Unitarian Illusion in Peru: Recentralization and Intergovernmental Conflicts from the Perspective of Local Governments

The article analyzes the intergovernmental relations developed during the last 30 years, in the context of an apparent unitary and decentralized State, in Peru. The analysis was carried out from the perspective of local governments. The research was of an interpretive phenomenological type to account for the social imaginary of the mayors regarding centralism, recentralization, conflicts of functions, and competencies between government actors. It was concluded that the construction of a unitary and decentralized State would end up being an illusion because the tendency is towards the recentralization of resources in the central government.