Basic education in Argentina is organized under a federal and decentralized scheme. The concern for equity and redistributive justice in educational financing under this scheme presents particularities and complexities that need to be understood in order to address the inequality around educational investment. The decentralization of educational institutions to subnational jurisdictions generated two institutionalized effects. The structural inequality of educational investment per student under state management at the subnational level and, at the same time, it has been almost three decades that the national state has not directly managed the Educative offer. From the perspective of the theory of fiscal federalism, intergovernmental fiscal tools are designed that allow an impact on inequities and inequalities between both levels of government. The educational investment gap with subnational financing increased from 5 to 8 times between the lowest and highest investment. The national State, established with funds of national origin to reduce it to between 3 and 5 times, remaining constant throughout the period. The incidence of transfers of national origin made it possible to reduce the gap of structural inequality in educational investment between subnational jurisdictions, although the challenge consists in planning financing in the search for equity and distributive justice under this federal and decentralized scheme.
Yifeng Tian, Yuanxin Zhang, R. Edward Minchin, Ashish T. Asutosh · 5 authors
The importance of infrastructure to the economic and social development at the local and global scales can never be overemphasized. Infrastructure investment, especially private infrastructure investment in most countries, remains continuously insufficient. Key obstacles to efficient financing of infrastructure projects are traditional finance instruments’ multiple drawbacks. As a derivative of the blockchain technology and a creative financing instrument, tokenization improves transparency, increases access to alternative capital sources, and liquidity, and mitigates counterparty risk through decentralization of infrastructure project financial system. This research attempts to shed light on the potential benefits and obstacles of infrastructure tokenization based on an analysis of the current literature. A conceptual framework of infrastructure tokenization is subsequently proposed to improve the efficiency of infrastructure finance. This research concludes that infrastructure tokenization would tremendously benefit the transportation infrastructure system and concedes that there is a lag in regulatory and technical reform to augment its application. Other researchers and industry practitioners can use the findings of this study as a stepping-stone to further improve the application of blockchain technology in infrastructure finance.
Rural areas occupy the major part of the territory of Ukraine, but they are characterized by low levels of socio-economic development, limitations in the amount and quality of public services, negative demographic trends. The purpose of the article is to systematize modern means of financing rural development in Ukraine and to identify problems of their application by local governments. The authors proposed to improve the mechanism for financing rural development by active use its budgetary, credit and investment instruments. The prevalence of budgetary funding, whose limitation constrained rural development, was proven. Modern approaches to financing rural development were stated based on broadening community involvement in local budgeting, as well as in attracting investment resources.
It has been found out that government subventions are the most powerful support instrument for rural development in the spheres of infrastructure, education, health care, etc. The possibilities of financing rural development through the development budgets under financial decentralization have been investigated. It was noted that the use of participatory budgeting and other forms of project finance most clearly demonstrated real democratic transformations in local finance in Ukraine. The proposals for the use of PPP agreements, crowdfunding, and international funds’ grant programs for financing rural development were provided.
As the basic necessity of national life, agricultural products have become the basic elements of economic and social development. Because of the complexity and uncertainty of the internal and external environment, the supply chain of agricultural products has various risks, such as vulnerability and instability in the system structure. This paper analyzes the common structural model and risk factors of agricultural product supply chain, discusses the main factors of agricultural product supply chain risk factors, and combines the characteristics of decentralization and information encryption of block chain technology with the governance of each node of agricultural product supply chain. This paper puts forward the optimal analysis of agricultural product supply chain model construction and related node risk management under block chain technology.
Nataliia M. Kriuchkova, Наталія Михайлівна Крючкова, Наталья Михайловна Крючкова
In the process of active implementation of the decentralization reform in Ukraine, the level of Ukrainian society is increasing by creating financially viable united territorial communities. Today, decentralization is an opportunity for community to have the authority and resources to meet the current needs o f the region. The updated system of financial support for local budgets contributes to an increase in the share of their income, but the current results of fiscal decentralization indicate that not enough additional local government resources have been created to finance municipal powers and powers delegated by the state. At the same time, the land resources of territorial communities are the basic category in the formation of the financial and material basis of the local government system. Possession, effective use and disposal of land resources guarantee the effective organization of the territorial community's life. At the same time, the level of capacity o f territorial communities in Ukraine indicates that despite the state's efforts to organize effective management of land resources as the property of a territorial community, the impact of the latter on the growth of economic, social, household, and cultural development, especially rural and settlement communities, remains insignificant in the future. Given that there have been significant changes in the legislation on land relations recently, the issue o f taxation of land under the new legislation and its impact on the income of communities and their financial viability is relevant.
Iryna Tsymbalіuk, Mohammed Younus Hasan Alghadhywi
The main ideas and principles of inclusive development are revealed in this paper It is proved that the main condition for the transition of the Ukrainian regions to the principles of inclusive growth is the provision of developed inclusive infrastructure. The purpose of the paper is to substantiate the system of quantitative indicators that reflect the prospects for achieving the goals and objectives of infrastructure development in the region as an important component and prerequisite for inclusive growth. Based on the methodology proposed in the paper, the analysis of infrastructural development of the Ukrainian regions as a basis for inclusive growth is carried out. It is proved that in order to involve the maximum number of the population in the development processes, it is necessary to create appropriate conditions, which are provided by the developed infrastructure. Due to indicators of construction development, transport infrastructure, passenger and cargo turnover, the level of the population coverage with Internet services, preschool educational institutions for children; development of higher education, accessibility of medical services and health care, an index of infrastructural development of the region has been formed, which reflects the possibility of including all segments of the population in productive activities and creating conditions for growth. Significant asymmetry of infrastructural development between the regions of Ukraine has been revealed, which puts them in unequal conditions for achieving inclusive growth. It is stated that the solution of this problem is possible only with the active state support and improvement of mechanisms for financing regional development projects from the State budget. The main results presented in the paper are obtained during the research «Fiscal space of inclusive development of the region» and «Security of sustainable development of regions and territorial communities of Ukraine in the context of decentralization on the basis of inclusive growth», within which the author systematizes goals, objectives and indicators of quantitative assessment of the achievement of prospects for regions inclusive development.
In the process of further transferring to the county of the space of economic and social development, how to solve the financial predicament at the county level, stimulate the vitality of county development and improve the people’s livelihood security system at the county level through the adjustment of the financial system have become the core content of the financial system reform below the province level. Finance is a kind of distribution system of “controlling finance by government and administrating through finance” with the state regime system as the main body. It has great significance for the government to perform and transform its functions. Financial reform will inevitably become an important part of the overall reform. Based on the decentralized reform mode under the province, this paper investigates the economic performance of the reform of the County Administrated by Province and the transmission mechanism of the reform from the two aspects of economic growth speed and industrial structure adjustment.
