Liberal Justifications for Local Government in Britain: The Triumph of Expediency over Ethics

It is shown in this article how theories justifying local government in Britain are largely based on the expedience of providing administrative efficiency or stable democracy for the central state rather than ethical grounds that justify local government as an independent entity in its own right. Th...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Political studies 2008-06, Vol.56 (2), p.355-373
Main Author: Chandler, James A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Democracy
Efficiency
Ethics
Great Britain
Liberalism
Local Government
Political elites
Political ethics
Political stability
Political theory
Public Administration
United Kingdom
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Summary:It is shown in this article how theories justifying local government in Britain are largely based on the expedience of providing administrative efficiency or stable democracy for the central state rather than ethical grounds that justify local government as an independent entity in its own right. The article critically reviews the development of theories justifying local government within Britain and argues that it is possible on the basis of Mill's arguments within On Liberty to establish a strong ethical justification for local government. It is shown how Mill did not develop this line of thought but established substantive arguments concerning the value of local government for securing a stable liberal democracy and how successive mainstream theorists have modified but not substantially departed from this approach.
ISSN:0032-3217
1467-9248
DOI:10.1111/j.1467-9248.2007.00700.x