Abstract
The post-1987 legislative programme of the Thatcher Government represents a profound attempt to change the role and functions of local government to make its activities, organisation and orientation compatible with the flexible economic structures, two-tier welfare system and enterprise culture which in the Thatcher vision constitute the key to a successful future for the UK.
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Notes and references
For an overview of the regulationist approach, see B. Jessop, ‘Regulation Theory’, Post-Fordism and the State’, Captial and Class, no. 34 (1988) pp. 147–68; and B. Jessop, ‘Regulation Theories in Retrospect and Prospect’, Paper to the International Conference on Regulation, Barcelona, 16–18 June 1988. Both these papers provide an extensive bibliography of regulationist work.
In particular it draws extensively on M. Aglietta, A Theory of Capitalist Regulation (New Left Books, 1979);
A. Lipietz, Mirages and Miracles (Verso, 1987);
P. Blackburn, R. Coombs and K. Green, Technology Economic Growth and the Labour Process (Macmillan, 1989);
B. Jessop, Conservative Regimes and the Transition to Post-Fordism: The Cases of Britain and West Germany, no. 47, Essex Papers in Politics and Government, March 1988; M. de Vroey, ‘A Regulation Approach Interpretation of the Contemporary Crisis’, Capital and Class, no. 23 (1984). 3. See, for example, studies in Aglietta (USA), Lipietz (several countries) and Jessop (Britain and West Germany) cited in note 2. In addition, see
M. Kenney and R. Florida, ‘Beyond Mass Production: Production and the Labor Process in Japan’, Politics and Society, vol. 16, no. 1 (March 1988) pp. 121–58.
T. Peters and R. Waterman, In Search of Excellence (Harper & Row, 1981);
T. Peters and N. Austin, A Passion for Excellence (Random House, 1985).
For another related schema of social and economic change, see S. Lash and J. Urry, The End of Organized Capitalism (Polity, 1987).
For a more detailed account, see G. Stoker, The Politics of Local Government (Macmillan, 1988) ch. 1.
This point is also made by R. Jackman, ‘Local Government Finance’, in M. Loughlin, M. D. Gelfrand and K. Young (eds), Haif a Century of Municipal Decline, 1935–1985 (Allen & Unwin, 1985) pp. 144–68.
J. Benington, Local Government Becomes Big Business (CDP, 1975).
C. Cockburn, The Local State (Pluto, 1977).
For an attempt to break the hold of private sector models on public sector management thinking, see J. Stewart and S. Ranson, Management in the Public Domain (LGTB, 1988); and
S. Ranson and J. Stewart, ‘Citizenship and Government: The Challenge for Management in the Public Domain’, Political Studies, vol. 37, no. 1 (1989) pp. 5–25.
See J. Benington, ‘Local Economic Strategies’, Local Economy, vol. 1, no. 1 (1986) pp. 7–33; and
J. Mawson and D. Miller, ‘Interventionist Approaches to Local Employment and Economic Development’, in V. A. Hausner (ed.), Critical Issues in Urban Economic Development (Oxford University Press, 1987).
A point made strongly in P. Beresford, ‘Good Council Guide: Wandsworth 1978–1987 (Centre for Policy Studies, 1987).
For a review which stresses the associated changes in rules and institutions, see M. Moran, ‘Politics and Law in Financial Regulation’, in C. Graham and T. Prosser (eds), Waiving the Rules: The Constitution Under Thatcherism (Open University Press, 1988) pp. 56–73.
A. Gamble, ‘On, And On, And On …?’, Marxism Today, November 1988, p. 14. For a fuller development, see A. Gamble, The Free Economy and the Strong State (Macmillan, 1988) pp. 224–31.
A. Brown and D. King, ‘Economic Change and Labour Market Policy: Corporalist and Dualist Tendencies in Britain and Sweden; West European Politics, vol. 11, no. 3 (July 1988) pp. 75–91.
See the Annual Corporate Plans of the MSC. Also C. St John-Brooks, Who Controls Training: The Rise of the MSC, Fabian Tract 506 (1985).
See Jessop, Conservative Regimes, p. 24. For a more detailed discussion, N. Johnson, The Welfare State in Transition (Wheatsheaf, 1987);
E. Papadakis and P. Taylor-Gooby, The Private Provision of Public Welfare (Wheatsheaf, 1987); and P. Alcock and P. Lee (eds), Into the Third Term: Thatcherism and the Future of Welfare, Social and Urban Policy Studies No. 1, Sheffield City Polytechnic.
N. Ridley, The Local Right: Enabling Not Providing (Centre for Policy Studies, 1988).
See, for example, Adam Smith Institute, Wiser Counsels. The Reform of Local Government (ASI, 1989).
For a fuller discussion of the impact of IT, see Blackburn et al. Technology Economic Growth, and P. Blackburn and R. Sharpe (eds), Britain’s Industrial Renaissance? (Routledge, 1988).
Audit Commission, The Competitive Council, Management Papers, no. 1, March 1988, para. 10.
See K. Walsh, Marketing in Local Government (Longman, 1989).
T. Cantle, ‘Leicester’s Response to the Housing Act’, Local Government Policy Making, vol. 15, no. 4 (March 1989) pp. 30–1.
J. Stewart and G. Stoker, From Local Administration to Community Government, Fabian Research Series 351 (1988) p. 3.
M. Clarke and J. Stewart, The Enabling Council (LGTB, 1988).
R. Murray, Breaking with Bureaucracy, CLES Report, 1987.
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© 1989 Gerry Stoker
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Stoker, G. (1989). Creating a Local Government for a Post-Fordist Society: The Thatcherite Project?. In: Stewart, J., Stoker, G. (eds) The Future of Local Government. Government Beyond the Centre. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-20179-2_8
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