J. A. Chandler - Local Government in Liberal Democracies: An Introductory Survey

Cover

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Local government in liberal democracies

Local government in Britain is often viewed as being bureaucratic and impersonal. In America or France local government can be genuinely local, and permit small communities to determine their future and their standards of basic public services. The quality and nature of local government varies widely between different countries.

A full understanding of different systems of local government can only be understood by comparing one with another. J.A.Chandler has drawn together a range of contributors who have outlined the structures and workings of local government in England and Wales, the Republic of Ireland, France, Italy, Germany, Sweden, the United States of America and Canada. This introduction to local government has been designed to provide the student with chapters that have a similar format in order to offer a framework for systematic comparisons of the different case studies. This book also includes a conclusion summarising major differences and relationships between the structures studied.

Local Government in Liberal Democracies has been written to meet the needs of undergraduate and A level students who require an easily accessible analysis of local government.

J.A.Chandler is Senior Lecturer and Research Leader in public sector management in the Business School of Sheffield City Polytechnic. He has published several books and articles on central-local relations and comparative local government studies.

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An introductory survey

Edited by J.A.Chandler

Routledge

London and New York

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First published 1993
by Routledge
11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE

This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2003.

Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
a division of Routledge, Chapman and Hall, Inc.
29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001

1993 J.A.Chandler

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical
or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or
retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 0-203-42059-4 Master e-book ISBN

ISBN 0-203-30662-7 (OEB Format)

ISBN 0-415-02233-9 (Print Edition)

ISBN 0-415-08875-5 (pbk)

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Local government in liberal democracies: an introductory
survey/edited by J.A.Chandler.
ISBN 0-415-02233-9 ISBN 0-415-08875-5 (pbk)
1. Local government. 2. Comparative government.
3. Democracy.
I. Chandler, J.A.
JS78.L653 1992 9213197
320.80dc20 CIP

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In the absence of a comparative context it is impossible to understand fully any social system. No one should believe that the political and social structures of their own country necessarily harbour the only, let alone the best, possible administrative arrangements. The study of government and administration is of little value unless it can lead to the development of better practice through understanding of alternative structures and methods.

In the arena of local government, for example, an ethnocentric Briton may be excused for believing that all local authorities are necessarily large impersonal bureaucracies that, despite a locally elected council, are largely concerned with administering functions on behalf of central government. The student would certainly not realise that, in other democracies, systems of local government may have more communally based structures and, nevertheless, be governed by politicians who have national standing. In the United States or France local government can be genuinely local and permit small communities of only a few hundred souls to be major actors in determining their future and their standards of basic public services. In France local politicians are respected representatives of their localities and may even hold ministerial political office within the state. The abject condition of local government in Britain is not a universal phenomenon.