is any act in which a central government formally cedes powers to actors and institutions at lower levels in a political-administrative and territorial hierarchy.
Devolution by central government of administrative and financial power and responsibility to smaller democratic units at provincial, regional, district, zone, village or community level for the purpose of more accountable local government and greater local participation in decision making.
A general term referring to the transfer of political, administrative, and/or fiscal authority from the central government to subnational governments at the regional and local level. (See also devolution.)
1. A philosophy of organization and management that focuses on dispersal of authority within an organizational structure; 2. The separation of a business into more manageable operating units; 3. A handing down of decision-making authority to lower levels in an organization frequently not physically or logistically juxtaposed.
the extent to which decision-making authority and responsibility is dispersed downward WŒ ”r
organizational structure in which many individuals or subunits can make decisions
the process by which decision-making responsibilities are transferred from higher levels of government to lower levels and even to the schools themselves
an organizational hierarchy in which authority is delegated to divisions, functions, and managers and workers at lower levels in the organization. p. 391
Decentralization is the process of dispersing decision-making closer to the point of service or action. It occurs in a great many contexts in engineering, management science, political science, political economy, sociology and economics — each of which could be said to study mass decision-making by groups, too large to consult with each other very directly.