Coping with the Cuts? The Management of the Worst Financial Settlement in Living Memory

The scale of the cuts to local government finance, coupled with increasing demand for services, has led to unprecedented ‘budget gaps’ in council budgets. Arguably, two competing narratives of the trajectory of local government have emerged in which contrasting futures are imagined for the sector – a positive story of adaptation and survival and more negative one of residualisation and marginalisation. Drawing on case study evidence from three English local authorities, the paper distinguishes and provides examples of three strategic approaches to managing austerity – efficiency, retrenchment and investment. It demonstrates how and why the balance of these strategies has shifted between the early and later phases of austerity and considers the extent to which the evidence of the case studies provide support for either the survival or marginalisation narrative. The paper concludes by arguing that a third narrative – responsibilisation – captures more fully the trajectory of local government in England.     

Roadworks Ahead? Addressing Fraud,Corruption and Conflict of Interest in English Local Government

The current localism agenda, and other legislative and organisational changes, will impact on English local government’s capacity and commitment to address fraud, corruption and conflict of interest from both investigative and preventative perspectives. These have been issues for local government since the nineteenth century onwards, often brought to prominence during specific scandals or periods of extensive change. This article summarises the reforms in terms of a ‘low road’ of a control environment and of a ‘high road’ of an ethical governance framework, and their perceived interrelationship, up to the introduction of the Localism agenda. It discusses how far the current changes may change the emphasis between roads in returning to an amended control environment, particularly in terms of the publication of the Fighting Fraud Locally strategy. It concludes with concerns less about the various initiatives promoted by the strategy than the implications of whether councils have the capacity or commitment to continue along the high road of ethical governance.     

Rethinking Human Rights in York as a Human Rights City

Human rights is in crisis in the UK. It lacks significant political backing and public support. This ‘insider account’ of York becoming a human rights city suggests that there is a need to rethink approaches to human rights. The article looks at the strategies adopted in the city; the annual city‐based indicator report which provides the key reference point for all local activities; and the declaration of York as a ‘human rights city’ in 2017 alongside its subsequent impact. The discussion is linked to two debates within human rights: how to define and build a culture of human rights, and what it means for human rights to be truly relevant at a local level. The new approach advocated can be summarised as participatory, locally informed, and related to everyday concerns.     

共和国法治认识的逻辑展开

与法治的实践需求相呼应，人们的法治认识展现为正名法治、定义法治和量化法治三个主题环节，既共时共存，又陈陈相因、推演张开。其中，正名法治围绕着法律、法制和法治三个概念构成的思维链条展开，定义法治基于普世主义和国情主义两种对应的立场和思路进行，量化法治则是当下意图更加具体直接地连接法治实践的另辟蹊径的努力。总体说来，共和国的法治认识进程，已经使得法治作为问题在理论逻辑上完整展示开来；从结果看，完成了对法治的正当性正名，凸显了法治定义上的立场和观点分歧，开始了对法治实践的量化探索。     

The political identities of neighbourhood planning in England

The collective empowerment imagined in the government rhetoric of localism bears little resemblance to the market model of aggregative democracy that characterizes much of the practice of participation in spatial planning. This paper explores one of the rare statutory strategies to engage collective participation and to mobilize the neighbourhood as an institution of spatial planning. In a study of neighbourhood planning in England, it investigates the new political identities that emerged and the conflicts and antagonism that accompanied them. Drawing on the work of philosopher Chantal Mouffe, the paper explores the significance of the political practices that resulted for the state strategy of localism.     

Political repression in a sub-national hybrid regime: the PRC’s governing strategies in Hong Kong

Existing literature has long recognised that the Beijing government has utilised different strategies to suppress the opposition in Hong Kong. However, with the rise of localism against the Chinese government, the implications of such political repression require new exploration and insight. This article adopts Hale’s analytical framework on political repression and argues that the Beijing government can comparatively tolerate an opposition fighting for democratisation, but the localists who advocate self-determination or separatism are harshly condemned and suppressed. In Beijing’s approach, this ‘red line’ was adopted to place national security, territory integration and sovereignty as the top considerations. Theoretically, this paper contributes to distinguishing between two types of opposition groups within sub-national hybrid regimes and analyzes different responses from the sovereign state. Empirically, the case of Hong Kong will help enrich the existing literature by comparing Beijing’s strategies of repression in regard to the democratic opposition and localists.     

论我国的审判权地方化及其解决--兼评《宪法》第126条

在市场经济体制下,地方利益与中央利益出现了分化,由此产生了地方保护主义.目前,我国法院组织的人事权、财权均依附于地方党政权力,加上宪法对独立行使审判权的规定不够明确,法院容易沦为地方政府实行地方保护主义的工具,在此情况下,必须对现有的法院组织体制进行改变,以解决我国的审判权地方化问题.     

Empowering local government or just passing the austerity buck? The changing balance of central and local government in welfare provision in England 2008–2015

This paper asks two questions: first, how did the balance of decision-making between central and local government in welfare policy in England change between 2010 and 2015? Second, to what extent has that led to divergence in the extent and manner of such provision? It finds significant areas of policy where local flexibility has been increased (such as council tax benefit, crisis loans, and funding for specialist housing), either through a change in the tier of government responsible, or ‘unringfencing’ of grants allowing local authorities greater discretion in whether to deliver particular services, although in other important areas decisions on welfare remain firmly centralized. It also concludes that in areas where responsibility has been localized, divergence has been immediate and substantial. Localization may well reduce entitlements where local authorities enjoy a financial reward for so doing and political costs are low.     

The Localism Act 2011: The Hollow Housing Law Revolution

In November 2011, the Localism Act was passed and, on one view, reflects the widest‐ranging reforms to housing law for over a half century. Ambitious in its stated aims, the legislation was trailed as representing a broad shift in power from central Whitehall to local communities and individuals. The article critically examines the central changes introduced by the 2011 Act as they pertain specifically to housing law in England, namely the new flexible tenancy regime, the changes to homelessness duties under Part VII of the Housing Act 1996 and the reforms concerning the allocation of social housing. The article interrogates the extent to which the reforms realise the stated localist agenda and highlights areas of difficulty in interpretation and application. It concludes that rather than bestowing greater power on local communities, the reforms to housing law will instead effect a perceptible reduction of power in the hands of local people.     

人类学视野中的文化相对主义与法律移植

人类学上认为法有地方性与人类学的研究对象、研究方法及人类学家对法的内涵的界定有直接的关系。文化的相对性并不能必然导致的法的相对性。吉尔兹讲的“法是地方性知识”是指阐释的象征意义的地方性 ,不能否定法律移植的可能性。中国法治实践中处理地方性与法律移植矛盾的一般方式。