What is driving the resurgence of centralization? Lessons from Bermuda’s effort to abolish municipal elections
Debates over decentralization date back to at least antiquity and remain some of the most contentious in urban politics. While a consensus favoring greater decentralization appeared to emerge in the late 20th century, centralizing tendencies are again on the rise. This has been observed in many contexts in both the Global North and South (Aksztejn et al. 2024), including in my home province of British Columbia, Canada. In BC, questions regarding how to effectively respond to a worsening housing crisis have led provincial officials to override municipal authorities around issues of zoning and land use. But the resurgence of centralization is perhaps most notably evidenced in Bermuda, where recent efforts have been made to entirely abolish municipal elected representation. Those efforts are the focus of my recent paper in Urban Affairs Review.