Mykhailo Khvesyk, Oleksandr Shubalyi, Julia M. Khvesyk, Natalia M. Vasilik
Abstract The article defines the priorities, principles and main provisions of national forest policy of Ukraine towards European integration. The main objectives and structure of the mechanism of transformation of ecological and economic relations in the forest sector of Ukraine is grounded. The main tasks of transformation of ecological and economic relations in the forest sector should be decentralization of the management system, budget savings and sustainability, sustainable development and ecological security, development of public and private partnership, and welfare of local communities. It justifies priority directions of transformation, which include the system of distribution of powers between central, regional and local levels, the financing system and fiscal regulation in the forest sector, powers and subordination of the organs of ecological control, the organizational forms of companies and associations, the institutionalization of communal and private ownership of forests. Necessary organizational and economic framework for their implementation should ensure the economic mechanisms of transformation of the system of state management of economic processes, financial-credit and fiscal regulation, economic incentives of the deep environmentally friendly forest products, integration of businesses and innovative and investment development of the forest sector, the Institute of ownership of forest land, the property rights of forest users and local communities. The structure of transformation mechanism of ecological and economic relations in the forest sector is developed. It will allow the use of modern economic methods (de-monopolization and transparent competition on the timber market; economic incentives for deep wood processing; the transition to the new organizational forms of integration of economic entities; the empowerment of local communities and their executive bodies) and the instruments (preferential loans; target financing of large-scale projects at the national level; environmental insurance; transfer pricing; export and import duties; the state order; the state guarantees and subsidies), and to form an effective organizational forms of business entities in the forest sector. It is concluded that transformation processes should apply to all spheres of economic activities in the forest sector, especially in the following areas: increased powers of the management bodies of the forest sector at the regional and local levels; simplification of procedures for land allocation by local governments to provide additional reforestation; coordination between the organs of ecological control and forest management to strengthen the relationship between the real state of forestry and the system of rational use of forest resources; the introduction of modern forms of enterprise and associations of enterprises at different stages of the reproductive process.
A key document of the Council of the European Union, the ICZM Protocol (Protocol on Integrated Coastal Zone Management) adopted in 2008 and ratified in 2010 (Decision no. 2010/631/EU) states that integrated management of coastal zones should be conceived and implemented through a dynamic and flexible approach which implies taking account of the relationships between coastal landscape and ecosystems, and of the uses and land management practices which characterize coastal areas. The ICZM Protocol is very important in terms of technical implementation of theoretical principles concerning costal management and planning into policy-making. In this perspective, Strategic environmental assessment (SEA) is relevant as regards coastal spatial planning since it provides a technical framework to integrate sustainability objectives into economic and social development-oriented policies. SEA processes implement the ICZM Protocol into coastal plans and land management strategies concerning coastal areas. The methodology proposed in this study defines a theoretical and technical approach to ICZM-related planning processes at the municipal (local) level, based on integration of strategies related to different spatial scales. Municipalities adopt spatial plans which regulate land uses in the coastal areas (PLUCs), whereas the regional and national public administrations define policies concerning environmental conservation and protection. The methodological approach is implemented with reference to two coastal towns located in South-West Sardinia, in the region of Sulcis. The outcomes highlight that PLUCs and the environmental protection-oriented plans are consistent with each other as regards themes and objectives. Three specific questions are crucial as regards the integration of social and economic development goals and sustainability objectives, namely relationships between natural ecosystems and services located in the coastal areas, ecosystem conservation and protection, and accessibility of the seashore.
“All other pleasures and possessions pale into nothingness before service, which is rendered in a spirit of joy.” – Mahatma Gandhi India lives in its villages, and the development of villages will be critical if we want to close the gap between the “haves and have not's” for better human development. In the Human Development Report (HDR) 2014, India ranks at 135th place both for the overall Human Development Index (HDI) and the Gender Development Index (GDI), a rating classed by the United Nations as ‘medium human development’. GANDHIAN CONCEPT OF VILLAGE DEVELOPMENT The word Swaraj is a sacred word, a Vedic word, meaning self-rule and self-restraint, and not freedom from all restraint, which ‘independence’ often means. Real Swaraj will come not by the acquisition of authority by a few but by the acquisition of the capacity by all to resist authority when it is abused. In other words, Swaraj is to be obtained by empowering the masses to a sense of their capacity to regulate and control authority. The Gandhian vision of an ideal village or village Swaraj is that it is a complete republic, independent of its neighbours for its own wants and yet interdependent for many others in which dependence is necessary. According to Gandhiji, the making of an ideal village is very simple. He says: “An ideal Indian village will be so constructed as to lend itself to perfect sanitation. It will have cottages with sufficient light and ventilation built of a material obtainable within a radius of five miles of it. The cottages will have courtyards enabling householders to plant vegetables for domestic use and to house their cattle. The village lanes and streets will be free of all avoidable dust. It will have wells according to its needs and accessible to all. It will have houses of worship for all, also a common meeting place, a village common for grazing its cattle, a co-operative dairy, primary and secondary schools in which industrial education will be the central fact, and it will have Panchayats for settling disputes. It will produce its own grains, vegetables and fruit, and its own Khadi. This is roughly my idea of a model village... I am convinced that the villagers can, under intelligent guidance, double the village income as distinguished from individual income. There are in our villages’ inexhaustible resources not for commercial purposes in every case but certainly for local purposes in almost every case. The greatest tragedy is the hopeless unwillingness of the villagers to better their lot. My ideal village will contain intelligent human beings. They will not live in dirt and darkness as animals. Men and women will be free and able to hold their own against anyone in the world.” ROLE OF THE GRAM PANCHAYAT Gandhiji made it very clear that concentration of either economic or political power would violate all the essential principles of participatory democracy and thereby of Swaraj. To promote decentralization, Gandhiji suggested the institution of village republics both as institutions of parallel politics and as units of economic autonomy. Village being the lowest unit of a decentralized system, politically a village has to be small enough to permit everyone to participate directly in the decision-making process. It is the basic institution of participatory democracy. Panchayat Raj is a system and process of good governance. The Ministry of Panchayati Raj has issued specific guidelines to make Gram Sabha a vibrant forum for promoting planned economic and social development of villages in a transparent way. It offers equal opportunity to all citizens including the poor, the women and the marginalized to discuss and criticize, approve or reject proposals of the Gram Panchayat and also assess its performance. According to Mahatma Gandhi, utilization of local resources is quite fundamental to the development of the Panchayat Raj system. The Panchayats with the Gram Sabha should be so organized as to identify the resources locally available for development in the agricultural and industrial sectors. The Gram Panchayat elected annually by adult villagers, male and female, possessing minimum prescribed qualifications, will conduct the Government of the village. The Gandhian ideas of Gram Swaraj and Panchayat Raj system can become vehicles for ushering in much-needed social and political change by including all the stakeholders in the process of decision-making and public policy