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Although decentralization and reactions against it have become increasingly important policy trends in developing countries, the study of this nearly ubiquitous phenomenon has been largely fractured across academic disciplines, geographic regions, and the academic-practitioner divide. The contributors to this edited volume begin to cross some of these constraining, artificial boundaries. Considering decentralization from an interdisciplinary, historical, and comparative perspective, they collectively explore why it has evolved in particular ways and with varied outcomes. In addition to taking an atypically comparative perspective, the volume highlights the importance of an historical analysis of decentralization and links this to institutional and public policy outcomes. Placing decentralization in this context illustrates why it has taken dissimilar shapes and produced varying results over time in different countries. This in turn helps to clarify the types of institutions and conditions required for the development and survival of decentralization, paving the way for more creative thinking and informed policymaking. The countries covered include: Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Vietnam, Bolivia, Argentina, Mexico, Peru and Brazil. Students and scholars of economics, political science and development will find the policy and theoretical discussions enlightening. The volume will also prove useful to policymakers and development institutions confronting issues of decentralization.
Edited by Paul Smoke, Professor of Public Finance and Planning, Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, New York University, US, Eduardo J. Gómez, Associate Professor and Director, Institute for Health Policy and Politics, Lehigh University, US and George E. Peterson, Senior Fellow in International Public Finance, The Urban Institute, US
Contents:PrefacePART I: INTRODUCTION1. Understanding Decentralization: The Need for a Broader ApproachPaul Smoke, Eduardo J. Gómez and George E. PetersonPART II: THE BROAD COMPARATIVE PICTURE2. The Interaction of Fiscal Decentralization and Democratic GovernanceJorge Martinez-Vazquez and Robert M. McNab3. Decentralization’s Horizontal, Vertical and Policy-Fluctuation Mechanisms: Method for Cross-Regional AnalysisEduardo J. GómezPART III: ASIA EXPERIENCES4. Cambodia’s Nascent Decentralization: From Donor Experiment to Sustainable Government System?Paul Smoke5. China’s Long March to DecentralizationJorge Martinez-Vazquez6. Democratic Decentralization in Madhya Pradesh (India): Neither Big Bang nor GradualismWilliam McCarten and Vinod Vyasulu7. Decentralization, Governance and Public Services in IndonesiaKai Kaiser, Daan Pattinasarany and Günther G. Schulze8. Decentralization Policy and Practice in Vietnam: 1991–2003Clay G. WescottPART IV: LATIN AMERICA EXPERIENCES9. The Politics of Devolution in Bolivia and Other Andean CountriesRobert R. Barr10. Who’s Tugging at the Purse Strings? The Political Economy of Intergovernmental Transfers in Argentina, Mexico and PeruKathleen O’Neill11. Decentralization and Re-Centralization in Argentina and Brazil: The Menem and Cardoso YearsKent Eaton and Tyler Dickovick12. The Historical Institutional Genesis of Fiscal Decentralization Management: Lessons from BrazilEduardo J. GómezPART V: CONCLUSION13. The Dynamics of Decentralization in Asia and Latin America: Towards a Comparative Interdisciplinary PerspectivePaul Smoke and Eduardo J. GómezIndex
'This is an important book. The new fiscal decentralization promised enhanced efficiency of public service delivery, reduced corruption, a reinforcing trend to citizen voice and participation, and poverty reduction. But, did it succeed? It is only now becoming possible to get some hard empirical answers. That is what the collection of essays in this book provides in a most systematic and rigorous way. In doing so it takes a cross-regional approach, whereby one can compare different public sector cultures and histories. Decentralization in Asia and Latin America provides new, technically rigorous, and important answers.'