Governance from Below: A Theory of Local Government with Two Empirical Tests
LSE-STICERD Political Economy and Public Policy Working Paper No. 12
48 Pages Posted: 8 Nov 2005
There are 2 versions of this paper
Governance from Below: A Theory of Local Government with Two Empirical Tests
Governance from Below a Theory of Local Government with Two Empirical Tests
Date Written: September 2005
Abstract
I examine decentralization through the lens of the local dynamics that it unleashes. The national effects of decentralization are simply the sum of its local-level effects. Hence to understand decentralization we must first understand how local government works. This paper proposes a theory of local government as the confluence of two quasi-markets and one organizational dynamic. Good government results when these three elements - political, economic and civil - are in rough balance, and actors in one cannot distort the others. Specific types of imbalance map into specific forms of government failure. I use comparative analysis to test the theory's predictions with qualitative and quantitative evidence from Bolivia. The combined methodology provides a higher-order empirical rigor than either approach can alone. The theory proves robust.
Keywords: local government, civil society, democratic theory, good governance, decentralization, Q2 (Q-squared), Bolivia
JEL Classification: D71, H41, H42, H72, O18
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
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