THE CHANGING STATE OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT: RESTRUCTURING FOR THE 1990s

Abstract

In the recent past, local government has largely been analysed as if its very existence were in danger from centrally inspired legislative reforms and financial controls. Such a starting point may make it more difficult to assess the changes which are taking place and which are likely to dominate in the 1990s. Three other possibilities are considered here. The first, is the notion of an ‘enabling’ authority; the second, the possibility of a shift towards post‐Fordist local government; and the third, the possibility of more corporatist or neo‐corporatist forms of politics at local level. It is suggested that the third is the most helpful approach for understanding the likely direction of change in the 1990s, and argued that changes within local government have to be understood in the context of wider restructuring of the UK state.

Public Choice Theory and the Reform of Local Government in Britain: From Government to Governance

“…Local democratic public accountability will remain as part of the enabling function of local government but will increasingly be defined by new forms of accountability relating to the fulfillment of contractual and quasi-commercial arrangements with contractors. residents, partners in the voluntary and commercial sectors and even with central government (Parkinson 1987, Stewart and Stoker 1989, Alexander 1991. Cochrane 1991, Hollis, Ham and Ambler 1992.…”

Governing from the margins: Queering the state of local government?¹

“…Rhetoric of the late eighties and nineties spoke of local government as Downloaded by [University of West Florida] at 23:50 03 January 2015 an enabler, supporting and facilitating services provided by other means. 52 Public provision also became increasingly residualized as those who could afford to do so turned to private alternatives. At the same time, the relationship between local government and populace was renegotiated; clients and service users became active citizens, on the one hand, and customers, on the other.…”

Changing Approaches to Urban Planning in an 'Entrepreneurial City': The Case of Dublin

“…Within this approach to urban renewal, local authorities act as entrepreneurial 'enabling authorities', drawing on a holistic notion of planning and using IAPs at the mechanism to draw down incentive funding for redevelopment, emphasizing their role as facilitative coordinators of the cross-sectoral implementation of planning strategies. The conceptualization of the role of planning envisaged here is integrative, proactive and exible rather than sectoral, reactive and regulatory (see Cochrane, 1991).…”

“…Thus, despite the tendency for local governments to be disempowered by entrepreneurial systems of urban governance, it is suggested that the new institutional forms and channels of communication of urban governance actually present opportunities which might be exploited to the advantage of local governments. By bringing their abilities to act as mediators and catalysts into a context dominated by central government urban policy initiatives, well-directed opportunism might allow local government planners to become more central to the process of policy-making and plan implementation through their unique possession of strategic overview together with local expertise and sensitivity to local interests (Cochrane, 1991;Stoker & Young, 1993). These capacities might enable local government planners to mobilize effective networks which could work in an integrated fashion towards achieving broad environmental, economic, social and cultural planning aims.…”