WRI REPORT World Resources Institute WRI REPORT WAITING FOR DEMOCRACY WAITING JESSE C. RIBOT The Politics of Choice in Natural Resource Decentralization World Resources Institute 10 G Street, NE Suite 800 Washington, DC 20002 www.wri.org WAITING FOR DEMOCRACY The Politics of Choice in Natural Resource Decentralization WAITING FOR DEMOCRACY THE POLITICS OF CHOICE IN NATURAL RESOURCE DECENTRALIZATION JESSE C. RIBOT World Resources Institute WASHINGTON, DC MARTHA SCHULTZ AND EMILY YAGHMOUR EDITORS HYACINTH BILLINGS PUBLICATIONS DIRECTOR MAGGIE POWELL LAYOUT MOR GUEYE COVER ART Each World Resources Institute report represents a timely, scholarly treatment solicits and responds to the guidance of advisory panels and expert reviewers. of a subject of public concern. WRI takes responsibility for choosing the study Unless otherwise stated, however, all the interpretation and findings set forth topics and guaranteeing its authors and researchers freedom of inquiry. It also in WRI publications are those of the authors. Copyright © 2004 World Resources Institute. All rights reserved. The cover image was designed by the author and painted by the Senegalese reverse glass-painting artist Mor Gueye. As a government officer organizes a ISBN 1-56973-564-6 “participatory” meeting, a child is conjugating on the wall “I participate, you Printed in the United States of America. Text stock has a recycled content of participate, he/she participates, we participate, you (plural) participate, they 30%; cover stock has a recycled content of 10%. profit.” This graffiti was first brought to my attention by Lisa Peattie (personal communication April 2004), who saw this writing on a wall in Paris in 1968. The graffiti was written following President Charles De Gaulle’s May 1968 speech in which he spoke of the need for more “participation” and proposed a referendum on the topic (Rohan 1988; Atelier Populaire 1969; Gunn and Iain 1998 at www.marxist.com/1968/may68.html). Figure 3 © The New Yorker Collection 2001 Charles Barsotti from cartoonbank.com. All Rights Reserved. WRI: WAITING FOR DEMOCRACY ii CONTENTS Acronyms ...................................................... vii Section 2: Local Accountability— Institutional Choices in Practice ................. 25 Acknowledgments ....................................... viii Elected Local Government ................................... 26 Local Administrative Bodies: Deconcentration .... 30 Executive Summary........................................ 1 Customary Authority ............................................. 31 Main Findings ........................................................ 2 NGOs and Community Groups ........................... 34 Recommendations .................................................. 4 Crosscutting Institutional Issues .......................... 36 Implementation ..................................................... 6 Single-purpose vs. multi-purpose bodies ................. 36 Privileging marginal and poor groups .................... 38 Introduction—Democracy and Elite capture and patronage ................................... 41 Natural Resources ......................................... 7 Role of a strong central state ................................... 43 What Is Decentralization and Why Decentralize? .... 8 Accountability of the central state and Democracy and Natural Resources: Mutual donors to local government .................................. 43 Reinforcement, Sustainability, and Scaling Up . 12 Institutional Choice—Asking the Fettered Reforms .................................................. 14 Right Questions ................................................. 45 Measuring Decentralization: Cases, Methods, Limitations .......................................... 15 Section 3. Responsiveness of Local Organization of the Report ................................... 16 Institutions—Power and Capacity ............. 47 Power Matters ....................................................... 47 Section 1: Theoretical Foundation Power transfers in practice ..................................... 47 of Decentralization’s Potential Privatization is not decentralization ...................... 51 Environmental Benefits ............................... 17 Geographic scale ..................................................... 52 Democratic Decentralization and Interjurisdictional equity ........................................ 52 Representation: A Policy Process ...................... 17 Security: The “means of transfer” problem .............. 53 Accountability and Principles of Institutional Choice .. 18 Setting the boundaries on local power: Powers: Discretion and Subsidiarity ..................... 21 Planning versus standards .................................. 