Russia had that for 8 years under Yeltsin. Was it better off?
With an MA at Stanford and looks to be of Azerbaijani heritage.
Under Yeltsin Russia had not a decentralization (in a normal sense of the word) but an anarchy. Each governor run its province as his own fiefdom. It was bunch of mini-dictatorships under "Grandpa Yeltsin" as a formal head of state.
What I'm suggesting is the model under which federal government sets clear parameters for local self-government (i.e. separation of powers, electability of governor, etc). Local governments under reasonable and clear federal guidelines should run most of the local affairs. In current model almost all powers are concentrated with Putin Kremlin so any local problem is naturally blamed on Kremlin. Basically, proper balance of power is a quite a daunting task, but definitely not an unachievable one.