India Archives – Decentralization Net

Do local gender quotas improve the electability of women at higher tiers?

September 23, 2025 LPS Alliance

One of the central promises of decentralization is that it can create political space for those historically excluded from power. In theory, local governance is the arena where marginalized voices—whether of caste, ethnicity, or gender—can […]

Effective multilevel governance and citizen engagement: billions of (dollar) reasons to care

August 18, 2025 LPS Alliance

With global development institutions in retreat, it is becoming more and more obvious that the public sector is unambiguously the primary enabler of ‘global’ development—capable of propelling development forward by embracing inclusive and effective multilevel […]

How does intergovernmental coordination strengthen local governance?

December 4, 2024 Marina Jandrevska

The crux of decentralization is that a multilevel public sector can produce better (more responsive and efficient) outcomes compared to a centralized public sector. An underlying–often unstated– assumption is that intergovernmental coordination mechanisms are in […]

Decentralization in School Management and Student Achievement: Evidence from India

November 24, 2023 LPS Alliance

A recent paper published in the Journal of Development Studies examines the link between decentralization in school management and student achievement levels in secondary schools in India. The study employs observational data from two school […]

The Forum of Federations Handbook of Fiscal Federalism

August 20, 2023 Marina Jandrevska

Fiscal federalism is a critical area of study as it underpins almost all other facets of subnational governance. The overriding issue in fiscal federalism is referred to as the assignment problem, that is, the assignment […]

Climate Governance and Federalism

May 28, 2023 LPS Alliance

Climate change poses one of the greatest challenges of our time, demanding urgent action and global cooperation. As nations grapple with the complexities of climate governance, the role of federal systems becomes a topic of […]

Does India love its local governments?

April 27, 2023 LPS Alliance

This year is the 30th anniversary of the passing of the 73rd and 74th Amendments. Indian governance was always overcentralized. But it is a sign of the times that even the modest steps these amendments […]

Local Government and the Changing Urban-Rural Interplay

March 29, 2023 LPS Alliance

What is the impact of increasing population movements from the countryside to cities and towns on the provision of local public services? How can urban and rural local governments cope? How do they finance these […]

Sharing urban finance data and rankings as a governance tool for India’s cities

March 15, 2023 LPSAManager

India’s economy is among the fastest growing major economies in the world. It is the world’s fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP and the third largest by purchasing power parity (PPP). Over 400 million citizens already […]

Options for a Reform of the Mexican Intergovernmental Transfer System

October 4, 2022 LPSAManager

A recent study by Teresa Ter-Minassian and Andrés Muñoz Miranda published by the Inter-American Development Bank aims at providing an overview of international experiences with the design and reform of intergovernmental transfers, especially in large […]