The present report commences by presenting a study carried out by FAO on the risks associated with processes of decentralization. 

Earlier attempts to decentralize power and authority to local institutions through various means are testimony to the fact that the problem of overcentralization, while long-recognized, has continued to persist throughout the years. However, the emergent thinking is that while central [...]

The progress of democracy in most African and Latin-American countries, transition processes in central and eastern Europe, and the widespread introduction of macro-economic stabilization and structural adjustment in all these countries have brought about a large-scale withdrawal of the State. This [...]

El proceso de municipalización en América Latina comenzó a mediados de los años ochenta e inicios de los noventa, y se ha venido desarrollando en un contexto de recuperación y de estabilización macroeconómica, de avances considerables en la democratización con [...]

Most approaches to poverty alleviation focus on income and subsidy measures; however, there is a growing realization that these measures alone are not sufficient. The growing amount of literature on the important role that "social capital" and institutions play in [...]