Janine Clark’s latest book is a welcome and much-needed addition to the growing literature on local politics. This book is impressive in its research and important in its implications and its scholarly contribution. As governments and international institutions increasingly turn to decentralization as a cure to many ills of development and underdevelopment—seeing it as a cornerstone of democratization—Clark sounds a warning that decentralization is no panacea. It is defined as the process of devolving powers from the capital to local and municipal areas, with democratically elected councils empowered to make key decisions, distribute resources, increase citizen participation, and share accountability in governance. But as Clark’s study makes clear, this is not quite the way it often works out, and at times “decentralization will be a tool to strengthen authoritarianism” rather than democratization (p. 288). The topic therefore needs more critical analysis and more empirical research, and Clark provides both in this volume.
This book provides a rich analysis of local governance and regime strategies in Jordan and Morocco. In terms of methodology, Clark uses a “most-similar-systems design” (p. 33) but then examines in detail the similarities and differences in the two cases. Morocco and Jordan are both monarchies, without the wealth of resources associated with the Arab monarchies of the Gulf. Both have elections for parliaments, both saw a royal succession in 1999 to a new monarch professing support for liberalization and decentralization, and both have suffered from indebtedness, insufficient financial resources, and difficult structural adjustment programs at the behest of the IMF. But of the two, Morocco has pursued for decades a strategy of decentralization, whereas Jordan, despite frequent rhetoric to the contrary, has maintained a process of centralization of power. Clark’s book examines why these states have taken different paths, despite their many other similarities, and what the outcomes have been and continue to be. These choices have strong implications for the stability of both states, especially as the more centralized Jordan now talks of embarking on its own decentralization project.
Clark’s book examines Moroccan and Jordanian politics beyond Rabat and Amman, and therefore beyond the capital-centric analyses that tend to dominate both scholarly and media discussions of national politics. Most of the book is rooted in extensive fieldwork in small towns, villages, and municipalities. Indeed, one of this book’s great strengths is the depth of its field research and interviews. In addition to weaving together a sophisticated and important argument about both centralization and decentralization, the book provides ample evidence of the views of those most involved in local politics in both Jordan and Morocco. Clark makes a point to share, via quotations, the views of mayors, municipal officials, government and opposition party officials, and civil society activists. The interviews make the broader argument come alive in the voices of Jordanians and Moroccans and make absolutely clear the great depth and breadth of fieldwork that Clark engaged in to complete her research.
Clark explores the different ways that either centralization or decentralization can be used to strengthen authoritarianism; she also examines the extent to which the agency of local actors and elites matters in overall outcomes. She is particularly interested in why regimes decide to decentralize or not, and then how they use these measures to strengthen their own ruling coalitions and their own regime’s security and survival. Although authoritarian regimes in general can be expected to resist international pressures to decentralize or devolve power, Clark shows that these measures may actually help preserve their rule. “This study,” she argues, “demonstrates how decentralization provides a greater stabilizing function for authoritarian regimes then does centralization” (p. 11).
The book provides in-depth analyses of the historical development of the regime and the state in both Jordan and Morocco, and it then turns to the different strategies of centralization and decentralization in both cases. At face value, Morocco has decentralized, certainly far more than Jordan has. But Clark’s book shows how the state in Morocco has achieved an “unofficial recentralization of power” (p. 7): economic and political reform processes have “disaggregated the state,” but they have not lessened the power of the regime (p. 283). To the contrary, they have strengthened it by allowing it to broaden its ruling coalition and bases of support both locally and nationally. Clark notes that similar outcomes have emerged in Jordan via more limited and inconsistent disaggregation of state responsibilities, specifically with the huge role that royal NGOs (RONGOs) play in the delivery of public services. The state, in short, still plays the largest role in politics, society, and the economy, even after decades of privatization and its more recent discourse on decentralization.
Clark’s comparison of Jordan and Morocco also highlights the vitally important roles of political parties. With far more developed and institutionalized party structures nationally and locally than in Jordan, Morocco’s parties were able to engage decentralization efforts via their own patron-client structures, while the regime was able to steadily broaden its ruling coalition by co-opting everything from opposition parties to civil society organizations, all in the name of decentralization and reform. In contrast, Clark argues, Jordan has a weak and underdeveloped party system, with electoral systems (a new one for every election) generally designed to weaken parties but reinforce representation for the tribal Transjordanians who dominate rural areas and municipalities, while curbing the power of the largely Palestinian Jordanian cities.
These implications matter not only for local politics and the delivery of basic services but also for stability at the core of the state itself. Clark argues that “while decentralization in Morocco offers pro-regime elites increased access to resources, centralization in Jordan has consistently reduced access by the very elites considered the bedrock of regime support” (p. 196). She continues, “Yet in a context of shrinking resources and a crisis in municipal service provision, particularly in rural Transjordanian-dominated municipalities, the regime’s strategy of centralization has exacerbated the competition between tribes and fragmented them along clan and family lines” (p. 284). Clark notes that these previously bedrock communities of regime support are increasingly in crisis, and hence so is the regime. This carries rather stark implications for governance and stability in the kingdom. Jordan’s ruling bargain—a monarchical regime that has based its power on support from tribal Transjordanians—works less and less well as time goes on. Clark argues that the combination of centralization, persistent economic and fiscal crises, and the prevalence of wasta (personal influence) networks in Jordan serves to continually destabilize the state and society, increasing divisions even within and between the Transjordanian tribal communities who make up most of Jordan’s municipalities. This is not necessarily a new phenomenon and seems to have been part of the protests of 1989, 2001, and beyond; yet it may be getting steadily worse, as seen in the many protests during and after the 2011 “Arab Spring” period.
These findings underscore the differences in strategies and outcomes of the two cases. Clark notes, “Decentralization is far more stabilizing vis-à-vis the regime in Morocco than centralization is vis-à-vis the monarchy in Jordan. While in Jordan, elites have few to no new avenues for patronage and compete against each other for shrinking resources, decentralization in Morocco offers local elites new opportunities to access resources and maintain patron-client ties.” (p. 238)
Having compared in exhaustive detail politics and policy in Jordan and Morocco, Clark provides arguments that transcend these cases and indeed can be applied across the Middle East and beyond. The findings, in short, are in no way limited to these two countries or their regime types. This book is an excellent contribution to the literatures on local and municipal politics, authoritarian survival, and comparative political and economic development. It is rich both theoretically and empirically and will be of great interest to any student or scholar of comparative politics.
