Recent developments affecting urban government in Britain and the United States are examined in this article. The socioeconomic trends affecting cities are similar, and central government financial support to city government has been reduced in both countries. The Thatcher government, however, combines economic liberalism with a sweeping commitment to political centralization, which would be unthinkable in the United States. The result is that British urban government, in contrast to American experience, has become highly politicized and conflictual.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
ALEXANDER, A. (1986) "Managing local socialism."Fabian Tract511 (May). London: Fabian Society.
2.
BACON, R. and W. ELTIS (1978) Britain's Economic Problem: Too Few Producers (2nd ed.). London: Macmillan.
3.
BARBOUR, G. P. , T. W. FLETCHER, and G. A. SIPEL (1984) Excellence in Local Government Management. Palo Alto, CA: Center for Excellence in Local Government. (Handbook)
4.
BEGG, I. and D. EVERSLEY (1986) "Deprivation in the inner city: social indicators from the 1981 census," pp. 50-58 in V. A. Hausner (ed.) Critical Issues in Urban Economic Development, Vol. 1. Oxford: Clarendon.
5.
BEGG, I. and B. MOORE (1987) "The changing economic role of Britain's cities," pp. 44-76 in V. A. Hausner (ed.) Critical Issues in Urban Economic Development, Vol. 2. Oxford: Clarendon.
6.
BEGG, I. , B. MOORE, and J. RHODES (1986) "Economic and social change in urban Britain and the inner cities," pp. 10-49 in V. A. Hausner (ed.) Critical Issues in Urban Economic Development, Vol. 1. Oxford: Clarendon.
7.
BENNINGTON, J. (1975) "Local government becomes big business."Coventry Community Development Project Final Report, Part 2 (March): 105-122.
8.
BEN-TOVIM, G. , J. GABRIEL, I. LAW, and K. STREDDER (1986) The Local Politics of Race. London: Macmillan.
9.
BLUNKETT, D. (1981) "Towards a Socialist social policy."Local Government Policy Making8 (1): 95-103.
10.
BLUNKETT, D. and K. JACKSON (1987) Democracy in Crisis. The Town Halls Respond. London: Hogarth.
11.
BODDY, M. (1988) "Bristol fashion."New Society (February 5): 19-21.
12.
BODDY, M. and C. FUDGE [eds.] (1984) Local Socialism?London: Macmillan.
13.
BODDY, M. , J. LOVERING, and K. BASSETT (1986) Sunbelt City?Oxford: Clarendon.
14.
BOWMAN, A. O'M. (1988) "City government promotion of economic development." Presented at the annual meeting of the Urban Affairs Association, St. Louis, March 9-12.
15.
BRAMLEY, G. (1985) "Incrementalism run amok? local government finance in Britain."Public Administration (Spring): 100-107.
16.
BUCK, N. , I. GORDON, and K. YOUNG (1987) "London: employment problems and prospects," pp. 99-131 in V. A. Hausner (ed.) Urban Economic Change. Five City Studies. Oxford: Clarendon.
17.
Cabinet Office (1988) Action for Cities (March). London: Moore & Matthes.
18.
COCHRANE, A. (1985) "The attack on local government: what it is and what it isn't."Critical Social Policy (January): 42-62.
19.
COCHRANE, A. [ed.] (1987) Developing Local Economic Strategies. Milton Keynes: Open Univ. Press.
20.
COCKBURN, C. (1977) The Local State. London: Pluto.
21.
Community Development Project (1973) "Inter-project report to the Home Secretary." (unpublished)
22.
Community Development Project (1977) "The costs of industrial change." (unpublished)
23.
CUMMINGS, S. [ed.] (1988) Business Elites and Urban Development: Case Studies and Critical Perspectives. Albany: SUNY Press.
24.
DANZINGER, J. N. (1981) "California's Proposition 13 and the fiscal limitation movement in the United States."Political Studies29: 599-612.
25.
DEARLOVE, J. (1979) The Reorganisation of British Local Government. London: Cambridge Univ. Press.
26.
DEARLOVE, J. and P. SAUNDERS (1984) Introduction to British Politics. Analysing a Capitalist Democracy. Cambridge: Polity.
27.
Department of the Environment (1977) Policy for the Inner Cities. Cmnd 6845. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office.
28.
Department of the Environment (1987) The urban programme 1986/87. A report on its operations and achievements in England (October). London: Author.
29.
DONNISON, D. and A. MIDDLETON [eds.] (1987) Regenerating the Inner City. Glasgow's Experience. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
30.
DUNLEAVY, P. (1984) "The limits to local government," pp. 49-81 in M. Boddy and C. Fudge (eds.) Local Socialism?London: Macmillan.
31.
FORBES, J. (1987) "A strategy for education," pp. 248-271 in D. Donnison and A. Middleton (eds.) Regenerating the Inner City. Glasgow's Experience. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
32.
