Institutional complexity and unanticipated consequences
The failure of decentralization in South Africa
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6253373 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Thomas A Koelble (0000-0002-6918-873X, University of Cape Town), Andrew Siddle (University of Cape Town) |
| Year | 2014 |
| Volume | 21 |
| Issue | 6 |
| Pages | 1117-1133 |
| Publication date | 2014-09-19 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Democratization (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1351-0347 • E-ISSN: 1743-890X |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/13510347.2013.784270 |
| OpenAlex | W2002722079 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 8 |
| References cited | 9 |
The following article holds that the experiment with local government decentralization in South Africa has failed. We argue that South Africa's local government is overburdened with constitutional and legal requirements that it is not equipped to meet. Local government, in general, lacks the technical and administrative capacity to provide the services it is required to supply. Based on a sample of 37 municipalities, we argue that the system of decentralization is far too complex for under-capacitated municipalities to handle. As a result, large-scale non-performance both in terms of service delivery as well as a democratic deficit characterizes local government. These failures contributed to the emergence of widespread "service delivery" protests throughout the country
Business · Central government · Decentralization · Democracy · Economics · Economy · Federalism · Geography · Government (linguistics · Local government · Political science · Politics · Sample (material · Scale (ratio · Service (business · Service delivery framework · Corruption and Economic Development · Law · Local Government Finance and Decentralization · Public Administration · Public Policy and Administration Research
Challenges of quality improvement in the healthcare of South Africa post-apartheid
‘A tale of two paradoxes in response to Covid-19’
Opposition parties and the decentralisation process in South Africa and Zambia
(D)evolving smartness
Remaking Political Institutions
Decentralization, Executive Selection, and Citizen Views on the Quality of Local Governance in African Countries
Failure or success? Regime fragmentation in the context of decentralization reform in Ukraine
What Drives Citizen Participation in Political Gatherings in Modern South Africa? A Quantitative Analysis of Self-Reported Behaviour
| Unique citing works | 8 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,73 |
| Citation span | 2015 - 2025 (11) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 8 |