formulation. As Gandhi said, “Panchayat Raj represents true democracy realized. We would regard the humblest and the lowest Indian as being equally the ruler of India with the tallest in the land.” Therefore, concerted, systematic and sustained endeavours are needed on the part of those for whom Gram Swaraj remains a cherished dream for the empowerment of people and for a participatory democracy. COMMUNITIZATION OF PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICES UNDER NRHM AND THE ROLE OF VILLAGE HEALTH NUTRITION AND SANITATION COMMITTEE (VHNSC) IN VILLAGE DEVELOPMENT The National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) envisages the “communitization” of public health services, enabling both public health employees as well as local communities to develop ownership in the Public Health Service Institution. The process of communitization is expected to help in universal access to equitable, affordable and quality health care that is accountable and responsive to the needs of the people. One of the approaches of NRHM for communitization is the constitution of VHNSC. The committee is expected to work collectively on issues related to health and social determinants at the village level. The VHNSC is particularly envisaged as being central to ‘community action’ under NRHM to support the process of Decentralized Health Planning. The committee, therefore, is envisioned to play a leadership role by providing a platform for improving health awareness and access to health services, addressing specific local needs and serving as a mechanism for community-based planning and monitoring. The committee functions under the overall supervision of Gram Panchayat. The committee is formed at each of the revenue village level and should have a minimum of 15 members with representatives from elected member of the Panchayat, ANM, Anganwadi workers, teachers, community health volunteers and ASHA. The objectives of VHNSC under NRHM are as follows: To provide an institutional mechanism for the community to be informed of health programmes and government initiatives and to participate in the planning and implementation of these programmes, leading to better outcomes. To provide a platform for convergent action on social determinants and all public services directly or indirectly related to health. To provide an institutional mechanism for the community to voice health needs, experiences and issues with access to health services, so that the institutions of local government and public health service providers can take note and respond appropriately. To empower Panchayats with the understanding and mechanisms required for them to play their role in governance of health and other public services and to enable communities through their leadership to take collective action for the attainment of better health status in the village. To provide support and facilitation to the community health workers – ASHA and other frontline health care providers who have to interface with the community and provide services. The VHNSC under NRHM needs to be revitalized; capacity building is a must for fulfilling their proposed role. This platform of VHNSC should be better used by converting to Village Development Committee, which should work as an arm of Gram Panchayat for the integrated development of the village. PARTNERSHIP WITH COMMUNITY THROUGH INTENSE SOCIAL MOBILIZATION AT MGIMS SEVAGRAM The Department of Community Medicine (DCM), MGIMS, Sevagram is actively involved in social mobilization in approximately 90 villages with four primary health centres under its field practice area. DCM acts as a catalyst to form community-based organizations (CBO) and builds their capacity for health action. The community-based organizations being promoted by MGIMS, Sevagram in its field practice area are: Women's Self-Help Groups: Women's Self-Help Group (SHG) is a very effective tool for not only women empowerment, but also overall development of the community. MGIMS fully appreciates the critical link between women empowerment and community development as it plays a catalytic role to add health action agenda to their primary micro finance function. With this, women have been empowered to determine health priorities and play a proactive role in health care delivery in their villages. The department has now achieved formation of 3–4 SHGs per village in all villages in its field practice area. A total of 275 Self-Help Groups are functioning in the adopted villages of the Institute. Kisan Vikas Manch: Kisan Vikas Manch (Farmers’ club) has evolved as a way to involve men in health activities at village level. The Institute provides learning opportunities for members to improve their agricultural yield and in turn improve their economical status. The health action agenda is added to the primary purpose so as to empower them to actively participate in the health program. Kisan Vikas Manch in the villages of Anji PHC area came together to form a federation. The federation engages experts in the agriculture sector for capacity building of the members of Kisan Vikas Manch, so that farmers can get better yield from their agricultural land. Adolescent Girls’ groups (Kishori Panchayat): The Institute has taken an initiative to form groups of adolescent girls in all the villages of its field practice area. At the village level, an elected body of the adolescent girls has been formed, which is known as Kishori Panchayat. An adolescent to adolescent education programme is undertaken in all villages through these groups. These groups have been oriented towards issues of adolescent health, maternal health, child survival, environmental health, family-life education, RTI/STD, HIV/AIDS, etc. In turn, these girls will train their peers and younger adolescents in their villages. A resource centre for Kishori Panchayat has been developed at the RHTC (Rural Health Training Centre), Bhidi. This includes a library of health education material for adolescents, with 5 satellite libraries at the school level and 10 satellite libraries at the village level. Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRI) and Village Health Nutrition and Sanitation Committee (VHNSC): DCM continuously engages with PRI members in all villages in its field practice area. Orientation sessions are organized through the Rural and Urban Health Training Centres to empower the PRI and VHNSC members for health action at the community level. Due to its continuous engagement with VHNSC, in most of the villages in the field practice area, monthly meetings of VHNSC members are ensured. Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (MGIMS) has developed a community-led approach and ensures the provision of high quality and affordable health care with emphasis on maternal and child health, in partnership with local community and health system. The strategy is to empower the communities to manage and own village-based primary health care. The programme has initiated various community-based organizations in the villages – self help groups of women, adolescents groups (more than 60 in numbers) and empowered Village Health, Nutrition & Sanitation Committees (VHNSC) in every village in a systematic manner. The programme uses the Integrated Model of Communication for Social Change (IMCFSC) to guide its BCC activities. IMCFSC uses an iterative process where ‘community dialogue’ and ‘collective action’ work together to produce social change. The VHNSC have been empowered for health planning, organization of Immunization Day, monitoring of the health functionaries, and they work in close collaboration with the local health system and democratic body. There is an effort to link health and developmental activities at the village level. Formal interaction of medical and nursing students with community-based organizations is arranged during their village visit; they witness the activities of community-based organizations. This helps aspiring doctors understand the role of individuals, families and communities in preventing diseases, maintaining and promoting health, and improving health-seeking behaviour. PARTNERSHIP WITH DISTRICT HEALTH SYSTEM AND INTEGRATED CHILD DEVELOPMENT SERVICES (ICDS) SCHEME Over the years, MGIMS, Sevagram has built a strong relationship with the District Health System and Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) Scheme. Through RHTCs it not only supports delivery of routine healthcare services to the community, but also organizes training of frontline workers and supports capacity building for better implementation of national health programmes. DCM has developed a system of continued professional education through the regular monthly meetings of frontline workers at PHC level. On the request of the district health system, it has provided support for the investigation and control of epidemics. The partnership has been a culmination of delegating the management of two PHCs to MGIMS. DCM has developed a close liaison with ICDS scheme. It has provided training to Anganwadi workers (AWWs) and its supervisors in Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) to build their capacity in the delivery of child health, nutrition and development services. At present, DCM, in collaboration with WHO & UNICEF, is working to develop a model for the promotion of ECCD through the strengthening of home visits by ASHA and AWWs, organization of mothers’ meetings, and