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The Depoliticisation of Development and the Democratisation of Politics in Tanzania: Parallel Structures as Obstacles to Delivering Services to the Poor

Author: Siri Lange
Date: 2008
Size: 24 pages (289 KB)

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Summary

What is the impact of parallel governance structures on the delivery of services to the poor? This article from the Journal of Development Studies argues that the existence of parallel structures weakens state legitimacy and has directly contributed to the breakdown of development projects in Tanzania. User-committees and social funds should be integrated in local authority structures to avoid the fragmentation of participation and to enhance local democracy.

Local democracy and the involvement of local communities in the provision of social services are central issues in the local government reforms being implemented in many developing countries. These reforms are meant to enhance democratisation and to make citizens engage in the development of their local communities. Yet at the same time, institutions that run parallel to local authorities, such as social funds and various user-committees, are established by donors and other aid organisations to improve accountability and participation.

As a result, in Tanzania, development projects are still largely ‘outsourced’ to non-state actors such as NGOs and user committees. These non-political bodies function as a ‘quasi local government,’ crowding out the formal structures of governance. By consequence, the de jure powers accorded to local authorities through decentralisation schemes are contradicted by the de facto influence and resources channelled through parallel structures. This profound structural disjuncture reflects the emphasis placed on the administrative, legal, and fiscal aspects of governance by donors in recent years. Focusing instead on actual political processes reveals several important findings:

• Perceptions of local authority legitimacy are more positive than the donor community assumes
• Local authorities lack resources and tend to have little or no practical influence
• Disempowered local authorities lead to disengaged citizens who perceive little reason to participate, ultimately weakening the democratic process
• The existence of parallel structures also likely erodes people’s willingness to pay taxes to local authorities, further undermining the legitimacy of local taxation.

Empowering local communities does not entail foregoing the expertise that non-state actors can bring. Indeed, studies have shown that local communities are often guilty of exchanging long-term sustainability for short-term gain. The challenge is to achieve a balance in which representative and accountable democracy is underpinned by a positive working relationship with experts and bureaucrats. In order to enhance democratic structures and decentralisation, developing country governments and their development partners should:

• Reconsider the present administration of social funds and various user committees: integrating them into local authorities may avoid the fragmentation of participation and enhance local democracy
• Renegotiate aid packages that create depoliticised parallel structures
• Pay more attention to the problems of inefficiency and corruption in public administration at all levels – which is what created the need for parallel structures in the first place.

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Source: Lange, S., 2008, 'The Depoliticisation of Development and the Democratisation of Politics in Tanzania: Parallel Structures as Obstacles to Delivering Services to the Poor', Journal of Development Studies, Volume 44, Number 8, pp. 1122-1144
Author: Siri Lange , siri.lange[at]cmi.no