IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/padxxx/v40y2020i2p119-128.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Decentralization as a strategy of regime maintenance: The case of Yemen

Author

Listed:
  • Maria‐Louise Clausen

Abstract

Proponents of decentralization often argue that decentralization makes governments more accountable and responsive to the governed. This is perhaps why the decentralization literature tends to overlook Middle Eastern regimes as these are among the most authoritarian and most centralized regimes in the world. However, many of these regimes have included decentralization in their legal framework. This article shows how a weak regime can use decentralization as a regime maintenance strategy when formal decentralization reforms strengthens external and internal legitimacy. The articles main argument builds on the literature on decentralization and elite capture to show how weak regimes can use formal decentralization reform to undermine local autonomy. The article uses the case of Yemen to make this argument. Yemen has a long tradition for local bottom‐up initiatives and there is widespread internal support for decentralization. Simultaneously, donors have seen decentralization as a way of strengthening the Yemeni state, leading to international support to the formulation of the Local Authority Law of 2000, Law 4/2000, an extensive legal decentralization framework.

Suggested Citation

  • Maria‐Louise Clausen, 2020. "Decentralization as a strategy of regime maintenance: The case of Yemen," Public Administration & Development, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 40(2), pages 119-128, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:padxxx:v:40:y:2020:i:2:p:119-128
    DOI: 10.1002/pad.1880
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/pad.1880
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/pad.1880?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Brinkerhoff, Derick W. & Johnson, Ronald W., 2009. "Decentralized Local Governance In Fragile States: Learning From Iraq," MPRA Paper 21505, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Maria-Louise Clausen, 2018. "Competing for Control over the State: The Case of Yemen," Small Wars and Insurgencies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(3), pages 560-578, May.
    3. Jose A. Puppim De Oliveira & Yijia Jing & Paul Collins & Paul Smoke, 2015. "Rethinking Decentralization: Assessing Challenges to a Popular Public Sector Reform," Public Administration & Development, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 35(2), pages 97-112, May.
    4. Netra Eng, 2016. "Decentralization in Cambodia: New Wine in Old Bottles," Public Administration & Development, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 36(4), pages 250-262, October.
    5. Faguet, Jean-Paul, 2014. "Decentralization and Governance," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 2-13.
    6. Zeynep Kadirbeyoglu, 2017. "The Impact of Power and Civic Engagement in the Decentralized Management of Natural Resources: The Case of Turkey," Public Administration & Development, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 37(4), pages 277-291, October.
    7. Linder, Stephen H. & Peters, B. Guy, 1990. "Policy formulation and the challenge of conscious design," Evaluation and Program Planning, Elsevier, vol. 13(3), pages 303-311, January.
    8. Gerschewski, Johannes, 2013. "The three pillars of stability: legitimation, repression, and co-optation in autocratic regimes," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 20(1), pages 13-38.
    9. Al-Iryani, Lamis & de Janvry, Alain & Sadoulet, Elisabeth, 2013. "Delivering Good Aid in Hard Places: The Yemen Social Fund for Development Approach," WIDER Working Paper Series 080, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    10. Jorge Martinez-Vazquez & François Vaillancourt (ed.), 2011. "Decentralization in Developing Countries," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 14175.
    11. Kent Eaton, 2001. "Political Obstacles to Decentralization: Evidence from Argentina and the Philippines," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 32(1), pages 101-127, January.
    12. Lamis Al-Iryani & Alain de Janvry & Elisabeth Sadoulet, 2013. "Delivering Good Aid in Hard Places: the Yemen Social Fund for Development Approach," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2013-080, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    13. Leonardo G. Romeo & Mohamed El Mensi, 2011. "The Difficult Road to Local Autonomy in Yemen: Decentralization Reforms between Political Rationale and Bureaucratic Resistances in a Multi-party Democracy of the Arabian Peninsula," Chapters, in: Jorge Martinez-Vazquez & François Vaillancourt (ed.), Decentralization in Developing Countries, chapter 15, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. 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.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. World Bank, 2015. "Republic of Yemen," World Bank Publications - Reports 23660, The World Bank Group.