parenting workshops. Strengthening the VHNCS – the need of the hour VHNSC has a vital role in decentralized health planning and monitoring. NHM envisaged VHNSC to function adequately with the involvement of community members and to promote people's participation in the planning process. However, there should be a tool which facilitates in planning, implementation according to village-specific health plan, and community monitoring of health services at the village level. At MGIMS, we have evolved the VMI (VHNSC Maturity Index): a tool which could be easily administered to identify areas requiring improvement in VHSNCs and help in the proper delivery of healthcare services covering many of the social determinants of health. Community-based organization will be the key to bring about the overall development of villages. Most importantly, communities need to control the process. The ultimate goal is for communities to have the confidence and competence to make informed choices from a range of appropriate options for sustainable and equitable development. The need of the hour is to bring about a holistic change in the lives of beneficiaries among the villagers by uplifting their socioeconomic and health status through effective linkages through community, governmental and other developmental agencies. The VHNSC should be able to prepare an Integrated Village Development Plan with technical guidance from local organizations/agencies. At the end of the day, we must remember a talisman given by Gandhi: “I will give you a talisman. Whenever you are in doubt, or when the self becomes too much with you, apply the following test. Recall the face of the poorest and the weakest man [or woman] whom you may have seen, and ask yourself, if the step you contemplate is going to be of any use to him [Or her]. Will he [or she] gain anything by it? Will it restore him [Or her] to a control over his [her] own life and destiny? In other words, will it lead to Swaraj [freedom] for the hungry and spiritually starving millions? Then you will find your doubts and yourself melt away.” – One of the last notes left behind by Gandhi in 1948, expressing his deepest social thought. Source: Mahatma Gandhi [Last Phase, Vol. II (1958), p. 65] FINANCIAL SUPPORT & SPONSORSHIP: None CONFLICTS OF INTEREST: None
The article defines the initial conceptual provisions of budget federalism in interaction with budgetary centralism in the order of the problem statement. The main ideas and plans of pilot project «State regulation of regional human development in the administrative region» (on the example of Khmelnitsky region) are revealed. The rights and responsibilities (main powers) of the regional state administrations and the regional councils in regulating the volume and structure of local budgets for financing the components of the Regional Human Development Index are considered. The financial self-sufficiency of regional and local authorities, local governments and united territorial communities is regulated by expenditure powers within the limits of fiscal revenues to local budgets. The ratios of budget funds of local and state levels in the Consolidated Budget of Ukraine, which are built on the basis of harmonious proportions of the «Golden Intersection», are considered. It is proposed that direct budget transfers should be carried out in accordance with the norms of financial provision of social standards for human development. Budgetary federalism in a unitary state is to regulate such scales of the financial self-sufficiency of regional authorities and local governments to assess and forecast the sources and volumes of local finances on the basis of budget and fiscal decentralization of revenues, which are determined based on expenditure powers in socio-economic development.
ResumenLa tesis que se defiende en este trabajo es que el complejo modelo institucional y territorial vasco funciona aceptablemente bien, a pesar de sus luces y sombras, y puede ser un ejemplo de la idea ampliamente generalizada de cómo un modelo de organización territorial descentralizada (y sus complejas, pero al mismo tiempo, valiosas formas de interacción entre los distintos niveles de gobierno), pueden mejorar la calidad del gobierno de sus instituciones, ayudar en el desarrollo humano, económico y social, aumentar la transparencia, administrar los recursos disponibles para ofrecer mejores servicios públicos y, en definitiva, mejorar la calidad democrática de la sociedad.Summary1. Introduction. 2. The distribution of competences between the Common Institutions of the Autonomous Community of Euskadi and the Regional Administrative Bodies of the Historical Territories ofBizkaia, Gipuzkoa and Álava. 2.1. The distribution of competences in the Statute of Autonomy of the Basque Country. 2.2. The distribution of competences in the Law of Historical Territories. 3. The competences of the municipal institutions of Euskadi. 4. Conclusion.AbstractThe thesis defended in this paper is that the complex Basque institutional and territorial model works acceptably well, despite its lights and shadows, and can be an example of the widespread idea of how a model of decentralized territorial organization (and their complex, but at the same time valuable forms of interaction between the various levels of government), can enhance the quality of government of their institutions, help in the human, economic and social development, raise transparency and manage available resources to deliver better public services and, in short, improve the democratic quality of society.
This chapter discusses public sector growth to illuminate the puzzle in political economy regarding effective government constraints and to provide an analysis of the institutional structures that can "tame Leviathan." It argues that altering the institutional structures to be more polycentric would contain important self-generating mechanisms to tame Leviathan. A polycentric organization of government describes a system with many centers of decision-making units that are formally independent of each other and it involves multiple, overlapping systems of autonomous governments. An important feature of what makes an institutional structure "more" or "less" polycentric is the degree of autonomy of the states, localities, or subunits in the society. The features of a polycentric institution complemented by the decentralization of money would move us closer to the reality of a constrained government. Borrowing money and inflating are the remaining choices, and this is what politicians tend to do.
Demianyshyna, О. A., Nedbalyuk, O. P., Stanislavchuk, N. O.
The systemic crisis in the sphere of socio-economic development of territories is a consequence of the lack of a modern management mechanism for the development of territorial communities, which is based on the corresponding development programs.Despite the depth of studying of these scientific studies, the financial aspects of developing programs for the innovative development of territories in the conditions of financial independence of local government bodies require detailed consideration.Focused attention of researchers on the problems of management of territorial development. Attracted attention to the necessity of creating a mechanism for funding work on the development of relevant programs. It is determined that without such mechanism it is impossible to create and effectively implement territorial development programs at all levels of the administrative-territorial system of the country. All elements of the process of territorial development programming that are in need of financing are considered and which should be considered such a separate cost items of the corresponding estimate. On the basis of foreign experience (first of all the USA), it is proposed to create a nation-wide network of state information and consulting (advisory) services that would be the implementers and coordinators of work on the development of territorial development programs. It is determined that the financing of the development of territorial development programs should be carried out precisely through such services, which will ensure the efficiency and transparency of this process in conditions of financial decentralization and creation of united territorial communities in Ukraine. The proposed basic model of the process of programming the innovative development of joint territorial communities will ensure the effectiveness and transparency of this process in the context of financial decentralization.
Today's banking system has seen revolutionary change within a decode or more. The foremost reason being the adaptation of information technology in the banking system. Although , this has strengthened the economy of our country, it has also led to many frauds and scams in the recent times. In this research paper, we have tried to collect information on the above events and tried to preview the actual positioning of India's banking system. There has also been some discussion on the understanding, growth, usability and adaptability of crypto currencies such as Bitcoins, Ethereum, Litecoin, Dash etc. The overall discussion helps us to understand how the inner complexities of Indian banking system is leading to consumer's thoughts and interest shifting towards crypto currency. Some suggestions have also been provided as different steps which can be taken in the present situation.
