The Urban Situation: Cities’ Place in Decentralized Government Frameworks

Abstract

The relationship of cities to other subnational governments (e.g., states, provinces, and counties) and to other cities is complex and seemingly in flux. Traditionally, most cities in decentralized nations have occupied a third-tier status - below the national and state/provincial tiers - and have been more or less on an equal footing with other cities. More recently decentralized nations, especially in East Asia, have begun changing that status quo by adopting more complex, nuanced, and flexible approaches to cities’ political power. Perhaps this approach signals a trend in which nation states are repositioning their larger cities in response to those cities’ rising importance in the global political economy. If such a trend exists, it may also suggest that the nation-state is weakening relative to urban areas and supranational regional governing entities. This article compares how several developing, emerging market, and former socialist countries’ laws position cities both in relation to other tiers of subnational government and to other cities. It primarily focuses on the laws of Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Ghana, Senegal, Nigeria, Kenya, India, Pakistan, Nepal, Egypt, Iran, Morocco, China, Vietnam, Philippines, Russia, Poland, and Kazakhstan.