Managing decentralization, an annotated bibliography

Major considerations were (1) how decentralization is conceptualized, and (2) major issues of importance to the practitioner, designer, and managers of decentralization. A theoretically sound and practically useful approach to managing decentralization must first define the concept. Many administrative strategies, government reorganizations, community development projects, etc., have gone by the name of "decentralization." Some efforts have involved the areal deconcentration of administrative operations, the functional differentiation of government responsibilities, the devolution of policy-making and policy-implementing powers to local authorities, and delegation of authority to lower-level functionaries. A major need is to develop a definition of decentralization broad enough to include those efforts relevant to LDC contexts and purposes, yet specific enough to allow theoretical and practical operationalization. A coherent body of knowledge must then be developed to yield practical guidelines for future decentralization efforts. Part I of this report indexes decentralization literature according to three categories: geographical area on which it focuses; the organizational context which it describes or analyzes; and the management function with which it is concerned. Part II contains a list of the references with a brief summary of each.