This book's reviews:
"This is a splendid book. The authors combine wide reading in the literature on decentralization with careful, nuanced analyses of African cases. They deal authorita-tively with the implications of decentralization for the reduction of poverty and the management or mitigation of conflict. The complexities and ambiguities that attend experiments with decentralization are explained clearly and perceptively..." (James Manor, ICS) Continue reading this review in African Affairs.
"Decentralization in Africa offers a range of well-researched and thought-provoking perspectives on the impact of decentralization reforms undertaken in Uganda, Malawi, Ghana, Tanzania, South Africa, and Rwanda. The focus of the whole book is effectively divided in two, allowing the authors to probe two of the main aims of decentralization reforms – poverty reduction and conflict resolution. The introduction and the conclusion, both authored by Crawford and Hartmann, are full of useful insights and are recommended reading for students, practitioners, and academic experts alike. The introduction is an excellent discussion of the many variations of decentralization currently being practiced and includes an appropriately critical overview of the state of the discipline. The conclusion also does a very good job of summarizing the main arguments arising from the case-study chapters and placing them in comparative perspective, providing the casual reader a concise summary of the key take-away points. ... this is a very useful addition to the literature, and essential reading for anyone labouring under the misapprehension that decentralization offers a straightforward solution to the challenges of democratization and development in contemporary Africa." (Nic Cheeseman, Oxford) Read this review in Democratization.
(2001) (editor, with Dieter Nohlen and Florian Grotz) Elections in Asia and the Pacific. A Data Handbook. Vol. II: South East Asia, East Asia, and the South Pacific. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
(1999) Ethnizität, Präsidentschaftswahlen und Demokratie. Ein Beitrag zur Rolle von politischen Institutionen in den Demokratisierungsprozessen Afrikas, Hamburg: Institut für Afrika-Kunde (Focus - Papiere No.13). (download)