Decentralization for Development: Experiment in Local Government Administration in Bangladesh

Abstract

This paper seeks to analyze the working of the policy of decentralization as a means to improve the local government administration and development in a developing political system. The term local government is used to mean participatory institutions under popular control which are dependent on the national government for resource allocation and utilization. The article is divided into three parts. First, the different interpretations of the concept and practice of decentralization are reviewed. Second, the elements in the Bangladesh approach to decentralization are discussed in the context of the administrative reforms carried out since 1982. Third, an attempt is made to assess the impact of the decentralization process. The interpretations of decentralization discussed in this article are those of Fesler, Conyers and Rondinelli. Fesler views decentralization as a complex issue, both as a concept and in practice; he looks at it from four perspectives: decentralization as a doctrine, as political process in a given political setting, as an administrative problem, and finally as an administrative process involving forced choices and changes in the functional and area-based administration, and between the regulatory (law and order) and development functions of appointed and elected officials.1 Conyers, like Fesler, notes that discussion on decentralization can easily become confused because of analytical problems surrounding the concept