Decentralization and Intergovernmental Relations In Social Policy: A Comparative Perspective of Brazil, Mexico and the US

Federalist systems are considered centralized when the national government has greater weight in the formation and implementation of public policy and in decisions concerning resource allocation than subnational governments. In a decentralized federal system, subnational governments have some degree of autonomy or discretion in these two arenas. Even though national and subnational governments share responsibilities for policymaking and implementation, the relative autonomy or independence of action among subnational governments is an important element of the policymaking context. Assessing the degree of relative autonomy can be determined through the analysis of intergovernmental relationships across multiple policy areas.