The Reorganisation of British Local Government
Old Orthodoxies and a Political Perspective

John Dearlove's aim is to make sense of the changes brought about by the Local Government Act of 1972 and the discussion they generated.

John Dearlove (Author)

9780521294560, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 20 September 1979

320 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.8 cm, 0.47 kg

This volume was first published in 1979, just a few years after the Local Government Act of 1972 redrew the map of British local government. Local authorities were also encouraged to change their organization and methods of work; anxiety was expressed about finance, councillor 'calibre' and the credibility of the whole system itself; and neighbourhood councils and public participation in planning were introduced. John Dearlove's aim is to make sense of these changes and the discussion they generated. He does this by showing that both the official case for reorganization and the academic discussion of it have hindered their own understanding by uncritically accepting superficial traditional wisdoms which fail to reveal the concealed ideological positions behind reorganization. Thus, he aims to develop a truly political perspective on reorganisation which is rounded out and given greater depth by the insertion at appropriate points of comparative material drawn from American experience and studies.

Preface
1. Old orthodoxies and towards a political perspective
Part I. The Boundary Problem: 2. Democracy in local government
3. Efficiency and local government
4. Councillor calibre and the boundary problem
Appendix
Part II. The Management Problem: 5. From traditional administration to corporate management
6. Orthodoxy explored
7. Organisational change and the problem of implementation
8. Councillor and official calibre and the management problem
9. A political perspective on the contemporary reorganisation of British local government
References
Indices.

Subject Areas: Politics & government [JP]