IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bpj/lawdev/v13y2020i1p95-126n5.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Local Level Decentralization in Ethiopia: Case Study of Tigray Regional State

Author

Listed:
  • Fiseha Assefa

    (Center for Federalism and Governance Studies, Addis Ababa University College of Law and Governance Studies, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia)

Abstract

Based on the literature on decentralization, this article investigates the institutional arrangement and autonomy of local governments in Tigray Regional state. It is based on two rounds of field work covering nine districts. At a formal level, local governments are autonomous units with some defined mandates including power to decide on policy issues. In reality however, local governments in the study area act more as deconcentrated than as autonomous units since their autonomy is curtailed by higher level governments and party structures. Local governments are thus extension arms of the regional state with little autonomy of their own. Institutions such as elected councils, mayors and the executive exist at the local level but there is more vertical than horizontal accountability. As a result, local Councils have not been able to ensure accountability. Thus decentralization has not resulted in popular control of local governance and local-level development as interests of the party and the local political elite prevail over popular interests. The article calls for rethinking the design of local government that would constitute a local government deal that shifts decision-making away from higher level institutions to the local level, constituting multi-stake holders having control over the affairs of local government.

Suggested Citation

  • Fiseha Assefa, 2020. "Local Level Decentralization in Ethiopia: Case Study of Tigray Regional State," The Law and Development Review, De Gruyter, vol. 13(1), pages 95-126, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:bpj:lawdev:v:13:y:2020:i:1:p:95-126:n:5
    DOI: 10.1515/ldr-2019-0006
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1515/ldr-2019-0006
    Download Restriction: For access to full text, subscription to the journal or payment for the individual article is required.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1515/ldr-2019-0006?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lawrence Pratchett, 2004. "Local Autonomy, Local Democracy and the 'New Localism'," Political Studies, Political Studies Association, vol. 52, pages 358-375, June.
    2. Lawrence Pratchett, 2004. "Local Autonomy, Local Democracy and the ‘New Localism’," Political Studies, Political Studies Association, vol. 52(2), pages 358-375, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Philip Catney & John M Henneberry, 2016. "Public entrepreneurship and the politics of regeneration in multi-level governance," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 34(7), pages 1324-1343, November.
    2. John Sturzaker & Michael Gordon, 2017. "Democratic tensions in decentralised planning – Rhetoric, legislation and reality in England," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 35(7), pages 1324-1339, November.
    3. Jung, Hoyong, 2022. "Voter Turnout Effects on Local Public Finance and Legislation: Evidence from South Korea," Hitotsubashi Journal of Economics, Hitotsubashi University, vol. 63(1), pages 1-23, June.
    4. Jin Lee, 2021. "New Localism in the Neoliberal Era: Local District Response to Voluntary Open-School Markets in Ohio," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(2), pages 21582440211, June.
    5. Kimiora Raerino & Alex Macmillan & Adrian Field & Rau Hoskins, 2021. "Local-Indigenous Autonomy and Community Streetscape Enhancement: Learnings from Māori and Te Ara Mua—Future Streets Project," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(3), pages 1-17, January.
    6. Alibegović Dubravka Jurlina & Hodžić Sabina & Bečić Emira, 2019. "The Level of Fiscal Autonomy: Evidence from Croatia, Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina," NISPAcee Journal of Public Administration and Policy, Sciendo, vol. 12(1), pages 91-112, June.
    7. Harriet Bulkeley & Andrés Luque-Ayala & Colin McFarlane & Gordon MacLeod, 2018. "Enhancing urban autonomy: Towards a new political project for cities," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 55(4), pages 702-719, March.
    8. Yaniv Reingewertz & Itai Beeri, 2018. "How effective is central enforcement? Evidence from convened committees in failing local authorities," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 36(2), pages 357-380, March.
    9. Thaneshwar Bhusal & Keshav Kumar Acharya, 2024. "Five years of local democracy in federal Nepal (2017–2022)," Asia and the Pacific Policy Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 11(2), May.
    10. Wendy Godek, 2021. "Food sovereignty policies and the quest to democratize food system governance in Nicaragua," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 38(1), pages 91-105, February.
    11. Mark Purcell, 2006. "Urban Democracy and the Local Trap," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 43(11), pages 1921-1941, October.
    12. Li Wang & Heng Chao & Guicai Li, 2019. "Diversification and Local Embeddedness: The Rescaling of National New Area Governance in Post-Reform China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(22), pages 1-22, November.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bpj:lawdev:v:13:y:2020:i:1:p:95-126:n:5. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Peter Golla (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.degruyter.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.