Decentralization and the implementation of rural development in Senegal : the view from below /

A study of a 1972 Senegal reform that decentralized administrative structures for rural development and mass participation. The reform launced elected rural councils as well as teams of government agents as a support structure. Vengroff and Johnston suggest that the reform was stillborn. The councils are severely strapped financially, are unable to take effective initiative, and do not control their own budgets. Although the reality falls far short of the expectation, the authors provide suggestions that build on the promise of the reform. The book appears to stem from an evaluation of the Senegal reform that was funded by the US Agency for International Development. Appropriate to original intent, the study is narrowly focused. There is little discussion of the implications of the findings for the theory and practice of decentralization elsewhere. The data stem from a sample of councillors and government agents; the survey presents an accurate view of the nature of their attitudes, roles, and problems they perceive. Yet major questions regarding the nature of their social and political environment are not addressed and consequently certain anomalies in the survey data cannot be explained. A full methodological discussion is included. Appropriate for graduate school libraries only. -F. Holmquist, Hampshire College