ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the hypotheses and, where possible, speculates on conditions that might influence their range of applicability. It argues that concepts from the public choice school of policy analysis can be used to better understand both the general difficulties of mobilizing support for decentralization and the most promising contexts for successful action. The chapter draws upon the Peruvian experience to formulate hypotheses dealing with the mobilization of political support, as well as relationships between macropolitical variables and decentralization policies. The utility of examining costs and benefits of decentralization policies from the perspectives of relevant actors is apparent in the preceding account of Peruvian decentralization efforts. In Peru short-term political calculations have usually taken precedence over professed commitments to governmental decentralization. Collective action is usually much easier for opponents of decentralization than for its potential beneficiaries. In Peru two principal factors—natural disasters and transitions from authoritarian to democratic regimes—have opened "windows of opportunity" for governmental decentralization.
