Local government in Europe: Retrenchment, restructuring and British exceptionalism

West European Politics

Volumn 20, Issue 3, 1997, Pages 134-163

  Clark, David ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

GOVERNANCE APPROACH; LOCAL GOVERNMENT; NATIONAL POLITICS;

EUROPE;

EID: 0031410269     PISSN: 01402382     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/01402389708425208     Document Type: Review

References (128)

1. Understood here in the broad sense of 'elected sub-national government', to include the French regions and Swedish counties (regions).
2. A Peltigrew. L. McKee and E. Ferlie, 'Understanding change in the NHS', Public Administration 66/3 (Aug. 1988) pp.297-317.
3. Regulation theory attributes the crisis of the welfare state to the breakdown of a particular regime of accumulation, Fordism, which had enabled economic growth to be maintained with reasonable stability over the relatively long period of the post-war boom - the so-called trente glorieuses (1945-75). The French 'regulationist' school of political economy developed in the 1970s to explain both the ability of individual regimes of capital accumulation (specifically, Fordism) to secure a long period of stability and their inherent tendency to instability, crisis and change. A number of writers have made use of the 'regulation approach' to relate the current period of local government restructuring to the crisis of Fordism. In doing so, they interpret local government restructuring as part of a wider political project of bringing together a set of mutually supporting institutions and social relations (a new mode of regulation) to secure the conditions for renewed, sustainable economic growth. See, inter alia: M. Geddes, 'The capitalist state and the local economy: "restructuring for labour" and beyond'. Capital and Class 35 (1988) pp.85-120; M Goodwin, S. Duncan and S. Halford, 'Regulation theory, the local state, and the transition of urban polities', Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 11 (1993) pp.67-88; J Painter, 'Regulation theory and local government'. Local Government Studies 17/6 (Nov./Dec. 1991) pp.23-44 and 'Regulation theory and post-Fordism', in D. Judge, G. Stoker and H. Wolman (eds.) Theories of Urban Politics (London: Sage 1995); G. Stoker, 'Creating a local government for a post-Fordist society: the Thatcherite project'. in J. Stewart and G. Stoker (eds,) The Future of Local Government (Basingstoke: Macmillan 1989); 'Regulation theory, local government and the transition from Fordism', in D. King and J. Pierre (eds.) Challenges to Local Government (London: Sage 1990).
4. Regulation theory attributes the crisis of the welfare state to the breakdown of a particular regime of accumulation, Fordism, which had enabled economic growth to be maintained with reasonable stability over the relatively long period of the post-war boom - the so-called trente glorieuses (1945-75). The French 'regulationist' school of political economy developed in the 1970s to explain both the ability of individual regimes of capital accumulation (specifically, Fordism) to secure a long period of stability and their inherent tendency to instability, crisis and change. A number of writers have made use of the 'regulation approach' to relate the current period of local government restructuring to the crisis of Fordism. In doing so, they interpret local government restructuring as part of a wider political project of bringing together a set of mutually supporting institutions and social relations (a new mode of regulation) to secure the conditions for renewed, sustainable economic growth. See, inter alia: M. Geddes, 'The capitalist state and the local economy: "restructuring for labour" and beyond'. Capital and Class 35 (1988) pp.85-120; M Goodwin, S. Duncan and S. Halford, 'Regulation theory, the local state, and the transition of urban polities', Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 11 (1993) pp.67-88; J Painter, 'Regulation theory and local government'. Local Government Studies 17/6 (Nov./Dec. 1991) pp.23-44 and 'Regulation theory and post-Fordism', in D. Judge, G. Stoker and H. Wolman (eds.) Theories of Urban Politics (London: Sage 1995); G. Stoker, 'Creating a local government for a post-Fordist society: the Thatcherite project'. in J. Stewart and G. Stoker (eds,) The Future of Local Government (Basingstoke: Macmillan 1989); 'Regulation theory, local government and the transition from Fordism', in D. King and J. Pierre (eds.) Challenges to Local Government (London: Sage 1990).
5. Regulation theory attributes the crisis of the welfare state to the breakdown of a particular regime of accumulation, Fordism, which had enabled economic growth to be maintained with reasonable stability over the relatively long period of the post-war boom - the so-called trente glorieuses (1945-75). The French 'regulationist' school of political economy developed in the 1970s to explain both the ability of individual regimes of capital accumulation (specifically, Fordism) to secure a long period of stability and their inherent tendency to instability, crisis and change. A number of writers have made use of the 'regulation approach' to relate the current period of local government restructuring to the crisis of Fordism. In doing so, they interpret local government restructuring as part of a wider political project of bringing together a set of mutually supporting institutions and social relations (a new mode of regulation) to secure the conditions for renewed, sustainable economic growth. See, inter alia: M. Geddes, 'The capitalist state and the local economy: "restructuring for labour" and beyond'. Capital and Class 35 (1988) pp.85-120; M Goodwin, S. Duncan and S. Halford, 'Regulation theory, the local state, and the transition of urban polities', Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 11 (1993) pp.67-88; J Painter, 'Regulation theory and local government'. Local Government Studies 17/6 (Nov./Dec. 1991) pp.23-44 and 'Regulation theory and post-Fordism', in D. Judge, G. Stoker and H. Wolman (eds.) Theories of Urban Politics (London: Sage 1995); G. Stoker, 'Creating a local government for a post-Fordist society: the Thatcherite project'. in J. Stewart and G. Stoker (eds,) The Future of Local Government (Basingstoke: Macmillan 1989); 'Regulation theory, local government and the transition from Fordism', in D. King and J. Pierre (eds.) Challenges to Local Government (London: Sage 1990).
6. Regulation theory attributes the crisis of the welfare state to the breakdown of a particular regime of accumulation, Fordism, which had enabled economic growth to be maintained with reasonable stability over the relatively long period of the post-war boom - the so-called trente glorieuses (1945-75). The French 'regulationist' school of political economy developed in the 1970s to explain both the ability of individual regimes of capital accumulation (specifically, Fordism) to secure a long period of stability and their inherent tendency to instability, crisis and change. A number of writers have made use of the 'regulation approach' to relate the current period of local government restructuring to the crisis of Fordism. In doing so, they interpret local government restructuring as part of a wider political project of bringing together a set of mutually supporting institutions and social relations (a new mode of regulation) to secure the conditions for renewed, sustainable economic growth. See, inter alia: M. Geddes, 'The capitalist state and the local economy: "restructuring for labour" and beyond'. Capital and Class 35 (1988) pp.85-120; M Goodwin, S. Duncan and S. Halford, 'Regulation theory, the local state, and the transition of urban polities', Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 11 (1993) pp.67-88; J Painter, 'Regulation theory and local government'. Local Government Studies 17/6 (Nov./Dec. 1991) pp.23-44 and 'Regulation theory and post-Fordism', in D. Judge, G. Stoker and H. Wolman (eds.) Theories of Urban Politics (London: Sage 1995); G. Stoker, 'Creating a local government for a post-Fordist society: the Thatcherite project'. in J. Stewart and G. Stoker (eds,) The Future of Local Government (Basingstoke: Macmillan 1989); 'Regulation theory, local government and the transition from Fordism', in D. King and J. Pierre (eds.) Challenges to Local Government (London: Sage 1990).
7. Regulation theory attributes the crisis of the welfare state to the breakdown of a particular regime of accumulation, Fordism, which had enabled economic growth to be maintained with reasonable stability over the relatively long period of the post-war boom - the so-called trente glorieuses (1945-75). The French 'regulationist' school of political economy developed in the 1970s to explain both the ability of individual regimes of capital accumulation (specifically, Fordism) to secure a long period of stability and their inherent tendency to instability, crisis and change. A number of writers have made use of the 'regulation approach' to relate the current period of local government restructuring to the crisis of Fordism. In doing so, they interpret local government restructuring as part of a wider political project of bringing together a set of mutually supporting institutions and social relations (a new mode of regulation) to secure the conditions for renewed, sustainable economic growth. See, inter alia: M. Geddes, 'The capitalist state and the local economy: "restructuring for labour" and beyond'. Capital and Class 35 (1988) pp.85-120; M Goodwin, S. Duncan and S. Halford, 'Regulation theory, the local state, and the transition of urban polities', Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 11 (1993) pp.67-88; J Painter, 'Regulation theory and local government'. Local Government Studies 17/6 (Nov./Dec. 1991) pp.23-44 and 'Regulation theory and post-Fordism', in D. Judge, G. Stoker and H. Wolman (eds.) Theories of Urban Politics (London: Sage 1995); G. Stoker, 'Creating a local government for a post-Fordist society: the Thatcherite project'. in J. Stewart and G. Stoker (eds,) The Future of Local Government (Basingstoke: Macmillan 1989); 'Regulation theory, local government and the transition from Fordism', in D. King and J. Pierre (eds.) Challenges to Local Government (London: Sage 1990).
