Political Decentralization

Question 1

Political Decentralisation and Political Autonomy

Answer 1

Political decentralisation is about creating space for local governments to understand and act on the needs and preferences of their constituency. To this aim, governments can undertake an interlocking set of reforms and measures in order to:
• hand over power to citizens, by way of local elections and other types of mechanisms through which citizens can hold their local leaders to account
• transfer of authority to subnational governments, by a devolution of power, responsibilities and resources to deliver services to the citizens. The most complete form of political decentralisation happens when the
central government transfers power to citizens and to local governments at the same time. In this case, the local political leadership is at least partly elected and has some degree of authority and autonomy to decide the affairs of the jurisdiction. Ideally, it also implies inclusive and democratic local political processes, participation and a vibrant civil society that can hold local governments to account.

Question 2

Recognition of local self-government, autonomy and subsidiarity in the
legal framework

Answer 2

Recognition of local self-government, autonomy and subsidiarity in the legal framework—local governments need their own decision-making space to promote the priorities of their constituencies. Without it, they become mere agents of the central government, which is likely to undermine their capacity to reap the benefits of a decentralised system. This means that local governments need to be recognised as corporate bodies separated by law from the centre. LG political autonomy can be measured by its legal basis, i.e is its independence protected by a constitution, law or regulations?

Procedural laws and regulations also have fundamental impacts on how political decentralisation works in practice as well as on the degree of effective autonomy of subnational governments. It is key that measures at regulatory, legal and constitutional levels are consistent with each other. For instance, political decentralisation can be undermined if, on the one hand, the constitution enshrines local self-government but, on the other hand, regulations require central government to exercise ‘ex ante control’ of local
expenditures.

Question 3

Existence of a political leadership that can make decisions on
the affairs of the jurisdiction

Answer 3

Local leaders need to have some degree of authority and autonomy in practice to be able to decide on the affairs of the jurisdiction. This is demonstrated under the following conditions.

• Subnational governments are given a ‘general mandate’ to act as general-purpose governments. In these cases, local authorities are distinct political entities that represent local constituencies and develop their own local policies and programmes (devolution). This means that they can undertake any initiative in the interest of their constituents, as long as it respects the law and does not impinge on functions explicitly and exclusively assigned by law to other levels.
• Local authorities have their own treasury, a budget that they can prepare and approve and accounts as well as the authority to raise own revenues. Without these financial/fiscal competencies local governments cannot materialise their local policies and cannot be responsive to citizens’ demands.
• Local governments can hire, fire and promote their own staff.
• Central government administrations act as external advisers and inspectors rather than supervisors or controllers. This means that central governments should play no role within local government decisions. The ‘a priori supervisory role’ of state representatives should give way to legal administrative control and a posteriori budget control.

Question 4

How can accountability be assessed?

Answer 4

(1) Local political leadership is at least partly elected
(2) Existence of other accountability mechanisms at local levels:

• Upward accountability from sub-national authorities to the central government
• Horizontal accountability lines
• Downward accountability from local governments to the citizens

Question 5

Elections

Answer 5

Elections are the first thing that comes to one’s mind when thinking of ways through which governments can hand over power to citizens. They allow citizens to express their choices and hold public officials to account. At the local level, free, fair and transparent elections consecrate the political autonomy of local governments.

However, local elections are not guarantee meaningful participation, better accountability or responsiveness to local demands on their own. ‘Local officials must also have the authority to determine and implement revenue and expenditure policies’. This means that political decentralisation is most effective when local elections are accompanied by effective devolution and by at least some degree of fiscal decentralisation (e.g. local governments have the necessary resources and can decide on the uses of at least a portion of those resources). Otherwise, local governments may be granted symbolic but not effective power and autonomy. This is typically the case when (elected) advisory councils lack effective power to
approve (or reject) the budget and/or to hold the local executive to account.

Question 6

Other accountability mechanisms at the local level