Books on Turkish constitutional law tend to be heavily doctrinal, descriptive, and politic ally unengaged, which makes Kemal Gözler’s recent work on the constitutional amendment package of April 2017 somewhat unusual: Elveda Anayasa, which roughly translates as “Farewell Constitution,” was published a month before the referendum took place. Apart from the book’s annex, drawn from Gözler’s earlier work on the differences between parliamentary and presidential systems of government, the book deals with the recent amendments to the Turkish Constitution, and more generally with the legal and political atmosphere preceding the referendum, to expose what Gözler argues was the real motivation behind the proposal: a subtle destruction of the constitutional system’s separation of powers arrangements. The book is divided into five chapters. In Chapter 1, Gözler asserts that the amendments, contrary to what is commonly assumed, do not establish a presidential system of governance. Noting that a presidential system is typically marked by a strict separation of powers, that is, by a clear distinction between the legislative and executive organs of the state, he argues that the amendments, would do the exact opposite: the amended Article 116 now allows the president to dissolve the parliament, and the parliament to dissolve the presidency, both without cause. In both cases, the result is that new elections must be held for both the presidency and the parliament (at 15–16). The idea of each branch being able to dissolve the other, if anything, is reminiscent of a parliamentary system. However, Gözler astutely observes that discussions of systemic/institutional features obfuscate what is really going on: the unification of all three branches of government under an executive presidency. To begin with, while the president has the unconditional right to dissolve the parliament, the parliament can exercise the same power only with a three-fifths majority. Further, under the new system, parliamentary and presidential elections must be held on the same day, a requirement that is likely to result in the coordination of electoral campaigns to prevent a potential scenario in which the president has a different party affiliation than the parliamentary majority. This, for Gözler, is proof of the amendment package’s real motivation: subordinating the parliament to the presidency (at 17–19). As for the judicial branch, the new composition of the Council of Judges and Prosecutors, the state organ responsible for judicial promotions and demotions, reveals the government’s ambition to subordinate the judiciary to the presidency: of the total thirteen members of the council, four are directly appointed by the president. In addition, the minister of justice, a presidential appointee, heads the council and his undersecretary, a bureaucrat also appointed by the president, is also a member of the council. The remaining seven members are appointed by the parliament, already under the control of the executive (at 19–22), placing the judiciary under the effective control of the president. Gözler concludes this chapter, inspired by the writings of Montesquieu, with a discussion of how the absence of true separation of powers will result in a loss of individual liberties (at 25). While empirical data indeed seems to be on the side of Gözler,1 the author does not explain how and why, as a general matter, a decline in separation of powers arrangements causes a similar decline in individual liberties, especially considering the voluminous scholarship on how authoritarian regimes consciously choose to preserve (at least some) individual liberties, usually in order to deflect national and international criticism.2 Chapter 2, titled “On the Silence of Consti t utional Law Scholars over the Constitutional Amendments” and without going into any “naming and shaming,” categorizes the Turkish constitutional law community into three camps: (i) the rather small number of scholars speaking out against the amendments; (ii) those not disclosing their personal view on the matter; and (iii) those openly advocating the amendments (at 39). Gözler quite confidently and rightly asserts that while the overwhelming majority of Turkish constitutional law scholars were against the amendment package (at 38), the ones who garnered most of the media attention were those speaking in favor of it. The author points to the general decline in free speech, and the cases of recently dismissed academics, including some reputable constitutional law scholars, as reasons for the general silence of the intellectual community over the amendments (at 35–36). Gözler also bemoans how in addition to the silence of scholars, the media paid considerable attention to laypersons unqualified to speak on the amendments (at 41). While one cannot help but agree with the author on how the silence of the legal community indeed decreased the quality of discussions surrounding the amendment package, listening to the opinions of laypersons, too, is valuable, even if only to assess the public legitimacy of the proposals. Nevertheless, it is undeniably true that most of the media gave disproportionate coverage to those supporting the amendment package, while those against it received considerably less airtime. Both sides of the referendum campaign resorted to erroneous claims, and Gözler describes these in detail in Chapter 3. The campaign against the amendments propagated the idea that the amendments would result in the abrogation of both the Republic and the unitary state, the latter of which would be achieved by the creation, through presidential decrees, of a federal state. This latter claim, as Gözler convincingly shows, has no basis because none of the amendments purports—even when read quite expansively—to establish federal units within the country (at 47–48). The author is equally dismissive of the first claim that the amendments would deal a severe blow to the Republic, explaining that democracy, not the Republic, is the victim of the amendments (at 44–46). From the author’s standpoint, this is understandable: Gözler defines “republic” as a concept utterly divorced from democracy, merely denoting the opposite of monarchy and hereditary rule. Here, Gözler fails to take note of the particular meaning associated with the term “republic” in Turkish legal and political discourse, often intertwined with general and substantive notions of democracy and the rule of law, and not merely an antithesis of hereditary rule.3 Read in this second and more expansive sense, contrary to Gözler’s claim, it is not unreasonable to argue that the amendments do deal a blow to the idea of Turkey being a republic. In the second half of the same chapter, the author criticizes what he perceives to be erroneous claims made by the campaign in support of the amendments: he focuses on the misuse of comparative law, specifically the American presidential system, as an aspirational model (at 56–70).4 Gözler shows that the claims of some presidential aides that the amendments would create an executive akin to the US president are untenable for a number of reasons. Some of these include the fact that the Turkish president can appoint justices to the Constitutional Court, judges to the Council of Judges and Prosecutors, and other high-level bureaucrats without the consent of the legislature, whereas in the American system, “the advice and consent of the Senate” serves as a significant check on the president’s power to make similar appointments. Moreover, in the USA, the federal budget must be approved by Congress, whereas under the new constitutional amendments, if the Turkish Parliament fails to approve a budget plan, the preceding year’s budget, adjusted for the new year’s inflation rate, automatically goes into effect, thereby stripping the legislature of a significant control mechanism. The author goes into further detail to show how, contrary to the assertions of the government, the new amendments bear no resemblance to the US system of government, which leaves the reader with deeper insights on the (ab)use of comparative law by politicians in the form of invocations of other polities’ constitutionalist systems in either shallow or inaccurate ways. Chapter 4 of the book deals with the question of whether the constitutional amendments can be described in David Landau’s terms as an instantiation of “abusive constitutionalism.”5 The author is ready to answer this query in the affirmative, chiefly because the amendments go against the two themes central to the idea of constitutionalism: entrenching separation of powers and ensuring fundamental rights and freedoms. Despite all this, Gözler espouses a cautious approach, arguing that only time will conclusively tell whether or not the amendments are truly abusive in nature (at 84, 99). This caution and the author’s belief in the need for a retroactive assessment of the amendments as only way to identify with certainty the abusive nature of the amendments serve to expand on Landau’s thesis, as it emphasizes the difficulty of exposing an abusive constitutionalist