ABSTRACT
The paradox of decentralization is simple and apparent-addressing inequities in power and resources cannot be achieved simply by reallocating governmental resources and responsibilities from one scale to another. International aid organizations focus on city and metropolitan government as the ideal scale to which power over urban development should be allocated. It is at this scale, they argue, that “essential public services are delivered . . . and where policy meets the people” through popular participation (World Bank 2000). Yet, particularly in the context of severe power and resource disparities that exist in most cities in developing countries, civil society organizations working with the urban poor are profoundly disadvantaged in urban politics. For corporations, large landowners, developers, and other elite political and economic actors whose social networks and economic interests naturally span the scale of cities and metropolitan regions, the means and motives exist to assert influence at this level. With the inter-urban economic competition that comes with globalization, these elite actors have become increasingly organized and resolute in pursuing their shared interests in the commodification of urban land, a position that frequently places them in conflict with the community and public uses required by the less powerful. Hence, for organizations of civil society representing community interests, entering the lion’s den of urban politics can prove a daunting experience, even where they enjoy some strength in numbers.
