If one were taking stock of some of the significant events and developments which occurred in 1998, several occasions can be cited. For better or worse, these developments captured the pulse and imagination of the nation and had the people's attention focused momentarily. But there were also other important developments which occurred that went unnoticed, but do have real significance on the need for a new political dispensation and the future of democracy. One of such developments that merit attention is the idea of decentralization.
Decentralization is a powerful democratic concept which involves how societies are governed.
A society may choose to govern from the top, or choose to govern from below. This does not seem to be the case in past and present day Liberia. On the contrary, those that govern from the top down, as a matter of fact, are non-democratic and may exhibit authoritarian and totalitarian tendencies, which seems to be the case of Liberia today. Historically, two developments are relevant here as they relate to decentralization in Liberia. Tubman's unification and integration policies, and Doe's creation of additional four counties, thus bringing the total number of political subdivisions to thirteen.