Assessing the impact of decentralization on governance: A comparative methodological approach and application to Tunisia

The relationship between decentralization and governance has not been adequately explored in the literature. Many past studies have failed to assess fully the impact of decentralization because of the lack of a set of independent, comparative indicators of the quality of decentralization being implemented in a given country. The authors adopt the working hypothesis that decentralization, both as a process and as an end state in terms of organization and operations, is closely related to the quality of governance in developing countries. In order to provide an empirical basis for a comparative assessment, the authors have developed a model based on the scope, intensity and commitment to decentralization in a country. Each of these concepts is operationalized in terms of a set of empirically measurable variables. The method is then applied to the case of Tunisia and assessed as a tool for the comparative study of decentralization and governance. Decentralization in Tunisia is shown to have an important relationship to the quality of governance in that country. The methodology developed here for the analysis of the quality of decentralization appears, based on the examination of a significant case, to be worth pursuing cross-nationally.     

Troubled Waters: The Unifying Influence of Conservation and Public Health on the Access Provisions of the Marine and Coastal Access Act

The Marine and Coastal Access Act, amongst its other aims, is intended to ‘build on existing access legislation to create a route around the coast of England’ (Foreword to the Draft Marine Bill, HMSO 2008). As such the Act can be seen as a continuation of the access objectives of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act, and possibly as a vindication of the success of the original Act. The broad objectives of access, land management and conservation are present in both pieces of legislation, though it remains to be seen whether the access provisions of the Marine Act will enjoy the same level of funding as those of the CROW Act. This paper investigates the origins of the Marine Act, and in particular the power and influence of tourism, nostalgia and environmentalism on the emergence of this legislation.