Politics Beyond the Capital: The Design of Subnational Institutions in South America

A recent wave of decentralization in Latin America has increased the prominence of politicians at the subnational level. Politics Beyond the Capital is the first book to place this trend in comparative historical perspective, examining past episodes of decentralization alongside contemporary ones to determine whether consistent causal factors are at play. At the center of the book is the rigorous testing of two key hypotheses that attribute decentralization to liberalizing changes in political regime type and economic development strategy. The book focuses on the four Latin American countries where politicians have most extensively engaged in the redesign of subnational institutions: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Uruguay. By reframing the politics of decentralization as the politics of designing subnational institutions, the book moves beyond the policy orientation of much of the current literature, and broadens the debate by analyzing not just decentralization but re-centralization as well.

Author: Kent Eaton
Publisher: Stanford University Press
Published: 07/22/2004
Pages: 267
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.15lbs
Size: 9.28h x 6.00w x 0.85d
ISBN: 9780804749916

Review Citation(s):
Choice 03/01/2005 pg. 1299

About the Author
Kent Eaton is Assistant Professor of Politics and International Affairs at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University.