Designing a Local Self-government Model for the Islamic Republic of Iran's Provinces

Decentralization is an effective issue in the development of various countries. Since deconcentrated organizing pattern applied in the Islamic Republic of Iran has brought about some problems for the country, this research was implemented to provide a theoretical framework for a shift to decentralization. The grounded theory qualitative technique was utilized to perform this research. Statistical population consisted of experts who had acted as province governors and were knowledgeable and experienced enough in public management and local government affairs. After interviews were carried out with sixteen of these experts, theoretical saturation was achieved. Findings show that if elites can effectively define a legitimate identity for self-governing provinces by influencing political leaders, and if they institutionalize democracy in provinces by influencing citizens, there is hope that based on ethnical, religious, economic and regional circumstances in provinces, their self-governing can desirably result in such outcomes as public vitality promotion, income sustainability, communalism strength, economy improvement, and respect for the law and efficient public services, which all can eventually result in public governance strength.