Engaging Civil Society to Promote Democratic Local Governance: Emerging Trends and Policy Implications in Asia

This paper discusses a wide range of issues in engaging civil society to deepen and sustain decentralization and local democracy. It examines the concepts of democratic local governance and decentralization and issues in implementation of policies and programmes at the national and local levels. It presents CSO’s patterns of growth, legal frameworks, capacity, accountability and impact on democratic change in Indonesia, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, China, the Republic of Korea and the Philippines. It identifies emerging trends in civil society engagement and policy implications in Asia.