endeavor while still in the making, as opposed to identifying abusive constitutionalism ex post facto. Further, the author contributes to Landau’s analysis by broaching the subject of unintended consequences of abusive constitutionalism (at 99–104): according to Gözler, if and when authoritarians fall out of favor, the constitutional space conducive to repressive rule becomes inhabited by others, possibly by opposition forces, which, in turn, could make use of the generous tools of state power to perpetuate the repression, all made possible by the initial abusive constitutionalist undertaking by their predecessors. The final chapter discusses some procedural issues related to the referendum, ultimately concluding that there are valid reasons to call this a constitutional plebiscite rather than a referendum. According to Gözler, a constitutional plebiscite diverges from a referendum in two major ways: (i) plebiscites typically take place under antidemocratic conditions, and (ii) plebiscites usually turn into a vote of confidence for a single, charismatic person in power, as opposed to voting on a legal text (at 108). Given that the referendum took place under emergency rule, and there were numerous reported incidents of violence against campaigners opposed to the amendments, as well as statements by incumbent politicians equating the opposition forces to terrorists, the author concludes that the context in which the referendum was held was not entirely free and fair (at 115–122). Further, the author draws our attention to a particular violation of the Turkish Constitution that occurred during the parliamentary deliberations on the proposed amendments: in direct contravention to art icle 175 of the Constitution, which stipulates that all votes on constitutional amendments (including those votes on whether to put the amendments to a referendum) shall be secret, some Members of Parliament (MPs) from the governing party voted openly—a violation that is well-documented through many photographs, some of which are printed in the book (at 127–129). Gözler rightly asks if it is reasonable to demand from society at large to follow the law and the Constitution in a political setting where MPs, who take an oath to uphold the Constitution prior to assuming office, violate the rules themselves. Overall, the book serves as a courageous intervention, as it provides a concise and accessible summary of the procedural and substantive irregularities of the recent constitutional amendments that were put to referendum in a setting where most scholars are—understandably—hesitant to be expressly critical of politically high-stake matters such as this amendment package. The book provides at once a testament, one hopes, to a shift in the tone of Turkish constitutional law scholarship from one that is prosaic and distanced to a more lively and politically engaged way of writing, as well as an opportunity to develop our thinking on key issues such as abusive constitutionalism and constitutional referenda—topics with which comparative constitutional law scholars continue to struggle. As the author quotes, in 1748, the famous French lawyer Montesquieu, commenting on the need for separation among the three branches of government, wrote: “Among the Turks, where the three powers are united in the person of the sultan, an atrocious despotism reigns” (at 22). While Gözler quite pessimistic ally writes “[i]t is feared that what Montesquieu wrote of the ‘Turkish land’ in 1748 is about to become true in 2016’s Turkey” (at 23), one hopes—now with the passing of the amendments with less optimism—that the near future will somehow prove the author wrong.
Liseth Carolina Pineda Garcia, Edgar David Tenjo Macias
The main objective of this review article is to carry out a bibliographical study on the Decentralization of education and its impact on coverage and quality, with a comparative view between Colombia and some countries of the region. From the above, the following question was asked. Did decentralization allow progress in coverage and quality of education for some countries in our region? Due to the importance of education in the growth of the country and the region, it is important to carry out a study in which it can be verified whether or not the decentralization of education contributed to the coverage and quality of education. Therefore, a reading and analysis of the process of decentralization of the following countries were carried out: Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela, Chile, Uruguay and Colombia. Regarding the selection of the countries, this one was realized on the main characteristic that belongs to the Latin American region and that they have had similar political, social and economic processes. According to the information found and the analysis of the scientific articles on the topic of decentralization of education, the countries mentioned above were taken as sample in this article, in which the process of decentralization of education within each one was studied and How it was financed, with the above variables could be identified if said process contributed or not to the quality and coverage of education in the same region. In the case of Colombia, articles were included that included information on the quality and coverage of education in the last 20 years, where decentralization has been a State policy on this subject. In this way, it was identified that in all Latin America after the second half of the last century, administrative, political and fiscal organization processes began in each of the countries. One of the decisions was the beginning of the decentralization of power to get the state to reach each of the civilian populations and thus have greater access, efficiency, coverage and quality in education. In this case, education in these countries has permeated the process.
Resumen El proceso de descentralizacion colombiano desencadeno una serie de reformas y cambios institucionales que han incidido en el relacionamiento multinivel y las estrategias de integracion y de planeacion y desarrollo regional a lo largo del territorio nacional. Asi, cambios como la eleccion popular de gobernantes, la obligacion de gobernar por medio de planes de desarrollo y la Ley Organica de Ordenamiento Territorial prometian una mejor organizacion del proceso de planeacion debido a que introducian nuevas figuras para potenciar la cooperacion intermunicipal, la integracion regional y la justicia territorial. En Colombia existen 49 asociaciones intermunicipales, cuyos objetivos y propositos estan en funcion de problemas y necesidades comunes. Entre los logros generales de estas experiencias se encuentran: los espacios de dialogo entre los municipios, la intervencion de problematicas comunes mediante proyectos de inversion regional, asi como el mejoramiento de la planeacion y ordenamiento del territorio. Por otra parte, los desafios se concentran en el insuficiente financiamiento para la operacion y sostenibilidad de las asociaciones y el poco apoyo de los gobiernos departamental y nacional. Pero, las recientes regulaciones apuestan por un mejor proceso de ordenacion y planeacion del territorio basado en la diversidad de municipios que tiene el pais, aspecto que entraria a cumplir con los desafios del proceso de descentralizacion y la competitividad de Colombia. Palabras clave: Cooperacion intermunicipal, integracion regional, relaciones intergubernamentales, gobernanza, justicia territorial. Abstract The Provinces and the Metropolitan Areas in Colombia: Powers for Integration and Regional Development. The process of Colombian decentralization triggered a series of reforms and institutional changes that have influenced the multilevel relationship and integration strategies and regional planning and development throughout the national territory. Thus, changes such as the popular election of governors, the obligation to govern through development plans and the Organic Law of Territorial Ordering promised a better organization of the planning process because they introduced new figures to enhance inter-municipal cooperation, regional integration and territorial justice. In Colombia, there are 49 intermunicipal associations, whose objectives and purposes are based on common problems and needs. Among the general achievements of these experiences are: the spaces for dialogue between municipalities, the intervention of common problems through regional investment projects, as well as the improvement of planning and land management. On the other hand, the challenges are concentrated on the insufficient financing for the operation and sustainability of the associations and the meager support of the departmental and national governments. However, recent regulations favor a better outlining and planning process based on the diversity of municipalities that the country has, which would meet the challenges of the decentralization process and the competitiveness of Colombia. Keywords : Inter-municipal cooperation, regional integration, intergovernmental relations, governance, territorial justice.
