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Local Governance Insyria Mapping in Local Governance inSyria Mapping Local Governance in Syria A Baseline Study VISION ESCWA, an innovative catalyst for a stable, just and fourishing Arab region MISSION Committed to the 2030 Agenda, ESCWA’s passionate team produces innovative knowledge, fosters regional consensus and delivers transformational policy advice. Together, we work for a sustainable future for all. E/ESCWA/CL3.SEP/2020/TP.4 Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia Mapping Local Governance in Syria A Baseline Study © 2020 United Nations All rights reserved worldwide Photocopies and reproductions of excerpts are allowed with proper credits. All queries on rights and licenses, including subsidiary rights, should be addressed to the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), e-mail: [email protected]. The findings, interpretations and conclusions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations or its officials or Member States. The designations employed and the presentation of material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the United Nations concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. Links contained in this publication are provided for the convenience of the reader and are correct at the time of issue. The United Nations takes no responsibility for the continued accuracy of that information or for the content of any external website. References have, wherever possible, been verified. Mention of commercial names and products does not imply the endorsement of the United Nations. References to dollars ($) are to United States dollars, unless otherwise stated. Symbols of United Nations documents are composed of capital letters combined with figures. Mention of such a symbol indicates a reference to a United Nations document. United Nations publication issued by ESCWA, United Nations House, Riad El Solh Square, P.O. Box: 11-8575, Beirut, Lebanon. Website: www.unescwa.org. Mapping Local Governance in Syria | A Baseline Study ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This report constitutes a joint effort by NAFS’s Governance Team. The lead authors are Mr. Haid Haid, ESCWA consultant who conducted the research and authored the case studies, and Dr. Asya El-Meehy, NAFS Governance Officer, who authored Sections I-III and the analysis in Section V. The authors are grateful for research assistance and contributions from Mr. Hussein Chokr, Ms. Sarah Jaroush, and Ms. May Achour. Valuable comments on the draft were received from Dr. Georges Fahmi, EUI, and Dr. John Mary Kauzya, DESA. The team acknowledges the ideas and suggestions developed by NAFS experts in the course of two rounds of consultation meetings in Beirut, which were instrumental in producing the report. Further, the team is grateful for contributions from the NAFS team, with special thanks to Ms. Samira Haidar and Mr. Abdulhalim Maarouf for their programmatic and administrative support. The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations Secretariat. 3 E XECUTIVE SUMMARY Inter-Syrian dialogue is increasingly converging on the establishment of a form of democratic decentralization as a cornerstone of the country’s future political order. The purpose of this report is to lay the groundwork for any future local governance assistance framework as part of stabilization programming following a political settlement based on United Nations Security Council resolution 2254. Despite the wealth of studies on the future shape of the Syrian State, the debate has remained largely removed from local governance dynamics on the ground. This study seeks to map the functional presence of local governments and the varieties of de facto decision-making arrangements in five sites across the country. The selected areas fall under the control of the Government, the autonomous administration in the north-east, the Turkish authorities along the border, and Hay’et Tahrir al Sham (HTS) in the north-west. As background to the mapping exercise, the report begins by analysing the officially prevailing local administration system in the country, including contradictions, gaps and challenges in the implementation of decentralization reforms enacted in the wake of the uprising, through Law 107. Our analysis shows that there are significant gaps across the various de jure local governance models, on the one hand, and de facto local power dynamics, on the other hand. These can be attributed to the weak institutional development of local authorities, which not only lack resources and technical capacities but also compete with powerful parallel hierarchies. Findings from this baseline mapping demonstrate significant divergence in organizational structures of local authorities, their autonomy, capacity to raise revenues, and prevailing centre-periphery relations. Nonetheless, they also highlight the following five shared local governance deficits: lack of democratic accountability, weak institutionalization of local council structures and restricted de facto powers, lack of technical capacities, community disengagement with ad hoc or sporadic horizontal decentralization initiatives, and uneven decentralization on the administrative, fiscal and political fronts. 4 Mapping Local Governance in Syria | A Baseline Study H IGHLIGHTS | KEY MESSAGES • “While decentralization may carry important implications for State-society relations, the nature of these effects are contingent on not just the actual design of reforms and the relative capability of actors to take advantage of reforms, but also pre-existing power structures that shape the process.” • “The number of administrative units in the country has nearly doubled with the passing of a decree in 2011; 26 new cities, 242 new towns and 428 new townships were created.” • “Consecutive local elections reveal a relatively modest ratio of candidates of just above 40,000 contesting the elections for the total of 18,478 seats in 2018 and 43,000 competing for 17,629 seats in 2011.” • “Article 33 of Law 107 empowers a governorate council to undertake all decisions and measures necessary to exercise the competencies of the Ministry or administration or central institution whose competencies have been transferred to the Local Authority in accordance with the National Decentralization plan.” • “Local councils are politically weak structures even though, in certain contexts, they are formally in charge of administering public services.” • “The lack of responsiveness to concerns regarding access or quality of services such as water, electricity, roads, relief, and education, often due to shortages in resources and expertise, have undermined residents’ willingness to participate.” • “Reliance on the influence of local tribesmen hinders collective mobilization around larger community needs or deficits in local governance, such as composition of the council, and equal distribution of jobs and services.” • “In many cases, dominant political actors and armed groups select local council members top-down, in consultation with community leaders and representatives from notable families.” • “Local governance structures lack the necessary technical capacities. Massive displacement and losses in human capital in the course of the conflict significantly undermined the ability of local institutions to perform their normal functions.” • “Powers have been decentralized unevenly. Formal attempts are being made to establish or activate local councils as spaces for political representation at the subnational level, although these entities lack important democratic credentials.” • “Local governance institutions need to be socially embedded through horizontal decentralization and social accountability reforms, such as open and competitive procurement, performance budgeting, participatory planning and budgeting, civil society performance monitoring, social audits, and others.” • “Lifting legal, bureaucratic and security restrictions on civil society operations and NGOs is an essential step towards activating social accountability mechanisms, as is the strengthening of capacities of local-level civil society organizations and civic-based NGOs.” 5 Mapping Local Governance in Syria | A Baseline Study TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements .......................................................................................................................................3 Executive summary ........................................................................................................................4 Highlights | key messages ..............................................................................................................5 Abbreviations and acronyms ..........................................................................................................9 Introduction ....................................................................................................................................11 I. DEBATING DECENTRALIZATION: THEORY, POLICY, AND PRACTICE ........................................14 II. VARIETIES OF DECENTRALIZATION ...............................................................................................18 III. THE LOCAL ADMINISTRATION SYSTEM: AN ANALYSIS ............................................................20 IV. MAPPING LOCAL GOVERNANCE ....................................................................................................24
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