Community governance and the new central–local relationship

Abstract

Decentralisation used to be a top–down process with the state “granting” some more local autonomy. Today decentralisation drives in most developed countries also go bottom–up. This is happening because large areas of domestic policy–making in these countries have become intergovernmental in nature. In the process the cities and agglomerations have acquired increased bargaining power, the higher levels of government depending on them as implementers of their legislation and programmes. The local authorities have also stepped up their endogenous problem solving and “community governance” capacity by mustering local support, building partnerships and modernising their bureaucracies. As a result a readjusted central–local balance based on a philosophy of “cooperative dualism” seems to be evolving. However, consistent legislative support and a proactive strategy of the local authorities taking due account of the basic interests of the state are needed to fully exploit the modernisation potential of the new central–local balance.