Decentralization in Developing Countries

Global Perspectives on the Obstacles to Fiscal Devolution

Studies in Fiscal Federalism and State-local Finance series

Edited by Jorge Martinez-Vazquez, Emeritus Regents Professor of Economics and former Director, Center for State and Local Finance, Fiscal Research Center and International Center for Public Policy, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University, Atlanta, US and François Vaillancourt, Professor, Economics Department, Université de Montréal, Canada

This insightful study examines the decentralization experiences from 15 countries in different regions of the world. All of these countries have actively attempted to decentralize, or continue to do so, and have faced obstacles serious enough to either derail or significantly delay their decentralization objectives.

‘Some think that decentralization has not gone “far enough” to be considered successful; others argue that it has already “failed”. As the studies of decentralization in 15 developing countries in this volume clearly show, every case is different, and persuasive generalizations are hard to find. Fortunately, the introductory chapter usefully pulls this diverse reality together to highlight some key obstacles to successful decentralization and to suggest some approaches that might – provided that those in power are sufficiently supportive – lead to better outcomes in the future.’
– Richard M. Bird, University of Toronto, Canada