Power, place and the New Civic Leadership

Abstract

In the years since Local Economy was launched in 1986, globalisation has diminished the power of place-based leaders. Place-less actors, meaning people who are not expected to care about the consequences of their decisions for particular places and communities, have gained extraordinary power and influence in the modern era. This growth in place-less power has not, however, erased the power of local democracy. Viewed from an international perspective, many cities are pursuing socially and environmentally enlightened policies that are improving the local quality of life, and Melbourne provides an inspiring example. Since 2010 the UK Coalition Government has worked to diminish further the power of elected local authorities in England. Current proposals, requiring groups of local authorities to plead for bespoke powers, take the super-centralisation of the state to a new level. A different way forward is to learn from examples of bold, place-based leadership in other countries. New Civic Leadership (NCL), an approach that values solidarity, community empowerment and democratic social purpose, is put forward as an alternative to both centralisation and the outdated notion of New Public Management (NPM).

The role of leadership in place-based development and building institutional arrangements

“…Local economic development is a multi-sectoral form of public intervention, and arena for substantial innovation, where leadership can set the agenda and builds the context for progress ( OECD, 2015 ). In addition, scientific literature has recognized the formal and informal role of business leadership in enterprising places ( Pugalis et al., 2014 ) and civic leadership ( Hambleton, 2015 ). Civic leadership is an approach that values solidarity, community empowerment and democratic social purpose, as an alternative to both centralization and the outdated notion of New Public Management ( Hambleton, 2015 ).…”

Territory, power and statecraft: understanding English devolution

“…In this instance, a 'window of opportunity' was opened by a constitutional entrepreneur in the form of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, who was very clearly personally driving the agenda (Hambleton, 2015;Ward et al, 2015). In many ways Osborne's role was to remove the 'executive blockages' that other members of his government placed in the way of the reform agenda.…”

“…Of the 52 countries they examined, two-thirds have witnessed an increase in their levels of regional authority. Such restructuring is viewed by commentators as a response to a variety of pressures including managing distinct subnational identities and cultures (Tang & Huhe, 2016), mitigating economic diversity (Martin, Pike, Tyler, & Gardiner, 2016), relieving the political and bureaucratic burden associated with centralization (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), 2015), and changing political views on the contribution of decentralization to achieving economic and social policies (Hambleton, 2015;Jessop, 2016). In recent years the UK has witnessed far-reaching devolutionary reforms to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and the introduction of an elected Mayor and Assembly in London (Flinders, 2009;Sandford, 2016b).…”

Creating the north from the sum of its parts? Research questions to assess the Northern Powerhouse

“…Can it ever truly be 'localism' if it is imposed counter to the wishes of the electorate? Developing Hambleton's (2015) earlier critique it can be argued that, rather than localism, what we are seeing is instead a 'centralisation on steroids' (170) whereby local elected leaders are placed in a position where they must enact stringent funding cuts to their own public services. As a result, local leaders, rather than the Government stand to become the lightning rods for public opprobrium to cuts to public services.…”