LPS Initiative, Author at Decentralization Net

Density and the Cost of Municipal Public Services in Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, and Mexico

March 21, 2016 LPS Initiative

Dense cities are a rational choice for the increasingly urban world, where concerns about environmental sustainability and urban sprawl are paramount (UN-Habitat, 2012). Among their many advantages, dense cities help preserve fertile rural lands, decrease […]

Namibia: Regional Councils to Take On Greater Responsibility in Education Budget

March 16, 2016 LPS Initiative

Regional councils and local authorities are now mandated with the responsibility to budget and plan for the delivery of public services in their respective areas, specifically dealing with capital projects such as revamping and construction […]

Syria Civil War: Key Powers ‘Consider Federal Division’

March 11, 2016 LPS Initiative

The United Nations envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura, has said that the possibility of federalism for the war-ravaged country has not been taken off the table for the upcoming peace talks in Geneva. The […]

Challenges to Implementing Development Plans at Local-level Government in Papua New Guinea

March 8, 2016 LPS Initiative

The 1995 local-level government reforms undertaken in Papua New Guinea (PNG) were largely in response to increasing concern that the public service was failing in its responsibility towards the people. As a result, the 1995 […]

Jordan: House Passes Elections Bill with Minor Changes

March 4, 2016 LPS Initiative

The Lower House on Tuesday passed the draft 2015 parliamentary elections law with minor changes following six marathon sessions that began Sunday (21/2). With the endorsement of the bill, all political reform-oriented laws are now […]

Local Economic Governance in Myanmar

March 1, 2016 LPS Initiative

Reforming economic governance at the local level is essential if the benefits of Myanmar’s transition are to reach the majority of the country’s people. Already, some state/region governments have begun experimenting with policy changes in […]

Decentralisation and Rural Development in Timor-Leste

February 26, 2016 LPS Initiative

Timor-Leste’s new Prime Minister, Rui Araujo, has inherited a policy of decentralising the nation’s governance. Given capacity issues, this process is unlikely to bring broader-based rural development to Timor-Leste in the short term. But, if […]

Elections Rwanda Style

February 23, 2016 LPS Initiative

For entire month of February, Rwandans will continue with the process of voting their grassroots leaders. Voting officially began on Monday (February 22, 2016). This normally happens after every five years in all the 36,000 […]

Corruption Perceptions versus Corruption Incidence: Competition for Rents Across Russian Regions

February 19, 2016 LPS Initiative

This paper examines the effects of competition for favors on the prevalence and perceptions of corruption across Russian regions. Perceptions of corruption might differ from incidence because they are not necessarily based on personal experience. […]

Sharing the Wealth: A Roadmap for Distributing Myanmar’s Natural Resource Revenues

February 16, 2016 LPS Initiative

Myanmar’s Union government collects much of the trillions of Kyat generated by oil, gas, gemstones and other minerals each year, primarily through its state-owned economic enterprises (SEEs). In the face of such centralized control over revenue, […]