8. Regulation theory attributes the crisis of the welfare state to the breakdown of a particular regime of accumulation, Fordism, which had enabled economic growth to be maintained with reasonable stability over the relatively long period of the post-war boom - the so-called trente glorieuses (1945-75). The French 'regulationist' school of political economy developed in the 1970s to explain both the ability of individual regimes of capital accumulation (specifically, Fordism) to secure a long period of stability and their inherent tendency to instability, crisis and change. A number of writers have made use of the 'regulation approach' to relate the current period of local government restructuring to the crisis of Fordism. In doing so, they interpret local government restructuring as part of a wider political project of bringing together a set of mutually supporting institutions and social relations (a new mode of regulation) to secure the conditions for renewed, sustainable economic growth. See, inter alia: M. Geddes, 'The capitalist state and the local economy: "restructuring for labour" and beyond'. Capital and Class 35 (1988) pp.85-120; M Goodwin, S. Duncan and S. Halford, 'Regulation theory, the local state, and the transition of urban polities', Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 11 (1993) pp.67-88; J Painter, 'Regulation theory and local government'. Local Government Studies 17/6 (Nov./Dec. 1991) pp.23-44 and 'Regulation theory and post-Fordism', in D. Judge, G. Stoker and H. Wolman (eds.) Theories of Urban Politics (London: Sage 1995); G. Stoker, 'Creating a local government for a post-Fordist society: the Thatcherite project'. in J. Stewart and G. Stoker (eds,) The Future of Local Government (Basingstoke: Macmillan 1989); 'Regulation theory, local government and the transition from Fordism', in D. King and J. Pierre (eds.) Challenges to Local Government (London: Sage 1990).
9. See B. Jessop, 'The welfare state in the transition from Fordism to Post-Fordism', in B. Jessop et al. The Politics of Flexibility. Restructuring Stale and Industry in Britain, Germany and Scandinavia (Aldershot: Elgar 1991) and 'The transition to post-Fordism and the Schumpeterian workfare state', in R. Burrows and B, Loader (eds.) Towards a Post-Fordist Welfare State? (London: Routledge 1994). Many of the changes identified with the emergence of the 'post-Fordist welfare state' impact directly on local government, and are consistent with the argument that new forms of political and institutional regulation are in process of development at the level of the local state. As capital has become more internationally mobile, so nationally administered territorial development policies have been unable to even out growing spatial economic disparities between localities. Local governments in many countries have come to assume increasing responsibility for managing the spatial and social consequences of economic restructuring, actively promoting growth-oriented local economic development policies. New forms of urban politics are also in evidence, as new social movements, concerned with such issues as urban land use, transportation, housing and the environment, have emerged in cities in opposition to growth policies.
10. See B. Jessop, 'The welfare state in the transition from Fordism to Post-Fordism', in B. Jessop et al. The Politics of Flexibility. Restructuring Stale and Industry in Britain, Germany and Scandinavia (Aldershot: Elgar 1991) and 'The transition to post-Fordism and the Schumpeterian workfare state', in R. Burrows and B, Loader (eds.) Towards a Post-Fordist Welfare State? (London: Routledge 1994). Many of the changes identified with the emergence of the 'post-Fordist welfare state' impact directly on local government, and are consistent with the argument that new forms of political and institutional regulation are in process of development at the level of the local state. As capital has become more internationally mobile, so nationally administered territorial development policies have been unable to even out growing spatial economic disparities between localities. Local governments in many countries have come to assume increasing responsibility for managing the spatial and social consequences of economic restructuring, actively promoting growth-oriented local economic development policies. New forms of urban politics are also in evidence, as new social movements, concerned with such issues as urban land use, transportation, housing and the environment, have emerged in cities in opposition to growth policies.
11. P. Hoggett, 'A new management in the public sector?' Policy and Politics 19/4 (1991) pp.243-56; C. Hood and M. Jackson, Administrative Argument (Aldershot: Dartmouth 1991); C. Pollitt, Managerialism and the Public Services, 2nd ed. (Oxford: Blackwell 1993).
12. P. Hoggett, 'A new management in the public sector?' Policy and Politics 19/4 (1991) pp.243-56; C. Hood and M. Jackson, Administrative Argument (Aldershot: Dartmouth 1991); C. Pollitt, Managerialism and the Public Services, 2nd ed. (Oxford: Blackwell 1993).
13. P. Hoggett, 'A new management in the public sector?' Policy and Politics 19/4 (1991) pp.243-56; C. Hood and M. Jackson, Administrative Argument (Aldershot: Dartmouth 1991); C. Pollitt, Managerialism and the Public Services, 2nd ed. (Oxford: Blackwell 1993).
14. For example, Burrows and Loader (note 4); N. Gilbert, R. Burrows and A. Pollert (eds.) Fordism and Flexibility: Divisions and Change (Basingstoke: Macmillan 1992).
15. P. Pierson, Dismantling the Welfare State? (Cambridge: CUP 1994) p.16.
16. C. Hood, 'The "new public management" in the 1980s: variations on a theme'. Accounting, Organisations and Society 20, 2/3 (1995) pp.93-109.
17. Lack of space precludes further elaboration of the complex nature of the pattern of variation in the centrality accorded to elected local government as provider of collective consumption in the 'Fordist' state, both cross-nationally and within the same country over time with regard to loss or gain of functions.
18. R. Bennett, 'European local government systems', in R. Bennett (ed.) Local Government in the New Europe (London: Bellhaven 1993).
19. The Jacobin tradition rests on a pervasive republican fear of disloyalty from localities, regions and subcultures that are not under firm central control. In France, there are over 36,000 communes or municipalités covering all settlements from large cities to tiny hamlets, with an average population of 1320, although over half the population lives in the 800 communes with over 10,000 inhabitants. Each commune has the same formal legal status and system of government, with a separate political executive in the person of the maire (mayor). The territorial jurisdictions of the state - in France, the départements (departments) - are geographically larger and hierarchically superior to elected local government, in formal administrative terms See D. Lorrain, 'Briefing note: local government in France', in D. Hirsch (ed.) A Positive Role for Local Government. Lessons for Britain from Other Countries (York: Joseph Rowntree Fdn 1994).
20. L. Sharpe, 'Local government re-organisation: general theory and UK practice' in F. Kjellberg and B. Dente (eds) The Dynamics of Institutional Change (London: Sage 1988).
21. A. Cochrane, 'Local government' in R. Maidment and J. Thompson (eds.) Managing the United Kingdom (London: Sage 1993).
22. G. Wallin, 'Towards the integrated and fragmented state: the mixed role of local government'. West European Politics 14/3 (1991) pp.96-121.
23. K. Goldsmith and K. Newton, 'Local government abroad' in Aspects of Local Democracy, Research Vol. IV, Report of the Committee of Inquiry into the Conduct of Local Authority Business (London: HMSO 1986). A distinction is sometimes drawn between IGR politics in the Napoleonic group and the other two systems combined, because of the greater defensive strength of the local government power bloc in the former group In this group, central government does not attempt to redesign the basic structure of local government, whose most important feature is the small size of the commune. Instead the imperatives of functional growth and urbanisation have been accommodated by inserting an entirely new tier of regional administration or government as well as by various forms of inter-communal joint action. In contrast, the classic, Fordist reform of local government in countnes such as Britain and Sweden is modernisation by way of structural change This occurred in Sweden in the 1950s and 1970s in the guise of amalgamation of the kommuner, and in Britain through re-organisation of local government in 1974 (England and Wales) and 1975 (Scotland). In both the Swedish and British cases, the number of basic local government units was radically reduced in the name of efficiency.
24. P. John, 'Central-local government relations in the 1980s and 1990s: towards a policy learning approach'. Local Government Studies 20/3 (Autumn 1994) pp.412-36.
25. See P. Dunleavy and C. Hood, 'From old public administration to new public management', Public Money and Management 14 (1994) pp.9-16; C. Hood, Explaining Economic Policy Reversals (Buckingham: Open UP 1994); and W Kickert, 'Steering at a distance: a new paradigm of public governance in Dutch higher education', Governance 8/1 (1995) pp. 135-57.
26. See P. Dunleavy and C. Hood, 'From old public administration to new public management', Public Money and Management 14 (1994) pp.9-16; C. Hood, Explaining Economic Policy Reversals (Buckingham: Open UP 1994); and W Kickert, 'Steering at a distance: a new paradigm of public governance in Dutch higher education', Governance 8/1 (1995) pp. 135-57.
27. See P. Dunleavy and C. Hood, 'From old public administration to new public management', Public Money and Management 14 (1994) pp.9-16; C. Hood, Explaining Economic Policy Reversals (Buckingham: Open UP 1994); and W Kickert, 'Steering at a distance: a new paradigm of public governance in Dutch higher education', Governance 8/1 (1995) pp. 135-57.
