Contents:1. An Overview of the Main Obstacles to DecentralizationJorge Martinez-Vazquez and Francois Vaillancourt2. Conceptual Problems in the Assignment of Functions in SEE: The Case of AlbaniaBernard Dafflon3. Decentralization in the Post-Conflict African Environment: Sierra Leone and Southern Sudan Bob Searle4. Challenge to Intergovernmental Fiscal Relations in Pakistan: The Revenue Assignment DimensionRoy Bahl, Musharraf Cyan and Sally Wallace5. Constraints to Effective Fiscal Decentralization in PeruEhtisham Ahmad and Mercedes Garcia-Escribano6. Reining in Provincial Fiscal 'Owners': Decentralization in Lao PDRJuan Luis Gomez, Jorge Martinez-Vazquez and Cristian Sepulveda7. Decentralization in Bangladesh: Change has been ElusiveWilliam F. Fox and Balakrishna Menon8. The Political-Economy of Decentralization in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)Kai Kaiser, Jean Mabi Mulumba and Tony Verheijen9. Decentralization in Burkina Faso: The Slow March Towards DevolutionEric Champagne and Ben Mamadou Ouegraogo10. Decentralization in Cambodia: Consolidating Central Power or Building Accountability from Below?Paul Smoke and Joanne Morrison11. Decentralization in Madagascar: A String of Unfinished RacesFrancois Vaillancourt12. Decentralizing Egypt: Not Just Another Economic ReformJorge Martinez-Vazquez and Andrey Timofeev13. Obstacles to Decentralization in Ethiopia: Political Controls versus Discretion and AccountabilitySerdar Yilmaz and Varsha Venugopal14. Tanzania's Fiscal Arrangements: Obstacles to Fiscal Decentralization or Structures of Union-Preserving Federalism?Luc Noiset and Mark Rider15. The Difficult Road to Local Autonomy in Yemen: Decentralization Reforms between Political Rationale and Bureaucratic Resistances in a Multi-party Democracy of the Arabian PeninsulaLeonardo G. Romeo and Mohamed El Mensi16. Sharing Petroleum Resources in Iraq: Obstacle or Foundation to DecentralizationGrant Bishop and Anwar ShahIndex