54 Mediating Factors: Decentralization Local control over outside industries ....................... 59 is No Panacea ..................................................... 23 The Capacity Conundrum .................................... 59 Power Choices—Asking the Right Questions ...... 65 WRI: WAITING FOR DEMOCRACY iii Section 4: Lessons Learned ........................ 67 Boxes Accountability and Institutional Choice ...............67 1. Defining Decentralization and Related Terms ............ 9 Interinstitutional accountability, plurality, 2. The Logic behind Decentralization’s Promises ............12 and coexistence—Choose democracy .................. 68 3. Measuring Decentralization’s Outcomes ............ 16 Institutional choice for scaling up 4. Sustained Forest Management in India through and sustaining representation ............................ 70 the Transfer of “Means of Regulation” ....................... 22 Institutional choice and citizenship ...................... 70 5. Trees Saved by Local Elections in Uganda .................. 26 Subsidiarity: Choosing Powers, 6. Elected Councillors in Senegal Give Away Sequencing Transfers ........................................70 Forests against the Will of Local People ...................... 28 Subsidiarity principles ........................................... 70 7. Elected Authorities Lose Legitimacy Sequencing points ................................................... 71 When They Can’t Deliver .......................................... 30 Beyond Actors, Powers, and Accountability: 8. King vs. Council in Uganda— Other Factors Affecting Outcomes .................... 72 Who Better Manages the Forests? ............................. 32 (En)countering Resistance to Democratic 9. Manufacturing Success .............................................37 Decentralization: Seizing Opportunities ........... 74 10. Elite Participation with Committee Proliferation ......... 38 Resistance to the transfer of powers........................ 74 11. Timber Concessions vs. Local Management Institutional choices as a form of resistance............ 75 and Matters of Scale .................................................. 40 Resistance by local actors ....................................... 76 12. The Loss of Local Jurisdiction Countering resistance ............................................ 76 in Uganda’s Masindi District ..................................... 50 13. Overly Complex Management Planning ..................... 55 Section 5: Recommendations ..................... 79 14. Greater Local Equity and Revenues, Fewer Outside Loggers in Bolivia .............................. 58 Establish the Institutional Infrastructure of Democratic Decentralization .........................79 15. Capacity as an Excuse for Retaining Central Power in Nicaragua ...................................... 60 Decentralize the Management of Natural Resources ........................................................... 82 16. Double Standards or Minimum Standards in Senegal ................................................ 63 Counter Resistance and Seize Opportunity .......... 82 17. Perverse Incentives in Uganda .................................. 64 Further Research .................................................. 83 18. Decentralizing Over-exploitation in Indonesia—Get It While It Lasts ............................73 Annex A: WRI Research on 19. Proposed Environmental Subsidiarity Principles ........ 81 Decentralization and the Environment ...... 85 Annex B: Case Study Descriptions ............. 87 Figures Country Case Studies............................................ 87 1. Formal Definitions: Decentralization, Not Decentralization ................................................. 10 Crosscutting Cases .............................................. 107 2. Accountability Defines Effective Decentralization ....... 19 Annex C: Accountability Mechanisms ......109 3. The Silent Majority ................................................... 39 4. Accountability Relations Mediated Works Cited ................................................. 115 by Local Government ............................................... 69 Endnotes ...................................................... 133 WRI: WAITING FOR DEMOCRACY iv This report is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Nyangabyaki Bazaara, who directed the Centre for Basic Research in Kampala, Uganda. Dr. Bazaara was an intellectual pillar of WRI’s decentralization research program. Reading this report you will see reflections of his insights and spirit throughout. He died in Kampala in August 2003 at the age of 42. WRI: WAITING FOR DEMOCRACY v WRI: WAITING FOR DEMOCRACY vi ACRONYMS CBNRM Community-based natural resource NRM Natural resource management management NWP Nature, Wealth, and Power