Intermunicipal cooperation: policy transfer in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro

ABSTRACT

Intermunicipal cooperation (IMC) in Brazilian metropolises has increased since the year 2000, addressing certain governance vacuums. Eight IMC cases in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) metropolises were analysed to explore how territorial forces influence cooperation policy transfer and where hierarchical influences enter the process. Four policy transfer models are proposed – diffusion, convergence, combination and territorial – in which three different types of forces act: the individual motivation of municipalities, and hierarchical and territorial forces. This study shows that non-political territorial forces potentially disrupt the historically hierarchical territorial governance, although regional–local policies still have hierarchical influences extending to international levels.

KEYWORDS:

• intermunicipal cooperation
• policy transfer
• sub-metropolitan governance
• territorial policy

JEL:

• D2
• D80
• Z18

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The author is immensely grateful to Tommaso Vitale of Sciences Po for sharing his insight and expertise during the course of this research. The author also thanks the anonymous reviewers for comments which greatly improved the manuscript.

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.