Relationship Between Democratic Decentralization And Local Self Government. Democracy has been accepted in the modern world as the best form of Government. Local Self-government is an inevitable part of this democratic administrative system. It may be called the lying-in-room of democracy. In fact, the local self-government has no parallel. Democratic decentralization is a lofty political ideology.
Decentralization
Decentralization is the transfer of authority, responsibility, and accountability from central to local governments. Decentralization can take various forms, commonly described in public administration terms as deconcentration, devolution, and delegation. Decentralization also has several dimensions that reflect, in general terms, increasing and often sequential stages of progress in achieving the governance objectives of decentralization. These stages are:
- Administrative decentralization (functional responsibility)
- Financial decentralization (access to resources)
- Political decentralization (accountability).
The political dimension is especially critical for
democratic decentralization because it
reconstitutes the state in a democratic way. It
provides a process at the local level through which
diverse interests can be heard and negotiated and
resource allocation decisions can be made based on
public discussions. Democratic local governance
does not exist in a vacuum. Authorities beyond the local level must be persuaded or influenced to
support the legitimization and empowerment of local governments. Genuine political power sharing is a key element often missing in the political dimension of decentralization.
In recent times political sociologists have found democratic decentralization more relevant for the developing countries of the third world. In third-world countries, the matter of development is considered in the context of people's participation and control over the administration system. Local self-government is the natural consequence of the coordination between democracy and democratic decentralization.
Local self-government and democratic decentralization become meaningful through the participation and control of the local people. The local self-government possesses political autonomy. The political ideal that exists in democratic decentralization is reflected in the local self-government. While democratic decentralization is a political ideal of the local self-government in its institutional form. Or in other words, the theoretical basis of local self-government is democratic decentralization.
The decentralization of local government is an important process in the democratic development of the country. It is defined as the process of political devolution, fiscal, and decision-making from the central government at the local level. Democratic decentralization is the development of reciprocal relationships between central and local governments and between local governments and citizens.
Democratic Local Governance
Democratic local governance is autonomous levels of local government, vested with authority and
resources, that function in a democratic manner. That is, they are accountable and transparent,
and involve citizens and the institutions of civil society in the decision-making process.
Democratic local governance looks beyond local government administration and service delivery
to institutions and structures that enable people to decide things and do things for themselves. It
emphasizes the presence of mechanisms for fair political competition, transparency, and
accountability, and government processes that are open to the public, responsible to the public, and
governed by the rule of law.
Democratic local governance is autonomous levels of local government, vested with authority and resources, that function in a democratic manner. That is, they are accountable and transparent, and involve citizens and the institutions of civil society in the decision-making process.
Decentralization of local government is a reform, which involves a separation of functions between central and local government, with the main goal of the responsibilities of decision-making closer to citizens. This approach makes the government-level shortest path of transformation in response to requests.
According to one definition: "Decentralization, or decentralizing governance, refers to the restructuring or reorganization of authority so that there is a system of co-responsibility between institutions of governance at the central, regional, and local levels according to the principle of subsidiarity, thus increasing.
Decentralization pertains to public sector institutional and organizational reforms and processes and the support thereof, whereas local governance pertains more to supporting the creation of an enabling environment where multi‐stakeholder processes ‐ including the public and private sector, as well as civil society.