Devolution

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Devolution Louis E. Swanson Professor and Chair
Department of Sociology Colorado State University
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Devolution

• What is devolution?
• Why is it occurring?
• What are the challenges for Rural
  Development?

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What is Devolution?
Devolution refers to a broad spectrum of federal
programmatic changes that decentralize program
authority to provide greater partnerships with
state and local governments.
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What is Devolution?

• Devolution is not the de-evolving of federal
  policy to pre-existing programs, rather . . .
• Devolution is the morphing of federal policy
  into new program partnerships.

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What is Devolution?
While the spin indicates that devolution is a
thoughtful and progressive policy phenomena, this
decentralization process appears to be more
reactive than proactive.
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What is Devolution?
Devolution is in part politically driven by
general assumptions that the states and their
communities are better able to manage and cope
with local problems and needs. -- Sharp and
Parisi in Challenges for Rural America in the
21st Century
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What is Devolution? The less positive spin

• Devolution has been a decade-long process of
  the federal government shedding fiscal and
  political liabilities
• State governments are very uneven in developing
  partnerships with counties and municipalities --

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What is Devolution? The more positive spin

• -- . . . Every program bureaucrat and policy
  maker wants decentralization down to their level
  but not lower --- Congressional aide on
  devolution
• Devolution is not occurring in every sector of
  federal rural policy e.g.. environmental policy
  

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What is Devolution? The more positive spin

• Refocusing emphasis on locality- based policies
  and programs
• Decentralization is part of other local
  governance initiatives, such as privatization
  and enhanced civic participation.
  -- Warner in Challenges
  for Rural America in the 21st Century

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What is Devolution? The more positive spin

• Weve done some things like this before farm
  programs, New Deal planning (Farm Security
  Administration)

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What is Devolution? The more positive spin

• Conceivably could enhance
• relevance of federal policy to local
  conditions
• local democracy

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What is Devolution? The more positive spin

• Would require
• inclusiveness
• tapping and enhancing local social capital
• attention to diversity

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Some Challenges Confronting Devolution

• Public vs. Private provision of services
• Greater collaboration among counties in offering
  public service and contracting private services
• -- Warner in Challenges for Rural America in the
  21st Century

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Some Challenges Confronting Devolution
Inter-county cooperation would represent a shift
in local governance from innovations based on
competition to innovations based on
cooperation. -- Warner in Challenges for Rural
America in the 21st Century
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Locality-Based Programs Are Not Panaceas

• Uneven local capacities
• Uneven quality of social interaction social
  capital
• Structural constraints

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Locality-Based Programs Are Not Panaceas

• Possible increase in inequality among in local
  government levels of service
• Possible increase in spatial inequality among
  rural places

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Locality-Based Programs Are Not Panaceas

• Other considerations
• Generally, weak institutional support from Land
  Grant Universities and USDA
• Metropolitan programmatic biases at many
  non-USDA federal agencies.