Introduction: the nature of local government; the administration and politics of local government; the structural context. Part 1 The administrative context: the structure of local government - origins to 1970 - the Acts of 1888 and 1894, the early years of the modern system, the reorganization years; the structure of local government - 1970 to the present - England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, discussion - single-tier or two-tier?; the services provided by local government - the development of local government services, the distribution of services, the present position, discussion - compulsory competitive tendering;internal organization - the Maud Report, the Bains Report, the Widdicombe Report, political management, discussion - scientific management in local government; local government finance - local government expenditure, current income and audit, discussion - sources of local taxation. Part 2 The political context: local councillors, parties and people - the local electoral system, councillors, policies and parties, public awareness of local government, discussion - public participation in local services; group activity in the local political process - local interest groups, local government trade unions, discussion - industryail democracy in local government; the national local government system - national parties and local government, national collective bargaining, the role of professional associations, discussion - how significant is the national local government system?; central-local government relations - the Secretaries of State for Ireland, Wales and Scotland, recent models of central-local government relations, discussion - the controversy over the rate-capping in the 1980s. Part 3 The structural context: the allocation of responsibility for public services - water and sewage, health, transport, discussion - state education - public service or private commodity?; local government and the local economy - the urban programme, local economic policies, discussion - the new urban left and lcoal economic policy; theories of the local state - the constitutional approach, the pluralist and the Marxist approach, the dual state thesis.
