Decentralization in Developing Countries: A Review of Recent Experience

A large number of developing countries that are politically, economically and ideologically diverse began decentralizing development planning and management functions during the 1970s and early 1980s, because of growing dissatisfaction with the results of highly centralized national planning and administration, and because the thrust of development policies changed drastically during the 1970s. The results of decentralizing have been mixed. Third World country governments have faced myriad problems in designing and implementing programs for decentralizing development management successfully, and even where the programs have been relatively successful not all of the anticipated benefits have accrued to either central or local administrative units. Ultimately, decentralization is a political decision, and its implementation is a political process. This report reviews the types of decentralization that have been tried in developing countries since the early 1970s, draws inferences about their success from assessments of their results, describes the basic conditions that seem to affect the successful implementation of decentralization policies, and offers a set of general operational principles to guide governments that are considering decentralization of development planning.