28. P. Hoggett, 'New modes of control in the public service', Public Administration 74/1 (Feb. 1996) p. 10.
29. H. Klages and O. Haubner, 'Strategies for public sector modernisation' in A. Halachmi and G. Bouckaert (eds.) The Enduring Challenges In Public Management (San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass 1995).
30. J. Bulpitt, Territory and Power in the United Kingdom. An Interpretation (Manchester UP 1983) and 'Walking back to happiness? Conservative party governments and elected local authorities in the 1980s', in C. Crouch and D. Marquand (eds.) The New Centralism. Britain out of step in Europe? (Oxford: Blackwell 1989). Bulpitt identifies the dual polity with a particular territorial regime or strategy of territorial management, lasting from the early 1920s to the early 1960s, whose distinguishing feature was the relative autonomy and insulation of local government from the centre. The result was a structure of central-local relations in which national and local politics, and national and local government, operated in two separate compartments. This arrangement worked as long as matters pertaining to local government did not intrude into the realm of 'high' politics. Potentially, though, the dual polity was dangerous for local government because the latter lacked adequate political or organisational resources to protect its interests vis-à-vis the centre. On the breakdown of the dual polity in the Thatcher era and its subsequent reconstruction on a different, unelected basis, see P. Carmichael, 'The changing territorial operating code of the United Kingdom: evidence from Northern Ireland', Public Administration 74/3 (Aug. 1996) pp.413-33.
31. J. Bulpitt, Territory and Power in the United Kingdom. An Interpretation (Manchester UP 1983) and 'Walking back to happiness? Conservative party governments and elected local authorities in the 1980s', in C. Crouch and D. Marquand (eds.) The New Centralism. Britain out of step in Europe? (Oxford: Blackwell 1989). Bulpitt identifies the dual polity with a particular territorial regime or strategy of territorial management, lasting from the early 1920s to the early 1960s, whose distinguishing feature was the relative autonomy and insulation of local government from the centre. The result was a structure of central-local relations in which national and local politics, and national and local government, operated in two separate compartments. This arrangement worked as long as matters pertaining to local government did not intrude into the realm of 'high' politics. Potentially, though, the dual polity was dangerous for local government because the latter lacked adequate political or organisational resources to protect its interests vis-à-vis the centre. On the breakdown of the dual polity in the Thatcher era and its subsequent reconstruction on a different, unelected basis, see P. Carmichael, 'The changing territorial operating code of the United Kingdom: evidence from Northern Ireland', Public Administration 74/3 (Aug. 1996) pp.413-33.
32. J. Bulpitt, Territory and Power in the United Kingdom. An Interpretation (Manchester UP 1983) and 'Walking back to happiness? Conservative party governments and elected local authorities in the 1980s', in C. Crouch and D. Marquand (eds.) The New Centralism. Britain out of step in Europe? (Oxford: Blackwell 1989). Bulpitt identifies the dual polity with a particular territorial regime or strategy of territorial management, lasting from the early 1920s to the early 1960s, whose distinguishing feature was the relative autonomy and insulation of local government from the centre. The result was a structure of central-local relations in which national and local politics, and national and local government, operated in two separate compartments. This arrangement worked as long as matters pertaining to local government did not intrude into the realm of 'high' politics. Potentially, though, the dual polity was dangerous for local government because the latter lacked adequate political or organisational resources to protect its interests vis-à-vis the centre. On the breakdown of the dual polity in the Thatcher era and its subsequent reconstruction on a different, unelected basis, see P. Carmichael, 'The changing territorial operating code of the United Kingdom: evidence from Northern Ireland', Public Administration 74/3 (Aug. 1996) pp.413-33.
33. J. Bennington, Local Government Becomes Big Business (London. CDP 1976).
34. The key institutional innovation was the Consultative Council on Local Government Finance, chaired by the Secretary of State for the Environment. The Labour government of the day hoped that incorporation of the local authority associations would enable local government spending to be brought under control by a process of voluntary restraint, but commentators are sceptical whether it would have permanently constrained some of the high-spending, 'new urban left' councils. See M. Boddy and C. Fudge (eds.) Local Socialism? Labour Councils and New Left Alternatives (London: Macmillan 1984).
35. J. Stewart, The New Management of Local Government (London: Allen & Unwin 1986).
36. P. Dunleavy, 'The United Kingdom: paradoxes of an ungrounded statism' in F. Castles (ed.) The Comparative History of Public Policy (Cambridge; Polity 1989).
37. 'Politicisation occurs when the idea that central and local government have a basic mutuality of objective is widely questioned. Juridification results from the increased importance of investigating the legal limits of the powers of local authorities' See M. Loughlin, Local Government in the Modern State (London: Sweet & Maxwell 1986) p.3.
38. The previous Labour government had endeavoured to reduce local government expenditure by influencing the aggregate level of expenditure through the grant system. The first two Conservative governments continued this policy by reducing the share of local expenditure financed by grants. They also sought to control the spending of individual authorities by specifying the expenditure required to meet service needs. When local authorities tried to replace grant losses with local tax revenue, central government introduced rate capping. In 1990. business rates were 'nationalised' and domestic rates replaced by a community charge, or poll tax. This was in turn replaced by a new council tax in 1993. The earlier grant policy was reversed. The overall effect of these measures was to reduce the proportion of local authority income financed by local taxation (down to about 20 per cent in 1993/94) and to increase the proportion financed centrally. In 1993/94, the breakdown was 28 per cent from national non-domestic or business rates, 10 per cent from specific central government grants, 1 per cent from community care grant and 41 per cent from the general revenue support grant. See G. Stoker, 'The struggle to reform local government: 1970-95', Public Money and Management 16/1(1996) pp.17-22.
39. C. Pickvance, 'Introduction: the institutional context of local economic development', in M. Harloe, C. Pickvance and J. Urry (eds.) Place, Policy and Politics: Do Localities Matter? (London: Unwin Hyman 1990) p.28. There is increasing disquiet about the scale and accountability of the new, 'non-elected local state'. This is focused on the rise of the 'new magistracy', whose numbers now dwarf the total number of elected councillors in the UK. See J. Stewart, A. Greer and P. Hoggett, The Quango State: An Alternative Approach (London: CLD 1995); S. Weir and W. Hall, Ego Trip: Extra-governmental Organisations in the United Kingdom and their Accountability (London: Charter 88 Trust 1994).
40. C. Pickvance, 'Introduction: the institutional context of local economic development', in M. Harloe, C. Pickvance and J. Urry (eds.) Place, Policy and Politics: Do Localities Matter? (London: Unwin Hyman 1990) p.28. There is increasing disquiet about the scale and accountability of the new, 'non-elected local state'. This is focused on the rise of the 'new magistracy', whose numbers now dwarf the total number of elected councillors in the UK. See J. Stewart, A. Greer and P. Hoggett, The Quango State: An Alternative Approach (London: CLD 1995); S. Weir and W. Hall, Ego Trip: Extra-governmental Organisations in the United Kingdom and their Accountability (London: Charter 88 Trust 1994).
41. C. Pickvance, 'Introduction: the institutional context of local economic development', in M. Harloe, C. Pickvance and J. Urry (eds.) Place, Policy and Politics: Do Localities Matter? (London: Unwin Hyman 1990) p.28. There is increasing disquiet about the scale and accountability of the new, 'non-elected local state'. This is focused on the rise of the 'new magistracy', whose numbers now dwarf the total number of elected councillors in the UK. See J. Stewart, A. Greer and P. Hoggett, The Quango State: An Alternative Approach (London: CLD 1995); S. Weir and W. Hall, Ego Trip: Extra-governmental Organisations in the United Kingdom and their Accountability (London: Charter 88 Trust 1994).
42. H. Glennerster, A. Power and T. Travers, 'A new era for social policy, a new Enlightenment or a new Leviathan? Journal of Social Policy 20/3 (July 1991) pp.389-414.
43. The initial policy shift took place in the late 1970s, under a Labour government committed to a broadly public interventionist strategy and to partnership with local authorities. A number of high-profile urban left-wing authorities experimented with 'alternative economic strategies' designed to secure restructuring for labour rather than for capital. Urban policy has continued under successive Conservative governments since 1979, but on the basis of a partnership between centrally sponsored non-elected local development agencies and the private sector, with local authorities relegated to a subordinate position. Urban leftist councils no longer pursue interventionist local economic policies, but are constrained to operate within the policy parameters set by central government. In the 1980s, local government's role was reduced to competitive bidding for centrally allocated funds, although in recent years (under the City Challenge and Single Regeneration Budget initiatives) it has been rehabilitated as a partner in local economic development.
44. Enacted as Part 1 of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989, in response to the report of the Widdicombe Committee of Inquiry into 'The Conduct of Local Authority Business' (Cm. 9797).
