IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jadmsc/v15y2025i5p187-d1659536.html

Building a Decentralization Index in Portugal: A Proposal on Conceptual and Methodological Foundations

Author

Listed:
  • Helena Teles

    (Instituto Superior de Ciências Sociais e Políticas, Centro de Administração e Políticas Públicas, Unidade de Coordenação de Serviço Social e Política Social, Universidade de Lisboa, 1300-663 Lisbon, Portugal)

  • Temístocles Oliveira Júnior

    (Instituto Superior de Ciências Sociais e Políticas, Centro de Administração e Políticas Públicas, Unidade de Coordenação de Serviço Social e Política Social, Universidade de Lisboa, 1300-663 Lisbon, Portugal)

  • Joaquim Caeiro

    (Instituto Superior de Ciências Sociais e Políticas, Centro de Administração e Políticas Públicas, Unidade de Coordenação de Serviço Social e Política Social, Universidade de Lisboa, 1300-663 Lisbon, Portugal)

Abstract

Decentralization is a process that allows local governments to play a more active role in decision-making and the management of public policies. This process involves transferring responsibilities, resources, and authority from central to local governments, bringing the decisions and provision of public services and policies closer to the needs of citizens in each region. Portugal established a regime for asymmetric, multi-level, and multi-sectoral decentralization governance that is primarily focused on the policy (administrative) dimension. This study proposes conceptual and methodological foundations for building a decentralization index in Portugal aimed at measuring and comparing its outcomes across municipalities and policy areas of the social domain. The conceptual foundations enable a model that combines the state capacity concept with the three-dimensional decentralization theory, defining a framework of dimensions, objectives, and principles with potential indicators for a future index. The methodological cornerstones provide a qualitative scheme for determining the indicators that should comprise the decentralization index, data collection, processing methods, and analytical strategies. Although decentralization in Portugal dates back to the mid-2010s and the transfer of competences is formally complete as of 2023, at least in the social domain, its evaluation falls short of what is needed, including measuring its results in this domain. This study aims to present proposals that address these gaps and encourage a critical debate on decentralization, its frameworks, processes, and results.

