Campbell, Tim. The Quiet Revolution: Decentralization and the Rise of Political Participation in Latin American Cities. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2003. Tables, bibliography, index, 208 pp.; Paperback $24.95.
As third-wave democrats began to supplant Latin America's dictators in the 1980s, the democrats manifested their extreme distrust of central authority in the hasty strengthening of municipal government. 1 Although their authoritarian predecessors had enhanced local technical capacity, municipal leaders were unprepared to manage the abrupt influx of revenues that, for a brief time, exceeded new spending responsibilities. The money transfers provoked a period of fiscal euphoria, but the economic damage done by the lost decade of the 1980s soon caught up with it, dampening the craze for decentralization. The excitement had spread nonetheless, and had increased involvement in new participatory political structures, such as town meetings.
In this book, Tim Campbell argues that the changes wrought by this tumultuous period constitute a "quiet revolution." "Swiftly and radically, yet remarkably peacefully, these two trends of decentralization and democratization transformed the entire face of governance in the region" (2003, 4). Campbell tells the story of this revolution in four parts. After presenting the framework of the book and the regional context for decentralization (two chapters), he analyzes decentralization in five Latin American countries (two chapters), explores the conceptual dimensions of reform (three chapters), and argues that the lessons of the quiet revolution demand a rethinking of conventional policy wisdom on decentralization (two chapters).
Each section contains important insights, but I find the chapters on reform dimensions the most innovative and engaging of the book, and thus the most deserving of critique. I will begin with the framework and case studies in Campbell's main empirical chapters, then take a deeper look at the dimensions of his "new model of governance," and finish with a brief examination of Campbell's lessons for the future.
In his framework chapter, Campbell emphasizes the maturing urban system as a pivotal causal factor behind the quiet revolution; but he overshadows this interesting claim with a complex mix of competing explanations--the debt crisis, Reagan and Thatcher's new republicanism, Pope John Paul II's challenge to secular authoritarianism, local autonomy in post-Franco Spain, and several others--few of which reappear [End Page 159] in the analysis (pp. 17-24). An alternative approach might have introduced only the most compelling of these currents while showing more concretely why each factor seems to carry more or less causal weight in explaining the regional context for decentralization's pioneers.
In chapters 3 and 4, Campbell presents case studies of Mexico and Chile, the initial "pioneers" of the quiet revolution (1970s), along with three contrasting cases from the second wave of pioneers (1980s). He contrasts Mexico with the similarly federal Brazil and Venezuela, and Chile with the similarly unitary Colombia. To these cases, he adds selected data on Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador, Guatemala, and Honduras. Campbell's research design and case selection make good sense. They provide a good sample of his ten total country cases and permit interesting contrasts with his two principal cases.
Campbell describes Mexico under the PRI and Chile under Pinochet as unlikely and ironic pioneers because their authoritarian leaders hardly desired the increased local autonomy that today's decentralization advocates regard as a core attribute of the process. On the contrary, Mexico's decentralization reforms began not with any intent to devolve political power but as an exercise in crisis control to shore up the PRI regime in the wake of the 1976 fiscal crisis (pp. 41-42). Likewise, in the Chilean case, Pinochet desired private sector-model local governments that emphasized efficient service delivery, but with strict obedience to the hierarchical chain of command. Thus Chile differs from other cases, because the goal was to insulate municipal government from political pressures, the opposite of enhancing political participation. Campbell describes institutional and staffing changes as "an utter transformation in local government" and a major success for Pinochet (pp. 34-35).
Campbell's eye for irony finds several delightful nuggets in the Chilean case, but may look too hard for the silver lining of the dictatorship. For example, he describes how Pinochet inadvertently laid the groundwork for municipalities to improve their provision of social services by obliging them to handle social welfare concerns (p. 36). Yet the regime slashed so deeply into social safety nets that more evidence is needed to show that such an ironic silver lining actually manifested itself in the 1990s. In any case, Campbell concludes that--barring a unitary dictatorship--the Chilean approach is not applicable elsewhere (p. 53).
Campbell's treatment of his three contrast cases--the second wave of pioneers--is brief, but permits several general insights. Although no template emerged, and the pace and depth of reforms varied, strengthened federalism and enhanced local autonomy were common to all five cases, and improved resource allocation occurred in all cases except Chile (p. 51).
