W4 - Decentralisation, urban governance, and policy mobilities in cities of the Global South Flashcards
(25 cards)
Define decentralisation and its 3 different dimensions
Shift of competencies and resources from central to subnational levels of government like municipalities
1) Admin/Policy decentralisation - delegated functions to local agencies - at least one subnational tier has exclusive authority to make decisions
2) Political decentralisation - Regional and local governments are elected by popular vote
3) Fiscal decentralisation - Transfer of power to subnational to administer their own budgets, sharing tax revenue with regional governments
Why do we need decentralisation?
- Improve accountability and reduce corruption
- Increase political competition, so politicians more responsive to citizens, increasing effectiveness of policy implementation
- A key element of development as better ability to control resource allocation and
Give an overview of the early history of decentralisation in GS
Post independence - subnational levels of government had limited fiscal and human capital to take on new responsibility - negatively impacted the success
Post 1970 - decentralisation implemented at different rates in different countries, difficult to find right balance and sequence of the 3 dimensions. WB and UN pushed decentralisation
eg. Big bang in Indonesia vs gradual in India
How are subnational government tiers geographically partitioned?
Functional argument - efficiency in public goods provision to determine optional size of governing units
Supply side argument - political benefits of admin unit proliferation for national execs as a tool for patronage and divide and rule strategy
Demand side arguments - Marginalised ethnic groups demanding new governing units to improve representation and accountability
Give an overview of decentralisation to the urban level
Legal reforms increased autonomy for municipal governments and started local elections.
80% of total public spending was from local expenditures in China
Cities are affected differently by decentralisation as they are economic and politically salient making decentralisation prone to politicisation
What is urban governance?
The process that governments and stakeholders collectively decide how to plan, finance and manage urban areas (UN Habitat)
What is the normative discourse on “good” urban governance?
(Fox and Goodfellow)
Shift away from state driven development strategies due to increasing role of private sector and neoliberalism
What are the impacts of decentralisation at the urban level in GS cities?
Diverse outcomes, discussed wrt 2 themes
1) Impacts on urban governance and democratisation
2) Impacts on substantive urban policies and urban services delivery
Give an overview of the link of decentralisation and democratisation at the urban level
Decentralisation is meant to foster political competition and therefore accountability, responsiveness and stronger citizen voices.
No automatic connection between these 2. The local politics opens up space for differing political opinions, but aren’t actually heard due to corruption
Give some optimistic views on decentralisation and good urban governance? wrt to participation
Can create conditions for increasing participation from less powerful social groups which can allow poorer urban residents to influence planning to be more pro poor - Watson
In LatAm, increased political power of slum residents as politicians have incentives to 1) not evict residents and 2) gain political favour by giving them land titles. So urban poor appear to exert more influence now
New generation of mayors are more progressive and connected to grassroots organisations - sometimes criticised for populism.
Give an overview of the case of Brazils experience with decentralisation and urban governance
Social movements played a key role post military dictatorship.
There was uneven implementation, where in bigger cities master plans were influenced by neoliberal machines, but in others the voice of different interests resulted in a participatory and socially inclusive method.
Participatory budgeting where residents meet to challenge corruption, effective at mobilising the politically marginalised and the poor.
What are the 5 challenge of urban participatory governance?
1) Limited awareness and capacity - limited opportunity for participation
2) Exclusion of marginalised groups - eg. disabled people and women face barriers to participation, must overcome inequalities to ensure inclusion
3) Power imbalances - Existing power structures of dominant groups may exert influence limiting the voices of other groups
4) Performative activism - no genuine influence on decision making, reducing the effectiveness of participation
5) Resource constraints - insufficient human, financial and technical capital limits the implementation of participatory governance
What 3 impacts can urban environmental social movements have?
(Carter)
1) Changes public attitudes and political agenda
2) Access to decision making bodies
3) Actual material results
Give 4 pessimistic views on decentralisation a and dive into them
Clientelism, populism, local elite capture, and corruption persist post municipal elections.
Decentralisation alone has done little to increase participation from the poor.
Clientelism/Patronage - politicians supply benefits in exchange for political support, prevelant in informal settlements and poor has no choice but to engage
Illegality - corrupt police, drug mafias will always exist in a city
Define corruption and its 3 main forms
abuse of entrust power for private gain - NGO Transparency International
1) Legislative and regulatory corruption - bribing rule makers to make or revise regulations
2) bureaucratic corruption - corrupt acts to speed up procedures
3) Public works corruption - eg. embezzling funds involved in building public infrastructure/services
Give 3 direct/indirect negative consequences of corruption
1) Damages credibility of institutions
2) Distorts the market and inhibits economic growth
3) Loss of life, eg. Grenfell disaster
Why is corruption in land development and urban planning problematic? Give 4 reasons
1) Planning decisions generate large economic returns
2) High degree of discretion in planning decisions where politics > sound technical rationale
3) Inside information as bargaining chips for personal gain
4) Not much accountability
Does decentralisation improve the delivery of urban services? Give the 3 challenges and the example of Africa/Asia by Boex
Mixed evidence, differing effects within and between countries
Decentralisation does not necessarily lead to more autonomy for local actors or better delivery of services because of
1) Skills challenges - local officials often lack procedural knowledge diminishing their effectiveness
2) Financial challenges - if no local independent revenue sources, democracy is constrained by central authorities. Collecting local property taxes is difficult
3) Territorial and political fragmentation - Trade offs in decentralisation between local responsiveness and metropolitan level coordination eg. high political pressure on local officials to keep water fees low so can undermine efforts to maintain basic infrastructure
Boex et al - collected indicators on 1) solid waste management 2) water supply 3) sanitation services. Found that the role of urban local governments plays is at differing degrees in different countries, and they tend to have more control of 1) then 2) and 3) . In Africa/Asia constrained by limited freedom to delivery urbans services
What are the 3 requirements for effective planning to exist?
(Watson)
1) A political system where the poor can make their voice heard
2) A local government with the capacity to deliver
3) Appropriate regulatory framework
Give a brief overview on policy mobilities historical context
Colonialism imposed planning models and property rights
Globalisation led to rapid circulation of ideas
Governments look at what works elsewhere to find solutions to their own planning issues
What policies get to circulate? Give an example
(Stead) - Techniques rather than ideas gets transferred eg. Good practises like the BRT although particular cases are made to be the gold standard example even though they are no better than other examples
What direction does knowledge circulate in?
Historically GN to GS
Now more GS to GS transfers
Some GN cities looking to GS for good practises eg. participatory budgeting
Who facilitates the circulation of knowledge? Give some examples of the actors
Transfer agents such as politicians, academics, consultancy’s, and international organisations (WB, UN (SDG 11), OECD)
What channels and techniques does knowledge circulate through?
Internet, conferences, conditional funding
Decentralised developed cooperation - most aid is funnelled through central governments. Importance of exchanges of knowledge and resources via subnational governments.