FRIEDMAN, M. (1962) Capitalism and Freedom. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press.
33.
GILHESPY, D. , K. JONES, T. MANWARING, H. NEUBERGER, and A. SHARPLES (1986) Socialist Enterprise: Reclaiming the Economy. Nottingham: Spokesman.
34.
GOSS, S. (1984) "Women's initiatives in local government," pp. 109-132 in M. Boddy and C. Fudge (eds.) Local Socialism?London: Macmillan.
35.
GOTTDIENER, M. (1987) The Decline of Urban Politics. London: Sage.
36.
GURR, T. R. and D. S. KING (1987) The State and the City. London: Macmillan.
37.
GYFORD, J. (1984) Local Politics in Britain (2nd ed.). London: Croom Helm.
38.
GYFORD, J. (1985) The Politics of Local Socialism. London: Allen & Unwin.
39.
GYFORD, J. (1986) "Diversity, sectionalism and local democracy," pp. 106-131 in the Widdicombe Report, The Conduct of Local Authority Business, Vol. 4: Research. Cmnd 9801 (June). London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office.
40.
H. M. Government (1971) Local Government in England. Cmnd 4585 (February). London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office.
41.
HAMBLETON, R. (1978) Policy Planning and Local Government. London: Hutchinson. (Also published in 1979 in New York by Allanheld Osmun.)
42.
HAMBLETON, R. (1981) "Implementing inner city policy."Policy and Politics9 (1): 51-71.
43.
HAMBLETON, R. (1986) Rethinking Policy Planning. Bristol, England: University of Bristol, School for Advanced Urban Studies.
44.
HAMBLETON, R. (1988a) "The new St. Louis blues."The Guardian (May 11).
45.
HAMBLETON, R. (1988b) "Policy planning reconsidered." The Planner, J. of the Royal Town Planning Institute (November).
46.
HAMBLETON, R. (1988c) "Consumerism, decentralization and local democracy."Public Administration66 (Summer): 125-147.
47.
HAMPTON, W. (1987) Local Government and Urban Politics. London: Longman.
48.
HAUSNER, V. A. [ed.] (1987) Urban Economic Change. Five City Studies. Oxford: Clarendon.
49.
HAUSNER, V. A. and B. ROBSON (1985) Changing Cities. London: Economic and Social Research Council.
50.
HAYEK, F. (1944) The Road to Serfdom. London: Routledge.
51.
HERBERS, J. (1988) "It's the new activism as business primes the government's pump."Governing (July): 32-38.
52.
HICKS, D. A. (1987) "Urban policy in the US: Introduction."Urban Studies24 (6): 439-446.
53.
HIGGINS, J. , N. DEAKIN, J. EDWARDS, and M. WICKS (1983) Government and Urban Poverty. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
54.
HOGGETT, P. and R. HAMBLETON [eds.] (1987) Decentralisation and Democracy. Localising Public Services. Bristol, England: University of Bristol, School for Advanced Urban Studies.
55.
JONES, G. and J. D. STEWART (1983) The Case for Local Government. London: Allen & Unwin.
56.
JUDD, D. R. and R. L. READY (1986) "Entrepreneurial cities and the new politics of urban development," pp. 209-247 in G. W. Peterson and C. W. Lewis (eds.) Reagan and the Cities. Washington, DC: Urban Institute.
57.
JUDD, D. R. (1988) The Politics of American Cities. Private Power and Public Policy (3rd ed.). Boston: Scott, Foresman.
58.
KATZNELSON, I. (1981) City Trenches. Urban Politics and the Patterning of Class in the United States. New York: Pantheon.
59.
LAWLESS, P. (1987) "Urban development," pp. 122-137 in M. Parkinson (ed.) Reshaping Local Government. Oxford: Policy Journals.
60.
LEACH, S. and J. STEWART (1986) "The hung county councils."New Society (April 4): 7-9.
61.
LEE, E. C. (1985) "Reflections on local government and politics in England and the United States."Local Government Studies (September/October): 49-67.
62.
LEVINE, M. A. (1983) "The Reagan urban policy: efficient national economic growth and public sector minimization."J. of Urban Affairs5 (1): 17-28.
63.
LOUGHLIN, M. (1986) Local Government in the Modern State. London: Sweet & Maxwell.
64.
MACKINTOSH, M. and H. WAINWRIGHT [eds.] (1987) A Taste of Power. The Politics of Local Economics. London: Verso.
65.
MAGNUSSON, W. (1986) "Bourgeois theories of local government."Political Studies34: 1-18.
66.
MIER, R. , K. J. MOE, and I. SHERR (1986) "Strategic planning and the pursuit of reform, economic development, and equity."American Planning Assn. J. (Summer): 299-309.
67.
MOORE, C. and S. BOOTH (1986) "Urban policy contradictions: the market versus redistributive approaches."Policy and Politics14 (3): 361-387.
