Theorising Democracy and Local Government

Abstract

‘There is now no universally accepted notion as to the proper nature of local democracy,’ wrote John Gyford in his contribution to the Widdicombe Report, ‘and many of those who use the term are simply talking past one another’ (Gyford, 1986, p. 106). In the decade or so since he wrote that, the terminological confusion he remarked upon has intensified. The purpose of this chapter is to consider what contribution democratic theory can make to clarifying the relationship between democracy and local government.¹ My starting point will be with the meaning of democracy itself, and an understanding of what kinds of principle and practice it entails. With this foundation secured, I shall then address three questions: (i) What case is there, from a democratic point of view, for an elected system of local, in addition to national, government? (ii) What changes might make it more democratic, and how desirable and practicable would they be? and (iii) How might democracy be realised at the local level, other than through the formal structures of government?