45. In the sense that local government is accountable less to its citizens, through conventional political and electoral processes, and more to its consumers, through market and quasi-market processes. See J. Gyford, Citizens, Consumers and Councils (Basingstoke: Macmillan 1991) and K. Walsh, Public Services and Market Mechanisms (Ibid. 1995).
46. In the sense that local government is accountable less to its citizens, through conventional political and electoral processes, and more to its consumers, through market and quasi-market processes. See J. Gyford, Citizens, Consumers and Councils (Basingstoke: Macmillan 1991) and K. Walsh, Public Services and Market Mechanisms (Ibid. 1995).
47. D. Burns, R. Hambleton and P. Hoggett, The Politics of Decentralisation (Basingstoke: Macmillan 1994) p.20.
48. K. Young, 'Re-inventing local government? Some evidence assessed', Public Administration 74/3 (Aug. 1996) pp.347-67.
49. S. Leach et al., Local Government: Its Role and Function (York: Joseph Rowntree Fdn 1992).
50. M. Geddes, 'Public services and local economic regeneration in a post-Fordist economy' in Burrows and Loader (note 4).
51. A. Lipietz, 'Governing the economy in the face of international challenge: from national developmentalism to national crisis', in J Hollifield et al. Searching for the New France (NY: Routledge 1991).
52. M. Crozier and E. Friedberg, L'Acteur et le Système (Paris: Seuil 1977); P. Grémion Le Pouvoir Périphérique (Paris: Seuil 1976); J-P. Worms, 'Le préfet et ses notables', Sociologie du Travail 3 (1966) pp.249-76
53. M. Crozier and E. Friedberg, L'Acteur et le Système (Paris: Seuil 1977); P. Grémion Le Pouvoir Périphérique (Paris: Seuil 1976); J-P. Worms, 'Le préfet et ses notables', Sociologie du Travail 3 (1966) pp.249-76
54. M. Crozier and E. Friedberg, L'Acteur et le Système (Paris: Seuil 1977); P. Grémion Le Pouvoir Périphérique (Paris: Seuil 1976); J-P. Worms, 'Le préfet et ses notables', Sociologie du Travail 3 (1966) pp.249-76
55. D. Lorrain, 'De l'administration républicaine au gouvernement urbain', Sociologie du Travil 4 (1991) pp.461-83. See also P. Duran and J-C Theonig 'L'Etat et la gestion publique territoriale', Revue Française de Science Politique 46/4 (1996) pp.580-623.
56. D. Lorrain, 'De l'administration républicaine au gouvernement urbain', Sociologie du Travil 4 (1991) pp.461-83. See also P. Duran and J-C Theonig 'L'Etat et la gestion publique territoriale', Revue Française de Science Politique 46/4 (1996) pp.580-623.
57. F. d'Arcy, 'Les collectivités locales et la décentralisation', in D. Chagnollaud (ed.) La Vie Politique en France (Paris: Seuil 1993) p. 184
58. D. Lorrain, 'Public goods and private operators in France', in R. Batley and G. Stoker (eds.) Local Government in Europe (Basingstoke: Macmillan 1991); 'The French Model of Urban Services', West European Politics 15/2 (April 1992) pp.77-92; 'France: silent change', in D. Lorrain and G. Stoker (eds) The Privatization of Urban Services in Europe (London: Pinter 1997).
59. D. Lorrain, 'Public goods and private operators in France', in R. Batley and G. Stoker (eds.) Local Government in Europe (Basingstoke: Macmillan 1991); 'The French Model of Urban Services', West European Politics 15/2 (April 1992) pp.77-92; 'France: silent change', in D. Lorrain and G. Stoker (eds) The Privatization of Urban Services in Europe (London: Pinter 1997).
60. D. Lorrain, 'Public goods and private operators in France', in R. Batley and G. Stoker (eds.) Local Government in Europe (Basingstoke: Macmillan 1991); 'The French Model of Urban Services', West European Politics 15/2 (April 1992) pp.77-92; 'France: silent change', in D. Lorrain and G. Stoker (eds) The Privatization of Urban Services in Europe (London: Pinter 1997).
61. Y. Mény, 'Urban planning in France: dirigisme and pragmatism, 1945-80', in D. Mckay (ed.) Planning and Politics in Western Europe (London: Macmillan 1982).
62. P. Muller, 'Les politiques publiques entre secteurs et territoires', Politiques et Management Public 8/3 (1990) pp. 19-33. See also Lorrain (note 40).
63. N. de Montricher, 'Decentralisation in France', Governance 8/3 (July 1995) pp.405-18.
64. Y. Mény, 'Radical reforms and marginal change: the French Socialist experience' in Kellberg and Dente (note 12).
65. See d'Arcy (note 39) p.188.
66. The regional councils' main responsibilities lie in the fields of economic and industrial development and vocational education and training. The departmental councils have assumed the state's responsibility for welfare services (mainly personal social services). Municipalities are now responsible for development control and urban planning All levels of local government, not just the regions, were given powers to intervene in the local economy. Financial transfers have accompanied the transfer of functions. Specific grants and loans have been replaced by block grants and loans. A priori control by the state administration over local government borrowing has been abolished: local authorities now have access to commercial credit institutions and to the financial markets. The share of 'Own tax revenues ' in total local government resources rose from 41 per cent in 1980 to 45 per cent by the end of the decade, but the centre retains control over the setting of the rate of the local business tax, which in 1990 accounted for 53 per cent of local tax revenue. Despite this, there remains considerable variation between municipalities in the rates at which other local taxes are set. See J. Le Cacheux and L. Tourjansky, 'The French decentralisation reform ten years on: local government finances', Local Government Studies 18/4 (Winter 1992) pp.328-38.
67. There is a large literature on the decentralisation reforms carried out in the 1980s. See inter alia: S. Mazey, 'Centre-periphery relations in the Fifth Republic: the legitimation of local polities', in P. Godt (ed.) Policy Making in France (London: Pinter 1989) and 'Developments at the French meso level: modernising the French state', in L. Sharpe (ed.) The Rise of Meso Government in Europe (London: Sage 1993): Y. Mény, 'France: The Construction and Reconstruction of the Centre 1945-86', West European Politics 11/1 (Jan. 1987) pp 52-69, 'France' in E. Page and M. Goldsmith (eds.) Central and Local Government Relations (London: Sage 1987), and 'La Republique des fiefs', Pouvoirs 60 (1992) pp.17-24; E. Preteceille, 'From centralisation to decentralisation: social restructuring and French local government' in C. Pickvance and E. Preteceille (eds.) State Restructuring and Local Power (London: Pinter 1991); V. Schmidt, 'Unblocking society by decree. The impact of governmental decentralisation in France', Comparative Politics 22/4 (July 1990) pp.459-81. Commentators tend to point out that in some respects the decentralisation reforms are less radical than may appear at first sight. Significantly, there has been no structural reform of the communes. The département, the most traditional tier of local government, has benefited most from the transfer of functions. The impact of the administrative courts has been marginal and the traditional forms of administrative regulation have re-asserted themselves.
68. There is a large literature on the decentralisation reforms carried out in the 1980s. See inter alia: S. Mazey, 'Centre-periphery relations in the Fifth Republic: the legitimation of local polities', in P. Godt (ed.) Policy Making in France (London: Pinter 1989) and 'Developments at the French meso level: modernising the French state', in L. Sharpe (ed.) The Rise of Meso Government in Europe (London: Sage 1993): Y. Mény, 'France: The Construction and Reconstruction of the Centre 1945-86', West European Politics 11/1 (Jan. 1987) pp 52-69, 'France' in E. Page and M. Goldsmith (eds.) Central and Local Government Relations (London: Sage 1987), and 'La Republique des fiefs', Pouvoirs 60 (1992) pp.17-24; E. Preteceille, 'From centralisation to decentralisation: social restructuring and French local government' in C. Pickvance and E. Preteceille (eds.) State Restructuring and Local Power (London: Pinter 1991); V. Schmidt, 'Unblocking society by decree. The impact of governmental decentralisation in France', Comparative Politics 22/4 (July 1990) pp.459-81. Commentators tend to point out that in some respects the decentralisation reforms are less radical than may appear at first sight. Significantly, there has been no structural reform of the communes. The département, the most traditional tier of local government, has benefited most from the transfer of functions. The impact of the administrative courts has been marginal and the traditional forms of administrative regulation have re-asserted themselves.
