Local Government in Liberal Democracies: An Introductory Survey

Local government in Britain is often viewed as being bureaucratic and impersonal. In America or France it can be genuinely local, and permit small communities to determine their future and their standards of basic public services. The quality and nature of local government varies widely between different countries. A full understanding of local government can only be gained by comparing one country to another. This book draws together a range of contributors who outline the structures and workings of local government in England and Wales, Germany, France, Ireland, Italy, Sweden, Canada and the US. The book provides students with chapters that have a similar format in order to offer a framework for systematic comparisons of the different case studies. The book also includes a conclusion summarizing major differences and relationships between the structures studied. Contributors include J.A. Chandler, John Kingdom, M. McManus, M.C. Hunt, R.E. Spence, A.R. Peters and Bernard Jones.