Dominican Decentralization Moves toward Maturity, 1996–2013

Aspects of Dominican municipal politics are examined, in the years since decentralizing measures began. Within municipalities, governments showed new administrative vigor and eff ectiveness, largely within traditional policy areas. There were few eff ective local initiatives to develop new functions. Municipios that most actively cultivated engagement with their constituents tended to mount the most successful contestation against central-government policy domination. In this respect, Santiago’s city hall outperformed the core-city government in Santo Domingo. Among municipalities, Participatory Budgeting spread rapidly and survived partisan turnover, while the Federation of Municipalities continued strong and regional consortia of towns expanded local capabilities at modest cost. In comparison with decentralization processes in Colombia and Brazil, Dominican local governments may have stalled at a stage of increased central funding, combined with limited policy functions.