ABSTRACT
Chapter 3 illustrates that the variation in implementing decentralisation is not an expression of regime type – underlining the message that decentralisation should not be confused with democratisation. The data presented in this chapter show that both democratic and autocratic regimes may have high local government scores, and similarly, other autocracies and democracies may score low on the same index. The local government index indicates that we may find fully developed subnational institutions in many autocracies, while processes of introducing local elections have failed in some democracies. It may even appear that autocracies in several ways are more inclusive by bringing local communities into the government structure than governments in democratic regimes. This phenomenon is not explained by the current data and has not been addressed properly in existing decentralisation or regime literature. Therefore, we see the need to conceptualise the representative Subnational Governments (SNGs) as observed in both democracies and autocracies. For us to measure representative SNGs across regimes, the requirements for representative SNGs are conceptualised.
