Elements for a Theory of Decentralized Governance

This year the Romanian Government has triggered a wide-ranging political process in order to revise the existing Constitution and, in this context, an ambitious program of decentralization-regionalization of the Romanian state administration. The article proposes a brief critical analysis of these generous objectives of the Government, and the means of achieving them, using a part of the academic literature devoted to decentralized governance. The two main sections of the article will attempt to address, in turn, and as realistic as possible, (1) the potential advantages of decentralized governance, and (2) some risks of this type of government, as they are described in the relevant literature of public economy.