Looking beyond the "pioneers" and considering data from all ten country cases, Campbell delineates five stages of reform: euphoria over [End Page 160] the glut of new funds; disassembly, as costs caught up to and then exceeded revenue; a crisis of confidence in the process; innovations, such as participatory budgeting; and renovation and reconstruction (pp. 70-73). These stages are an insightful contribution, and they benefit from several illustrative examples. (A possible addition would be to take the reader through all five stages with a single case, showing the process from start to finish.) From this analysis, Campbell argues that increased autonomy has failed to make up for poor institutional capacity (that is, technical skills, level of professionalism) and that the latter may prove to be the Achilles' heel of decentralization (p. 69). Campbell revisits this provocative point in the concluding chapters, but it deserves further attention.
A key insight into decentralization for Campbell is that the quiet revolution generated a new model of governance, characterized by high political participation, innovative and meritocratic leadership, and a new covenant on taxation. A fascinating example of such governance comes from the Andean city of Manizales, Colombia, where a reform mayor was elected on a most unusual platform. As a candidate, he promised to increase taxes for transit and health care, but only after he had first proven himself to the people by resolving the city's traffic problems! True to his word, he eliminated congestion bottlenecks and then launched a successful campaign to raise taxes and improve tax collection, quadrupling municipal revenues (p. 67).
Campbell finds at least three aspects of this story not just noteworthy but revolutionary. The mayor's approach was participatory in nature, and engaged voters in meaningful dialogue. The mayor focused on local "brown" environmental issues like smog and congestion, rather than international "green" environmental issues, such as deforestation and global warming. The example also illustrates the "new fiscal bargain" emerging between local officials and voters, who accepted new tax burdens because they trusted the mayor to deliver results. These three aspects of the Manizales case constitute the core of Campbell's "new model of governance," which, he argues, characterizes leading cities in the quiet revolution. 2 Campbell devotes his three best-written chapters to these dimensions and enhances each with excellent tables and typologies.
Chapter 5 presents and illustrates six innovative participatory mechanisms (for example, voting, voice, grassroots mobilization). An informative table then characterizes which mechanisms seem compatible with which arenas of reform (p. 82). For example, while Campbell's analysis shows how nearly every participatory mechanism proved useful in the accountability area, only the mechanism of opinion gathering was useful across all arenas (that is, policy planning, budgeting, and implementation, as well as accountability). Taken together, Campbell argues, [End Page 161] these new participatory structures have become part of the steering mechanism of local government, which has begun listening to the voices "from below" (pp. 79-81).
Chapter 6 tells a story that begins at the "dawn of decentralization," when urban conditions were beginning to shift more rapidly. Urban primacy was declining, giving rise to intermediate cities; leaders were learning about the scope of the impact of poverty, and criminal violence was skyrocketing (p. 101). It was during this period, argues Campbell, that a series of national assistance programs took aim and consistently missed their intended targets, the urban poor. For example, job training and job creation programs were in the formal sector and required literacy, a skill that evades most poor people (p. 103).
In the quiet revolution, however, new democrats tapped into poor people's knowledge of the "informational infrastructure" of local problems in order to reorient municipal spending priorities around two linked issues: urban poverty and environmental decay (pp. 99-100). Whereas national and international forces had long considered the antipoverty agenda as separate from the "green" environmental agenda, which focused on longterm sustainability of ecosystems, new mayors linked poverty to "brown" environmental issues, such as water supply quality, wastewater treatment, and solid waste collection.
The green-brown distinction and the information infrastructure issue are among several excellent insights in this chapter. Another excellent table systematically shows how each of five types of assistance programs failed to reach its intended target. But has the prioritization of poverty really occurred? Campbell's analysis focuses on the outstanding cases; do even 50 such cases mean that local government has deprioritized the rich and the middle class? If so, it is a revolution indeed; but more evidence is needed to support such a claim.
Chapter 7 (coauthored with Marcela Huertas) introduces the "new fiscal bargain"--in which residents see direct linkages between services desired and taxes levied--and presents six "paths to capital" for municipalities. As in the United States, Latin American cities are hamstrung when they try to access credit; they cannot borrow without higher-level approval. Campbell and Huertas argue that successful organizing to obtain capital in places like Tijuana, Bogotá, and La Paz therefore offers "big-time lessons for small-scale borrowers" (p. 140). Intriguing examples range from credit checks for the poor to using social censure as collateral, but three traits stand out: leaders demonstrated competency in finances, won local trust through clear communication, and achieved national backing for borrowing (p. 138). In this way, the authors connect the new fiscal bargain to the participation and poverty-environment dimensions.
