Book Review: Improving local government

Abstract

Academic literature that engages in a comparison of local government systems, policies and practices and their impact on democracy and development is hard to come by. Yet, these comparisons are critical as they shed light on challenges, failures and best practices in local government across jurisdictions. They also reveal an often-surprising similarity in challenges and choices experienced by countries that engage in decentralisation and are therefore critical resources for policy entrepreneurs and policy makers. This book is thus a very welcome addition to this small pool of academic publications that pursue such comparisons.