Suchergebnisse

AbstractThe Kyrghyzstan government is making the difficult transition from a command economy under Communist Party control to a market economy within a pluralist political framework. For the time being, however, the reality of firm executive, hierarchical control persists. An Akim heads the government structure at provincial (oblast) and district (raion) levels and exercises considerable power; though formally answerable for his budget and socio‐economic programme to the local parliament (kenesh), his accountability is virtually nil. Some attention is given to equalizing revenue among the provinces: Bishkek, the capital city, which has oblast status, and Chui oblast provide substantial financial underpinning for the rest of the country. In April 1995 the government accepted the main provisions of the EIPA Report prepared under the European Union's TACIS project ED/052, the effect of which should be to enhance the government's ability to promote development. President Akayev sees local administration, local self‐government and privatization as important levers of reform.

Until the late 1980s, decentralisation experiments in sub-Saharan Africa tended in the majority of states to reinforce central control rather than enhance local autonomy. However, recent moves towards political pluralism have brought a switch in emphasis to more meaningful types of local participation. These have taken the form of political decentralisation, understood in the sense used by Philip Mawhood to denote the devolution of powers to representative local councils, each with its separate legal existence and its own budget, and with the authority to allocate resources and to carry out multiple functions. However, a number of African regimés also intend to transfer power from the centre to officials of the central government in the field. They therefore attach a broader meaning to the concept of decentralisation, using it to cover both political devolution and the deconcentration of administrative authority. The two processes are, in fact, often complementary rather than separate.

AbstractThis article discusses the meaning of 'ideology' and 'development' and the relationship betwen them. It examines external constraints on development, including dependence on the industrialized West and the crippling burden of debt servicing, and the issue of privatization, which is seen as cutting across the ideological boundaries separating capitalist and socialist states. It also reviews internal constraints on development, such as the shortage of essential skills and the adoption of policies favouring the urban areas, and argues that they are largely independent of ideological considerations. It maintains that the apparent strength of the movement towards de‐ideologization in Africa may not prove permanent.

AbstractSince Botswana became independent in 1966 a steady process of decentralization has been undertaken by a Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) government confident in its own legitimacy and committed officially to a policy of rural development. In 1978 the President appointed a Local Government Structure Commission to test the suitability of the existing structure and to advise on the relationship between the four main institutions at district level–the District Administration, the District Council, the Land Board and the Tribal Administration. In its 1979 Report the Commission recommended that each institution should retain its separate identity, with its powers balanced by those of the others. This article reviews the working of each institution, and concludes that the Commission's recommendation was justified. It notes, however, that the balance between the four institutions has been tilted to an extent in favour of the District Administration. It shows that the District Councils have displayed an improved capacity for plan implementation, but need more skilled technical personnel and a better quality of elected councillor; that the Land Boards are no longer subordinate to the District Councils in administrative matters, but are hampered by a shortage of transport and finance; and that Tribal Administration staff still work under very poor conditions, though their salaries and pensionable status are much improved.