Manor Bellagio Paper.doc

This research paper by James Manor, presented at a World Resources Institute conference in 2002, examines the relationship between democratic decentralization and social equity. The author analyzes whether shifting power to local levels reduces poverty and identifies specific political and social conditions under which marginalized groups are most likely to benefit from such systems.

• Democratic decentralization is generally more effective at reducing poverty caused by inequalities between different regions or localities than it is at reducing poverty caused by inequalities within a specific locality. While it can reduce urban bias and provide better representation for remote areas, it may actually worsen intra-local inequality if local elites hold stronger prejudices against marginalized groups than national elites do.
• The author identifies seven specific conditions that can enable poor and marginalized groups to gain significantly from democratic decentralization: a pro-poor ruling party; political competition for poor voters; elite perceptions that favor poverty reduction; strong pro-poor coalitions in civil society; exclusive or predominant influence of poor people in decentralized bodies; the necessity for leaders to form alliances with representatives of excluded groups; or a population where the vast majority are poor.
• In the forestry sector of Commonwealth countries, the transition to participatory management is particularly difficult because forestry bureaucrats have historically functioned as 'gamekeepers' focused on policing and arrests rather than service delivery.
• In Madhya Pradesh, India, concerns that elected chairpersons of decentralized councils were acquiring too much power and practicing cronyism led the government in January 2001 to shift from representative democracy to direct democracy at the village level, transferring powers to mass meetings of all adults.
• The coexistence of multi-purpose decentralized councils and single-purpose 'user committees' (often focused on environmental issues) can create logistical chaos and financial imbalances, where multi-purpose councils have unfunded mandates while user committees are excessively funded.
• Even when decentralization does not specifically increase equity, it can still provide significant benefits to poor groups if the previous system was highly over-centralized and unresponsive, as seen in some urban centers in Mozambique.

APA

World Resources Institute (n.d.). Manor Bellagio Paper.doc. http://wriorg.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/pdf/eaa_decent_manor.pdf

Chicago

World Resources Institute. Manor Bellagio Paper.doc. n.d. http://wriorg.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/pdf/eaa_decent_manor.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Resources Institute |title=Manor Bellagio Paper.doc |url=http://wriorg.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/pdf/eaa_decent_manor.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldresourcesinstitutendmanor, author = {{World Resources Institute}}, title = {{Manor Bellagio Paper.doc}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, url = {http://wriorg.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/pdf/eaa_decent_manor.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }