decentralization in developing countries
decentralized systems of governance which have recently emerged in different parts of the world vary considerably.They are structured,funded and held accountable in different ways,and they entail different modes and degrees of popular participation.
The environment at present is quite congenial for a comparative study of decentralization.Admittedly,the concepts of nationally planned development and rule by the people through centralized institutions were largely the contribution of the East European Bloc to the developing world.The current counter-revolutionary trends in Eastern Europe-which rest mainly upon their economic failure,evidenced by poverty and inequality.inefficiency,corruption and insensitivity of the centralized bureaucracy and resentment against the arrogance of party elites,and the consequent rejection of the authoritarian rule in those countries-have generated a favourable climate for decentralization in the developing world as well.During the latter half of the 1980s, there was a noticeable tendency to decentralize in a number of developing countries,whose limited experiences need to be documented.
Are attempts to compare political systems and administrative structures of any real value,especially if we are studying areas that seem primarily of national concern,which too must be adjusted to a local environment? It is true that historical and cultural factors have an impact on the extent and pattern of decentralization in any country,or for that matter,the political and administrative structures even at the national level.However,a comparative study becomes useful as interdependeneles between states grow and as issues,once considered essentially national in character.take on international importance.It is believed that common strands and patterns join all local government systems and by identifying such features,national systems can be made more productive if one has the willingness to learn from others.The main objective of this study,to put it briefly,is to examine a few models of decentralization,compare them on a set of common parameters such as the environment in which the local units operate,the role they are expected to play and the resources they have at their disposal,and draw conclusions which can generate further discussion and research,more detailed and penetrating