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Popular participation and local government reform
Author(s) -
Charlick Robert B.
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
public administration and development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.574
H-Index - 44
eISSN - 1099-162X
pISSN - 0271-2075
DOI - 10.1002/pad.155
Subject(s) - local government , decentralization , politics , government (linguistics) , civil society , public administration , political science , law , philosophy , linguistics
Abstract Does decentralization, and particularly the creation of democratically elected local government, broaden mass political participation and make local government more effective and responsive? Evidence from two African Countries that have ‘democratized’ to varying degrees and through different approaches, this study makes two major points. First, although many of the hypotheses and initial findings of the Cornell Participation Project regarding the role of local organizations may still be valid, they remain largely untested in much of Africa because local government reform has been so limited and so recent. Second, in the limited number of cases where reform of local government has occurred in Africa, popular participation directed toward these governments can make them more responsive. This is only true, however, under particular circumstances, notably where projects with strong local and international non‐governmental organizational support chose to link to local government as well as to exert influence over policy at other levels of the political system. The fear expressed by some ‘civil society’ actors that the focus on local government may be narrowing the opportunities of non‐governmental associations to influence development policies is not confirmed in these cases. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.