68.
MORPHET, J. (1987) "Local authority decentralisation—Tower Hamlets goes all the way."Policy and Politics15 (2): 119-126.
69.
National Audit Office (1988) Urban development corporation report (May).
70.
NEWTON, K. and T. J. KARRAN (1985) The Politics of Local Expenditure. London: Macmillan.
71.
O'CONNOR, J. (1973) The Fiscal Crisis of the State. London: St. James.
72.
OFFE, C. (1975) "The theory of the capitalist state and the problem of policy formation," pp. 125-144 in L. Lindberg (ed.) Stress and Contradiction in Modern Capitalism. London: Lexington Books.
73.
OUSELEY, H. (1984) "Local authority race initiatives," pp. 133-159 in M. Boddy and C. Fudge (eds.) Local Socialism?London: Macmillan.
74.
PARKINSON, M. [ed.] (1987a) Reshaping Local Government. Oxford: Policy Journals.
75.
PARKINSON, M. (1987b) "An urban legend."New Society (October 9): 12-14.
76.
PETERS, T. J. and R. H. WATERMAN (1982) In Search of Excellence. Lessons From America's Best Run Companies. New York: Harper & Row.
77.
PETERSON, G. E. (1986) "Urban policy and the cyclical behavior of cities," pp. 11-35 in G. E. Peterson and C. W. Lewis (eds.) Reagan and the Cities. Washington, DC: Urban Institute.
78.
PETERSON, G. E. , R. R. BOVBJERG, B. A. DAVIS, W. G. DAVIS, E. C. DURMAN, and T. A. GULLO (1986) The Reagan Block Grants. What Have We Learned?Washington, DC: Urban Institute.
79.
RAYMOND, V. (1988) Surviving Proposition 13: Fiscal Crisis in California Counties. University of California, Berkeley: Institute of Governmental Studies.
80.
RHODES, R.A.W. (1979) "Research into central-local relations in Britain: a framework for analysis," Appendix 1, pp. 145 in Central-Local Government Relationships. London: Social Science Research Council.
81.
ROBINSON, C. J. (1988) "Economic development planning and policy: results of a national survey of large cities."Planning Advisory Service (PAS) Memo (January). Chicago: American Planning Association.
82.
SAUNDERS, P. (1980) Urban Politics. Harmondsworth: Penguin.
83.
SAUNDERS, P. (1981) Social Theory and the Urban Question. London: Hutchinson.
84.
School for Advanced Urban Studies (1983) The Future of Local Democracy: A Response to the White Paper on Rates and Streamlining the Cities. Bristol, England: University of Bristol.
85.
SHARPE, L. J. (1973) "American democracy reconsidered," Parts I and 2. British J. of Pol. Sci.3: 1-28, 129-167.
86.
Shelter Neighbourhood Action Project (SNAP) (1972) Another chance for cities. Final report. London: Shelter.
87.
SOLESBURY, W. (1986) "The dilemmas of inner city policy."Public Administration64(Winter): 389-400.
88.
STANBACK, T. M. (1979) Understanding the Service Economy. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Univ. Press.
89.
STEWART, J. (1986) The New Management of Local Government. London: Allen & Unwin.
90.
STEWART, M. (1987) "Ten years of inner cities policy."Town Planning Rev.58(2): 129-145.
91.
STEWART, M. (1988) "The finding of Wigan Pier? a review article on the ESRC inner cities research programme. Policy and Politics16 (2): 1-10.
92.
STOKER, G. (1988) The Politics of Local Government. London: Macmillan.
93.
TUROK, I. (1987) "Lessons for local economic policy," pp. 235-247 in D. Donnison and A. Middleton (eds.) Regenerating the Inner City. Glasgow's Experience. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
94.
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (1982) The President's National Urban Policy Report. Washington, DC: Author.
95.
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (1984) The President's National Urban Policy Report. Washington, DC: Author.
96.
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (1986) The President's National Urban Policy Report. Washington, DC: Author.
97.
Widdicombe Report (1986) The Conduct of Local Authority Business. Report of the Committee of Inquiry into the Conduct of Local Authority Business. (David Widdicombe QC, chairman). Cmnd 9797 (June). London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office.
98.
WOLMAN, H. (1986) "The Reagan urban policy and its impacts."Urban Affairs Q.21 (March): 311-335.
99.
WOLMAN, H. (1987) "Urban economic performance: a comparative analysis" pp. 9-43 in V. A. Hausner (ed.) Critical Issues in Urban Economic Development, Vol. 2. Oxford: Clarendon.
100.
WRIGHT, D. S. (1988) Understanding Intergovernmental Relations (3rd ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
101.
YATES, D. (1973) Neighborhood Democracy. Lexington MA: Lexington Books.
102.
YOUNG, K. and C. MASON [eds.] (1983) Urban Economic Development. New Roles and Relationships. London: Macmillan.
