Scottish Local Government - Grand Format

This book fills an important gap in our understanding of Scottish local government in the dynamic new context of the Scottish Parliament. It provides academics, students, practitioners, journalists and others with a broad'ranging yet detailed account, not just of how local government actually works, but also of the main political issues and debates surrounding its multi-faceted roles in contemporary Scotland.
Issues such as : The nature and purpose of Scottish local government ; The strengths and weaknesses of unitary authorities ; Modernisation of political management arrangements ; Roles and remuneration for councillors ; Electoral reform and new methods for encouraging citizen participation The growth of nonelected local governance ; Best Value and the rise of the performance culture The politics of council finance, including business rates, Council Tax and PFI ; The wider context of central-local relations, multi-level governance and globalisation.
Scottish Local Government contains a wealth of facts, figures, tables and diagrams. The accompanying analysis draws, in a supportive way, on literature from the traditions of public policy, public administration and political science. This is an original, modern, accessible analysis of Scottish local government in the context of devolution. The author focuses throughout on assessing the 'distinctiveness' of Scottish local government compared to the rest of the UK, and addressing the question : To what extent has devolution made a difference to Scottish local government ?