Mexico City´s boroughs: not yet local governments

Resumo

The present article analyzes recent decentralization and recentralization processes in some countries and the trends observed in Mexico, where Mexico City, the national capital, was recently recognized as a federal state, and after 90 years without municipal governments, the city's territorial divisions were established as boroughs. In this context, the powers of the Mexican municipalities are compared with those of the boroughs (formerly called delegations) to determine the requisites that they still lack to be a true local government with full political, fiscal, and administrative powers.  The new government shall demonstrate  its decentralizing vocation.