It is widely recognized that accountability is key to ‘good governance’, the effective provision of public services and goods, and constructive relations between citizens and the state. Yet particularly in countries that are emerging from violent conflict formal accountability mechanisms are often weak or absent. In such settings decentralization has been assigned a pivotal role in the quest for improving governance – helping make it more inclusive and effective as citizens elect local governments and are closer to decision-making. But does decentralization lead to stronger accountability in post-conflict settings?
This paper, which is work in progress, focuses on Kosovo, and highlights that despite efforts by the international community to help establish a functioning system of decentralized governance, accountability in the country remains weak. This is due to the fact that:
- The international community has used decentralization as a peace-building tool, principally seeking to protect the rights of the Serb minority in Kosovo by creating a number of new Serb-majority municipalities – issues of accountability have been of secondary importance.
- International stakeholders have employed decentralization as a state-building tool without recognizing the strength of countervailing forces – widespread corruption; the absence of an active local civil society; and limited commitment by Kosovo’s new political elites to the process.
While decentralization has contributed to peace-building it has not strengthened accountability. Therefore, the paper asks whether citizen-driven, social accountability initiatives could help re-energize Kosovo’s decentralized state-building project.
