IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/envirc/v20y2002i3p317-340.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Decentralisation, Enablement, and Local Governance in Low-Income Countries

Author

Listed:
  • A H J (Bert) Helmsing

    (Institute of Social Studies, PO Box 29776, 2502 LT, The Hague, The Netherlands)

Abstract

Decentralisation to local governments has acquired new dimensions. These dimensions refer to delivery of basic services as well as to public or collective demands and goals. Enablement is central to new decentralisation in which the role of government is to facilitate and regulate the overall framework within which other actors can make their most effective contribution. After situating decentralisation, I explore the notion of enablement. Subsequently the concept of local-government enablement of communities is operationalised. Criteria are formulated and applied to a (nonrepresentative) sample of local governments in seven countries. It is concluded that introducing enablement in local planning is comparatively easy. However, changing regulatory, administrative and financial public decisionmaking processes is much more difficult. In the final part of the paper I examine a number of issues in the local-governance debate. Decentralisation to local government takes place in the context of decentralisation to market and to communities. Issues are identified on the supply and demand sides of governance, and on the question of embedding of government. New decentralisation raises a new class of problems, for which, as yet, few answers are available.

Suggested Citation

  • A H J (Bert) Helmsing, 2002. "Decentralisation, Enablement, and Local Governance in Low-Income Countries," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 20(3), pages 317-340, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envirc:v:20:y:2002:i:3:p:317-340
    DOI: 10.1068/c0040
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1068/c0040
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1068/c0040?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. BOAVENTURA de SOUSA SANTOS, 1998. "Participatory Budgeting in Porto Alegre: Toward a Redistributive Democracy," Politics & Society, , vol. 26(4), pages 461-510, December.
    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. Saguin, Kidjie, 2018. "Why the poor do not benefit from community-driven development: Lessons from participatory budgeting," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 220-232.
    2. ,, 2014. "A ranking method based on handicaps," Theoretical Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 9(3), September.
    3. Grillos, Tara, 2017. "Participatory Budgeting and the Poor: Tracing Bias in a Multi-Staged Process in Solo, Indonesia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 343-358.
    4. Khalid Hasan Al Jasimee & Francisco Javier Blanco-Encomienda, 2023. "A SEM-NCA approach towards the impact of participative budgeting on budgetary slack and managerial performance: The mediating role of leadership style and leader-member exchange," Papers 2310.09993, arXiv.org.
    5. Mark Skidmore & Hideki Toya, 2013. "Natural Disaster Impacts and Fiscal Decentralization," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 89(1), pages 101-117.
    6. Arze del Granado, F. Javier & Martinez-Vazquez, Jorge & McNab, Robert M., 2012. "Decentralized Governance and Preferences for Public Goods," MPRA Paper 42459, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. J Rios & D Rios Insua, 2008. "A framework for participatory budget elaboration support," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 59(2), pages 203-212, February.
    8. Pranab Bardhan, 2002. "Decentralization of Governance and Development," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 16(4), pages 185-205, Fall.
    9. İsmail GÜNEŞ, 2020. "Success Factors which Affecting Participatory Budgeting: A Case Study on New YorkAbstract: After over 2 decades of military dictatorship Brazil became a democracy in 1988. The Participatory Budget was," Sosyoekonomi Journal, Sosyoekonomi Society, issue 28(45).
    10. Malleson, Tom, 2014. "After Occupy: Economic Democracy for the 21st Century," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199330102.
    11. Patricia Perkins, 2007. "Feminist Ecological Economics and Sustainability," Journal of Bioeconomics, Springer, vol. 9(3), pages 227-244, December.
    12. Santosh Mehrotra, 2006. "Governance and basic social services: ensuring accountability in service delivery through deep democratic decentralization," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 18(2), pages 263-283.
    13. Antonio Postigo, 2011. "Accounting for Outcomes in Participatory Urban Governance through State–Civil-society Synergies," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 48(9), pages 1945-1967, July.
    14. Spada,Paolo & Mellon,Jonathan & Peixoto,Tiago Carneiro & Sjoberg,Fredrik Matias, 2015. "Effects of the internet on participation : study of a public policy referendum in Brazil," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7204, The World Bank.
    15. Miloš Milosavljević & Željko Spasenić & Jovan Krivokapić, 2023. "Bibliometric Review of Participatory Budgeting: Current Status and Future Research Agenda," IJFS, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-14, August.
    16. Jaroslaw Olejniczak & Dorota Bednarska-Olejniczak, 2021. "Participatory Budgets of Polish Major Cities During Covid-19," European Research Studies Journal, European Research Studies Journal, vol. 0(Special 3), pages 983-996.
    17. Jinbaek Kim, 2008. "A model and case for supporting participatory public decision making in e-democracy," Group Decision and Negotiation, Springer, vol. 17(3), pages 179-193, May.
    18. Roman V. Efremov & Alexander V. Lotov, 2014. "Multi-criteria Remote Asynchronous Group Decision Screening: An Experimental Study," Group Decision and Negotiation, Springer, vol. 23(1), pages 31-48, January.
    19. Sheely, Ryan, 2015. "Mobilization, Participatory Planning Institutions, and Elite Capture: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Rural Kenya," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 251-266.
    20. Klimovský Daniel & Secinaro Silvana & Baláž Martina Benzoni & Brescia Valerio, 2024. "Participatory Budgeting as a Democratic and Managerial Innovation: Recent Trends and Avenues for Further Research," Central European Journal of Public Policy, Sciendo, vol. 18(1), pages 52-71.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:sae:envirc:v:20:y:2002:i:3:p:317-340. 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: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    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.