| Summary: | Devolution, delegation and decentralization of power from central to local governments are increasingly important responses to ideological and fiscal pressures. Yet if the principle of transferring significant authority to local and community governments is clear and straightforward, in practice change of this nature can be problematic for reasons both political and administrative. Titis paper examines the efforts of the Government of the Northwest Territories (GNWT) at bringing about a large-scale transfer of governmental authority to small local communities through a "Community Transfer Initiative" (CTI). Th.is exercise is analysed from the perspective of the central policy-making structures and processes of the GNWf and from the perspective of one community, Cape Dorset, which experienced the largest and most successful transfer under CTI. The empirical setting for the analysis may be a very small community in a remote part of Canada, but the conclusions about the CTI and how it unfolded in Cape Dorset have wide applicability. The paper's key findings relate to the following: the need for both effective administrative machinery and stro~ clear political direction in achieving successful transfers; the possibility that "the process will become the product"; the complex and costly processes necessary to implement apparently simple policies when different jurisdictional levels are involved; the importance of developing realistic goals and of clearly communicating them; and the value, as well as the limits, of a pilot project approach
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