Responding to Decentralization Acrobatics in Tanzania: Subnational Actors Examined1

Abstract

The experience of decentralization reforms in Tanzania is dramatic depicting the state of decentralizing but subsequently of recentralizing. Following the adoption of decentralization by devolution policy in 1998 hopes for the end of about four decades history of undermining local governments raised-up. However, the process of decentralization of powers has largely remained on paper characterized by policy reversals and sluggish implementation. This article employs the political approach to explain why the process of decentralization in Tanzania has stalled. It examines the extent to which sub-national actors: the local government councillors, the citizenry and civil society organizations (CSOs) are pressing for decentralization of powers. Based on evidence from in-depth and semi-structured interviews in two districts as well as a documentary analysis of the activities of five national level CSOs, it is revealed that the absence of popular pressure for local government autonomy has created a leeway for the central government to stall the decentralization process.