This article introduces a collection of papers that provide empirical studies of the impacts that result from changes to established modes of governance: in particular, decentralizing the scale at which state institutions operate or the privatization of service delivery. We critically assess the claims made for "good governance" reforms in the light of these studies. Altering the scale, and the style, of governance has inevitable consequences for power structures, institutions, livelihoods, and physical landscapes. We offer a framework for analyzing these consequences, focusing on the temporal and scale dimensions of political and environmental decentralization and changes to established modes of governance.