Lawrence Pratchett

Local Governance under the Coalition Government: Austerity, Localism and the ‘Big Society’

Abstract The Coalition between the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, formally created on 11th May 2010, has introduced a range of initiatives which affect local governance, from the announcement of a new Localism Bill through to the abolition of the Audit Commission and the arrival of the ‘Big Society’ agenda. This article reviews the key policy announcements of the Coalitions first year and analyses the underlying themes and trends which are emerging. It argues that the Coalitions reforms do show traces of an ideological commitment to localism and a new understanding of local self-government; there is an ideological agenda which has the potential to deliver a radically different form of local governance. However, the reform process is far from coherent and the potential for radical change is heavily constrained by: conflicts in Conservative thinking and the failure of the Liberal Democrats to assert their own ideology; the political expediency of budget cuts during an era of austerity and; the problems of implementing an apparently radical agenda after 13 years of New Labour.

Local Autonomy, Local Democracy and the 'New Localism'

Most studies of local autonomy and local democracy fail to distinguish adequately between the two terms. As a consequence, there is an assumed bilateral relationship between them in which changes in one are always deemed to affect the other – particularly in policy formulations. This article develops a stronger analytical distinction between them by considering local autonomy in three separate ways: as freedom from central interference; as freedom to effect particular outcomes; and as the reflection of local identity. Each of these conceptualisations raises different challenges for local democracy and its relationship to broader forms of democratic practice. When used to analyse the recent emergence of the ‘new localism’ as a policy approach within Britain, this separation also shows significant limitations in current policies towards democratic renewal and central policies that are supposedly focused on outcomes rather than processes. Although localities are being afforded some autonomy, most initiatives are not supporting the enhancement of local democracy.

New technologies and the modernization of local government: An analysis of biases and constraints

In emerging structures of local governance the institutions of elected local government have the potential to fulfil three complementary roles: those of local democracy, public policy making and direct service delivery. Although ICTs (information and communication technologies) could effectively develop all three roles there is a systemic bias which favours service delivery applications and ignores others. This bias can be explained by reference to a network of actors who determine ICT policy in relative isolation from the other policy networks active at the local level. The ways in which this bias is perpetuated are explored through a case study of ICT policy making in UK local government. The implications of the systemic bias for the long-term future of local government, and indeed public administration, are both severe and profound. They suggest an over-emphasis upon performance measurement, a decline in democratic activity and a diminishing capacity among elected bodies to effect broad public policy initiatives.

Diagnosing and remedying the failings of official participation schemes: the CLEAR framework

Drawing on extensive research, the article proposes a diagnostic tool for assessing official schemes to encourage participation and discusses remedial measures that might be taken to tackle problems. According to the CLEAR framework, people participate when they can: when they have the resources necessary to make their argument. People participate when they feel part of something: they like to participate because it is central to their sense of identity. They participate when they are enabled to do so by an infrastructure of civic networks and organisations. People participate when they are directly asked for their opinion. Finally, people participate when they experience the system they are seeking to influence as responsive.

Local democracy and local government

List of Tables and Figures - Notes on the Contributors - Foreword S.Jenkins - Preface - Local Government Under Seige L.Pratchett & D.Wilson - Why Does Local Democracy Matter? A.Phillips - The Constitutional Status of Local Government M.Loughlin - Participation in Local Elections C.Rallings, M.Temple & M.Thrasher - Central Government Perceptions of Local Government G.Jones & T.Travers - The Demise of the Public Service Ethos L.Pratchett & M.Wingfield - Political Parties and Local Democracy C.Game & S.Leach - Quangos and Local Governance A.Greer & P.Hoggett - Reforming the New Magistracy J.Stewart - Redefining Local Democracy G.Stoker - A Power of General Competence for Local Government H.Kitchin - What Future for Local Democracy L.Pratchett & D.Wilson - Index

