Decentralisation is a worldwide phenomenon. Most states in the globe have adopted this policy since 1990s. But there is no single reason why those states adopted the policy. Some argue that this policy is applied for accelerating the democratisation process. Other say adopting the policy is for efficiency in allocating and distributing public goods and services. Does decentralisation policy achieve its goals?

This book attempts to answer that question by looking at the Indonesian case. Following the fall of the New Order government in May 1998 Indonesia adopted the decentralisation policy. As a consequence, Indonesia has transformed itself from being one of the most centralized states to being one of the most decentralized states.