Local Governance in South Asia

In the developing world, the existence of an effective local government system remains crucial, although the traditional discourse on local government seems to have recently diminished due to the emergence of new actors or partners in governance such as private enterprises and nongovernment organizations. It has been repeatedly emphasized that a decentralized local government system is crucial for facilitating policy implementation, making need-based policy decisions, distributing goods and services, reducing the state’s administrative burden, educating citizens in democratic practices and rights, developing political leadership, and addressing internal socio-cultural diversity (Smith, 1985; Haque, 1996). Given this multi-purpose significance of local government, it is not surprising that in the developing world, ‘practically every country has experimented with some form of decentralization or local government reform with varying aims and outcomes …’ (Parker, 1995, p. 18). These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.