In Africa, the spread of multiparty political systems is creating demand for more local voice in decision making. In some countries, such as Ethiopia, decentralization has been a response to pressure from regional or ethnic group for more control or participation in the political process. In the extreme, decentralization represent a desperate attempt to keep the country together in the face of these pressure by granting more autonomy to all localities or by localities or by forging “asymmetrical federations.” A variation on this theme has been decentralization as an outcome of long civil ware, such as in Mozambique and Uganda, where opening political opportunities at the local levels has allowed for greater participation by all former warring factions in the governance of the country. The transition economies of the former socialist states have also massively decentralized as the old central apparatus crumbled. In many countries, decentralization simply has happened in the absence of any meaningful governance structure to provide local governance services. In some cases (particularly in East Asia) decentralization appears to be motivated by the need to improve, service delivery to large and the recognition of the limitations of central administration.