Handloom industry in India is an ancient cottage Industry. It was a duck of golden eggs to handloom weavers. After agricultural sector handloom sector like holy cow to village people especially for women those who are weaving cloths with looms. This Industry became a part of Indian culture and tradition. The artisans of India are famous for hand spinning, hand printing and dying. They are accustomed to the art of weaving as a hereditary occupation. In 1980’s India occupied first position (84.78%), which was 3.90 mn, out of the world's total capacity of 4.60 mn. This industry provided employment almost 14 million people directly and indirectly in Indian decentralized sector (According to second handloom senses 2000–2001). The greatness and golden corona of handloom sector year by year slowly deprive its brightness. This down fall proved by Third National Handloom census (2009–10), there are 43.31 lakh (4.331 million) weavers in India which was indicating 40% down fall of weavers compare with 2000–2001 senses. Since two dictates handloom weavers facing competition from power loom sector and they are scaring with shivering hand by various difficulties like financial inefficiency Globalization, Material scarcity, etc. these problems stealing their bright feature and colored dreams. Weavers are looking for furtherance with their frigid eyes. Financial support is more essential to bring moonlight in their shrouded darkness life.
This paper presents an analysis of the decentralization process that has been taking place in Bolivia over the last couple of decades. It starts with a review of the legal framework that determines the distribution of responsibilities and financial resources to the sub-national governments (9 departments and 339 municipalities), and continues with an analysis of the evolution and distribution of financing to these entities between 2001 and 2013. It then proceeds to describe the resulting progress in social indicators between 2001 and 2012 at the municipal level, and identifies the main remaining gaps in basic services by 2012. Finally, the paper offers an analysis of the factors that are most closely associated with progress in the main social indicator used by the Bolivian government - the Unsatisfied Basic Needs index. This provides the basis for a final section on recommendations for public investment in Bolivia.
Land finance has become one of the most important issues in government management and it is drawing wide attention in all social sectors.Local government' s marvelous growing rely on the land finance is significantly affecting our national economic and social development.Looking for the reason why the local governments excessive rely on the land finance is the present focus of theoretical research and management practice,but the debate on factors of land finance is still unsolved.The existed research on the influencing factors of the implementation of land finance is still not systematic,it needs theoretical frame to analyze and verify.The discussion is even rare in the view of soft budget constrain.Based on the view of soft budget constrain,this paper construct a systematic frame of a local government' s influencing factors,and then explain the mechanism of the implementation of local government' s finance.The practical value of this paper is that it identifies the key decisive factors of local government' s relying on the land finance,and then it offers the experience for better understanding of land finance behavior of local government and improving the relative government institution.Based on the soft budget constraint theory,and starting from fiscal decentralization system and official promotion system,this paper constructs a systematic theory model of influence factors including fiscal decentralization,political promotion and social development factors.It analysis the affecting relationship of fiscal revenue decentralization,fiscal expenditure decentralization,financial self-supply ability,fiscal dependents,official promotion competition,official characteristics,economic development level,urbanization level,industrial structure and land area on land finance.This paper empirically examines the influence factors of land finance in china,using panel data from257 municipal-level governments(form 2003—2007).The main conclusion and innovative points basically shows in the following three aspects;Firsdy,based on the traditional fiscal decentralization theory,this paper discusses the effect of financial revenue and expenditure on land finance.And meanwhile the concept of financial self-supply ability and fiscal dependents are introduced to discuss the effect of policy burden on land finance.Empirical study shows that a notable positive relationship exists between the fiscal expenditure decentralization and land finance.And also shows that there is a negatively relationship between fiscal revenue decentralization and land finance.Except for this,this paper also shows that there is a positively relationship between self-supply ability and land finance.Secondly,based on the promotion tournament theory,and started with the view of promotion competition of the local official,this paper analyzes the effect of promotion competition and official characteristics on land finance.The results show that there is no notable relationship between the promotion competition and land finance.But the official ' s age has a negatively effect on land finance,and official' s tenure has inverse U-shape effect on land finance.Thirdly,this paper also analyzes the effect of the other social development factors on land finance.It finds that economic development level,urbanization level,industrial structure and land area all have a positively affect on local governmental land finance.The value of this research is that it broadens and develops the application of soft budget constrain theory in China local government,it even provides a new dieoretical view for land finance,also it enriches the research of the land finance of local government.The practical value of this paper is that it identifies the key decisive factors of local government' s relying on the land finance.And then it offers the experience for better understanding of land finance behavior of local government and improving the relative government institution.
After experiencing stagnation for much of the post-independence period, India has shown considerable dynamism in processes and outcomes since the mid-eighties. The post-reform Indian Economy has defied established economic patterns and in the process created a few paradoxes. This book aims to identify policies, institutions and incentives that have worked, and constraints that have emerged in India's growth prospects. More than underdevelopment, the book analyses the bottlenecks that emerge as change occurs, to minimize the chances of being trapped into the dated habits of thought. It takes opportunity from rapidly transforming Indian economy to analyse out-of-equilibrium behaviour and understand the dynamics of non-conventional growth path. Contributors to this volume - Aradhna Aggarwal is Senior Fellow, National Council of Applied Economic Research, New Delhi; Rukmini Banerjee is at ASER Centre and Pratham, New Delhi, India; Sanjay Banerji is Professor at University of Nottingham, United Kingdom; Laveesh Bhandari is Head of Indicus Analytics; Rekha Bhangaonkar is Research Associate at School of Management, IIT-Bombay; Rajesh Chakrabarti is Professor, Indian School of Business, Mohali Campus, India; Romar Correa is Reserve Bank of India Professor of Monetary Economics at the University of Mumbai; Ashwini Deshpande is Professor, Delhi School of Economics, Delhi; Mahendra Dev is Director (Vice Chancellor) at Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research; Meghna Dutta is a doctoral research scholar in economics at the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta; Krishna Gangopadhyay is a freelance economist based in Delhi; Ashima Goyal is Professor at IGIDR, has published widely on institutional and open economy macroeconomics, international finance and governance and has participated in research projects with ADB, DEA-GOI, GDN, RBI, UN ESCAP and WB; Raghabendra Jha (PhD Columbia, FWIF) is Rajiv Gandhi Chair Professor of Economics and Executive Director at Australia South Asia Research Centre, Australian National University; Shikha Jha is Principal Economist at Asian Development Bank, Philippines; Pram Jit is lecturer at Delhi School of Economics, Delhi, India; K.J. Joseph is at Centre for Development Studies, Thiruvananthapuram, India; Kale Sumita is Chief Economist at Indicus Analytics, New Delhi; K. Kanagasabapathy is Director, EPW Research Foundation, Mumbai; Saibal Kar is Faculty