69. There is a large literature on the decentralisation reforms carried out in the 1980s. See inter alia: S. Mazey, 'Centre-periphery relations in the Fifth Republic: the legitimation of local polities', in P. Godt (ed.) Policy Making in France (London: Pinter 1989) and 'Developments at the French meso level: modernising the French state', in L. Sharpe (ed.) The Rise of Meso Government in Europe (London: Sage 1993): Y. Mény, 'France: The Construction and Reconstruction of the Centre 1945-86', West European Politics 11/1 (Jan. 1987) pp 52-69, 'France' in E. Page and M. Goldsmith (eds.) Central and Local Government Relations (London: Sage 1987), and 'La Republique des fiefs', Pouvoirs 60 (1992) pp.17-24; E. Preteceille, 'From centralisation to decentralisation: social restructuring and French local government' in C. Pickvance and E. Preteceille (eds.) State Restructuring and Local Power (London: Pinter 1991); V. Schmidt, 'Unblocking society by decree. The impact of governmental decentralisation in France', Comparative Politics 22/4 (July 1990) pp.459-81. Commentators tend to point out that in some respects the decentralisation reforms are less radical than may appear at first sight. Significantly, there has been no structural reform of the communes. The département, the most traditional tier of local government, has benefited most from the transfer of functions. The impact of the administrative courts has been marginal and the traditional forms of administrative regulation have re-asserted themselves.
70. There is a large literature on the decentralisation reforms carried out in the 1980s. See inter alia: S. Mazey, 'Centre-periphery relations in the Fifth Republic: the legitimation of local polities', in P. Godt (ed.) Policy Making in France (London: Pinter 1989) and 'Developments at the French meso level: modernising the French state', in L. Sharpe (ed.) The Rise of Meso Government in Europe (London: Sage 1993): Y. Mény, 'France: The Construction and Reconstruction of the Centre 1945-86', West European Politics 11/1 (Jan. 1987) pp 52-69, 'France' in E. Page and M. Goldsmith (eds.) Central and Local Government Relations (London: Sage 1987), and 'La Republique des fiefs', Pouvoirs 60 (1992) pp.17-24; E. Preteceille, 'From centralisation to decentralisation: social restructuring and French local government' in C. Pickvance and E. Preteceille (eds.) State Restructuring and Local Power (London: Pinter 1991); V. Schmidt, 'Unblocking society by decree. The impact of governmental decentralisation in France', Comparative Politics 22/4 (July 1990) pp.459-81. Commentators tend to point out that in some respects the decentralisation reforms are less radical than may appear at first sight. Significantly, there has been no structural reform of the communes. The département, the most traditional tier of local government, has benefited most from the transfer of functions. The impact of the administrative courts has been marginal and the traditional forms of administrative regulation have re-asserted themselves.
71. There is a large literature on the decentralisation reforms carried out in the 1980s. See inter alia: S. Mazey, 'Centre-periphery relations in the Fifth Republic: the legitimation of local polities', in P. Godt (ed.) Policy Making in France (London: Pinter 1989) and 'Developments at the French meso level: modernising the French state', in L. Sharpe (ed.) The Rise of Meso Government in Europe (London: Sage 1993): Y. Mény, 'France: The Construction and Reconstruction of the Centre 1945-86', West European Politics 11/1 (Jan. 1987) pp 52-69, 'France' in E. Page and M. Goldsmith (eds.) Central and Local Government Relations (London: Sage 1987), and 'La Republique des fiefs', Pouvoirs 60 (1992) pp.17-24; E. Preteceille, 'From centralisation to decentralisation: social restructuring and French local government' in C. Pickvance and E. Preteceille (eds.) State Restructuring and Local Power (London: Pinter 1991); V. Schmidt, 'Unblocking society by decree. The impact of governmental decentralisation in France', Comparative Politics 22/4 (July 1990) pp.459-81. Commentators tend to point out that in some respects the decentralisation reforms are less radical than may appear at first sight. Significantly, there has been no structural reform of the communes. The département, the most traditional tier of local government, has benefited most from the transfer of functions. The impact of the administrative courts has been marginal and the traditional forms of administrative regulation have re-asserted themselves.
72. There is a large literature on the decentralisation reforms carried out in the 1980s. See inter alia: S. Mazey, 'Centre-periphery relations in the Fifth Republic: the legitimation of local polities', in P. Godt (ed.) Policy Making in France (London: Pinter 1989) and 'Developments at the French meso level: modernising the French state', in L. Sharpe (ed.) The Rise of Meso Government in Europe (London: Sage 1993): Y. Mény, 'France: The Construction and Reconstruction of the Centre 1945-86', West European Politics 11/1 (Jan. 1987) pp 52-69, 'France' in E. Page and M. Goldsmith (eds.) Central and Local Government Relations (London: Sage 1987), and 'La Republique des fiefs', Pouvoirs 60 (1992) pp.17-24; E. Preteceille, 'From centralisation to decentralisation: social restructuring and French local government' in C. Pickvance and E. Preteceille (eds.) State Restructuring and Local Power (London: Pinter 1991); V. Schmidt, 'Unblocking society by decree. The impact of governmental decentralisation in France', Comparative Politics 22/4 (July 1990) pp.459-81. Commentators tend to point out that in some respects the decentralisation reforms are less radical than may appear at first sight. Significantly, there has been no structural reform of the communes. The département, the most traditional tier of local government, has benefited most from the transfer of functions. The impact of the administrative courts has been marginal and the traditional forms of administrative regulation have re-asserted themselves.
73. There is a large literature on the decentralisation reforms carried out in the 1980s. See inter alia: S. Mazey, 'Centre-periphery relations in the Fifth Republic: the legitimation of local polities', in P. Godt (ed.) Policy Making in France (London: Pinter 1989) and 'Developments at the French meso level: modernising the French state', in L. Sharpe (ed.) The Rise of Meso Government in Europe (London: Sage 1993): Y. Mény, 'France: The Construction and Reconstruction of the Centre 1945-86', West European Politics 11/1 (Jan. 1987) pp 52-69, 'France' in E. Page and M. Goldsmith (eds.) Central and Local Government Relations (London: Sage 1987), and 'La Republique des fiefs', Pouvoirs 60 (1992) pp.17-24; E. Preteceille, 'From centralisation to decentralisation: social restructuring and French local government' in C. Pickvance and E. Preteceille (eds.) State Restructuring and Local Power (London: Pinter 1991); V. Schmidt, 'Unblocking society by decree. The impact of governmental decentralisation in France', Comparative Politics 22/4 (July 1990) pp.459-81. Commentators tend to point out that in some respects the decentralisation reforms are less radical than may appear at first sight. Significantly, there has been no structural reform of the communes. The département, the most traditional tier of local government, has benefited most from the transfer of functions. The impact of the administrative courts has been marginal and the traditional forms of administrative regulation have re-asserted themselves.
74. P. Le Galès, 'New directions in decentralisation and urban policy in France: the search for a postdecentralisation state', Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy 10/1 (1992) pp. 19-36.
75. The restructuring of local government in this third phase should be set in the wider context of 'administrative modernisation' that took place during this period, and which is particularly associated with the 'public service renewal' project instituted by Prime Minister Rocard in 1988. Briefly, public service renewal includes a programme of civil service reform and a series of more generic NPM measures covering the whole of the public sector, including the promotion of policy evaluation and more 'transparent' public administration. It can be seen as part of a longer-term trend to promote a more pluralistic regime of public power, as reflected in the creation, in the 1970s and 1980s, of independent administrative and regulatory authorities in areas of public policy traditionally monopolised by the central state. See J.-L. Bodiguel, 'Quelles modernisations pour les services publics?', in P. Muller (ed.) L'Administration Française est-elle en Crise? (Paris: L'Harmattan 1992); L. Rouban, 'France in search of a new administrative order', International Political Science Review 14/4 (Oct. 1993) pp.403-18; 'Public administration at the crossroads: the end of the French specificity', in J. Pierre (ed.) Bureaucracy in the Modern State (London: Sage 1995); 'France' in D. Famham et al. (eds) New Public Managers in Europe (Basingstoke: Macmillan 1996).
76. The restructuring of local government in this third phase should be set in the wider context of 'administrative modernisation' that took place during this period, and which is particularly associated with the 'public service renewal' project instituted by Prime Minister Rocard in 1988. Briefly, public service renewal includes a programme of civil service reform and a series of more generic NPM measures covering the whole of the public sector, including the promotion of policy evaluation and more 'transparent' public administration. It can be seen as part of a longer-term trend to promote a more pluralistic regime of public power, as reflected in the creation, in the 1970s and 1980s, of independent administrative and regulatory authorities in areas of public policy traditionally monopolised by the central state. See J.-L. Bodiguel, 'Quelles modernisations pour les services publics?', in P. Muller (ed.) L'Administration Française est-elle en Crise? (Paris: L'Harmattan 1992); L. Rouban, 'France in search of a new administrative order', International Political Science Review 14/4 (Oct. 1993) pp.403-18; 'Public administration at the crossroads: the end of the French specificity', in J. Pierre (ed.) Bureaucracy in the Modern State (London: Sage 1995); 'France' in D. Famham et al. (eds) New Public Managers in Europe (Basingstoke: Macmillan 1996).
