Does decentralization work in practice? Does it strengthen local level democracy and economic development? This book examines these questions by analyzing the experience of seven medium sized cities in Colombia and Chile. The authors draw on extensive fieldwork involving numerous interviews with actors at all levels and from all sectors. The result is a unique test, at the local level in Latin America, of the outcome of reforms to the institutional structure of government.

The book examines the political importance of moral opposition to authoritarian rule in Chile, 1973-90, as a challenge to the government's systematic human rights' violations. It was initially led by the Catholic Church, whose primate founded an organisation to defend human rights: the Vicariate of Solidarity (1976-92). The book assesses the impact of moral opposition as a force for redemocratisation by tracing the history and achievements of the Vicariate. It also argues that such moral matters are often underestimated in regime transition analysis.