| Involvement in Public Administration: |
Decentralization - as a way of structuring public administration, in order to give local people and communities more control over their own affairs and to promote human development - is being closely considered for adoption by some Arab Spring countries. Historically, there is no left- or right-wing political outlook that is more inclined toward decentralizing power to sub-national levels. Right-leaning political philosophers seek decentralization because of its efficiency and ability to promote self-management. Left-leaning protagonists appreciate its propensity to create conditions for an increase in shared benefits and to dismantle systemic causes of poverty locality by locality, in time leading towards overall societal reform. Both political outlooks share a scepticism of centralized planning and in fact view it as a primary cause of social problems. The Kingdom of Morocco was perhaps the earliest champion of decentralization in the Middle East and North Africa starting from 2008. The primary inspiration to adopt this structure for the nation is derived from its desire to promote human development hand in hand with greater autonomy for its regions. This early commitment to decentralization for development is a key factor in explaining Morocco’s relative political and social stability during the Arab Spring. However, the level of effectiveness of its implementation may very well decide the nation’s future in a region of sweeping, transformative and unpredictable change. Morocco now must further codify into law and implement more effectively the laws and policies it has already established in order to achieve the participatory democratic and development future it seeks. Morocco’s decentralization model rallies central level support and sub-national public and private partnerships toward achieving community-driven human development. The nation’s municipal charter, which requires locally-elected council members to create development plans based on the participation of the people, with budgetary project support from the provincial and national levels, is an excellent decentralized pathway to human development. However, its implementation is painfully lacking, as witnessed by an example of the municipal development plans with differing needs being submitted without variation from across a whole province, or meeting council members filled with the best of intentions, yet without any of the know-how and skills required for facilitating participatory planning and creating development action plans with the people. Decentralizing to the municipal level, which is the closest administrative tier to the communities themselves, is efficacious but must be accompanied by community-based training in facilitating participatory democratic planning. In Iraq, considering the sectarian war that now ensues, it appears that the optimal time to have adopted a federalist system may well have passed. Federalism is a decentralized management system that empowers provinces to determine major parts of their fate. With the threat of instability, governments are now reluctant to disperse power; however it is that same dispersion which, counter-intuitively, will enable their own survival. Can political leaders trust in the fact that an empowered people that are supported to meet their own self-determined needs will not turn and undermine the nation that has brought them this vital opportunity? Arab Spring nations ought to feel far more concerned about the delay rather than the implementation of such measures. |
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