Assessment of Evolution in Provincial Decentralization
3. Provincial autonomy
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Why hasn't system reverted to a two-tier national-district one?
Provincial decentralisation weaker than at independence, but not gone and may be fighting back
Provincial government survived the 1990s (the more radical proposals would have abolished it)
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The 2018 Inter-Government Agreement on Greater Autonomy.
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The latest CLRC-DPLGA proposals for the reintroduction of provincial assemblies
• The counterveiling force is strong tho variable support for provincial autonomy.
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Bougainville had key role earlier.
Bray (1982, p. 282): Bougainville 'won for the other provinces a decentralisation which some of them neither
wanted nor could cope with'.
Now Bougainville less influential from the 1990s due to the shift from "uniform" to "special treatment"
decentralisation (Spina, 2013)
But some other provinces want more autonomy, and the 21 provincial MPs can't be ignored.View entire presentation