Devolution, Accountability, and Service Delivery : Some Insights from Pakistan

Hasnain, Zahid

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: BALLOT BOX;    BASIC EDUCATION;    BASIC SERVICES;    BETTER SERVICE DELIVERY;    BLOCK GRANTS;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-4610
RP-ID  :  WPS4610

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

This paper studies the relationshipbetween devolution, accountability, and service delivery inPakistan. It examines the degree of accessibility of localpolicy-makers and the level of competition in localelections, the expenditure patterns of local governments togauge their sector priorities, and the extent to which localgovernments are focused on patronage or the provision oftargeted benefits to a few as opposed to providing publicgoods. The main findings of the paper are three-fold. First,the accessibility of policy-makers to citizens in Pakistanis unequivocally greater after devolution, and localgovernment elections are, with some notable exceptions, ascompetitive as national and provincial elections.Second,local government sector priorities are heavily tilted towardthe provision of physical infrastructure - specifically,roads, water and sanitation, and rural electrification - atthe expense of education and health. Third, this sectorprioritization is in part a dutiful response to therelatively greater citizen demands for physicalinfrastructure; in part a reflection of the local governmentelectoral structure that gives primacy to village andneighborhood-specific issues, and in part a reaction toprovincial initiatives in education and health that havetaken the political space away from local governments in thesocial sectors, thereby encouraging them to focus moretoward physical infrastructure.