Decentralised governance in a hybrid polity: localisation of decentralisation reform in Cambodia

This paper reviews the progress of the decentralization and deconcentration (D&D) reform in Cambodia. It revisits the conflicting positive and negative views on the achievements of the reform in the literature. The goal of the reform is twofold: promotion of local democracy and improvement of local service delivery. Both of these goals are theoretically related to the assumption that decentralization brings about various social, economic and political benefits through the enhancement of local government’s accountability and responsiveness, people’s participation in local development planning and improved representation of marginalized people. The findings suggest that there has been some good progress in the reform; however, the achievements are far from being uniform and linear, as is theoretically assumed. Instead, possible changes and achievements have been localized in the Cambodian hybrid political context and the general environment within which decentralization takes place.