Decentralization is Dead, Long Live Decentralization! Capital City Reform and Political Rights in Kampala, Uganda

Dados Bibliográficos

ID4879732
AutoresCharles D Gore (0000-0003-3886-5336, Department of Politics and Public Administration Ryerson University 350 Victoria Street Toronto ON M5B2K3 Canada), Christopher D Gore, Nansozi K Muwanga (Department of Political Science and Public Administration College of Humanities and Social Sciences Makerere University P.O. Box 7062 Kampala Uganda)
Ano2014
Volume38
Fascículo6
Páginas2201-2216
Data de publicação2014-11-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoInternational Journal of Urban and Regional Research (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0309-1317 • E-ISSN: 1468-2427
EditoraWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/1468-2427.12012
OpenAlexW1582160765
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas26
Referências citadas16

African cities are currently experiencing some of the highest population growth rates in the world. Accompanying this growth is constant and continuing pressure on national and local governments to develop political and institutional structures that respond to the multiple demands this demographic change provokes in relation to service delivery, economic development and social wellbeing. In response to these challenges, national governments are reviewing the political and administrative structures of their capital cities, sometimes recentralizing authority. This article examines the reforms to Kampala, capital city of Uganda. The article explains how the national government gradually created the legal conditions necessary to take over the capital city directly, and the political rhetoric and conflict that ensued. We argue that while Kampala had deep internal problems and fared poorly in service delivery, matters were exacerbated by the national government's historical indifference to the city. Moreover, past service delivery failures offered an easy rationale for recentralizing authority. We demonstrate that this recentralization was a well-planned effort by the central government to regain political control of the capital city. This article illustrates how the national government's recentralization of authority in Kampala is a significant departure from its longstanding policy of democratic decentralization

Decentralization · Democracy · Economic growth · Economics · Local government · Political capital · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Population · Social capital · Sociology · Law · Legal Issues in South Africa · Local Government Finance and Decentralization · Public Administration · Urban and Rural Development Challenges