Decentralization and Recentralization in the Developing World: Comparative Studies from Africa and Latin America

摘要

A majority of current studies of decentralisation reforms start off by defining the normative goals of transferring power and resources to local level. It is assumed inter alia that decentralisation will increase public participation in decision making and enhance the downward accountability of government officials, thereby leading to a deepening of democracy and improved economic performance. They tend however to conclude that decentralisation is failing to produce the desired outcomes, essentially because of lack of proper implementation. Both the normative basis and the explanation of the decentralisation flop as a result of lack of implementation fail to link the absence of desired outcomes with the explorations of governments' motivations for decentralisation. They conceal that decentralisation in most cases are