ABSTRACT Under the auspices of the international donor community, decentralization has been pursued in the last couple of decades as a global mantra, albeit often with more attention to prescriptive models than political reality. This is particularly the case with Africa where donor-driven approaches have produced few sustainable outcomes because the context-specific situation in these countries has been ignored. This paper argues that the donors, in addition to failing to take the local context into consideration in their interventions, have been inclined to look at decentralization through the lens of a principal–agent model in which institutions have been treated as rules to be learned and adopted. With little to show for itself, this approach is increasingly under criticism in evaluations and research studies alike. The paper argues, in line with other recent studies, that time has come to rethink concepts and practices used to promote local governance in African countries. The political parameters of Official Development Assistance limit what can be achieved to realise the principles of the Paris Declaration and more creative approaches are needed to ensure that local governance in African countries is fostered in a democratic direction.

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非洲的权力下放经验：超越捐助者驱动的方法

摘要在国际捐助者的主持下，权力下放在过去的几十年中一直是全球性的口头禅，尽管往往比政治现实更加关注规定性模式。在非洲尤其如此，由捐助者驱动的方法几乎没有产生可持续的成果，因为这些国家的具体情况被忽略了。本文认为，捐助者除了在干预中未考虑当地情况外，还倾向于通过委托代理模型的视角研究权力下放，在这种模型中，制度被视为要学习的规则，通过。尽管几乎没有表现出来，但是这种方法在评估和研究中都越来越受到批评。该论文认为，与最近的其他研究一致，是时候重新考虑用于促进非洲国家地方治理的概念和做法。官方发展援助的政治参数限制了实现《巴黎宣言》原则所能取得的成就，需要采取更多创造性的方法来确保非洲国家的地方治理朝着民主方向发展。