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Bringing the Citizen Back In: Supporting Decentralisation in Fragile States - A View from Burundi

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  • Niamh Gaynor

Abstract

type="main"> While, in theory, decentralisation offers many benefits, empirical evidence of these benefits remains limited. Drawing on fieldwork conducted in Burundi in 2011, this article argues that the current donor emphasis on institution-building alone proves insufficient. Evidence is presented to show that current support, while consolidating the authority of local political elites, reinforces political and horizontal inequalities, thereby paving the way for further disaffection and conflict. Reflecting back to the initial aims of the process, a re-orientation is proposed, moving the focus of support beyond elite state actors and institutions and bringing citizens back into the process of state building and transformation.

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  • Niamh Gaynor, 2014. "Bringing the Citizen Back In: Supporting Decentralisation in Fragile States - A View from Burundi," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 32(2), pages 203-218, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:devpol:v:32:y:2014:i:2:p:203-218
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1111/dpr.12051
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Serdar Yilmaz & Yakup Beris & Rodrigo Serrano-Berthet, 2010. "Linking Local Government Discretion and Accountability in Decentralisation," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 28(3), pages 259-293, May.
    2. F Ngaruko & JD Nkurunziza, 2000. "An economic interpretation of conflict in Burundi," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 9(3), pages 370-409.
    3. Derick W. Brinkerhoff, 2011. "State Fragility and Governance: Conflict Mitigation and Subnational Perspectives," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 29(2), pages 131-153, March.
    4. Michael Gubser, 2011. "The View from Le Château: USAID's Recent Decentralisation Programming in Uganda," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 29(1), pages 23-46, January.
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    Cited by:

    1. Jean-Benoit Falisse & Hugues Nkengurutse, 2022. "Citizens Committees and Local Elites: Elite Capture, Captured Elites, and Absent Elites in Health Facility Committees," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 34(3), pages 1662-1683, June.
    2. Devon E.A. Curtis, 2015. "Development assistance and the lasting legacies of rebellion in Burundi and Rwanda," Third World Quarterly, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(7), pages 1365-1381, July.
    3. Curtis, Devon E. A., 2014. "Local agency, development assistance and the legacies of rebellion in Burundi and Rwanda," WIDER Working Paper Series 128, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    4. Devon E. A. Curtis, 2014. "Local Agency, Development Assistance and the Legacies of Rebellion in Burundi and Rwanda," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2014-128, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    5. Aijaz Ali & Farhad Analoui, 2023. "Decentralisation by military regimes and challenges to citizen participation: an empirical reflection from Pakistan," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-10, December.
    6. Gyldas Ofoulhast†Othamot, 2018. "The conundrum between political and sectoral decentralizations: The case of Cameroon," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 36(3), pages 347-367, May.

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