LOCAL-POWER AND ECONOMIC-POLICY - LOCAL-AUTHORITY ECONOMIC INITIATIVES IN PORTUGAL

Local authority economic policy has experienced significant development throughout most European countries since the early 1980s, reflecting important changes in local-central relations as well as processes of economic restructuring. In Portugal, local government has experienced an increase in financial and legal autonomy from the central state since the late 1970s. This paper examines how these recent changes have created a new involvement for Portuguese local government in promoting local economic initiatives. Drawing upon results from a questionnaire survey of local authorities and interviews with local authority Presidents, this paper describes the scale and type of local authority economic policy which has developed in central Portugal. By examining these actions within a framework of changing local-central state relations, this analysis points to the constraints and opportunities for municipal action within Portugal.