The intra-municipal decentralization process in São Paulo

ABSTRACT

Introduction:

The governance of large urban centers has become a growing contemporary challenge. In São Paulo, structural problems have left profound marks on the social-urban land. Aiming at a political-administrative model for a highly complex territory, the decision to decentralize the municipal administration was fixed in the Organic Law of the Municipality, in 1990. This article aims to examine this process of intra-municipal decentralization in the city in its three dimensions: political, administrative and fiscal. The article analyzes the mechanisms created for territorial governance, extending the analysis to the last government finalized in the city (Haddad, 2013-16).

Materials and methods:

The research is qualitative and adopts “procedural analysis” as a theoretical and methodological perspective. Accordingly, decentralization is a set of measures and reforms adopted in layers over time. The article mainly uses documentary analysis (legislation) and bibliographic references, which are lacking in relation to a theme in Brazil. He seeks to adapt, heuristically, the terms of the debate on decentralization from national / subnational levels to municipal / intra-municipal levels in order to contemplate the case.

Results:

The evidence found suggests a long, discontinuous and erratic trajectory of the decentralization process in the city. Therefore, the “ratchet effect” described in the literature does not apply. In this effect, the various layers of the decentralization processes take place sequentially and following the same direction for each new round. In São Paulo, due to a non-consensual process between the different municipal governments about what the roles of the sub-municipal bodies should be, the decentralization process has faced several twists and turns.

Discussion:

The article seeks to add efforts to the expansion of knowledge about the process of sub-municipal governance in the largest city in Latin America, especially when operationalizing a longitudinal mid-range analysis, and risking, in dialogue with both national and international literature, a definition for intra-municipal decentralization, although the research is incipient.

KEYWORDS:
intramunicipal decentralization; sub-municipal governance; municipal administration; São Paulo; boroughs