Latin American countries face the challenge of rebuilding their institutional systems, diminished in some of its essential functions as a result of economic reforms and policies implemented, with varying degrees of intensity, in most nations of the region. The identification of the poor results obtained with the efforts to reduce the functions of government and move some whole segments from it to the private sector, places the issue of strengthening and increasing its capacity to provide effective responses to the needs and demands of the population in a prominent place on the political agenda in these countries. Within these complex social processes, different routes have been opened to the quest for decentralization of government, arising from different concepts and strategies to follow uneven. This book examines the tortuous path followed by the Costa Rican society towards decentralization and strengthening local governments, with emphasis on upstream and downstream movements that have helped to promote the gradual progress in the transfer or allocation of powers to municipal corporations
