| In many post-Soviet nations, central governments are transferring significant service delivery responsibilities to subnational governments. At the same time, subnational governments are independently exercising decision-making powers in new policy areas. Because the citizens of these post-Soviet nations increasingly rely on subnational governments for basic public goods and services, research is needed to understand what factors affect subnational government decision-making and performance.;In this dissertation I examine the influence of a variety of factors on local government decision-making and performance in Ukraine. I argue that decision-making and performance are a function of positive and negative incentives in the decision-making environment of the local government and the organizational capacity of the local government to undertake and implement strategic decisions. I utilize both qualitative and quantitative methodologies to examine the decision-making and performance of local governments in Ukraine. In terms of decision-making, I examine why some local governments decide to implement more taxes and fees than other local governments, and why some local governments decide to contract out for public services in an effort to reduce costs when others do not. In terms of performance, I focus small enterprise privatization, a responsibility that has been transferred to local governments by the central government.;The findings of my research confirm that the local government's decision-making environment and factors internal to the local government affect decision-making and performance. Positive and negative incentives that result from changes in the local government's intergovernmental, political, and economic environment create the stimuli for decisions, and organizational capacity factors condition the ability of the local government to strategically respond to these incentives.;These findings have implications for both research and practice. In addition to research on subnational government decision-making and performance, these findings have implications for territorial reorganization, political and economic reform, and subnational government budgeting and finance. In terms of practice, these findings have implications for central government policy-makers designing intergovernmental systems, subnational government officials engaged in policy-making, and Western technical assistance organizations consulting with both central and subnational government officials in transitioning nations. |
