Local Government and Urban Politics

This second edition addresses developments in the practice and literature of local government. Fully revised and updated, "Local Government and Urban Politics" provides an account of the workings of the British local government system. Topics discussed include the structure of local government, services and organization, finance of local government, local councillors, pressure groups and trade unions. The national local government system central-local relationships and the local economy are also discussed and each topic is put in both a theoretical and political context.

Table of Contents:
Introduction: the nature of local government; the administration and politics of local government; the structural context. Part 1 The administrative context: the structure of local government - origins to 1970 - the Acts of 1888 and 1894, the early years of the modern system, the reorganization years; the structure of local government - 1970 to the present - England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, discussion - single-tier or two-tier?; the services provided by local government - the development of local government services, the distribution of services, the present position, discussion - compulsory competitive tendering;internal organization - the Maud Report, the Bains Report, the Widdicombe Report, political management, discussion - scientific management in local government; local government finance - local government expenditure, current income and audit, discussion - sources of local taxation. Part 2 The political context: local councillors, parties and people - the local electoral system, councillors, policies and parties, public awareness of local government, discussion - public participation in local services; group activity in the local political process - local interest groups, local government trade unions, discussion - industryail democracy in local government; the national local government system - national parties and local government, national collective bargaining, the role of professional associations, discussion - how significant is the national local government system?; central-local government relations - the Secretaries of State for Ireland, Wales and Scotland, recent models of central-local government relations, discussion - the controversy over the rate-capping in the 1980s. Part 3 The structural context: the allocation of responsibility for public services - water and sewage, health, transport, discussion - state education - public service or private commodity?; local government and the local economy - the urban programme, local economic policies, discussion - the new urban left and lcoal economic policy; theories of the local state - the constitutional approach, the pluralist and the Marxist approach, the dual state thesis.