Steytler, Nicode Visser, JaapWilliams, Robert2019-08-192019-08-192012Steytler, N. de Visser, J. and Williams, R. (2012). 'Unfunded Mandates: directing subnational governments' in G Färber (ed). Governing from the center: The influence of the federal/central government on subnational governments. Deutsche Förschungsinstitut fur Öffentlichen Verwaltung 135- 156978-3-941738-07-2http://hdl.handle.net/10566/4852Unfounded mandates are an extreme manifestation of the phenomenon of governing from the centre; the federal government through various strategies imposes national mandates on state and local governments at the expense of the latter. Unsurprising in federal systems, state and local governments object to unfunded mandates because, first, they shrink their policy space, and, second, limit their expenditure choices, and ultimately subnational governments' accountability to their electorates. They establish a hierarchy of authority that sits uncomfortably with federal notions of self-rule by subnational governments.enUnfunded mandateSubnational governmentSouth AfricaCentral governmentFederal governmentBook chapter