Doctoral Dissertation Research in Political Science: Deconcentration in Kenya Since the Beginning of Multi-Party Democracy

政治学博士论文研究：多党民主开始以来肯尼亚的权力下放

• 批准号: 1226777
• 负责人: Robert Bates
• 金额: $ 1.31万
• 依托单位: Harvard University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2012-08-15 至 2013-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1226777&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Political; Science

Nearly one-third of countries in Sub-Saharan Africa have restructured their governments and increased the number of administrative units in the past two decades. When unaccompanied by changes in the distribution of power, this process is known as deconcentration, and is defined as the spatial decomposition of the state apparatus, and the multiplication of administrative units at lower tiers of government. To understand these recent changes, this project proposes an in-depth study of the Kenyan state. Within Kenya, the beginning of deconcentration in 1992 coincided with the country's first multi-party elections since the independence era. The sudden and massive multiplication of administrative units in Kenya during this time period did not follow historical trends, levels of development, or stated administrative concerns such as security issues or population growth. Moreover, it did not begin as a concerted effort to extend authority. In understanding this increase in the state apparatus, the driving intuition for this project is that the power to shape the structure and size of this body often lies unchecked under a country's executive. In this new electoral environment, Kenyan presidents have overseen unit creation and shaped the state in response to their electoral needs. This project traces when and where new administrative units were created to empirically test several hypotheses. This project amasses and aggregates bi-annual administrative officer returns, which contain the names of administrative areas, as well as redistricting maps since 1990. Collected at this frequency, these data allow for the delineation of any changes in the country's internal units, and will be used to understand the dynamics that affect when and where a state extends its authority.The intellectual merit of this project lies in its promise to advance the literature of state building. Most work in this sub-field examines the development and effect of post-independence era institutions. This work focuses on recent reorganizations to understand how state building progresses as a response to changes in the institutional environment.This project will make several broader contributions. This work will be of use to journalists, policy makers, and civil society organizations. Additionally, a better understanding of the logic of state structure promises to contribute to the ongoing debates within policy and international organization circles regarding decentralization and devolution of power.

撒哈拉以南非洲近三分之一的国家在过去二十年中进行了重组，并增加了行政部门的数量。当无人陪伴下，权力分配变化时，该过程被称为解浓度，并将其定义为国家机构的空间分解，以及在政府较低层的行政单位的乘法。为了了解这些最近的变化，该项目提出了对肯尼亚国家的深入研究。在肯尼亚，1992年解浓度的开始与该国自独立时代以来首次多方选举相吻合。在此期间，肯尼亚行政部门的突然而大规模的乘法并未遵循历史趋势，发展水平或既定的行政问题，例如安全问题或人口增长。此外，它并没有以一致的努力开始扩大权威。在理解国家机构的这种增长时，该项目的驱动直觉是，塑造该机构的结构和大小的能力通常在一个国家的高管下不受组织。在这个新的选举环境中，肯尼亚总统监督了单位的创造，并根据其选举需求塑造了国家。该项目在创建新的行政部门的何时何地追溯了以经验检验几个假设的何时何地。该项目积累并汇总了两年一次的行政官员回报，其中包含行政领域的名称，以及自1990年以来的重新划分地图。在此频率下收集，这些数据允许划定该国内部单位的任何变化，并将被用来用于了解何时及其权威的动态范围扩大其知识效果的动态。该项目的良好效果均未实现该项目的效果。该子场中的大多数工作都检查了独立后时代机构的发展和影响。这项工作着重于最新的重组，以了解国家建设如何作为对机构环境变化的响应的反应。该项目将做出更广泛的贡献。这项工作将用于记者，政策制定者和民间社会组织。此外，对国家结构逻辑的更好理解有望为政策和国际组织中关于权力权力下放和权力下放的循环的持续辩论做出贡献。