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Managing Public Sector Decentralization in Developing Countries: Moving Beyond Conventional Recipes
Author(s) -
Smoke Paul
Publication year - 2015
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.1736
Subject(s) - decentralization , bureaucracy , developing country , context (archaeology) , public sector , normative , process (computing) , politics , economics , political science , public economics , public administration , public relations , economic system , economic growth , computer science , law , paleontology , biology , operating system
Summary Decentralization has become a nearly universal feature of public sector reform in developing countries, but it has unevenly met the often considerable and diverse expectations placed on it. This paper contends that the popular reform has been framed and assessed in standardized—yet disjointed and incomplete—ways that do not offer a suitably robust basis for its effective application. Decentralization is a complex process that is pursued in variable environments, and superficial commonalities that suggest routine remedies are often overwhelmed by great heterogeneity in how it is perceived and unfolds in context. The drivers of diversity—the country setting, national and local political and bureaucratic dynamics, available resources and capacities, and in some cases the role of aid agencies, among others—shape what is intended and what is feasible relative to normative goals. Deeper attention to these factors can inform possibilities for more appropriate design and implementation. This paper discusses basic elements of the persistent decentralization challenge and outlines a preliminary approach to broaden contextual analysis and to define pragmatic ways to tap its potential more productively. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.