Conflict between Formal and Informal Rules in Policy Coordination: The Case of Child Homelessness in Mexico City

Abstract

Several studies in Latin America show that the failure of many social policies is related to a lack of policy coordination; this article posits that it is about not only a lack or not of coordination but also how formal and informal coordination mechanisms interact and are in conflict. The article shows that the creation of a new law in Mexico City aimed at organizing existing child homelessness policies not only failed to generate coordination between the three agencies in charge of the problem but also destroyed the informal coordination network that they had managed to build during previous years of shared work. The formal solution conflicted with preexisting practices for improving coordination and has worsened the problem by ignoring preexisting informal networks of agencies already in place. In countries where formal rules are weak, such as most Latin American nations, this aspect is a key factor to consider when designing policy solutions.