77. The restructuring of local government in this third phase should be set in the wider context of 'administrative modernisation' that took place during this period, and which is particularly associated with the 'public service renewal' project instituted by Prime Minister Rocard in 1988. Briefly, public service renewal includes a programme of civil service reform and a series of more generic NPM measures covering the whole of the public sector, including the promotion of policy evaluation and more 'transparent' public administration. It can be seen as part of a longer-term trend to promote a more pluralistic regime of public power, as reflected in the creation, in the 1970s and 1980s, of independent administrative and regulatory authorities in areas of public policy traditionally monopolised by the central state. See J.-L. Bodiguel, 'Quelles modernisations pour les services publics?', in P. Muller (ed.) L'Administration Française est-elle en Crise? (Paris: L'Harmattan 1992); L. Rouban, 'France in search of a new administrative order', International Political Science Review 14/4 (Oct. 1993) pp.403-18; 'Public administration at the crossroads: the end of the French specificity', in J. Pierre (ed.) Bureaucracy in the Modern State (London: Sage 1995); 'France' in D. Famham et al. (eds) New Public Managers in Europe (Basingstoke: Macmillan 1996).
78. The restructuring of local government in this third phase should be set in the wider context of 'administrative modernisation' that took place during this period, and which is particularly associated with the 'public service renewal' project instituted by Prime Minister Rocard in 1988. Briefly, public service renewal includes a programme of civil service reform and a series of more generic NPM measures covering the whole of the public sector, including the promotion of policy evaluation and more 'transparent' public administration. It can be seen as part of a longer-term trend to promote a more pluralistic regime of public power, as reflected in the creation, in the 1970s and 1980s, of independent administrative and regulatory authorities in areas of public policy traditionally monopolised by the central state. See J.-L. Bodiguel, 'Quelles modernisations pour les services publics?', in P. Muller (ed.) L'Administration Française est-elle en Crise? (Paris: L'Harmattan 1992); L. Rouban, 'France in search of a new administrative order', International Political Science Review 14/4 (Oct. 1993) pp.403-18; 'Public administration at the crossroads: the end of the French specificity', in J. Pierre (ed.) Bureaucracy in the Modern State (London: Sage 1995); 'France' in D. Famham et al. (eds) New Public Managers in Europe (Basingstoke: Macmillan 1996).
79. O. Roubieu, 'Le modèle du "manager", Politix 28 (1994) pp.35-48: J.-C. Thoenig,'Savoir savant et gestion locale', ibid. pp.64-75.
80. O. Roubieu, 'Le modèle du "manager", Politix 28 (1994) pp.35-48: J.-C. Thoenig,'Savoir savant et gestion locale', ibid. pp.64-75.
81. See P. Gibert, 'La difficile émergence du contrôle de gestion territoriale', Politiques et Management Public 13/3 (1996) pp.203-24; J.-P. Lacam, 'La modernisation du service public local' in B. Masquet (ed.) Regards Sur L'Actualité (1992) p.182; P. de Lara, 'Une révolution en trompe l'oeil' Autrement 122 (1991); J. Marsaud, 'Recul, redéploiement ou déploiement du management dans les communes? Questions et tentatives de réponses à partir de l'expérience de Saint-Denis', Politiques et Management Public 13/3 (1996) pp.225-47; J-G. Padioleau, 'L'action publique urbaine moderniste', Politiques et Management Public 9/3 (1991) pp.133-43. According to Lorrain, the new local authorities tend to fall into one of two categories. One is the 'enabling actor' model, which combines a competitive probusiness political strategy with extensive delegation of technical services and infrastructure planning and development to private, or mixed companies. The other model is that of the 'public entrepreneur', which involves 'direct execution by local authorities of many tasks in urban planning, capital works and delivery of services'. See Lorrain (note 11) p.16. Either model brings management problems with it, as local authorities recruit professional managers on contractual terms of employment, and mayors seek to assert political control of the municipality by strengthening their own office (cabinet). The results have been to reinforce the twin-track nature of the municipal workforce, and to politicise local authority decision making. Some of the traits of the Old' local government, which was never subject to effective public scrutiny, have been reinforced. Decision making remains opaque and there has been a significant increase in the incidence of municipal corruption. Many of the scandals have been linked to the CGE; others, as in Paris and Hauts-de-Seine, to the social housing system
82. See P. Gibert, 'La difficile émergence du contrôle de gestion territoriale', Politiques et Management Public 13/3 (1996) pp.203-24; J.-P. Lacam, 'La modernisation du service public local' in B. Masquet (ed.)
83. See P. Gibert, 'La difficile émergence du contrôle de gestion territoriale', Politiques et Management Public 13/3 (1996) pp.203-24; J.-P. Lacam, 'La modernisation du service public local' in B. Masquet (ed.) Regards Sur L'Actualité (1992) p.182; P. de Lara, 'Une révolution en trompe l'oeil' Autrement 122 (1991); J. Marsaud, 'Recul, redéploiement ou déploiement du management dans les communes? Questions et tentatives de réponses à partir de l'expérience de Saint-Denis', Politiques et Management Public 13/3 (1996) pp.225-47; J-G. Padioleau, 'L'action publique urbaine moderniste', Politiques et Management Public 9/3 (1991) pp.133-43. According to Lorrain, the new local authorities tend to fall into one of two categories. One is the 'enabling actor' model, which combines a competitive probusiness political strategy with extensive delegation of technical services and infrastructure planning and development to private, or mixed companies. The other model is that of the 'public entrepreneur', which involves 'direct execution by local authorities of many tasks in urban planning, capital works and delivery of services'. See Lorrain (note 11) p.16. Either model brings management problems with it, as local authorities recruit professional managers on contractual terms of employment, and mayors seek to assert political control of the municipality by strengthening their own office (cabinet). The results have been to reinforce the twin-track nature of the municipal workforce, and to politicise local authority decision making. Some of the traits of the Old' local government, which was never subject to effective public scrutiny, have been reinforced. Decision making remains opaque and there has been a significant increase in the incidence of municipal corruption. Many of the scandals have been linked to the CGE; others, as in Paris and Hauts-de-Seine, to the social housing system
84. See P. Gibert, 'La difficile émergence du contrôle de gestion territoriale', Politiques et Management Public 13/3 (1996) pp.203-24; J.-P. Lacam, 'La modernisation du service public local' in B. Masquet (ed.) Regards Sur L'Actualité (1992) p.182; P. de Lara, 'Une révolution en trompe l'oeil' Autrement 122 (1991); J. Marsaud, 'Recul, redéploiement ou déploiement du management dans les communes? Questions et tentatives de réponses à partir de l'expérience de Saint-Denis', Politiques et Management Public 13/3 (1996) pp.225-47; J-G. Padioleau, 'L'action publique urbaine moderniste', Politiques et Management Public 9/3 (1991) pp.133-43. According to Lorrain, the new local authorities tend to fall into one of two categories. One is the 'enabling actor' model, which combines a competitive probusiness political strategy with extensive delegation of technical services and infrastructure planning and development to private, or mixed companies. The other model is that of the 'public entrepreneur', which involves 'direct execution by local authorities of many tasks in urban planning, capital works and delivery of services'. See Lorrain (note 11) p.16. Either model brings management problems with it, as local authorities recruit professional managers on contractual terms of employment, and mayors seek to assert political control of the municipality by strengthening their own office (cabinet). The results have been to reinforce the twin-track nature of the municipal workforce, and to politicise local authority decision making. Some of the traits of the Old' local government, which was never subject to effective public scrutiny, have been reinforced. Decision making remains opaque and there has been a significant increase in the incidence of municipal corruption. Many of the scandals have been linked to the CGE; others, as in Paris and Hauts-de-Seine, to the social housing system
85. See P. Gibert, 'La difficile émergence du contrôle de gestion territoriale', Politiques et Management Public 13/3 (1996) pp.203-24; J.-P. Lacam, 'La modernisation du service public local' in B. Masquet (ed.) Regards Sur L'Actualité (1992) p.182; P. de Lara, 'Une révolution en trompe l'oeil' Autrement 122 (1991); J. Marsaud, 'Recul, redéploiement ou déploiement du management dans les communes? Questions et tentatives de réponses à partir de l'expérience de Saint-Denis', Politiques et Management Public 13/3 (1996) pp.225-47; J-G. Padioleau, 'L'action publique urbaine moderniste', Politiques et Management Public 9/3 (1991) pp.133-43. According to Lorrain, the new local authorities tend to fall into one of two categories. One is the 'enabling actor' model, which combines a competitive probusiness political strategy with extensive delegation of technical services and infrastructure planning and development to private, or mixed companies. The other model is that of the 'public entrepreneur', which involves 'direct execution by local authorities of many tasks in urban planning, capital works and delivery of services'. See Lorrain (note 11) p.16. Either model brings management problems with it, as local authorities recruit professional managers on contractual terms of employment, and mayors seek to assert political control of the municipality by strengthening their own office (cabinet). The results have been to reinforce the twin-track nature of the municipal workforce, and to politicise local authority decision making. Some of the traits of the Old' local government, which was never subject to effective public scrutiny, have been reinforced. Decision making remains opaque and there has been a significant increase in the incidence of municipal corruption. Many of the scandals have been linked to the CGE; others, as in Paris and Hauts-de-Seine, to the social housing system
86. G. Esping-Andersen, The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism (Cambodge: Polity 1990). The core elements of the Swedish welfare state have been summarised as: a wide income maintenance system, providing cash benefits to all citizens; a broad public consumption sector, providing free or heavily subsidised welfare services; and a full employment policy. See S. Olsson, 'Towards a transformation of the Swedish welfare state', in R. Friedmann et al. Modern Welfare States (Brighton: Wheatsheaf 1987) p.48.
