Political Elites and Decentralization Reforms in the Post-Socialist Balkans: Regional Patronage Networks in Serbia and Croatia (New Perspectives on South-East Europe)

Across the globe, more powers are being devolved to local and regional levels of government. This book provides an innovative analysis of such decentralisation in transition states in the Balkans. Using new and rich data, it shows how political elites use decentralisation strategically to ensure their access to state resources. Existing explanations of why political elites agree to devolve powers to lower levels of government do not pay sufficient attention to the uncertain implications such reforms have on the distribution of critical resources. How national and regional political elites deal with this uncertainty and its associated distributional consequences greatly influences the direction decentralization reforms take. In order to understand varying outcomes of decentralization reforms in transition states, this book develops a resource-dependent approach adapted from organization studies; it acknowledges the power-seeking nature of political elites. They are more likely to strike an agreement on decentralization reforms when their share of future patronage resources is certain. This book's analysis makes a strong argument for a more cautious donor policy that often rather ingeniously supports decentralization Front Matter....Pages i-xvi Centre-Periphery Relations in the Balkans....Pages 1-35 A Framework for Studying Elite Access to Resources....Pages 36-59 The Role of Institutional Legacies from Yugoslav Decentralization....Pages 60-82 Access to Electoral Resources....Pages 83-101 Information Exchange and Cooperation....Pages 102-120 Access to Patronage Resources....Pages 121-151 Conclusions....Pages 152-175 Back Matter....Pages 176-231