Policy Networks and Governance Networks: Towards Greater Conceptual Clarity

Networks are central to both the practice and understanding of contemporary governance. But there is a tendency to conflate and confuse different concepts. Concepts of ‘policy network’ (PN) and ‘governance network’ (GN) are often used interchangeably, with an assumption that the latter has evolved from the former. Such indiscriminate borrowing fails to recognise the different antecedents, and distinctive analytical offer, of specific network theories. The article develops a systematic distinction between PN and GN theories, enabling those engaging with networks to select from, and even combine, alternative perspectives as they confront a new wave of change in policy making and governance. The more sceptical account provided by PN theory provides a valuable counterbalance to the ‘optimistic’ character of the GN literature, which tends to underestimate the continued hold of (albeit multi-sector) elites on policy making, and overstate the extent to which networks represent a new ‘stage’ in the evolution of governance.

Local Democracy Online: An Analysis of Local Government Web Sites in England and Wales

This report from the field analyzes the extent to which local authorities in England and Wales have responded to the e-democracy agenda by examining their Web sites and assessing their potential to deliver democracy. The analysis of Web sites provides a powerful insight into how local government is using the Internet to promote democracy. Two aspects of Web site use are particularly significant. First, the analysis reveals the overall commitment to e-democracy in local government, as it is a measure of actual behavior rather than simply an attitudinal survey. Second, it highlights the types of democratic structure being supported and the values being emphasized in the implementation of e-democracy. The research demonstrated that the potential of the Internet for enhancing democracy is not fully exploited by local authorities and there remain considerable variations between different authorities.

The localism gap – the CLEAR failings of official consultation in the Murray Darling Basin

This article argues that the inability of the Commonwealth and State Governments in Australia to affect significant progress on water reform is largely a product of their inability to win the hearts and minds of rural communities; a failure to understand the importance of localism. Hitherto, the failure to bring the politics back in and integrate community voices into the process of policy development has proved the major obstacle to the achievement of a balanced social and environmental perspective in the Murray Darling Basin (MDB) and has served to reinforce traditional prejudices. This article makes four main contributions to the study of communities experiencing stress. Firstly, we present the case for deep local democratization in times of stress. Secondly, we build on a diagnostic tool – the Can do Like to Enabled to Asked to Responded to (CLEAR) model – to evaluate the effectiveness of the consultation process underpinning the Guide to the Murray Darling Basin Plan (MDBP) and apply it to the Forbes consultation. Thirdly and fourthly, we use the findings from this evaluation to identify principles of community engagement which provide the best possible conditions for effective social mobilization and the capabilities that are necessary to deliver effective citizen-centric policy outcomes in communities experiencing high levels of stress

The Demise of the Public Service Ethos

Public servants are an important, though often overlooked, element of modern democracies. The large bureaucracies which are a feature of all contemporary governments have a major role to play in sustaining democratic structures and practices, especially by providing for a mix of technical expertise and impartial advice within a pluralist framework of representative democracy. Within local government the 2.2 million full and part-time employees1 must be juxtaposed against the 20 000 elected members who are their political masters.2 Often better paid, better qualified, better informed (through professional networks and so on) and more experienced than their political counterparts, it is difficult to deny that local government officers make a significant contribution to the overall policy process in local authorities, and to the more general nature of democracy at the local level. It is important, therefore, that the behaviour of these officers is informed and guided by an underlying culture which supports and understands the political context of democratic local government.

Local Government under Siege

The establishment of the Commission for Local Democracy (CLD) in November 1993 reflected widespread concern not only about elected local government but about all forms of democratic activity at sub-national level. In a nutshell there was a fear that the ‘local’ element in our democratic mix had withered and was in danger of extinction. British politics had ‘become too exclusively national’1 with too much power concentrated in London. The centralist tendencies of post-war governments had, the CLD’s final report argued, become excessive.2 In order to examine these claims this book incorporates specially commissioned versions of ten of the sixteen CLD research papers. Additionally, the editors provide a critical analysis of both the diagnosis and prescriptions offered by the Commission.