Improving local government

Local governments in the developing world are currently facing serious and urgent problems. Poverty, failings of infrastructure, and the lack of human and financial resources have impacted negatively on€local governments' capacity to perform their mandated functions. This volume€draws attention to the€prescriptions of public administration theory, and their differential impact on different contexts, in different parts of the world.€It challenges existing perspectives on local governance, that either overemphasize the€universality of solutions to local government problems, or segregate solutions, isolating them as relative or transitional -€often reaching no solution at all. The authors gathered here€argue that, whilst there is no one-size-fits-all solution, solutions for specific problems in local governance can undoubtedly be found.