Comments on: Is Decentralization Good for Development?

By: Yacouba Kone

Yacouba Kone — Thu, 31 Mar 2016 09:17:51 +0000

Thank you for this interesting post.
Over the past decades, decentralisation has been seen as a panacea in many African countries. I don’t think that the concept has been owned by those concerned by its benefit. In theory, the concept is attractive, but what about its effective operationalization in a context where the institutions are weak? The reality is that decentralisation became a business of an urban elite, or other politicians trying to get elected at local level in order to control the meagre resources. This a big debate, but it is clear that in general, decentralisation failed to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of resources allocation in such a way that it benefit better the poor and marginalised.

By: Stephan Dohrn

Stephan Dohrn — Wed, 30 Mar 2016 17:40:06 +0000

Great post, thanks!

When reading the post, a question came up that has been on my mind for a long time: When we promote decentralization, we assume that the regional and local governments will act in alignment with local needs and interests, in other words that local government is really accountable to their democratic constituents. I live in Brazil, where some municipalities and even some states have been controlled by families or interest groups for decades.

What do you do when democracy is not strong enough to bring out local information for better service delivery or worse when the local system sub-dues information, and decentralization helps them do that even better? Would you promote decentralization anyway? What comes first? Decentralization or democracy?