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Special section
Introduction to Special Section
Decentralization makes governments more responsive
to local needs
While Federations magazine normally features articles about the approximately 28 federal countries in the world, there are also many other countries that have granted or delegated powers to their smaller regional units.
In this issue of Federations, we look at the state of decentralization in five such non-federal countries, the three South American nations of Colombia, Bolivia and Peru as well as Japan and Morocco.
Experts explain decentralization in this manner:
The granting of elements of self-governance to groups within a state need not be entrenched constitutionally. The decentralization of certain powers and authority to different levels of government can, in many cases, provide significant accountability and responsiveness to regional demands.
The five countries, to varying degrees, have decided and are attempting to bring the governing process closer to the people being governed.
Certain so-called ‘unitary” governments have existed for centuries with all the important powers concentrated in their national government, but either to forestall secessionist fervor or to make the business of government more efficient, have chosen to “devolve” powers to another order of government.
Witness the U.K.’s devolved governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland after elections held in 2007.
Experts describe devolution as:
A method of decentralization which includes not just a shift in administrative decision-making, but also political and fiscal decentralization as well. As such, it is the most developed form of decentralization short of constitutional self-rule.
The five countries under study in this edition of the magazine are at different points in the continuum between basic decentralization and full-fledged devolution. None are facing the imminent secession of any of their sub-national units.
Of the five, Japan is among the least devolved. The Economist magazine recently commented that, “more than any big rich democracy, Japan concentrates political power and financial resources at the centre.”
However, earlier this year a government panel recommended the quasi dismantling of the centrally governed state that has existed since 1867. The proposal would limit the central government to 16 areas including diplomacy, national security and trade policy. Under the plan, regional governments would also have responsibility for areas such as public works and industrial promotion.
In Morocco the government is seeking to defuse the anger of radical youth and put a halt to terrorist bombings that shocked the country five years ago. Part of its strategy is to provide responsibility for social and economic development to the local level.
In the South American countries, Colombia has provided significant funding to fuel decentralization, but the reforms do not come close to resembling devolution.
In Bolivia, populist President Evo Morales is fighting a losing battle against sub-national regions in the east of the country voting to transfer national fiscal powers to the regions. For Morales, the decentralization is a power grab by wealthy landowners and a means for them to duck their tax burden necessary to help the poorer, largely indigenous 70 percent of the population.
While in Peru, decentralization has advanced in fits and starts over the last 29 years. Martin Tanaka and Sofia Vera of the Institute of Peruvian Studies, write that decentralization in their country has been chaotic and thus far failed to establish a coherent and orderly institutional framework for providing government services to the people. 
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