    2. Andam, Kwaw & Ahmed, Hanane & Richey, Jeffrey & Bruns, Bryan & Al-Wadaey, Ahmed, 2015. "Characterizing Rural Landscapes and Communities through Integrated Information: An Application to Yemen," 2015 Conference, August 9-14, 2015, Milan, Italy 210946, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    3. Verbrugge, Boris, 2015. "Decentralization, Institutional Ambiguity, and Mineral Resource Conflict in Mindanao, Philippines," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 449-460.
    4. Isaac Khambule, 2021. "Decentralisation or deconcentration: The case of regional and local economic development in South Africa," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 36(1), pages 22-41, February.
    5. Antonio Nicolás Bojanic, 2020. "The empirical evidence on the determinants of fiscal decentralization," Revista Finanzas y Politica Economica, Universidad Católica de Colombia, vol. 12(1), pages 271-302, June.
    6. Faguet, Jean-Paul, 2021. "Understanding decentralization: theory, evidence and method, with a focus on least-developed countries," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 108214, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    7. Paul Smoke, 2014. "Why theory and practice are different: The gap between principles and reality in subnational revenue systems," Chapters, in: Richard M. Bird & Jorge Martinez-Vazquez (ed.), Taxation and Development: The Weakest Link?, chapter 9, pages 287-325, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    8. Smoke, Paul, 2016. "Looking Beyond Conventional Intergovernmental Fiscal Frameworks: Principles, Realities, and Neglected Issues," ADBI Working Papers 606, Asian Development Bank Institute.
    9. Grävingholt, Jörn & von Haldenwang, Christian, 2016. "The promotion of decentralisation and local governance in fragile contexts," IDOS Discussion Papers 20/2016, German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS).
    10. Abu Elias Sarker & Faraha Nawaz, 2019. "Clientelism, Partyarchy and Democratic Backsliding: A Case Study of Local Government Elections in Bangladesh," South Asian Survey, , vol. 26(1), pages 70-91, March.
    11. Juan Tang & Fangming Qin, 2022. "Analyzing the impact of local government competition on green total factor productivity from the factor market distortion perspective: based on the three stage DEA model," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 24(12), pages 14298-14326, December.
    12. Raffaella Santolini, 2017. "Electoral Rules And Public Spending Composition: The Case Of Italian Regions," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 35(3), pages 551-577, July.
    13. Manasan, Rosario G., 2007. "Local Public Finance in the Philippines: Lessons in Autonomy and Accountability," Philippine Journal of Development PJD 2005 Vol. XXXII No. 2, Philippine Institute for Development Studies.
    14. Kahsay, Goytom Abraha & Medhin, Haileselassie, 2020. "Leader turnover and forest management outcomes: Micro-level evidence from Ethiopia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    15. Gianluca Misuraca & Clelia Colombo & Csaba Kucsera & Stephanie Carretero & Margherita Bacigalupo & Raluca Radescu, 2015. "ICT-enabled Social Innovation in support of the Implementation of the Social Investment Package (IESI) - Mapping and Analysis of ICT-enabled Social Innovation Initiatives promoting Social Investment t," JRC Research Reports JRC97467, Joint Research Centre.
    16. Anna Biceková, 2018. "Effects of Fiscal Decentralization on NUTS 3 Regions’ Tax Income in the Slovak Republic," Academic Journal of Economic Studies, Faculty of Finance, Banking and Accountancy Bucharest,"Dimitrie Cantemir" Christian University Bucharest, vol. 4(2), pages 61-70, June.
    17. María Orduz, 2022. "Effect of educational spending on academic performance under different institutional arrangements," Documentos CEDE 20224, Universidad de los Andes, Facultad de Economía, CEDE.
    18. Aurora Castro Teixeira & Maria João Barros, 2014. "Local municipalities’ involvement in promoting the internationalisation of SMEs," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 29(1-2), pages 141-162, February.
    19. Mauro, Luciano & Pigliaru, Francesco & Carmeci, Gaetano, 2018. "Decentralization and growth: Do informal institutions and rule of law matter?," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 40(5), pages 873-902.
    20. Shah, Anwar, 2012. "Autonomy with equity and accountability : toward a more transparent, objective, predictable and simpler (TOPS) system of central financing of provincial-local expenditures in Indonesia," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6004, The World Bank.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wly:padxxx:v:40:y:2020:i:2:p:119-128. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0271-2075 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.