Suggested Citation

  • Helena Teles & Temístocles Oliveira Júnior & Joaquim Caeiro, 2025. "Building a Decentralization Index in Portugal: A Proposal on Conceptual and Methodological Foundations," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-16, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jadmsc:v:15:y:2025:i:5:p:187-:d:1659536
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3387/15/5/187/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3387/15/5/187/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bellofatto, Antonio Andrés & Besfamille, Martín, 2018. "Regional state capacity and the optimal degree of fiscal decentralization," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 225-243.
    2. Fiszbein, Ariel, 1997. "The Emergence of local capacity: Lessons from Colombia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 25(7), pages 1029-1043, July.
    3. Arif Setiawan & Prijono Tjiptoherijanto & Benedictus Raksaka Mahi & Khoirunurrofik Khoirunurrofik, 2022. "The Impact of Local Government Capacity on Public Service Delivery: Lessons Learned from Decentralized Indonesia," Economies, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-13, December.
    4. Jody Zall Kusek & Ray C. Rist, 2004. "Ten Steps to a Results-Based Monitoring and Evaluation System : A Handbook for Development Practitioners," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 14926, April.
    5. Bossert, Thomas John & Mitchell, Andrew David, 2011. "Health sector decentralization and local decision-making: Decision space, institutional capacities and accountability in Pakistan," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 72(1), pages 39-48, January.
    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. World Bank Group, 2016. "Linking Farmers to Markets through Productive Alliances," World Bank Publications - Reports 25752, The World Bank Group.
    2. Gianmarco Daniele & Amedeo Piolatto & Willem Sas, 2018. "Who Sent You? Strategic Voting, Transfers and Bailouts in a Federation," Working Papers. Serie AD 2018-05, Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Económicas, S.A. (Ivie).
    3. Jaime Bonet Morón & Diana Carolina Ricciulli Mar�n, 2020. "Historia del ordenamiento urbano de Valledupar," Tiempo y Economía, Universidad de Bogotá Jorge Tadeo Lozano, vol. 7(1), pages 125-152.
    4. Bird, Richard M. & Smart, Michael, 2002. "Intergovernmental Fiscal Transfers: International Lessons for Developing Countries," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 30(6), pages 899-912, June.
    5. Kalamov, Zarko & Staal, Klaas, 2023. "Too-big-to-fail in federations?," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    6. Lin, Boqiang & Zhou, Yicheng, 2021. "How does vertical fiscal imbalance affect the upgrading of industrial structure? Empirical evidence from China," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 170(C).
    7. Chumasande Lalendle & Leila Goedhals-Gerber & Joubert van Eeden, 2021. "A Monitoring and Evaluation Sustainability Framework for Road Freight Transporters in South Africa," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(14), pages 1-22, July.
    8. Richard Douglas Kamara, 2020. "Outcomes-based performance management through measuring indicators: Collaborative governance for local economic development (LED) in South African municipalities," Technium Social Sciences Journal, Technium Science, vol. 9(1), pages 1-19, July.
    9. Luhuvilo Sanga, 2025. "Leveraging Knowledge Management to Strengthen Monitoring and Evaluation in Tanzania Education Sector: A Data-Driven Approach," MakeLearn 2025: Accelerated Innovation (AI); Sustainability for Better Humanity,, ToKnowPress.
    10. Meghan Beck-O’Brien & Stefan Bringezu, 2021. "Biodiversity Monitoring in Long-Distance Food Supply Chains: Tools, Gaps and Needs to Meet Business Requirements and Sustainability Goals," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(15), pages 1-23, July.
    11. repec:bjc:journl:v:8:y:2022:i:12:p:66-72 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Jaime Bonet-Morón & Diana Ricciulli-Marín, 2019. "Planificación urbana en América Latina: el caso de Valledupar (Colombia)," Cuadernos de Historia Económica 51, Banco de la Republica de Colombia.
    13. Shyam Singh & Nathalie Holvoet & Vivek Pandey, 2018. "Bridging Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility: Culture of Monitoring and Evaluation of CSR Initiatives in India," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-19, July.
    14. Dr. Mustafe Mahamoud Abdillahi, 2025. "Theoretical Perspectives on Administrative Decentralization: Concepts, Models, and Implications," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 9(8), pages 5884-5904, August.
    15. Fabricio Esteban Espinoza Molina & Blanca del Valle Arenas Ramirez & Francisco Aparicio Izquierdo & Diana Carolina Zúñiga Ortega, 2021. "Road Safety Perception Questionnaire (RSPQ) in Latin America: A Development and Validation Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(5), pages 1-21, March.
    16. Aslim, Erkmen Giray & Neyapti, Bilin, 2017. "Optimal fiscal decentralization: Redistribution and welfare implications," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 224-234.
    17. Anwar Shah, 2014. "Decentralized Provision of Public Infrastructure and Corruption," International Center for Public Policy Working Paper Series, at AYSPS, GSU paper1418, International Center for Public Policy, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University.
    18. Jiang, Wei & Li, Xitao & Liu, Ruoxi & Song, Yijia, 2022. "Local fiscal pressure, policy distortion and energy efficiency: Micro-evidence from a quasi-natural experiment in China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 254(PB).
    19. World Bank Group, 2017. "Driving Performance from the Center," World Bank Publications - Reports 26495, The World Bank Group.
    20. Rosalía Rodriguez-García & Elizabeth M. White, 2005. "Self-Assessment in Managing for Results: Conducting Self-Assessment for Development Practitioners," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 7292, April.
    21. Independent Evaluation Group, 2006. "From Schooling Access to Learning Outcomes, An Unfinished Agenda : An Evaluation of World Bank Support to Primary Education," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 7083, April.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:gam:jadmsc:v:15:y:2025:i:5:p:187-:d:1659536. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.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.