Transformation from Below in Bangladesh: Decentralization, local governance, and systemic change*
Transformation from Below in Bangladesh: Decentralization, local governance, and systemic change*
复制标题
孟加拉国自下而上的转型：权力下放、地方治理和系统性变革*
作者：
J. Faguet
摘要我通过孟加拉国的地方动态的透镜来考察权力下放。我认为，国家权力下放的影响主要是其地方层面的影响的总和。因此，要理解分权，我们必须首先了解地方政府是如何运作的。这意味着不仅要分析权力下放，而且要自下而上分析民主。我提出了一个地方政府反应能力的模型，作为政治开放和实质性竞争的产物。而政治的性质则是当地公司/利益集团的游说和政治参与以及民间社会的组织密度和能力的共同产物。然后，我使用孟加拉国的定性数据来测试这些想法。有证据表明，民间组织与非政府组织和地方政府合作，从基层开始，不仅对公共预算和产出，而且对作为社会发展基础的基本行为和思想，都产生了变革。总的来说，这些影响是强大的。关键发展指标显示，其结果是孟加拉国在1990年至2015年期间超越了富裕得多的印度。
Abstract I examine decentralization through the lens of the local dynamics it unleashed in Bangladesh. I argue that the national effects of decentralization are largely the sum of its local-level effects. Hence, to understand decentralization, we must first understand how local government works. This implies analysing not only decentralization, but also democracy, from the bottom up. I present a model of local government responsiveness as the product of political openness and substantive competition. The quality of politics, in turn, emerges endogenously as a joint product of the lobbying and political engagement of local firms/interests, and the organizational density and ability of civil society. I then test these ideas using qualitative data from Bangladesh. The evidence shows that civic organizations worked with non-governmental organizations and local governments to effect transformative change from the grass roots upwards—not just to public budgets and outputs, but to the underlying behaviours and ideas that underpin social development. In the aggregate, these effects were powerful. The result, key development indicators show, is Bangladesh leap-frogging past much wealthier India between 1990 and 2015.