Abstract

Decentralization processes have become a focus of study to understand regional and local development. In this regard, the effects of decentralization would vary in all regions, depending on the type of regional society that each territory has established. Based on a survey with regional representativeness applied in 2019, this article analyzes the current socio-territorial conditions in the regions of Chile, namely the perceptions, attitudes, and preconditions of the territorial actors where the decentralization process will take place; this, in order to characterize them and estimate the possible outcomes of the decentralization process in each of them. It is concluded that the prevailing expectation is skeptical and that the information regarding the process is scarce. However, the analyzed regions show significant differences in terms of levels of participation, making it possible to predict that in the face of regionalization each will behave differently. Combining the variables, a typology of three categories of regions is established: those that tend to reinforce the decentralizing process with stronger regional societies; those where the top-down impulse and bottom-up demand differ; and those that largely depend on the political management of the process.