Abstract

MOZZICAFREDDO, Juan. La décentralisation administrative et les innovations en matière de politiques régionales au Portugal. Sociologia, Problemas e Práticas [online]. 2003, n.41, pp.151-179. ISSN 0873-6529.

This article looks at the process of decentralisation and regional development. It begins by using the Portuguese experience as the basis for an analysis of the conditions on which this process is founded. The author’s view is that it requires both institutional support and the backing of actors who can be both the subjects and the objects of devolution - in other words, to a large extent it is itself a consequence of development and democratisation. On a second level the same process is seen as a means of political, social and institutional modernisation: a) as a mechanism that favours the autonomy of civil society and the modernisation of administrative procedures; and b) as an instrument that facilitates regional development and enhances social and spatial dynamics. Finally, the author studies three aspects of the political decision-making process at regional level: 1) the decentralisation of local competences; 2) the devoluted forums and bodies and the programmes that are capable of contributing to economic and social cohesion- the CCR’s; and 3) the municipal and inter-municipal programmes which essentially aim to give a boost to the intermediate-level towns and cities that are considered to be factors in local development.

Keywords : Local autonomy; regionalization; intermediate towns and cities; clientelism; neocorporativism.

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