Contenu du sommaire : Démocratie, gouvernance et décentralisation.

Governance and Decentralisation. Learning from Experience. The decentralisation movement has thrived on the disillusionment surrounding the capacity of centralised systems to realise necessary reforms effectively. Amongst the advantages of decentralisation, the influence that it may have on civil society should be stressed. The existence of active local authorities brings with it a proliferation of opportunities for citizens to act. The fact that this opening may also have negative consequences should not be overlooked. Democratisation must be accompanied by a fair allocation of responsibilities. With there being no a priori applicable model, adjustments are inevitably necessary.

Evaluating African Decentralisation Policies and Programmes of the 1990s The onsets of liberalisation and democratisation have necessitated a third wave of decentralisation reforms in many African countries in the decade of the 1990s. The article discusses the extent to which the current decentralisation efforts have effectively tackled the problems, which bedevilled past efforts. It is shown that some countries in the region are indeed breaking new grounds. The paper concludes by suggesting areas that deserve greater scrutiny and assistance by African governments and development partners.

Carrots and Semtex. New Labour's Modernisation Agenda for British Local Government The New Labour's modernisation agenda resembles a politics of semtex and carrots. The resources offered by the state are done so in a conditional manner : local authorities must, under threat of sanction, show themselves willing to undertake modernisation in the way prescribed by the government. The invitation to enter into dialogue is a purely formal one : in reality it is a question of choice between modernising or disappearing altogether. As for the recompense for those local councils which submit, it consists of a much awaited reform of local finances, the content of which remains ill defined however.

Local Administration and Democracy : Recent Reforms in Australia Recent local government reforms in Australia respond first of ail to economic preoccupations and aim to integrate principles of management into local structures, and to impose upon them the laws of the market and sharing of resources. But these reforms must also bear witness to the concern over protecting democratic values at local level. Evaluation of the impact of reforms on government functions seems to indicate that it remains rather low. In recent years the election of a federal government which defends rationalist principles has, however, accentuated the danger of privileging efficiency over democracy.

National Planning, a Major Tool for Metropolitanization in Israel In Israel, important reforms have been undertaken in regions dominated by an urban megalopolis. Adopting a rational choice, institutional approach, the study focuses on action from above which generates central-local governance coalitions of change. National planning is a major tool for activating a metropolitan-regional policy change. Action from above provides for incentives, resources, linkages and binding central-local policy coalitions. Given the relatively low success of efforts to establish an area-wide metropolitan governing system via administrative-political change of metropolitan regions, the institutional multi-jurisdictional interactive governance approach proposed here is more likely to produce a change in behaviour structures. This supports some of the major findings in the research of the role of relativity autonomous institutions and their capacity for change.

Decentralisation in Taiwan : the Question of Financial Capacities Taiwan's economic development has been followed by a surge in demands made by citizens at the local level. The decentralisation movement linked to the democratisation process has led to a delegation of competence from the centre in favour of local authorities. This decentralisation, however, remains largely theoretical because of the marked centralisation of financial resources. Financial decentralisation must, therefore, be the next step.

African Traditional Leadership and Rural Local Government in Ghana This paper examines the relationship between traditional leadership and rural local government in Ghana in terms of the concepts of «control and legitimacy». It is argued that the oscillating nature of this relationship from the time of the imposition and creation of the successor states to the pre-colonial states and political entities until the present time has been partially due to the varying access to the resources of control and legitimacy by the successor state structures and traditional leadership. This dynamic has in turn interacted with varying needs for, and definition of, improved development and management within the realm of rural local government. The case study materials are drawn from Ghana.

The Tanzanian Situation : Local Governance in Rural Areas In a country where 90% of the population lives in rural areas, the role of local authorities is crucial for maintaining a balance between central government and relations with the public. These authorities are largely dependent upon the central power and remain non representative, and it could be said that the very idea of rural governance is still at an embryonic stage. Beyond structural obstacles, the authorities must face up to illiteracy, poverty and oppression of the people.

Reflection on the Politics and Administration Nexus in Africa This paper reviews the problems posed at the interface between politicians and higher civil servants in Sub-Saharan African countries since independence. It argues that there has been more continuity than change in the patterns of relationships. Although the attempts to promote "unified" politico-administrative elites minimised conflicts in some countries during the single party era, it was at the expense of adequate development and utilisation of technical competence. In the other countries where separate domains of "political judgement" and "technical expertise" were recognised, neither was adequately developed in most cases, and the phenomenon of collusion in corrupt practices was widespread. Some of these problems have persisted while some changes are beginning to take root because of the emphasis on sound economic policies, political pluralism, and citizen empowerment.