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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Local Government, Democratization and State Reconstruction in Africa: Toward Integration of Lessons from Contrasting Eras
Author:Harbeson, John W.ISNI
Year:2001
Periodical:Public Administration and Development
Volume:21
Issue:2
Period:May
Pages:89-99
Language:English
Geographic terms:Subsaharan Africa
Africa
Subjects:democracy
popular participation
History and Exploration
Development and Technology
Economics and Trade
Politics and Government
External link:https://doi.org/10.1002/pad.160
Abstract:While the 1970s literature on grassroots participation and development may have understated the distinct roles and interests of national level governments in establishing the parameters for local participation, the democratization literature of the 1990s appears largely to have missed the point that divergent local and national interests undermine its tacit assumption of a seamless participatory process integrating both levels. The task is to 'solve' each of these 'unknowns' in ways that satisfy both 'equations': achievement of simultaneous but interdependent processes of local and national level democratization. To do so it is necessary to disaggregate, but then integrate, interdependent processes of State reconstruction and democratization. The parlous existence of the State in sub-Saharan Africa brings to the fore the importance of recognizing the interdependence of State formation, democracy and conflict management processes for the specification and empirical grounding of globally applicable theories. Bibliogr., sum.
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