87. G. Esping-Andersen, The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism (Cambodge: Polity 1990). The core elements of the Swedish welfare state have been summarised as: a wide income maintenance system, providing cash benefits to all citizens; a broad public consumption sector, providing free or heavily subsidised welfare services; and a full employment policy. See S. Olsson, 'Towards a transformation of the Swedish welfare state', in R. Friedmann et al. Modern Welfare States (Brighton: Wheatsheaf 1987) p.48.
88. J. Fulcher, 'The social democratic model in Sweden: termination or restoration?', Political Quarterly 65/2 (May/June 1994) pp.203-13; J.-E. Lane, 'The twilight of the Scandinavian model', Political Studies 41 (1993) pp 315-24, and 'The decline of the Swedish model', Governance 8/4 (Oct. 1995) pp.579-90; B. Rothstem, 'The crisis of the Swedish Social Democrats and the future of the universal welfare state', Governance 6/4 (Oct. 1993) pp.492-517.
89. J. Fulcher, 'The social democratic model in Sweden: termination or restoration?', Political Quarterly 65/2 (May/June 1994) pp.203-13; J.-E. Lane, 'The twilight of the Scandinavian model', Political Studies 41 (1993) pp 315-24, and 'The decline of the Swedish model', Governance 8/4 (Oct. 1995) pp.579-90; B. Rothstem, 'The crisis of the Swedish Social Democrats and the future of the universal welfare state', Governance 6/4 (Oct. 1993) pp.492-517.
90. J. Fulcher, 'The social democratic model in Sweden: termination or restoration?', Political Quarterly 65/2 (May/June 1994) pp.203-13; J.-E. Lane, 'The twilight of the Scandinavian model', Political Studies 41 (1993) pp 315-24, and 'The decline of the Swedish model', Governance 8/4 (Oct. 1995) pp.579-90; B. Rothstem, 'The crisis of the Swedish Social Democrats and the future of the universal welfare state', Governance 6/4 (Oct. 1993) pp.492-517.
91. J. Fulcher, 'The social democratic model in Sweden: termination or restoration?', Political Quarterly 65/2 (May/June 1994) pp.203-13; J.-E. Lane, 'The twilight of the Scandinavian model', Political Studies 41 (1993) pp 315-24, and 'The decline of the Swedish model', Governance 8/4 (Oct. 1995) pp.579-90; B. Rothstem, 'The crisis of the Swedish Social Democrats and the future of the universal welfare state', Governance 6/4 (Oct. 1993) pp.492-517.
92. In 1951, only 19 municipalities had 10,000 citizens or more. The overall effect of amalgamation was a 90 per cent reduction in the number of districts or kommuner, the first-tier units of local government, from 2,498 in 1951 to 280 in 1974. See F. Kjellberg, 'Local government and the welfare state: re-organisation in Scandinavia', in idem and B. Dente (note 12). Further reorganisation in 1989 increased the number to 284.
93. In 1992, local income tax accounted for 52 per cent of municipal, and 67 per cent of county, revenues. See G. Mollis et al. Local Government Finance: an International Comparative Study (York: Joseph Rowntree Fdn 1994) p. 147. From 1991 to 1993, in the face of a severe fiscal crisis, the national government imposed a ceiling on municipal and county tax rates, thereby infringing local government's presumed constitutional right to raise its own taxes. The tax ceiling was formally abolished in 1994, to be replaced by more traditional, informal means of collaboration on fiscal restraint.
94. Local government autonomy therefore vanes according to function. The 'free' sector is characterised by a high degree of discretion, in the regulated sector, which includes the more costly services of education and health care, local government operates as the agent of the centre. About three-quarters of municipal expenditure relates to specially regulated tasks. See I. Elander and S. Montin, 'Decentralisation and control: central-local government relations in Sweden', Policy and Politics 18/3 (1990) p.169. In 1981, mandatory items accounted for nearly 80 per cent of county council budgets. See J.-E. Lane and T. Magnusson, 'Sweden' in Page and Goldsmith (note 47) p. 18.
95. Local government autonomy therefore vanes according to function. The 'free' sector is characterised by a high degree of discretion, in the regulated sector, which includes the more costly services of education and health care, local government operates as the agent of the centre. About three-quarters of municipal expenditure relates to specially regulated tasks. See I. Elander and S. Montin, 'Decentralisation and control: central-local government relations in Sweden', Policy and Politics 18/3 (1990) p.169. In 1981, mandatory items accounted for nearly 80 per cent of county council budgets. See J.-E. Lane and T. Magnusson, 'Sweden' in Page and Goldsmith (note 47) p. 18.
96. S. Montin, 'Recent trends in the relationship between politics and administration in local government: the case of Sweden', Local Government Studies 18/1 (Spring 1992) p.33.
97. By 1991, 23 local government authorities had divided their territories into sub-units, with delegated powers mainly in the 'soft' sectors such as culture, leisure, primary education and social services (ibid. p.39).
98. L. Gustafsson, 'Renewal of the public sector in Sweden', Public Administration 65/2 (Summer 1987) pp. 179-92.
99. J. Pierre, 'La réforme administrative en Suede', Revue Française d'Administration Publique 75 (1995) pp.367-76.
100. J. Stewart and G. Stoker, 'The "free local government" experiments and the programme of public service reform in Scandinavia', in Crouch and Marquand (note 20). Since the Local Government Act (1991). which incorporated some of the results of the free commune experiment, local authorities are free to decide for themselves how to organise their decision-making procedures.
101. See Montin (note 57) and Rothstein (note 53).
102. R. Premfors, 'The "Swedish Model" and Public Sector Reform', West European Politics 14/3 (July 1991) pp.83-95.
103. C. Wise and E. Amna, 'New managerialism in Swedish local government', Scandinavian Political Studies 16/4 (1993) pp.339-58.
104. C. Fudge and L. Gustafsson, 'Administrative reform and public management in Sweden and the United Kingdom', Public Money and Management 9 (1989) pp.29-34. At national level, a 1987 Policy Resolution required the government to define more exact political targets for national agencies and delegated responsibility for pay and personnel management to agency heads. The intention was for the salary grading system to be superseded within a few years by individualised rates of pay for large categories of employees. This reform was linked to the introduction of a new budgeting system, whereby the agencies were given three-year financial planning frames with the facility to carry over funds from one year to the next. It was also linked to an improved system of programme and performance evaluation. Similar developments were taking place during this period in local government. In contrast to the British experience, the introduction of performance pay in the Swedish public sector has been described as as an 'ad hoc activity' not systematically linked to individual performance appraisal. See L. Wise, 'Whither solidarity? Transitions in Swedish public-sector pay policy'. British Journal of Industrial Relations 31/1 (1993) p.84.
105. C. Fudge and L. Gustafsson, 'Administrative reform and public management in Sweden and the United Kingdom', Public Money and Management 9 (1989) pp.29-34. At national level, a 1987 Policy Resolution required the government to define more exact political targets for national agencies and delegated responsibility for pay and personnel management to agency heads. The intention was for the salary grading system to be superseded within a few years by individualised rates of pay for large categories of employees. This reform was linked to the introduction of a new budgeting system, whereby the agencies were given three-year financial planning frames with the facility to carry over funds from one year to the next. It was also linked to an improved system of programme and performance evaluation. Similar developments were taking place during this period in local government. In contrast to the British experience, the introduction of performance pay in the Swedish public sector has been described as as an 'ad hoc activity' not systematically linked to individual performance appraisal. See L. Wise, 'Whither solidarity? Transitions in Swedish public-sector pay policy'. British Journal of Industrial Relations 31/1 (1993) p.84.
106. C. Wise and E. Amna, 'Retorm in Swedish local government', Current Sweden 393 (1992) pp.1-6.
107. In particular, health care reform programmes were introduced in the second half of the 1980s in most county councils (the majority of which were governed by the Social Democratic Party). As applied to hospitals in Stockholm and other Swedish cities, 'public' competition seeks to generate a public market for hospital care in place of the previous system of global budgeting The logic of competition and the incentive for producers to increase efficiency and customer responsiveness correspond to the recent British NHS reforms, but the commissioning of service provision is the responsibility of elected boards of councillors, not appointed bodies. The patient is empowered to choose directly among competing hospitals; those which attract a larger number of patients are rewarded with a higher proportion of a pre-set public budget at the expense of less efficient producers. Employees are rewarded for higher rates of productivity and efficiency through salary bonuses. See A. Anell, 'Implementing planned markets in health services: the Swedish case' in R. Saltman and C. von Otter (eds.) Implementing Planned Markets in Health Care (Buckingham: Open UP 1995); H. Glennerster and M. Matsaganis, 'The English and Swedish health care reforms', International Journal of Health Services 24/2 (1994) pp.231-51; and Saltman and C. von Otter, Planned Markets and Public Competition (Buckingham: Open UP 1992).