Taken together, these three dimensions lay the foundation for Campbell's new model of governance, which he spells out, along with [End Page 162] policy recommendations, in chapters 8 and 9. He argues that highly motivated mayors incorporated citizens, prioritized poverty, and mobilized finance, all actions emblematic of the new model, which emphasizes stronger leadership, better technical skills, and a willingness to innovate. These changes add up to a quiet revolution, which transformed governance. "Leading local governments became more self-reliant and self-guided. They began to show elements of fiscal discipline, internal competition, and efficiency in resource allocation. Above all, local governments were more participatory in character" (p. 145).
Campbell's exploration of the institutional impact of decentralization is geared toward generating policy recommendations. First, Campbell recommends longer terms of office and better training in budget analysis, decisionmaking, and contracting. Second, participation should be used to develop representativeness among elected leaders (pp. 158-59). Third, although the early mismatch of revenue and spending responsibilities helped evoke initial enthusiasm, Campbell recommends that reforms use revenue-neutral fiscal schemes (p. 61). On a broader level, Campbell frames his research as a challenge to the conventional wisdom of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, warning that their regulatory emphasis on top-down central government could "smother the embers" of local innovation spurred by the quiet revolution. 3
Overall, this well-organized and well-written book is impressive, but Campbell's unflagging optimism requires a dose of skepticism. Campbell is quick to acknowledge both that some issues exceed the scope of his research (for example, lack of attention to parties, the media, and campaign finance, p. 98) and that his case selection tends to yield an overly rosy picture of decentralization. Yet I am surprised that he persists with such a buoyantly optimistic tone throughout the book.
Campbell acknowledges that only a small number of cities exhibit traits of the new model, that reforms are partial or nonexistent in many locales, and that some local governments have backslid deeper into clientelism. Still, he argues that even such limited gains are revolutionary, considering that municipal leaders must balance politics with technical expertise and management, all in a four-year term, often with no chance at immediate reelection.
In the middle chapters, this enthusiasm successfully fires the imagination about the revolutionary possibilities; but by the end of the book, I am not convinced that this tone is helpful, for it downplays the daunting situation Latin America still faces. Announcing "the rising fortunes of cities," Campbell predicts significantly increased long-term growth. I hope so. Considering, however, the 20-year slump the region is concluding, Campbell's five reasons for optimism (pp. 163-64) may not be enough. 4 One effective departure from this rosy portrait is Campbell's comparison [End Page 163] of the "good government" movement in the United States, which took more than 70 years (p. 161). That seems like a fair starting point for estimating a time frame for the quiet revolution to come to fruition.
Overall, I was not convinced that decentralization has approached the
proportions that Campbell describes, but The Quiet Revolution
makes its case well and offers many innovative analytical and conceptual
insights into decentralization in Latin America. It earns a solid
place in both the decentralization and urban politics literatures of
the region. I plan to assign this book in my seminar on Latin American
cities, and I recommend it to anyone interested in the subject.
University of California, Berkeley
Endnotes
1. David Myers describes this overreaction in his overview of the dynamics of local empowerment (2002, 12). See also Huntington 1991.
2. Campbell actually lists six features of the new model of governance: leadership, participation and focus on client, professionalism, fiscal bargain and own-source revenues, policy and program competition, and innovations. But the bulk of his analysis indicates that those three dimensions lie at the core of the new model (pp. 149-55).
3. Campbell should not be read as an anti-World Bank activist but as a practitioner lobbying for a shift in policy emphasis. He criticizes the policies, not the institution. He makes heavy use of World Bank publications (written by him and by others), but repeatedly points out (for example, p. 146) that international organizations followed, rather than led, national decentralization policies. In chapter 9, another informative table sketches the dozen ways Campbell differentiates his research from the conventional wisdom (p. 168).
4. Mark Weisbrot at the Center for Economic and Policy Research estimates that from 1980 to 2000, real per capita income in Latin America grew by a paltry 7 percent over the whole period. This compares to a 75 percent increase from 1960 to 1980 (Weisbrot 2003, 1-2).
References
Myers, David. 2002. The Dynamics of Local Empowerment. In Capital City Politics in Latin America, ed. Myers and Henry Dietz. Boulder: Lynne Rienner.
Huntington, Samuel. 1991. The Third Wave: Democratization in the Late Twentieth Century. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press.
Weisbrot, Mark. 2003. Latin America at the Crossroads. Connection to the Americas 20, 3: 1-3.
