LIST OF PANELS

The objective of this panel is to provide a forum for debating the past and current assessment of the success or failure of decentralization and the future direction of decentralization in the context of its contribution to the topic T10 / Federalism and Multi-Level Governance of the IPPA conference 2021.

This panel is intended or focus on both the WHY and the HOW of decentralization with a debate forum on why decentralization has been the sine qua non of governmental systems reforms and how it should continue to be implemented.

The scope of decentralization to be examined by the panel debate encompasses the political, administrative, and fiscal decentralization principles, practices, and implementation methods as they have been applied over the past several decades. The panel is intended to examine all the mantras of decentralization as has been identified in the voluminous scholarly and research literature that has been written about decentralization.

The millions of words written about decentralization over the past decades by academics and professionals in the field of federalism and multi-level government is only exceeded by the millions of dollars spent in implementing the advice of these scholars. Very little seems to have been written or spent on assessing the impacts and sustainability of the decentralization practices on governance systems.

This panel is intended to initiate the debate about the value of the advice, the impacts of the implementation, and the longer-term sustainability of decentralization as a central focus of governmental system reforms.

Therefore, the panel should focus on such issues as the following, among others:

1.    Has decentralization succeeded or failed in meeting the expectations of improving governance systems?

2.    Did the academic and scholarly research provide the theoretical and practical guidance for taking this policy methodology to the stage of practical implementation?

3.    Have there been significant differences in the implementation of decentralization on a global as well as regional basis (Europe, Africa, Asia, Latin American) and within countries in these regions?

4.    What were the common challenges and obstacles to implementing decentralization across these regions and the common or unique solutions to overcoming these challenges and obstacles?

5.    What were the common or unique implementation approaches to decentralization and did they produce different results?

6.    Did decentralization succeed or fail as a critical solution to the transition problems of the post-communist and/or post-conflict states?

7.    Is new thinking needed about how to implement decentralization that significantly differs from the present state of the theory, knowledge and practices?

8.    What new thinking about the theory and practice of decentralization would alter the future implementation of decentralization?

Papers from academics, researchers, and practitioners on the topic of fiscal federalism and multi-level governance are invited to submit and present a paper for the IPPA Barcelona Conference 2021 with a specific focus on decentralization. The panel papers should assess why decentralization is a dominant theme of governmental reforms and how decentralization should be continued as a major international donor support effort and what new thinking is needed to increase the implementation impacts of decentralization.

The paper should take a definitive position, (succeeded or failed, positive or negative), on decentralization in one or more of its dimensions (political, administrative, and fiscal). This should be supported by a standard of the “preponderance of the evidence” rather than “beyond a reasonable doubt.” Papers arguing both sides of the issue are not acceptable. 

Papers addressing several of the following issues are particularly invited:

1.    Has decentralization succeeded or failed in meeting the expectations of improving financial management, delivering government services, and empowering the lowest levels of government and citizens to actively participate in decisions?

2.    Did the academic and scholarly research provide the theoretical and practical guidance for taking this policy methodology to the stage of practical implementation?

3.    Have there been significant differences in the implementation of decentralization on a global as well as regional basis (Europe, Africa, Asia, Latin American) and within countries in these regions?

4.    What were the common challenges and obstacles to implementing decentralization across these regions and the common or unique solutions to overcoming these challenges and obstacles?

5.    Did decentralization succeed or fail as a critical solution to the transition problems of the post-communist and/or post-conflict states?

6.    Is new thinking needed about how to implement decentralization that significantly differs from the present state of the theory, knowledge and practices?

7.    What new thinking about the theory and practice of decentralization would alter the future implementation of decentralization?

The final question the paper should address is whether decentralization should continue as a dominant approach to implementing governmental reforms by the international donor community or other reforms efforts should be pursued that would have greater impact and chances of success.