Towards variegated ‘Peripheral Municipalisms’: The experience of Valparaíso and Recoleta, Chile

Abstract

In the context of a renewed interest in new forms of municipalism, this paper seeks to contribute by critically analysing two cases of the municipal experience in Chile: Valparaíso and Recoleta. By coining the notion of ‘Peripheral Municipalisms’, our aim is to give voice to a diversity of municipal endeavours in the Global South marked by highly precarious forms of local government. In both case studies, municipalist strategies are used as tools to challenge deep-rooted neoliberal structures. Through a qualitative methodology, based mainly on document analysis and semi-structured interviews, we analyse particular forms of municipalism based on the remunicipalisation of public services and broad-based citizen platforms. These institutional reforms and participatory practices have enabled more just futures by challenging dependency on central government and building a more egalitarian urban process. The article calls for more situated studies on municipalist forces in the Global South in order to continue building this translocal movement from comparative experiences, going beyond ‘model cases’.