Determinants of Subnational Democracy in Salta, 1987-2019: Economic Development, Party Alignment and Fiscal Transfers

Abstract

Despite the growing interest in studies on subnational regimes, little progress has been made in studies at the municipal level. Inserted in this question, this work investigates about variations in the municipal democracies of Salta (1987-2019). Initially, effective measurement of municipal democracy is carried out in all the municipalities of Salta through two indexes adapted for subnational cases (Gervasoni, 2010a; Álvarez et al, 1996), concluding that the ideal situation when measuring subnational democracy in democratic national contexts is use indices that capture democracy in degrees. Then the study seeks to find the reasons of these variations between municipalities following the rentier theory of Gervasoni (2010b), the theory of socioeconomic development and the influence of higher levels of the executive power. As at the provincial level, the study finds that transfers, the level of socioeconomic development, and party closeness to the governor are associated with the local political regime. The work concludes by leaving open a research agenda on municipal democracies.