of Economics at the Centre for Studies in Social; Renu Kohli is Lead Economist, DEA-ICRIER Research Programme on G20, New Delhi; Kiran Kumar is ICSSR Doctoral Fellow, Centre for Development Studies, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India; Nagesh Kumar is Chief Economist of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia; Sushanta Mallick is Professor at Queen Mary University of London, London; Sriit Mishra is Associate Professor at IGIDR; Arup Mitra is Professor of Economics at the Institute of Economic Growth, Delhi; Deepak Mohanty is Executive Director, Reserve Bank of India, Mumbai, India; Rahul Mukherji is Associate Professor in the South Asian Studies Programme at the National University of Singapore; Rupayan Pal is Associate Professor, IGIDR, Mumbai, India; Shruti Pandey is Research Officer with EPW Research Foundation, Mumbai; Vijaylaxmi Pandey is Associate Professor at Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research; Abhay Pethe is Chair Professor at the Vibhooti Shukla Centre of Urban Economics and Regional Development, Department of Economics, University of Mumbai, Mumbai; Rohit Prasad is Associate Professor of Economics at MDI Gurgaon; T.R. Raghunandan currently advises state governments, international organizations, NGOs, and research institutions on decentralized public governance and anti-corruption; A.V. Raja is Professor at University of Hyderabad, India; T.T. Rammohan is Professor of Finance and Economics at IIM Ahmedabad; Bandi Ram Prasad is President, Financial Technologies Knowledge Management Company Limited, Mumbai, India; Francis X. Rathinam is Senior Fellow at Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER), New Delhi, India; Bibhas Saha is Senior Lecturer at the University of East Anglia, England; Jayati Sarkar is Professor at the Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai, India. She is the editor of the Journal of Interdisciplinary Economics; Subrata Sarkar is Professor at the Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research (IGIDR), Mumbai, India; Gita Sen is Professor of Public Policy at the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore; Anurag Sharma is Senior Research Fellow in Faculty of Business and Economics, Monash University, Australia; Parthasarathi Shome is Adviser to the Finance Minister of India; Soumyen Sikdar is currently Professor of Economics at IIM Calcutta; Ram Singh is Professor, Delhi School of Economics, Delhi, India; Siddharth Sinha is Professor, Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, India; P.V. Srinivasan is Evaluation Specialist at the Asian Development Bank; S. Sriraman is Walchand Hirachand Professor of Transport Economics, Department of Economics, University of Mumbai; Vaidehi Tandel is a PhD scholar at the Department of Economics, University of Mumbai; Wilima Wadhwa is at ASER Centre, New Delhi, India and University of California, Irvine.
In the past thirty years, a series of plans have been developed by successive Brazilian governments in a continuing effort to maximize the nation's resources for economic and social growth. This planning history has been quantitatively rich but qualitatively poor. The disjunction has stimulated Professor Mello e Souza to address himself to the problem of national planning and to offer some criticisms of Brazilian planning experience. Though political instability has obviously been a factor promoting discontinuity, his criticisms are aimed at the attitudes and strategic concepts which have sought to link planning to national goals and administration. He criticizes the fascination with techniques and plans to the exclusion of proper diagnosis of the socio-political reality, developing instruments to coordinate and carry out objectives, and creating an administrative structure centralized enough to make national decisions and decentralized enough to perform on the basis of those decisions. Thus, fixed, quantified objectives abound while the problem of functioning mechanisms for the coordinated, rational use of resources has been left unattended. Although his interest and criticism are focused on the process and experience of national planning, he recognized variation in the level and results of Brazilian planning. National plans have failed due to faulty conception of the function of planning. Sectorial plans, save in the sector of the petroleum industry under government responsibility, ha e not succeeded in overcoming the problems of formulation and execution thereby repeating old technical errors. Planning for the private sector has a somewhat brighter history due to the use of Grupos Executivos which has enabled the planning process to transcend the formalism and tradition-bound attitudes of the regular bureaucracy. Regional planning offers two relatively successful experiences, Sudene and the strategy of the regionally oriented autarchy. Thus, planning history in Brazil is not entirely black but a certain shade of grey. The major part of the article, however, is devoted to a descriptive analysis of the national planning experience. The plans included in this analysis are: The Works and Equipment Plan (POE); The Health, Food, Transportation and Energy Plan (Salte); The Program of Goals; The Trienal Plan of Economic and Social Development; and the Plan of Governmental Economic Action (Paeg). Using these five plans for his historical experience the author sets out a series of errors of formulation and execution by which he analyzes that experience. With respect to formulation, he speaks of a lack of elaboration of programs and projects, of coordination among diverse goals, and of provision of qualified staff and techniques. He mentions the absence of the definition of resources necessary to the financing of the plan and the inadequate quantification of sectorial and national goals due to the lack of reliable statistical information. Finally, he notes the failure to coordinate the annual budget with the multi-year plans. He sees the problems of execution as beginning in the absence of coordination between the various sectors of the public administration, the failure to develop an operative system of decentralization, the absence of any system of financial and fiscal control over execution, the difficulties imposed by the system of public accounting, and the absence of an adequate program of allocation for the liberation of resources. He ends by pointing to the failure to develop and use an integrated system of political economic tools in a mode compatible with the objective of the plans. The body of the article analyzes national planning experience in Brazil using these lists of errors as rough model of criticism. Several conclusions emerge from this analysis with regard to planning in Brazil and in developing countries, in general. Plans have generally been of little avail in Brazil because of the lack of a continuous, bureaucratized (in the Weberian sense) planning organization set in an instrumentally suitable administrative structure and based on thorough diagnoses of socio-economic conditions and problems. Plans have become the justification for planning. Planning has come to be conceived as a rational method of orienting the process of decisions through the establishment of a precise and quantified relation between means and ends. But this conception has led to a planning history rimmed with frustration, and failure, because of its rigidity in the face of flexible and changing reality. Rather, he suggests a conception of planning which understands it "as a rational process of formulating decisions about the policy, economy, and society whose only demand is that of managing the instrumentarium in a harmonious and integrated form in order to reach explicit, but not quantified ends". He calls this "planning without plans": the establishment of broad-scale tendencies through diagnosis whose implementation is carried out through an adjustable, coherent instrumentarium of political-economic tools. Administration according to a plan of multiple, integrated goals is a sound procedure if the nation's administrative machinery contains the technical development needed to control the multiple variables linked to any situation of socio-economic change. Brazil does not possess this level of refinement and any strategy of planning relevant to its problems must recognize this. The reforms which have been attempted fail to make this recognition as is true of the conception of planning informing the Brazilian experience. Therefore, unworkable plans, ill-diagnosed with little or no supportive instrumentarium or flexibility have been Brazil's legacy. This legacy seems likely to continue until the conception of planning comes to live in the reality of Brazil.