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Decentralisation and Local Governance in Developing Countries: A Comparative Perspective

Decentralisation, an important element of participatory democracy was a widely engaged issue of academic research and political discourse over the past two decades, particularly in the developing countries. There is an increasing trend of devolution pertaining to political, economic and administrative power to local governments with substantial reduction in the authority of national governments over economic policy. This along with privatisation and deregulation emerged as leading themes of study, discussions and policy discourse. While some research studies of the decentralisation process and reforms in particular contexts have appeared recently, a comparative perspective on this institutional transformation in the context of developing countries were limited. At this juncture, the book, Decentralisation and Local Governance in Developing Countries: A Comparative Perspective by Bardhan and Mukherjee is really interesting, thought-provoking and an important contribution.