The global deconcentration of economic activity has not only given localities
new resources but has also brought new pressures on local governments to perform
their administrative tasks more effectively. National government officials
sometimes use the weak performance of local governments as a reason to keep
decisionmaking centralized. One of the most critical issues in implementing
decentralization, therefore, is identifying those factors that facilitate strong local
government performance. As they create new local structures, organizations, and
procedures, governments are training employees to perform increasingly more
complex tasks and introducing reforms that increase local capacity to manage
fiscal resources and public services.