Analysis of the municipal association in Colombia
| Autor | Claudia Marcela Pinzón Casallas, Iván Felipe Moreno Guzmán |
| Cargo | Magíster en Gobierno y Políticas Públicas, Universidad Externado de Colombia. Asesora en la Subdirección de Ordenamiento y Desarrollo Territorial, Departamento Nacional de Planeación (DNP) (Colombia). / Magíster en Economía, Universidad de Los Andes (Colombia). Asesor en el Departamento Nacional de Planeación (DNP) (Colombia). |
| Páginas | 55-73 |
55
OPERA, ISSN: 1657-8651, E-ISSN: 2346-2159, N° 33, julio–diciembre de 2023, pp. 55-73
A
C
C M P C*
I F M G**
Abstract
Intermunicipal and interregional cooperation
has been increasing as a strategy to deal with is-
sues that transcend administrative boundaries.
e efficient provision of public services, the
boosting of economies of scale and the appro-
priate allocation of resources are some of the
benefits of territorial cooperation. However,
such gains may be limited by the political con-
figurations of the different municipalities, their
rivalries and alliances. In Colombia, due to the
local government’s promotion of this matter,
multiple entities have been created. Territorial
Associative Schemes have become consolidated
as a form of formal associativity that develops
regional projects through joint planning. is
article aims to contribute to the study of the
impact of coordination between local gov-
ernments through formal arrangements. A
* Magíster en Gobierno y Políticas Públicas, Universidad Externado de Colombia. Asesora en la Subdirección de
Ordenamiento y Desarrollo Territorial, Departamento Nacional de Planeación (DNP) (Colombia). [claupincas.cp@
gmail.com]; [https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2520-9567].
** Magíster en Economía, Universidad de Los Andes (Colombia). Asesor en el Departamento Nacional de Planeación
(DNP) (Colombia). [if.moreno@outlook.com]; [https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6987-9610].
Recibido: 17 de enero de 2023 / Modificado: 11 de febrero de 2023 / Aceptado: 13 de febrero de 2023
Para citar este artículo:
Pinzón Casallas, C. M. y Moreno Guzmán, I. F. (2023). Analysis of the municipal association in Colombia. Opera,
33, 55-73.
DOI : https://doi.org/10.18601/16578651.n33.04
conceptual and historical framework is given
for Associative Schemes in the country. Two
case studies of the Schemes are presented: one
related to the promotion of regional agricul-
tural development; and the other to the coor-
dination of environmental actions.
Key words: inter municipal cooperation;
Municipal Association; coordination; decen-
tralization; local governance.
ANÁLISIS DE LA ASOCIACIÓN MUNICIPAL EN
COLOMBIA
Resumen
La cooperación intermunicipal e interregio-
nal ha ido en aumento como estrategia para
abordar cuestiones que trascienden los límites
administrativos. La prestación eficiente de
servicios públicos, el impulso de las economías
de escala y la asignación adecuada de recursos
56
OPERA, ISSN: 1657-8651, E-ISSN: 2346-2159, N° 33, julio–diciembre de 2023, pp. 55-73
Claudia Marcela Pinzón Casallas e Iván Felipe Moreno Guzmán
son algunos de los beneficios de la coopera-
ción territorial. Sin embargo, estos beneficios
pueden verse limitados por las configuraciones
políticas de los distintos municipios, sus riva-
lidades y alianzas. En Colombia, debido a la
promoción de este tema por parte del gobierno
local, se han creado múltiples entidades. Los
esquemas asociativos territoriales se han con-
solidado como una forma de asociación formal
que desarrolla proyectos regionales a través de
la planeación conjunta. Este artículo pretende
contribuir al estudio del impacto de la coor-
dinación entre gobiernos locales a través de
arreglos formales. Se presenta un marco con-
ceptual e histórico de los esquemas asociativos
en el país. Se abordan dos estudios de caso de
los esquemas: uno relacionado con la promo-
ción del desarrollo agrícola regional, y el otro
con la coordinación de acciones ambientales.
Palabras clave: cooperación intermunicipal;
asociación municipal; coordinación; descen-
tralización; gobernanza local.
The decentralization process in Colombia
began in the mid-1980s and achieved greater
prominence with the Political Constitution
of 1991. After almost 30 years of this new po-
litical and administrative start in Colombia,
whose main actions were the recognition of a
Social State of Law (Ramirez, 2019), and the
layout of territorial autonomy, in a promis-
ing process of political, administrative, and
financial decentralization (Maldonado, 2011),
there are several analyses of the challenges and
achievements that can be highlighted.
Colombia has 1,103 municipalities and
32 departments (Table.1), which correspond
to the category of territorial entities. A terri-
torial associativity is a form of Intermunicipal
Cooperation that has gained strength in Co-
lombia. Since the 1991 Constitution, differ-
ent strategies have been presented to promote
decentralization to provide further relevance
and autonomy to the regions. Associativity has
been constituted directly from the territories as
a strategy to solve problems and take advantage
of potentialities beyond political limits, chal-
lenging regional administration paradigms.
is chapter will analyze the municipal as-
sociativity in Colombia as an organized and
legitimate mechanism of governance at an
intermediate scale created to support the ful-
fillment of the mission of the State, in which
the coordination between actors to define
agreements and arrangements in the definition
of competencies and actions, generate positive
results of inter-municipal cooperation.
This analysis is divided into four sec-
tions. e first section, the hypothesis and
the theoretical framework and relationship,
analyzes territorial associativity. e second
section presents a general context of territo-
rial associativity in Colombia, describes the
most relevant components, and illustrates the
legal framework with the main provisions that
define the scope of the actions of the schemes.
e third section consists of two case studies
on municipal associations in Colombia - the
Association of Municipalities of Catatumbo and
the Valle de Aburrá Metropolitan Area - based
on the hypothesis of the elements defined in
the conceptual framework. Finally, the last
section presents the main general conclusions
of the analysis.
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