Hacia un nuevo debate sobre la descentralización en Colombia: el análisis intergubernamental desde una lectura institucional

The purpose of this paper is to examine the Colombian decentralization process by taking into account the literature on Intergovernmental Relations and from an institutionalist perspective. In Colombia, despite of certain advancement of decentralization process, there is a shortage of clarity with regards to the mechanisms of intergovernmental coordination within the framework of regional autonomy. This scarcity opened the doors for the scenarios in which the coordination of public policies between territorial entities becomes fertile soil for political opportunism. Hence, decentralization should be comprehended not only as a theory that deals with a higher level of autonomy of regional governments, but also as a framework to explore intergovernmental coordination.