further states that decentralisation reforms could have diametrically opposed purposes according to whether they aim to reinforce vested `interest in existing patterns of patronage and central-local linkages, or involve challenges to local elites from groups using decentralized institutions to ‘draw down

on the education policies adopted and the way they are implemented. This review begins with the principal arguments in favour of and against devolving responsibility for the provision of education to local communities. An assessment of the Macedonian education system prior to decentralisation will

build national unity, while at the same time acknowledging language and cultural diversity on a non-territorial basis. 1 See for example B.C. Smith’s observation in his authoritative work on decentralisation: “it is clear from the discussion above that decentralization involves one or

Federal State’ in Kalypso Nicolaidis and Robert Howse (eds), The Federal Vision ( oup , 2002) 446. See also C Hankla, ‘When is Fiscal Decentralization Good for Governance?’ (2009) 39(4) Publius 632, 637 (‘If there is an overarching theme in the [decentralisation] literature, it is that the impact of

; Vandekerckhove, 2009 :546). Following the resignation of Suharto in May 1998, the reform era ( reformasi ) in Indonesia led to complex bargaining and the need to accommodate diverse interests. The policy of democratic decentralisation, for instance, has been designed to offset fragmentation and separatism by

-national governments to supervise migrant worker recruitment. This is an implication of the decentralisation process that has been ongoing in Indonesia since 2001 after the collapse of the authoritarian regime (Hadiz, 2004). Prior to decentralisation, the governance of international migrant workers was characterised

democratisation and decentralisation in the late 1980s and early 1990s, this often taken-for-granted distinction between local state and rebel structures does not stand up to empirical scrutiny. Instead, both provinces have witnessed the emergence of indistinct alliances and networks that connect local

inter-religious violence that had torn Moluccan society apart required neutral means to (re)unify the Moluccan people and prevent further conflict; and secondly, the decentralisation laws passed in post-Suharto Indonesia were meant to re-empower the local level by legalising the revival and

Introduction Decentralization has been perceived as a desirable approach for the realization of democracy and development and has become a predominant and an essential feature practiced in much of today’s societies particularly in the developing world. In the Ethiopian context, decentralized