Federalism and Decentralization in the Middle East and North Africa: Types and Trajectories

Abstract

This conclusion synthesizes and reflects upon the case studies and comparative and theoretical contributions in our edited volume, Federalism and Decentralization in the Contemporary Middle East. Our cases are organized around three categories: first, relatively conventional decentralization initiatives in which reforms were adopted to improve governance; second, contexts in which decentralization has been contemplated as a framework for self-determination for the region’s stateless communities; and, finally, decentralization initiatives undertaken in the shadow of conflict and state fragmentation. In our concluding chapter, we develop theoretical insights drawn from the rich terrain for qualitative comparison across these three contexts. We offer reflections on key characteristics of the shared regional context and a typology of factors driving decentralization in the MENA region. We argue that an important contribution of the volume lies in identifying a broader array of motivations for, and actors driving, decentralization than currently reflected in the scholarly literature and in parsing the implications for the institutional design of decentralized government. We conclude the chapter by distilling patterns from the cases to identify distinct trajectories of decentralization that are evidenced in the MENA region and their entailments.

Keywords: federalism, decentralization, comparative law, Middle East, North Africa, Kurds, Palestinians, Sahrawis, Morocco, Tunisia, Libya, Iraq, Iran, Turkey, Israel, Palestine, Yemen, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan