Political Decentralization (political + decentralization)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Centralization and Decentralization in Administration and Politics: Assessing Territorial Dimensions of Authority and Power

GOVERNANCE, Issue 1 2001
Paul D. Hutchcroft
Throughout the world, diverse countries are implementing programs of decentralization as a means of promoting both democratic and developmental objectives. Unfortunately, however, scholarship has yet to offer a comprehensive framework within which to assess and reform central-local relations. This article seeks to overcome the "division of labor" that has long separated analyses of administrative and political structures, and to provide stronger conceptual vocabulary for describing and analyzing the complexities of centralization and decentralization in both administration and politics. After developing two distinct continua of administrative and political centralization/decentralization, the paper then combines them in a single matrix able to highlight the wide range of strategies and outcomes that emerge from the complex interplay of the two spheres. Depending on where a country lies within the matrix, it is argued, strategies of decentralization may do more harm than good. Strategies of devolution are especially problematic in settings with strong local bosses, and should never be attempted without careful analysis of the preexisting character of central-local ties. [source]


Key issues relating to decentralization at the provincial level of health management in Cambodia

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HEALTH PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT, Issue 1 2005
Bunnan Men
Abstract The following study was conducted as part of a review of management systems at a Provincial Health Department (Kampong Cham Province) and a National Health Programme (National Immunization Program) in 2002,2003 in Cambodia. The aim of this paper is to identify, analyse and recommend those management system factors that are critical to the success of health management performance, with a particular focus on provincial management. The review has identified critical success factors associated with health management performance at the sub-national level that include a stronger role for effective human resource management in health sector reform, elevation of the status of planning in senior level management, and the development of a more comprehensive and transparent finance system. These success factors will position the provincial level of health management to respond more effectively to the reform challenges of administrative de-concentration and political decentralization that are currently underway across a range of government sectors in Cambodia. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Interest group strategies in multi-level Europe

JOURNAL OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS, Issue 1 2007
John Constantelos
This article analyzes the political responses of French and Italian business associations to Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) in the EU. I propose and test the empirical relevance of a multi-level lobbying model for multi-tiered systems, a model assumed by, but never systematically examined in, the pluralism literature. Data for this ten-sector cross-national panel study come from personal interviews with the presidents of French and Italian business associations. The interviews were held at the beginning and the end of the euro implementation process. The research shows that organized groups routinely overstep their territorial jurisdictions to lobby across multiple levels of government in multi-level Europe. The degree of state political decentralization is a statistically significant variable in explaining the choice of lobbying target. This ,crucial comparative case study' finds that, in adjusting to deeper economic integration, regional associations in France focus their energy on the central government, while Italian groups favour the regional government. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Die eigentümliche Diskussion um Zentralisierung und Dezentralisierung in der Europapolitik

PERSPEKTIVEN DER WIRTSCHAFTSPOLITIK, Issue 3 2004
Thomas Apolte
It is argued that large parts of this discussion rest on a flawed analogy of the liberal concept of normative individualism on the one hand and the concept of political decentralization in federal multi-layer systems on the other. Based on this flawed analogy an unusual and partly misleading notion of decentralization has widely been used in the discussion of European Integration. As a result, there are a number of misjudgements in some central topics of European Integration. These topics are the question of institutional competition among governments, the effects of fiscal competition on the tax burden of citizens and a future European constitution. [source]


The decentralization of primary health care delivery in Chile

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION & DEVELOPMENT, Issue 3 2001
Article first published online: 30 MAY 200, Jasmine Gideon
The article argues that during the 1980s the process of decentralization in Chile under the military government of General Pinochet shifted the delivery of primary health care to the municipal level. Despite the return to more democratic forms of government in 1990 the overall structure of local-level service delivery has remained largely unchanged. The municipalities have retained responsibility for service delivery but resources remain centrally determined. In an attempt to enhance accessibility, choice and the responsiveness of the system to individual and local need, reform has been made to the financial transfer mechanisms and a new model of primary health care delivery has recently been introduced. However, problems of resourcing and implementation limit the effectiveness of some of the changes that have accompanied decentralization. Problems have resulted in primary health care delivery because administrative decentralization has not been accompanied by fiscal decentralization, nor effective political decentralization. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Institutional pluralism in public administration and politics: applications in Bolivia and beyond

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION & DEVELOPMENT, Issue 2 2001
Harry BlairArticle first published online: 15 MAY 200
In their book Administrative Decentralization: Strategies for Developing Countries, John Cohen and Steven Peterson construct a model they call ,institutional pluralism', which they contend is superior to more traditional modes of decentralization. It is characterized chiefly by multiple channels of service provision, thus inducing accountability into a sphere where previously there has been very little. While they restrict their analysis to the administrative realm, this article argues that the institutional pluralist model makes at least as much sense in political decentralization. Bolivia, which recently launched political reforms offering three separate structures linking citizen to state, serves as an excellent illustration of institutional pluralism in politics. This approach shows considerable promise for implementation in other settings, as can be seen in El Salvador, and a case can be made for its replication potential elsewhere as well. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]