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The rise and fall of the national ‘decentralized agencies’ in Colombia
Author(s) -
Collins Charles David
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
public administration and development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.574
H-Index - 44
eISSN - 1099-162X
pISSN - 0271-2075
DOI - 10.1002/pad.4230090204
Subject(s) - unrest , decentralization , inefficiency , politics , sanitation , latin americans , public administration , government (linguistics) , state (computer science) , confusion , local government , economic growth , development economics , political science , economics , market economy , law , psychology , linguistics , philosophy , algorithm , environmental engineering , computer science , psychoanalysis , engineering
The public sector in Latin America has been characterized by the proliferation of national semi‐autonomous bodies known as ‘decentralized agencies’. This article focuses on such agencies in Colombia from the 1960s onwards. Attention will be paid to their institutional proliferation and how this affected local government, particularly in the fields of water and sanitation. Such changes in state organization have not been problem free. The growth of ‘decentralized agencies’ has been associated with problems of inefficiency, administrative confusion and problems of social and political unrest. Indeed, such contradictions have resulted in the issue of decentralization being placed on the political agenda and the development of innovative and administrative reforms that could breathe new life into local government.