PA-21303 Local Government and Rural Development

Course Contents:

Introduction, Local Governance, Deconcentration & Convergence.

Devolution: (I) Organization and Accountability.
Devolution (II) Financial Systems and Theory.
Devolution: (II) Financial Arrangements.
Contemporary Experiments in Delegation to Executive Agencies, Service
Quality, and Institutional Capacity: A Positive Relationship.
Devolution and Local Governance in the UK.
Decentralization and Local Government Reform in Jamaica.
Decentralized Development and Poverty Reduction: Role of CBOs, NGOs,
Private Sectors.
Decentralization and the Management of Services: Contemporary Health
Sector Reform.
Regional Comparison: Africa, Asia/Pacific, Caribbean, Latin America.
Regional Decentralization as a Response to Territorial Cleavages.
Round-up: Civil Society, Local Governance & Development.

Recommended Books:

1. Byron, J. (2000) Micro-States in a Macro-World: Federalism, Governance and

Viability in the Eastern Caribbean. Social and Economic Studies.
2. Bogdanor, V. (1999). Devolution in the United Kingdom. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.

3. Armstrong, H. MP. (1999) Key Themes of Democratic Renewal. Local

Government Studies, 25 (4), 19-25.
4. Bailey, S. (1999). Local Government Economics: Principles and Practice.
Basingstoke and London: Macmillan Press Limited.
5. Aziz, A., Charles, N., & Devendra, B. (1996). Power to the People: The
Karnataka Experiment, pp. 146-63 in Abdul Aziz and David D. Arnold, eds.
Decentralized Governance in Asian Countries. New Delhi: Sage.
6. Cheema, G. S., & Dennis, A. R. (1983). Decentralization and Development:
Policy Implementation in Developing Countries. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.