A Critical Survey of Subnational Autonomy in African States

This article examines the quiet yet pervasive transfer of powerfrom central governments to subnational units in Africa sincethe early 1990s. Central governments have justified this trendby arguing it promotes one or more of three goods: democracy,development, and accommodating diversity. The authors surveysix selected countries representing federal-unitary and regionaldifferences to evaluate their degree of formal and substantivepolitical, administrative, and financial autonomy. Transferof powers to subnational units, the authors conclude, is a realand nearly universal trend. However, many central governmentshave clawed back this grant of power in numerous ways, whichled to an informal recentralization of power. Moreover, centralgovernments of federations have deliberately strengthened localgovernment at the expense of regional autonomy.