Chile’s complex geography, history and economic development model are all factors which account for why it is particularly challenging to implement a decisive decentralisation process. Chile has a long tradition of being a heavily centralised unitary country despite a history marked by several decentralisation pushes, and even an attempt at federalism. During the dictatorship, the governance reform in the 1980s, which transferred several central government tasks (education and health, for instance) and associated resources, was more a policy of deconcentration of state responsibilities to local entities than a real decentralisation policy. Since the return of democracy, progress has been made towards decentralisation and regionalisation which are seen as a means of re-democratising the country and reforming the state. Progress, however, has been slow. The centralist heritage remains strong and deeply-rooted in Chile's politicaladministrative culture and behaviour, thus slowing and scaling back the decentralisation initiatives.