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This accessible text summarizes and explains the structure of British local government, focusing on key changes introduced during the Thatcher/Major years and initiatives implemented by the current Labour administration. While offering a detailed discussion of these policies, the book examines how local government has sought to respond in a proactive way to a range of important social, political and economic changes.
Readers are introduced to local government as a lively and complex site of political engagement. British local government is set in a wider political, social and theoretical context. Throughout, the authors argue that the attempt by the Thatcher and Major administrations of 1979-97 to push local government into the role of merely administrating centrally defined policies was largely short-circuited. While outlining and explaining these changes and their effects, the authors argue that far from being defenceless victims of central government, local authorities devised numerous strategies to protect their independent policy-making role. The authors go on to examine the proposals for change introduced by the Labour government and assess their implications for local government in the twenty-first century.
This book will be essential reading for lecturers and students of local government, politics, public policy and urban policy, as well as practitioners.
List of contents
List of Figures and Tables.
Preface and Acknowledgements.
List of Abbreviations.
Introduction.
Part I: The Context of UK Local Government.
Chapter 1: The Evolution of Local Government in the UK.
Chapter 2: Theories of Local Government and Local Governance.
Chapter 3: British Local Government since 1979: Two Decades of Change.
Part II: Local Government from Thatcher to Major: Three Dimensions of Change.
Chapter 4 The Financing of Local Government.
Chapter 5: The Changing Structure and Shape of Local Government.
Chapter 6: Local Government and the Private Sector.
Part III: Local Government Reinvents Itself?.
Chapter 7: Local Elections, Political Realignment and Change in Local Authorities.
Chapter 8: Getting Their Own Houses in Order: New Directions in Local Government Internal Organization.
Chapter 9: Global Problems, Local Solutions: Government and Sustainable Development.
Chapter 10: The Europeanization of British Local Government?.
Part IV: Sub-national Government under New Labour.
Chapter 11: Towards Regional Government? The Introduction of Regional Offices, the Moves towards Devolution and the Notion of Regionalism.
Chapter 12: Local Government under New Labour.
Conclusion.
Notes.
References.
Index.
About the author
Dr Hugh Atkinson is principal lecturer in politics and head of the Politics Division at South Bank University. His specialism is British local government and he is co-author of
British Local Government since 1979; The End of an era? Stuart Wilks-Heeg has researched and published widely in the area of local government and urban policy, and is the co-author of
British Local Government since 1979; The End of an era? and
Talking About Tomorrow: A new Radical Politics., he is Research Fellow, Centre for Sustainable Urban and Regional Futures, University of Salford.
Summary
A An important new text offering the most up--to--date overview and analysis available of recent changes in local government. A Offers an original approach to the area, arguing that in the face of attempts to severely limit their autonomy, local governments have developed new opportunities to maintain an active policy--making role.
Report
This book is a powerful and exciting statement of the creative autonomy of British local Government. It explores how local authorities have found ways of pursuing innovative strategies, even in adversity. It is well-informed and right up-to-date in the concerns it raises. The authors arguments represent a powerful corrective to the currently dominant academic and political "common sense", with its simple slogal of "modernisation". Allan Cochrane, Open University
The book has much to offer. Its promotion of the concept of creative autonomy is forceful, insightful, and a valuable contribution to the literature on local governance in the United Kingdom. Environment and Planning
"This is an excellent book combining the offer of a comprehensive and authoritative text suitable for advanced undergraduates and masters students with the advancement of an important thesis." Social Policy
