Constituency Focus and Urban Policy Making: Local Politics in London

Abstract

The significance of constituency forces in policy making has been frequently suggested, but the role of psychological constituency orientations in legislative politics has rarely been explored. We explore the structure and impact of such internalized norms in a survey of 114 councillors in three Greater London boroughs. The research suggests that councillors do not usually choose between representing smaller or larger territorial units; rather, councillors aggregate these as a single geographical focus which is distinct from an alternative partisan set of constituencies. The two orientations are unrelated to each other and, to a large extent, to party affiliation. Furthermore, the choice of constituency is associated with distinctive, fairly coherent attitudes towards policy making. The geographic focus is linked to a Pluralist policy-making style which disperses and individualizes power in council politics. In contrast, council Partisans tend to hold attitudes about representation which augment the role of party institutions.