Rethinking Local Democracy

Abstract

Recent debates about the role, form and function of local government have tended to focus on local authorities as mechanisms for delivering services. Yet we have argued for some years that while local government does offer a range of ways of providing good quality service, it is about much more than service delivery (Hambleton, 1988; Hambleton and Hoggett, 1990). If local government stands for a notion of community, if it is concerned to foster a vigorous civic culture and to improve the quality of life in the broadest sense, then attention must focus on the welfare of the local polity. Councillors and officers need to devote energy, time and resources to strategies designed to improve the quality of government, as well as the quality of service.