108. In particular, health care reform programmes were introduced in the second half of the 1980s in most county councils (the majority of which were governed by the Social Democratic Party). As applied to hospitals in Stockholm and other Swedish cities, 'public' competition seeks to generate a public market for hospital care in place of the previous system of global budgeting The logic of competition and the incentive for producers to increase efficiency and customer responsiveness correspond to the recent British NHS reforms, but the commissioning of service provision is the responsibility of elected boards of councillors, not appointed bodies. The patient is empowered to choose directly among competing hospitals; those which attract a larger number of patients are rewarded with a higher proportion of a pre-set public budget at the expense of less efficient producers. Employees are rewarded for higher rates of productivity and efficiency through salary bonuses. See A. Anell, 'Implementing planned markets in health services: the Swedish case' in R. Saltman and C. von Otter (eds.) Implementing Planned Markets in Health Care (Buckingham: Open UP 1995); H. Glennerster and M. Matsaganis, 'The English and Swedish health care reforms', International Journal of Health Services 24/2 (1994) pp.231-51; and Saltman and C. von Otter, Planned Markets and Public Competition (Buckingham: Open UP 1992).
109. In particular, health care reform programmes were introduced in the second half of the 1980s in most county councils (the majority of which were governed by the Social Democratic Party). As applied to hospitals in Stockholm and other Swedish cities, 'public' competition seeks to generate a public market for hospital care in place of the previous system of global budgeting The logic of competition and the incentive for producers to increase efficiency and customer responsiveness correspond to the recent British NHS reforms, but the commissioning of service provision is the responsibility of elected boards of councillors, not appointed bodies. The patient is empowered to choose directly among competing hospitals; those which attract a larger number of patients are rewarded with a higher proportion of a pre-set public budget at the expense of less efficient producers. Employees are rewarded for higher rates of productivity and efficiency through salary bonuses. See A. Anell, 'Implementing planned markets in health services: the Swedish case' in R. Saltman and C. von Otter (eds.) Implementing Planned Markets in Health Care (Buckingham: Open UP 1995); H. Glennerster and M. Matsaganis, 'The English and Swedish health care reforms', International Journal of Health Services 24/2 (1994) pp.231-51; and Saltman and C. von Otter, Planned Markets and Public Competition (Buckingham: Open UP 1992).
110. See Montin (note 57).
111. See Premfors (note 63).
112. 'Managerialism' has been accompanied by a degree of re-regulation of central-local government relations, often in the name of increased freedom of choice for consumers of local public services. For example, when introducing competitive tendering, communal authorities have to comply with central rules supervised by a new Competition Authority and the Regional State Authority. Following 1992 legislation to increase the number of independent schools in the primary school sector, the new National Board of Education decides which schools will receive grants from the communes, not the communes themselves. See S. Montin and I. Elander, 'Citizenship, consumerism and local government in Sweden', Scandinavian Political Studies 18/1 (1995) p.34.
113. C. Moore and J. Pierre, 'Partnership or privatisation? The political economy of local economic restructuring', Policy and Politics 16/3 (1988) pp.169-78. Local authority involvement in partnerships has taken the form of the establishment of local government mpanies, foundations and joint committees (of local politicians and representatives of individual companies). Such companies and foundations are created as private law organisations, in order to secure maximum political independence and operational flexibility. See J. Pierre, 'Organised capital and local polities', Urban Affairs Quarterly 28/2 (1992) pp.236-57.
114. C. Moore and J. Pierre, 'Partnership or privatisation? The political economy of local economic restructuring', Policy and Politics 16/3 (1988) pp.169-78. Local authority involvement in partnerships has taken the form of the establishment of local government mpanies, foundations and joint committees (of local politicians and representatives of individual companies). Such companies and foundations are created as private law organisations, in order to secure maximum political independence and operational flexibility. See J. Pierre, 'Organised capital and local polities', Urban Affairs Quarterly 28/2 (1992) pp.236-57.
115. The choice of strategy is a reflection of the strength of the national local government policy community, which has been able, via its representative associations, to secure voluntary compliance with central government's strategy of dispersing the management of fiscal crisis, but has also demonstrated a capacity to resist more far-reaching reform of regional structures. The integration of local government in a national local government policy community has been sustained through corporatist administrative structures - the national associations of municipal and county councils and the remiss procedure - and by political means, in particular through the Swedish version of the cumul des mandais (joint holding of elected office at national and local levels. See Wallin (note 14).
116. Some observers of Nordic welfare systems are concerned that the emergence of a more fragmented and decentralised system of local service production, with its prospect of non-egalitarian consequences for service standards and an eventual political disintegration of local government, represents a departure from the 'local welfare state' strategy. See E. Alboek, 'Reforming the Nordic welfare communes', International Review of Administrative Sciences 61 (1995) pp.241-64 and S. Villadsen, 'Another century for local democracy? Decentralisation, deregulation and participation in Scandinavia in times of European integration', International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 17/1 (1993) pp.42-55.
117. Some observers of Nordic welfare systems are concerned that the emergence of a more fragmented and decentralised system of local service production, with its prospect of non-egalitarian consequences for service standards and an eventual political disintegration of local government, represents a departure from the 'local welfare state' strategy. See E. Alboek, 'Reforming the Nordic welfare communes', International Review of Administrative Sciences 61 (1995) pp.241-64 and S. Villadsen, 'Another century for local democracy? Decentralisation, deregulation and participation in Scandinavia in times of European integration', International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 17/1 (1993) pp.42-55.
118. D. Marquand, 'Commentary. After Tory Jacobinism', Political Quarterly 6/2 (1994) pp.125-7.
119. C. Pickvance and E. Preteceille, 'Conclusion', in idem and idem (note 47).
120. An 'urban regime' has been defined as 'the informal arrangements by which public bodies and private interests function together in order to be able to make and carry out governing decisions'. See C. Stone, Regime Politics. Governing Atlanta, 1946-1988 (Kansas: U. of Kansas Press 1989) p.6. Keating argues that the fused intergovernmental system enhances the 'governing capacity' of French cities by protecting local governments from business pressures and by providing resources to substitute for private capital He does, however, recognise that this institutional gain is offset by the diminishing ability of the central state itself to manage the spatial economy See M. Keating, 'The politics of economic development', Urban Affairs Quarterly 28 (1993) pp.388-9.
121. An 'urban regime' has been defined as 'the informal arrangements by which public bodies and private interests function together in order to be able to make and carry out governing decisions'. See C. Stone, Regime Politics. Governing Atlanta, 1946-1988 (Kansas: U. of Kansas Press 1989) p.6. Keating argues that the fused intergovernmental system enhances the 'governing capacity' of French cities by protecting local governments from business pressures and by providing resources to substitute for private capital He does, however, recognise that this institutional gain is offset by the diminishing ability of the central state itself to manage the spatial economy See M. Keating, 'The politics of economic development', Urban Affairs Quarterly 28 (1993) pp.388-9.
122. See J. Clarke, A. Cochrane and E. McLaughlin, Managing Social Policy (London: Sage 1994) p.4.
123. P. Dunleavy, 'The globalisation of public services production: can government be "best in world"? Public Policy and Administration 9/2 (1994) p.45.
124. C. Hood, Beyond the Public Bureaucracy State? Public Administration in the 1990s (London: LSE 1990).
125. E. Preteceille, 'Decentralisation in France: new citizenship or restructuring hegemony?' European Journal of Political Research 16 (1988) pp.409-24
126. R. Rhodes, 'Local government', in B. Jones and L. Robbins (eds.) Two Decades in British Politics (Manchester UP 1992).
127. Since redesignated as Government Offices for the Regions. See B. Hogwood, The Integrated Regional Offices and the Single Regeneration Budget (London: CLD 1995) and M. Marinnetto, 'New developments in the regional structure of government departments: the new Government Offices for the Regions, with specific reference to the Government Office for London', Public Policy and Administration 11/4 (1996) pp.70-85.
128. Since redesignated as Government Offices for the Regions. See B. Hogwood, The Integrated Regional Offices and the Single Regeneration Budget (London: CLD 1995) and M. Marinnetto, 'New developments in the regional structure of government departments: the new Government Offices for the Regions, with specific reference to the Government Office for London', Public Policy and Administration 11/4 (1996) pp.70-85.