No. 19 (1990): State Reform

The processes of political democratization that have been taking shape in Central America in recent years have been accompanied by a process of State Reform that seeks, firstly, to promote citizen participation and improve its representativeness and, secondly, to modernize the State so that it can be inserted into the new economic policies of structural adjustment that are being implemented in almost all the countries of the region.

State reform is conceived as an instrument to support economic liberalization, the democratization of society and the consolidation of public finances. In this way, this process becomes a school for managing the scarcity of resources available to the State and achieving an increase in effectiveness, efficiency and productivity.

The reform of the State has required several actions: tax reforms to improve the tax collection base and tax efficiency, reforms in the banking/financial sector, consolidation of public finances and promotion of the deconcentration and decentralization of its administrative apparatus.

This process has been proposed in most Central American countries and what differentiates them are the actions implemented so far. The cases presented in this issue from Guatemala, Honduras and Costa Rica attest to this. However, the objective pursued is the same: to achieve greater efficiency and effectiveness with a state apparatus that responds to the economic constraints imposed by the application of structural adjustment policies.