Gobernanza pública, poder e institucionalidad en espacios rurales

This literature review shows the most important political effects of the decentralization reform in rural areas, mediated by the fiscal boom and a national institutional context characterized by the weakness of state institutions and of political parties. Rather than producing a sharp change in institutional or organizational trajectory, this decentralization process within a booming economy intensifies the pace of (or imprint particularities in) long-term transformations of rural societies. It is notorious the similar way in which electoral policy is organized today in urban and rural areas, highlighting the interdependency of these spaces. The great difficulties the State has to effectively govern its territory within the framework of decentralization becomes particularly visible in rural areas. Finally, the most important change detected in this context of increasing interrelation of the rural and urban, is the presence of large companies operating in rural spaces, which generates important changes in the local power balances.