Bourgeois Theories of Local Government

by

“This paper offers an historical analysis of the principles of local government organization that have been accepted in Britain and the United States. The central thesis is that these principles express an ‘economist’ conception of politics and the state. Local governments have been variously conceived—as business corporations, consumers’ cooperatives, and institutions of the state—but in each case they have been assigned a restricted, essentially instrumental purpose. This purpose is connected to economic welfare, which, it is supposed, requires centralization of government. Thus the prevalent economist conceptions of local government condemn the local polity to a tenuous existence.”

Published in Political Studies | W. Magnusson | 1986, https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Bourgeois-Theories-of-Local-Government-Magnusson/f72145ce40db96c36c7555f318862f1e73e9120c, https://consensus.app/details/thus-economist-conceptions-government-condemn-polity-magnusson/265aa3f2e0705e20b04d1cbd0dfd3d22/



Related posts:

  1. Principles and Theories of Local Government “The role of local government is viewed in the context of the overall role of government per se. A particular advantage of local government lies in its ability to arrange for the provision of local public goods in line with...
  2. State Centralization and the Decline of Local Government in Malawi “This article posits that, for various reasons, the centralization of the state and local government administrations has been a dominant characteristic of the Malawi political system. This centralization may be explained by historically specific factors. It has its roots in...
  3. Are Municipalities Creatures of the Provinces? This is a provocative question, who has the authority to create local government, where do the powers to institute local government come from, what authorizes their creation and dissolution? “This article challenges the standard idea that municipalities are creatures of...
  4. State versus society? Local government and the reconstruction of the Russian state “This paper sets out to demonstrate that the evolution of Russian local government reflects the continuing debate between two traditions or theories of what local government should be: a centralising tradition which does not recognise the claims of either local...
  5. The Rise of Specialized Governance in American Federalism: Testing Links Between Local Government Autonomy and Formation of Special District Governments “Focusing on three dimensions of government autonomy—local government capacity, local government discretion, and local government importance—I find that the growth of certain types of special districts is in part a response to state laws constraining government autonomy of general-purpose governments....
  6. State-Local Relations “The states created their own governing structures. As in other states, Michigan’s constitution and laws formed the local levels of government (nothing in the U.S. Constitution prescribes such entities as K–12 school districts, counties, townships, cities, villages, and authorities), and...
  7. From Convergence to Divergence: Reforming Australian Local Government “The article maps local government reform in the six Australian states over the last decade. It identifies an earlier phase of reform that focused primarily on redefining the roles and relationships within local government, especially between state and local governments,...
  8. Conceptualizing Local Government from a Multi-Dimensional Perspective “Community or local government is an ancient institution with evolving conceptualization. Local government is generally conceived as a political mechanism for governance at the grassroots (local) level. Though, politics which highlights the participation of the local citicizery in goal setting...
  9. The rhetoric and reality of local government reform “Local government restructuring must be seen as part of a broader state strategy to defuse political unrest and restructure the economy. This article will show how contradictory objectives of this strategy at local government level are primarily responsible for the...
  10. Local Government Autonomy and State Reliance on Special District Governments: A Reassessment “This study challenges the findings of previous studies showing that limitations on local autonomy strongly encourage a splintering of local government authority due to the creation of numerous special districts.” The notion that local government autonomy has important implications for...