RENEWING LOCAL DEMOCRACY?
BOOKS OF RELATED INTEREST
MANAGING LOCAL SERVICES
From CCT to Best Value
Edited by George A. Boyne
LOCAL GOVERNMENT REORGANISATION
The Review and its Aftermath
Edited by Steve Leach
QUANGOS AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT
A Changing World
Edited by Howard Davis
FINANCING EUROPEAN LOCAL GOVERNMENTS
Edited by John Gibson and Richard Batley
THE POLITICAL EXECUTIVE
Politicians and Management in European Local Government
Edited by Richard Batley and Adrian Campbell
UNDERSTANDING THE SWEDISH MODEL
Edited by Jan-Erik Lane
Renewing Local Democracy?
The Modernisation Agenda in British Local Government
Editor
LAWRENCE PRATCHETT
De Montfort University
First published in 2000 by Frank Cass & Co. Ltd.
This edition published 2013 by Routledge
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711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
Copyright 2000 Frank Cass & Co. Ltd
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Renewing local democracy? The modernisation agenda in British local government
1.Local government Great Britain 2.Local government
Great Britain Administration
I.Pratchett, Lawrence
320.80941
ISBN 0 7146 5046 3 (hb)
ISBN 0 7146 8095 8 (pb)
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Renewing local democracy? the modernisation agenda in British local government / editor, Lawrence Pratchett.
p. cm.
ISBN 0-7146-5046-3. ISBN 0-7146-8095-8 (paper)
1.Local government Great Britain. I. Pratchett, Lawrence.
JS3111.R44 1999
352.140941dc21
99-40343
CIP
This group of studies first appeared in a Special Issue on Renewing Local Democracy? The Modernisation Agenda in British Local Government of Local Goverment Studies, Vol.25, No.4 (Winter 1999), (ISSN 0300-3930) published by Frank Cass..
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior written permission of the publisher
Contents
LAWRENCE PRATCHETT
HILARY ARMSTRONG
ANDREW GRAY AND BILL JENKINS
STEVE LEACH AND MELVIN WINGFIELD
MARIAN BARNES
COLIN COPUS
PETER JOHN AND ALISTAIR COLE
VIVIEN LOWNDES
LAWRENCE PRATCHETT
Lawrence Pratchett, De Montfort University
Democratic renewal is an ingenious title for the current programme of modernisation in local government. As a phrase it captures both the perceived problems with the existing institutions of local government and the ambitions of the current reform process. It suggests that local democracy is failing and that new proposals will address these failings in order to revitalise democratic practice. In this context democratic renewal has a precise meaning: it is about adjusting the institutions of local government to make them more democratic. At a broader level, however, the phrase also has a much wider attraction. On the one hand it is ideologically neutral, making it difficult for any political party to oppose the overall ambition of reform even if they take issue with some of its detail. Like motherhood and apple-pie democracy has widespread normative appeal and it follows that renewal of democracy has equally widespread support. On the other hand, the concept of democracy, and equally its renewal, is inherently ambiguous. Political theorists have long since struggled to define democracy in any way other than as a broad set of principles (Held, 1996; Beetham, 1996). Translating these principles into practice is continuously beset by problems (Stoker, 1996). As both a descriptive phrase and as an organising concept for the modernisation of local government, therefore, democratic renewal has the advantage of meaning all things to all people. The spirit captured by the phrase has universal appeal although its interpretation may vary greatly in different contexts.
This volume is concerned with both the general spirit of democratic renewal and the detailed proposals for modernising local government which constitute the agenda for reform. It brings together a collection of articles around the common theme of democratic renewal.1 Some authors concentrate upon specific aspects of the modernisation programme and examine the assumptions that underpin particular proposals and the opportunities and tensions that arise from them. Others take a more overarching view of the renewal process and are thus able to analyse the coherence of the plans and their relationships to broader constitutional change. Each contributor brings a different perspective to the debate, some of which are complementary to one another, but many of which are contradictory. It is interesting, however, that no contributor argues against the need for democratic renewal, or against the overall spirit which the phrase captures. Differences occur at the level of interpretation and implementation rather than in the overarching ambition. Indeed, while the critique of democratic renewal which this collection of articles develops is derived from many different perspectives, there is one over-riding theme which pervades all the contributions: that the governments proposals do not match their ambitions. All contributors to this volume share a common belief in the need for democratic renewal but question, in different ways, the ability of the current plans to deliver such renewal. Such criticisms are not necessarily negative and many of the contributors applaud the overall ambition of modernisation. In developing a critique of the current proposals and the factors which may inhibit their success, however, these contributors seek to engage specifically with aspects of the renewal programme as part of a broader debate about the role and value of local democracy. This collection, therefore, analyses the specific proposals for modernisation within a broad consensus of the wisdom for democratic renewal.
This introductory article has two main sections. First, it sets the context for the articles which follow by offering various definitions of democratic renewal. Second, it introduces the other contributions to this volume and explains the logic behind the order in which they are presented.
THREE DEFINITIONS OF DEMOCRATIC RENEWAL
The term democratic renewal can be used in at least three ways. First, it can be defined as a set of practical responses to clearly identifiable problems with local democracy. Such a definition focuses attention upon discrete problems (for example, low electoral turnout) and encourages new processes aimed at addressing these individual failings in local democracy (for example, the reform of electoral registration processes). Second, it can be used to discuss more systemic failings in the practice of local democracy and subsequent attempts to instigate broader political, cultural and constitutional change across society. This wider definition focuses attention upon current understandings of the role and purpose of local government and the nature of local democracy as a core component of modern government. Finally, it can be used in a normative sense to describe a new mode of democracy in which different components of representative, deliberative and direct democracy are combined to create a more open, participative and responsive polity at the local level. These definitions are not mutually exclusive of one another and, indeed, have in common the assumption that renewal is both necessary and desirable. They also share similar prescriptions about the way in which existing problems can be remedied. Where they differ is in the scope of reform that they propose and in the wider implications that they hold for democratic practice. This section explores each of these definitions in turn.
