Decentralisation, democratisation and liberalisation: The history of revenue sharing in Argentina, 1934-1999

This article critically evaluates hypotheses that attribute decentralisatio n in Latin America to democratisation and economic liberalisation. It exami nes these hypotheses in historical perspective by looking at the experience over time with revenue decentralisation and recentralisation in Argentina, one of Latin America's early decentralisers. Because neither the democrati c election of subnational officials nor the pursuit of economic liberalisat ion is unique to the contemporary period in Argentina, the Argentine case r epresents an opportunity to gain analytical leverage on the theories emergi ng in the contemporary period. The paper presents qualified support for the argument that democratisation drives decentralisation and confounding evid ence for the liberalisation hypothesis.