Decentralization and New Public Management: An Alternative Approach to Administration

Changes in public processes have imposed a new role on municipal administrations, shifting them from passive entities that merely receive resources, policies, and programs to active agents in generating and building their own development. This transition is achieved through decentralization, the design of specific public policies (tailored to the municipality's context), and the use of New Public Management (NPM) tools. Therefore, the objective of this study is to explore the main characteristics and limitations of NPM. This is fundamentally a qualitative documentary study with an exploratory-descriptive scope.