnational entities by local mafias and, at the same time, generate a decentralization process that prevent cooptation and control from the central government. Therefore, this article is an exploratory-descriptive research based on theory, which seeks to identify the key elements of success for a non-cooptative decentralization process in Chile. In that sense, we conclude the main three central pillars for this purpose are: strengthening and financial autonomy; participation and territorial democratization; and the process of institutionalization.