Unravelling Control Freakery: Redefining Central-Local Government Relations
In: The British journal of politics & international relations, Band 5, Heft 3, S. 317-346
ISSN: 1369-1481
Central-local relations have been of particular interest since the Labour government came to power in 1997. Both academics & practitioners have pointed to tensions within the Labour government's reform agenda -- between a "top-down" & "bottom-up" approach; between a drive for national standards & the encouragement of local learning & innovation; & between strengthening executive leadership & enhancing public participation. It is argued that while Labour's modernization strategy has clear elements of a top-down approach (legislation, inspectorates, white papers, etc) there is also a significant bottom-up dimension (a variety of zones, experiments, & pilots, albeit with different degrees of freedom). This article utilizes a multi-level governance framework of analysis & argues that, while much of the research using such frameworks has hitherto focused on the EU, recent developments in governance at neighborhood, local authority, subregional & regional levels facilitate its application within a nation state. The central thesis is that, while there is extensive interaction between actors at subnational level, this should not be seen as a proxy for policy influence. The local political arena is characterized less by multilevel governance than by multi-level dialogue. Subnational actors participate but they are rarely major players in shaping policy outcomes: the plurality that characterizes subcentral governance does not reflect a pluralist power structure. 2 Tables, 54 References. Adapted from the source document.