Decentralising Water Resource Management in Brazil Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • Recent studies of decentralisation of natural-resource management have advanced two related claims: participation of municipalities encourages downward accountability to local populations and single-issue decentralisation encourages upward accountability to higher levels of government. This contribution examines a case at the intersection of these arguments: participation of municipalities in single-issue decentralisation. Evidence from Brazil's water-resource decentralisation indicates that participation of municipalities is not the best indicator of downward accountability; rather, the nature of social and business groups, and mechanisms that encourage their participation, better predict downward accountability. New territories of single-issue decentralisation may have unintended positive effects on downward accountability.

published proceedings

  • The European Journal of Development Research

altmetric score

  • 3

author list (cited authors)

  • Brannstrom, C.

citation count

  • 26

complete list of authors

  • Brannstrom, Christian

publication date

  • March 2004