The Policy of Decentralization in the Sudan: Control and Participation: Implementation, Implications, and Realities: A Gl

In recent decades, the issue of decentralization has become a catch word for both academicians and practitioners. Moves toward democratization in the developing countries have granted the issue of decentralization a priority status in the agenda of public policy of these countries. In its ideal-type academic models, decentralization looks as a benign scheme that aims at empowering the populace and burgeoning popular participation. However, there are always conflicts between the intentions of pure academic goals of decentralization and the agenda of the ruling elites concerning the goals of decentralization and its role in the process of modern governance. Countries with high levels of ethnicity and ruled by central elites, whose legitimacy is based on control of societal economic and political resources, decentralization may represent a menace to that legitimacy in that it may lead to fragmentation of power and division among ethnic groups. This fact actually summarizes the experience of the Sudan and its different political elites, notwithstanding their political orientation, and their policies of decentralization. Irrespective of the type of political regime, multi-party or military, the Sudanese political elites have always been reluctant to effectively decentralize the polity.