Decentralisation or Recentralisation in Bolivia? Autonomous Territorial Entities and Intergovernmental Relations in a Decentralised State

Abstract

The demand for regional autonomy, which crystallised in the 1990s during municipal decentralisation, has profoundly marked Bolivia’s political history. This article examines the reorientation of the autonomic model since the 2009 Constitution. This “recentralisation” is explained by: (a) the political hegemony achieved by the Movimiento al Socialismo (MAS) and its consequences for local politics; (b) regulatory centralism, especially in the Ley Marco de Autonomías y Descentralización (Autonomy and Decentralisation Law); (c) fiscal inequality in the financing of the different Autonomous Territorial Entities; and (d) the malfunctioning of the model of intergovernmental relations.