Small is beautiful.

Decentralization has often been associated with the processes of citizen participation at the local level; it is identified as an element that promotes citizen engagement in the public policy process. In much of Latin America reforms were implemented since the eighties to consolidate decentralization while strengthening local democracy at the same time. This paper analyzes the influence of decentralization on the outcomes of citizen participation mechanisms established in the cities of Bogota and Buenos Aires since their beginning to the present.