Political decentralization and fit

Variable relationship:

There are two classes of arguments in favor of political decentralization (Centralization). First, increased political autonomy is normatively desirable (Ribot 2008). Second, transfering authority to local authorities is meant to alleviate some of the problems of the failue of central control: increased local knowledge and fit to local ecosystems (Governance Use of Knowledge) should lead to better natural resource conditions (Commons Condition Trend), while increased democratic accountability should not only contribute to improved natural resource conditions, but also improve the benefits that resources give to local people (Agrawal & Ribot 1999).

Decentralization is a process through which a central government authority transfers authority to lower level government authorities, which are typically created by the central authority. Several varieties of decentralization have been identified in the literature (Rondinelli & Cheema 1983):

• Fiscal decentralization, the transfer of fiscal authority to lower level government authority.
• Administrative decentralization, sometimes called deconcentration, in which authority is transfered down a chain of bureaucratic command - for example, from the capital city office of an agency to its regional or local offices.
• Political or Democratic Decentralization, in which power is transferred to a lower level political entity that is elected.

Political or democratic decentralization has received particularly large amounts of attention in the natural resource management literature, and has been applied widely in the natural resource sector of the developing world (Ribot & Larson 2005).

Decentralization should be distinguished from two related subjects. In Comanagement, local and central governmental authorities work together to manage a resource. This may be an outcome of decentralization, but it is conceptually useful to keep the two processes (i.e. the transfer of authority and the cooperation between existing authorities) separate. Community-based natural resource management refers to situations in which relatively autonomous local communities manage a resource with relatively little control from a central authority. Again, community based natural resource management may be the final result of a strong decentralization process, but it is conceptually distinct from the process of authority transfer. Many decentralization programs do not lead to either comanagement or community-based management: for example, decentralization could move authority from a central government to a state or district government in which case local government or community may still have limited authority.

(Authors note: we don't capture in the database the extent to which commons users benefit from a resource).

Project

SESMAD

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Scientific Field

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Status

Public