IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bpj/lawdev/v2y2009i1n11.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Decentralization of Development and Nation-Building Today: Reconstructing Colombia from the Margins of Bogotá

Author

Listed:
  • Eslava Luis

Abstract

Responding to an international trend that regards the state as an oversized, unsustainable and uneven jurisdiction that cannot effectively intervene in the economy to promote development objectives, nor impose a proper presence over its territory and population, the reform of the Colombian Constitution in 1991 installed local development as one of the primary strategies to recuperate the nation-building project in Colombia. Bogotá has greatly benefited from the introduction of this normative framework: within the spatial limits of its jurisdiction, Bogotá has been able to achieve a remarkable level of community engagement, measured urban growth and financial stability, as well as high per capita levels of education, health and public utility provision. However, the successful decentralization of state activity in Bogotá has implied an intensification of the systemic violence that traditionally accompanies nation-building projects. Through practices of classification, demarcation and disciplining of space and subjects, Bogotá has used a cartography of legal and illegal urban spaces in order to circumscribe its developmental target. Reflecting upon the contradictions that arise from the encounter between the weaknesses of Colombia's sovereignty and Bogotá's successful development, this paper examines the relationship between development and sovereign consolidation through the multiplication of levels of governance and the creation of increasingly smaller, more accountable sub-national jurisdictions in Third World states.

