The present dossier is an invitation to reconsider the link, which is often described as mechanical, between decentralisation and local development. The analyses issuing from the urbanised public spheres of South Africa, Brazil, Mexico, India and Senegal, bring to light the gap between...

This article covers the relationships between the decentralised structure of authorities and administrations and the conditions of local development in the federative Republic of Brazil. It also explores the processes of dissolution in which communes are involved and its viability consequences,...