Local Democracy, Democratic Decentralisation and Rural Development: Theories, Challenges and Options for Policy 1 Forthcoming Development Policy Review Craig Johnson 2 Rural Policy and Environment Group Overseas Development Institute Draft July 2001 Summary This article considers the challenge of encouraging democratic decentralisation in poor and primarily rural areas of the developing world. Its general point of departure is the assertion that the institutionalisation of democratic institutions and systems of accountability entails particular challenges for poor rural areas, in which political agency and access to information are frequently limited by traditional and modern-bureaucratic systems of hierarchy and control. Drawing upon comparative and case study material, it shows that whereas democratic decentralisation has improved levels of public participation and, in some cases, government accountability, its ability to address rural inequality and poverty has been relatively modest. Reflecting upon a series of ambitious cases of decentralisation, it then identifies the ways in which governments and non-state actors can lay the foundations for more robust forms of equitable and democratic development. 1 An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Emerging Issues in Rural Development workshop at the Overseas Development Institute, London, January 2001. Helpful comments were received from Simon Maxwell, Caroline Ashley, Daniel Start, Alison Evans, Frank Ellis, Jonathan Kydd and Stephen Devereux. The usual disclaimers apply. 2 Craig Johnson is a post-doctoral research officer with the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) in London. Correspondence can be sent to ODI, 111 Westminster Bridge Road, London, SE1 7JD (Email: c.johnson@odi.org.uk).