Decentralization and Governance Capacity: The Case of Turkey.

• Author: Akgul, Cigdem Gorgun

Decentralization and Governance Capacity: The Case of Turkey

By Evrim Tan

Palgrave Macmillan, 2019, 286 pages, $76.82, ISBN: 9783030020460

Under what circumstances would decentralization lead to better governance? This is the question Evrim Tan addresses in Decentralization and Governance Capacity: The Case of Turkey. Tan analyzes the relationship between capacity and decentralization in Turkiye using surveys and official data collected from 65 provincial municipalities, finding that socio-economic conditions are more determinant on the outcomes of decentralization than local capacity. Using an analytical method based on regression, Tan indicates that the relationship between decentralization and governance should be dealt with not only at the institutional level but also at the socio-economic level. Thus, he presents a new approach toward practices of capacity building and decentralization reforms. To achieve better governance outcomes, the author suggests asymmetrical decentralization based on socio-economic development at the sub-national level.

The book consists of an introduction, conclusion and four main chapters. In the introduction, Tan draws attention to the ambiguous relationship between capacity and decentralization and provides an overview of the two major views in the literature regarding the subject. The first chapter asserts that the existence of certain governance capacities is a precondition for decentralization to reach a successful outcome, whereas the second posits that the success of decentralization leads to high governance capacities (pp. 2-4). Tan approaches this dilemma as a "chicken and egg situation." He emphasizes the difficulty of refuting either argument since capacity and decentralization could emerge simultaneously. He opposes the generally accepted tenet in the literature of public administration that decentralization leads to more successful governance. Instead, based on the outcomes obtained from the examples of developing countries, Tan argues that decentralization succeeds only if certain conditions are met (pp. 11-12).

The second chapter presents the theoretical and conceptual dimensions of local governance, decentralization and capacity. The main goal of the chapter is to tease out the intersections of the governance, decentralization and capacity literatures and review decentralization and capacity from the perspective of public governance. Tan defines public governance as a model wherein local...