The fictitious autonomy of municipalities and the real demands of the population

Arévalo Zeta A. · Clio. Revista de Historia, Ciencias Humanas y Pensamiento Critico. (2025) · DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17012855

Resumen

The present study addresses municipal autonomy in Peru from a legal-political perspective, examining its constitutional and legal regulation in the political, administrative and economic dimensions, and its implementation in practice. Through a descriptive, qualitative and hermeneutic methodology, with an analytical-synthetic and inductive-deductive approach, documentary data and interviews with local authorities and social leaders were analyzed. The results show that, despite being formally recognized, municipal autonomy is systematically limited by state centralism, especially in the administration and execution of economic resources. This centralism, reinforced by the control of the Ministry of Economy, prevents local governments from effectively addressing the needs of their communities, such as basic services and public investment projects, affecting the legitimacy of municipalities and fostering social conflicts. It is concluded that, to strengthen decentralization and municipal autonomy, a rethinking of the public investment system and a greater allocation of powers and resources to local governments is necessary.

Instituciones: Universidad Nacional de Piura