Decentralization

In recent decades, decentralization has come to be regarded as an essential element of democratic governance and most Western states as well as some non-Western states have implemented decentralization reforms. There are, however, several distinct ways of understanding decentralization. We can distinguish between political, administrative, and economic types of decentralization. Political decentralization refers to processes where the power of political decision making and certain functions are transferred from a higher level of government to a lower one. This can be from the level of the central state to lower levels such as the meso (regions, provinces, or counties) and the local (communes or municipalities). It can also refer to the transfer of political decision-making powers and functions from the mesolevel—a region, for example—to the municipal level. Both kinds of political decentralization can be seen in the Spanish case, where a first wave of decentralization, following the transition to democracy in 1976 to 1978, involved transferring powers from Madrid to the Autonomous Communities (ACs). Although this decentralization is still not complete, a recently begun second wave of decentralization involves the transfer of competences from the ACs to the municipalities. In some political systems, such as in France and Sweden, there is no hierarchical relation among the levels of government below the national level. Administrative decentralization means the transfer of a number of tasks and functions from central departments to lower levels of the administration. This may take different forms. It might simply mean increasing the tasks of lower branches of the same department, which remains a central department. Or it might involve transferring tasks to different territorial administrations (that is, to a separate territorial civil service) as in France after the 1982 decentralization reforms. It may just be a dispersal of branches of the administrative system in provincial towns away from the capitol as happened in the United Kingdom where, for example, passport agencies or social security offices are found in different parts of the country, or as is happening currently in Ireland where the Irish government is shifting a number of administrative offices outside of Dublin. Finally, economic decentralization means the attempt to move industrial and other economic activities to the regions. This happens for two reasons. First, it reduces the industrial congestion and therefore high costs in centers such as London or Paris. Second, it is a part of regional policy aiming to bring jobs to the workers. These different forms of decentralization are not intrinsically related to each other although some forms imply the others. Administrative decentralization can take place without a corresponding political decentralization, although effective political decentralization will usually decentralize administrative resources as well. Among these resources are fiscal powers to enable the decentralized bodies to carry out the tasks that are assigned to them. Economic decentralization can occur without political decentralization although some administrative decentralization may be necessary if the central state is involved in the policy. Today, however, this form of decentralization is less common than in the 1980s and 1970s. Finally, decentralization is related to, but not identical with, regionalization. First, there can be decentralization, even of the political kind, without regionalization in the sense that local government may be strengthened through decentralization without setting up elected regional assemblies or even administrative regions. Second, regionalization is a form of political decentralization, but regions themselves might be highly centralized, as in the Flemish regions and communities or in Catalonia. In this sense, we can speak of Jacobin regionalism.

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