FROM LOCAL GOVERNMENT TO LOCAL GOVERNANCE

Abstract

The study of local government has undergone several stages that revealthe state of the art of the discipline. It is characterized by the gradual,continuous discovery of where the object of study is located. This articleexamines some of the stages in the literature. It reviews the questionsand arguments that every current of thought brings to the study of localgovernment, and the way discussions evolve. The idea of local governmentirst involves observing local actors ighting over power autarchically,which then gives way to approaches currently known as local governance.They are now experiencing a political-administrative processembedded in a broader, richer institutional context.