Suggested Citation

  • Eslava Luis, 2009. "Decentralization of Development and Nation-Building Today: Reconstructing Colombia from the Margins of Bogotá," The Law and Development Review, De Gruyter, vol. 2(1), pages 283-366, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:bpj:lawdev:v:2:y:2009:i:1:n:11
    DOI: 10.2202/1943-3867.1034
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.2202/1943-3867.1034
    Download Restriction: For access to full text, subscription to the journal or payment for the individual article is required.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.2202/1943-3867.1034?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Pranab Bardhan & Dilip Mookherjee (ed.), 2006. "Decentralization and Local Governance in Developing Countries: A Comparative Perspective," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262524546, April.
    2. Edgar GONZÁLEZ SALAS, 2001. "Evaluación de la descentralización municipal en Colombia. Componente de capacidad institucional," Archivos de Economía 2626, Departamento Nacional de Planeación.
    3. Unknown, 1949. "Inaugural Address," Indian Journal of Agricultural Economics, Indian Society of Agricultural Economics, vol. 4(1), pages 1-4, March.
    4. Tim Campbell & Harald Fuhr, 2004. "Leadership and Innovation in Subnational Government : Case Studies from Latin America," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 15023.
    5. Carlos A. De Mattos, 1990. "La descentralización, ¿una nueva panacea para impulsar el desarrollo local?," Revista Cuadernos de Economia, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, FCE, CID, June.
    6. Anwar Shah, 2006. "Local Governance in Developing Countries," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 7192.
    7. World Bank, 2008. "World Development Indicators 2008," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 28241.
    8. World Bank, 2008. "World Development Indicators 2008," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 11855.
    9. Falleti, Tulia G., 2005. "A Sequential Theory of Decentralization: Latin American Cases in Comparative Perspective," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 99(3), pages 327-346, August.
    10. World Bank, 2009. "World Development Indicators 2009," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 4367.
    11. Angell, Alan & Lowden, Pamela & Thorp, Rosemary, 2001. "Decentralizing Development: The Political Economy of Institutional Change in Colombia and Chile," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199242313.
    12. Richard Cantor & Frank Packer, 1995. "Sovereign credit ratings," Current Issues in Economics and Finance, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, vol. 1(Jun).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Nicola Banks, 2014. "What works for young people's development? A Case Study of BRAC's Empowerment and Livelihoods for Adolescent Girls programme in Uganda and Tanzania," Global Development Institute Working Paper Series 21214, GDI, The University of Manchester.
    2. Rosta, Miklós, 2013. "New Public Management: opportunity for the Centre, thread for the Periphery," MPRA Paper 68474, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Hildegunn E. Stokke, 2009. "Multinational supermarket chains in developing countries: does local agriculture benefit?," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 40(6), pages 645-656, November.
    4. Valentina Vasile, 2009. "Minimum Wage Institution In The Financial And Economic Crisis. Policies And Practices.," Annales Universitatis Apulensis Series Oeconomica, Faculty of Sciences, "1 Decembrie 1918" University, Alba Iulia, vol. 2(11), pages 1-2.
    5. Harms, Philipp & an de Meulen, Philipp, 2013. "Demographic structure and the security of property rights: The role of development and democracy," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 73-89.
    6. Oriana Bandiera & Niklas Buehren & Robin Burgess & Markus Goldstein & Selim Gulesci & Imran Rasul & Munshi Sulaiman, 2014. "Women's empowerment in action: Evidence from a randomized control trial in Africa," CSAE Working Paper Series 2014-30, Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford.
    7. ., 2010. "Reforms of the Labour Market and Industrial Relations," Chapters, in: The Korean Economy in Transition, chapter 11, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    8. Dahai Fu & Yanrui Wu & Yihong Tang, 2012. "Does Innovation Matter for Chinese High-Tech Exports? A Firm-Level Analysis," Frontiers of Economics in China-Selected Publications from Chinese Universities, Higher Education Press, vol. 7(2), pages 218-245, June.
    9. Geginat, Carolin & Ramalho, Rita, 2018. "Electricity connections and firm performance in 183 countries," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 344-366.
    10. Nour, Samia Satti Osman Mohamed, 2011. "Assessment of the gender gap in Sudan," MERIT Working Papers 2011-004, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    11. Carmignani, Fabrizio & Mandeville, Thomas, 2014. "Never been industrialized: A tale of African structural change," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 124-137.
    12. Jayaraman, T. K. & Choong, Chee-Keong & Kumar, Ronald, 2011. "Role of Remittances in Economic Development: An Empirical Study of World’s Two Most Remittances Dependent Pacific Island Economies," MPRA Paper 33197, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. Sumberg, James & Anyidoho, Nana Akua & Chasukwa, Michael & Chinsinga, Blessings & Leavy, Jennifer, 2014. "Young people, agriculture, and employment in rural Africa," WIDER Working Paper Series 080, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    14. Alexander Moradi, 2010. "Selective Mortality or Growth after Childhood? What Really is Key to Understand the Puzzlingly Tall Adult Heights in Sub-Saharan Africa," CSAE Working Paper Series 2010-17, Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford.
    15. J. Kornai., 2012. "Innovation and Dynamism. Interaction between Systems and Technical Progress," VOPROSY ECONOMIKI, N.P. Redaktsiya zhurnala "Voprosy Economiki", vol. 4.
    16. James Sumberg & Nana Akua Anyidoho & Michael Chasukwa & Blessings Chinsinga & Jennifer Leavy & Getnet Tadele & Stephen Whitfield & Joseph Yaro, 2014. "Young People, Agriculture, and Employment in Rural Africa," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2014-080, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    17. Banik, Nilanjan & Yoonus, C.A., 2011. "Does ECOWAS make sense?," MPRA Paper 38664, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    18. Baas, Timo & Brücker, Herbert, 2012. "The macroeconomic consequences of migration diversion: Evidence for Germany and the UK," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 23(2), pages 180-194.
    19. Mohamed El Hedi Arouri & Adel Ben Youssef & Cuong Nguyen-Viet & Agnès Soucat, 2014. "Effects of urbanization on economic growth and human capital formation in Africa," Working Papers halshs-01068271, HAL.
    20. Michel Guillot & Natalia Gavrilova & Tetyana Pudrovska, 2011. "Understanding the “Russian Mortality Paradox” in Central Asia: Evidence from Kyrgyzstan," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 48(3), pages 1081-1104, August.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bpj:lawdev:v:2:y:2009:i:1:n:11. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Peter Golla (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.degruyter.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.