Intergovernmental relations and constitutional controversy. 25 years of conflict and resistance in the Mexican municipality

Abstract

Historically, the Mexican municipal project has been a proposal for self-government and the rebuilding of the federal system. This condition has determined the vertical nature of intergovernmental relations (IGR) that place the Municipal Councils under a regime of exception in fiscal matters and territorial autonomy. Faced with the absence of mechanisms to resolve jurisdictional conflicts in the sphere of public administration, municipalities resort to constitutional controversy, an institution that judicially regulates imbalances in the IGR. This article analyzes the nature of the acts claimed by the Mexican municipalities before the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation, with the aim of showing that the imbalance in the IGR reduces municipal autonomy to an exception regime in two fundamental pillars of Mexican federalism: the tax system and territorial management.