Fragile states, decentralisation and the nature of barriers to citizen participation in local government: a view from Pakistan

Abstract

The purpose of decentralisation reforms is to narrow the gap between the public and government and increase public participation in decision-making. However, empirical evidence from developing countries suggests otherwise. A case in point is Pakistan, even though it has a well-structured local government system consisting of three levels of government, district, tehsil and union councils. Nevertheless, Pakistan’s nascent but fragile democracy and the non-democratic nature of decision-making at the state level prevent public participation and as a result do not remove but rather create obstacles to citizens’ involvement in service delivery. This paper therefore argues that citizen participation in Pakistan’s local government system faces more barriers which are imposed by the centralised state rather than removing hurdles to community participation. I demonstrate that having well-structured local governments is not enough for community engagement instead of a nation-state’s strong commitment to pro-community participation. The aim of this study is to identify and examine the barriers to public participation and how they prevent participation in the local government service delivery process, especially when non-democratic countries such as Pakistan introduce local government reforms. A qualitative study was carried out with a questionnaire containing seven open-ended qualitative questions. The thematically analysed results show that the military establishment introduced local government systems which have used local governments to suppress community autonomy and prevent community participation. As there is a patron/client relationship between the central government of Pakistan and the feudal lords and local elites, local elites have indulged in corruption and favouritism which hinder public participation at the grassroots level in the local governments in the province of Sindh, in Pakistan.

Unpacking decentralization failures in promoting popular participation in the Ketu South Municipality of Ghana

“…It emerged in the late 1980s as a mechanism for promoting the good governance agenda and development by western donors and agencies [ 37 ]. According to Ali [ 38 ], modern governance structures and architectures across the world are gaining recognition for pluralistic politics and broad based popular participation as ways of promoting inclusive governance agenda. Mawuko-Yevugah [ 39 ] argued that the emergence of the concept of “country ownership” under the new aid agenda meant a holistic participation of the citizenry in development planning and implementation.…”

“…Even though decentralization has been implemented for several decades across the continent, there has been minimal impact, particularly in Ghana [ 35 , 47 ]. Ali [ 38 ] and Danquah et al [ 48 ] support this claim by positing that, in top-down decentralization reforms, central governments pose the greatest threats of impediment to citizens’ participation in local development planning and implementation. They explained that the introduction of public sector reform strategies by central governments were to fulfil donor requirements but not to promote local development and improved service provision; this in effect creates a scenario of disincentive for the participation of citizens in local government administration.…”