Decentralization and local governance in developing countries : a comparative perspective / edited by Pranab Bardhan and Dilip Mookherjee.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Bardhan, Pranab K.

Mookherjee, Dilip.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Decentralization in government--Developing countries.

Decentralization in government.

Local government.

Developing countries.

Local government--Developing countries.

Comparative government.

Developing countries--Politics and government.

Politics and government.

Physical Description:

363 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. ; London : MIT, 2006.

Summary:

Over the past three decades the developing world has seen increasing devolution of political and economic power to local governments. Decentralization is considered an important element of participatory democracy and, along with privatization and deregulation, represents a substantial reduction in the authority of national governments over economic policy. The contributors to Decentralization and Local Governance in Developing Countries examine this institutional transformation from comparative and interdisciplinary perspectives, offering detailed case studies of decentralization in eight countries: Bolivia, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, South Africa, and Uganda.

Some of these countries witnessed an unprecedented "big bang" shift toward comprehensive political and economic decentralization: Bolivia in 1995 and Indonesia after the fall of Suharto in 1998. Brazil and India decentralized in an uneven and more gradual manner. In some other countries (such as Pakistan) devolution represented an instrument for consolidation of power of a nondemocratic national government. In China local governments were granted much economic but little political power. South Africa made the transition from the undemocratic decentralization of apartheid to decentralization under a democratic constitution. The studies provide a comparative perspective on the political and economic context within which decentralization took place, and how this shaped its design and possible impact.

Contents:

1 The Rise of Local Governments: An Overview / Pranab Bardhan, Dilip Mookherjee 1

2 Inequality and Innovation: Decentralization as an Opportunity Structure in Brazil / Gianpaolo Baiocchi 53

3 Decentralization, Democratic Transition, and Local Governance in Indonesia / Bert Hofman, Kai Kaiser 81

4 Decentralizing Bolivia: Local Government in the Jungle / Jean-Paul Faguet 125

5 What Difference Does a Constitutional Amendment Make? The 1994 Panchayati Raj Act and the Attempt to Revitalize Rural Local Government in India / Shubham Chaudhuri 153

6 Decentralization in West Bengal: Origins, Functioning, and Impact / Pranab Bardhan, Dilip Mookherjee 203

7 Decentralization in Uganda / Omar Azfar, Jeffrey Livingston, Patrick Meagher 223

8 Local Government Reform in Pakistan: Context, Content, and Causes / Ali Cheema, Asim Ijaz Khwaja, Adnan Qadir 257

9 Decentralization in Pakistan: Are Local Governments Likely to Be More Accountable Than Central Government? / Philip E. Keefer, Ambar Narayan, Tara Vishwanath 285

10 Decentralization and Local Governance in China's Economic Transition / Justin Yifu Lin, Ran Tao, Mingxing Liu 305

11 Decentralization in South Africa / Martin Wittenberg 329.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0262026007

0262524546

OCLC:

76966941