Islamic city and village councils and decentralization in the Islamic Republic of Iran

Improving governance and its quality is main concern of reforms for achieve development in today's world. In the meantime decentralization is one of the main ways to improve the quality of governance. In the islamic republic of Iran, and in accordance with the articles of the Constitution, the Islamic city and village councils are the main trustees of decentralization. But investigating the genesis and transformation process of the councils and ultimately legacy left by these councils anticipats its defective institutional cycle towards more centralization, confiscation of powers and transformation of the character of local government, So with any reforms decreased part of the aura of authority that was given to this local governance until finally transform the council into a digestible and inefficient institution in the body of the existing administrative system. This inefficient institutional legacy has led to efforts for the next reforms were just reproduce and reconfigure the same path that the previous rules were determined. As a result, the inefficiency of the councils in decentralization becomes a chronic phenomenon and depending on the predetermined path . This paper with utilizing qualitative method and within the framework of historical institutionalism addresses this main question that why and how did the city and village Islamic councils fail to decentralization ?