Building a Decentralization Index in Portugal: A Proposal on Conceptual and Methodological Foundations

Helena Teles (), Temístocles Oliveira Júnior and Joaquim Caeiro
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Helena Teles: Instituto Superior de Ciências Sociais e Políticas, Centro de Administração e Políticas Públicas, Unidade de Coordenação de Serviço Social e Política Social, Universidade de Lisboa, 1300-663 Lisbon, Portugal
Temístocles Oliveira Júnior: Instituto Superior de Ciências Sociais e Políticas, Centro de Administração e Políticas Públicas, Unidade de Coordenação de Serviço Social e Política Social, Universidade de Lisboa, 1300-663 Lisbon, Portugal
Joaquim Caeiro: Instituto Superior de Ciências Sociais e Políticas, Centro de Administração e Políticas Públicas, Unidade de Coordenação de Serviço Social e Política Social, Universidade de Lisboa, 1300-663 Lisbon, Portugal

Administrative Sciences, 2025, vol. 15, issue 5, 1-16

Abstract: Decentralization is a process that allows local governments to play a more active role in decision-making and the management of public policies. This process involves transferring responsibilities, resources, and authority from central to local governments, bringing the decisions and provision of public services and policies closer to the needs of citizens in each region. Portugal established a regime for asymmetric, multi-level, and multi-sectoral decentralization governance that is primarily focused on the policy (administrative) dimension. This study proposes conceptual and methodological foundations for building a decentralization index in Portugal aimed at measuring and comparing its outcomes across municipalities and policy areas of the social domain. The conceptual foundations enable a model that combines the state capacity concept with the three-dimensional decentralization theory, defining a framework of dimensions, objectives, and principles with potential indicators for a future index. The methodological cornerstones provide a qualitative scheme for determining the indicators that should comprise the decentralization index, data collection, processing methods, and analytical strategies. Although decentralization in Portugal dates back to the mid-2010s and the transfer of competences is formally complete as of 2023, at least in the social domain, its evaluation falls short of what is needed, including measuring its results in this domain. This study aims to present proposals that address these gaps and encourage a critical debate on decentralization, its frameworks, processes, and results.

Keywords: decentralization; measurement; Portugal (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: L M M0 M1 M10 M11 M12 M14 M15 M16 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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