'Written by an impressive array of experts, this book surveys local government reforms in six advanced democracies, federal and unitary, which share a municipal legacy: Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, the UK, and the US. . . The book has an excellent bibliography and will help open up a field heretofore noted for its insularity. Recommended.' - A.J. Ward, Choice

Decentralisation is now taking place in the public administrations of most countries of the world. This book explores the variety of methods used to ensure that fiscal decentralisation takes place alongside administrative decentralisation.

Originally published in 1974, this study concerns the politics of local government reform between 1942-1974 and describes the struggles between the Ministries, the Local Government Associations and political parties. The political manoeuvrings of the various groups involved are analysed and a theory proposed about the reform of political structures in general.

'Structural reform has been one of the most important, and yet one of the most neglected, aspects of modern local government. This book represents the first attempt, since the early seventies, at providing a comprehensive account of both the theory and practice of structural reform in local government in developed countries. Using recent policy experience from seven different countries, the authors present seminal theoretical perspectives on structural reforms in local governance and the policy implications deriving from them. Written by well-known scholars of local government from around the world, this volume is a "must-read" for all academics, practitioners, students and policymakers.' - Giorgio Brosio, University of Turin, Italy

Marketization is one of the most powerful reform doctrines reshaping the organization of public service delivery throughout the last four decades. This book revisits conventional ideas and models of marketization and compares how these have diffused and evolved across municipalities in England and Scandinavia. The book highlights the paths and impacts of marketization as diverse and dynamic and asks us to reconsider what and how we think about marketization. The content of the book is co-authored by researchers from four countries and builds upon comparable surveys and case-studies from two longstanding ‘spearhead’ services – parks and roads – for the implementation of marketization. The book appeals to scholars and policy makers with interests in discussions about the history and future of marketization in an international perspective.

The government proposes to give local authorities more freedom and powers to meet the needs of their citizens and communities. Local authorities will be encouraged to develop neighbourhood charters setting out local standards and priorities; to manage services at the level of the neighbourhood; to work more closely with neighbourhood policing teams. Local people will receive more information about services and standards, and will be able to question and get a response from local councilors through a new service, Community Call for Action. Executive power will be invested in the leader of the council, and there will be three choices of leadership model: a directly elected mayor, a directly elected executive of councillors, or a leader elected by fellow councillors with a four year mandate. New training opportunities will be provided for councillors. The making of byelaws will be fully devolved to local authorities. The authorities will be encouraged to bring together local partners to help improve services, and to develop a delivery plan - the Local Area Agreement - setting out a single set of priorities for local partners, for the Sustainable Community Strategy that they are already required to prepare. The performance framework for local government will be simplified: there will be about 35 priorities for each area, with a set of some 200 outcome based indicators replacing the many hundreds of indicators currently required by central government. Ambitious efficiency gains will be required as part of the 2007 comprehensive spending review. The second volume shows how these proposals will apply to major local public service areas and cross-cutting issues: community safety; health and well-being; vulnerable people; children and families; climate change; and economic development, housing and planning.

This is an exploration of the conflict between Whig politicians and London radicals in metropolitan government.