Thinking about the ‘Local’ of Local Government: a Brief History of Invention and Reinvention |
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Authors: | Allan Cochrane |
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Institution: | Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Open University, Milton Keynes, UK |
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Abstract: | In 2004, Local Government Studies published an article in which I reflected on the implications of new Labour’s modernisation agenda for the remaking of local government and the reshaping of the welfare state. Here I return to some of the issues raised in that paper in the different context of localism, austerity and dreams of urban entrepreneurialism. I argue that exploring the changing meanings of the local, as a contested political as well as geographical category, is a fundamental task for those of us seeking to understand the nature of contemporary local government; the wider processes of state restructuring which frame it; and the possibilities of local politics. |
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Keywords: | Localism the local place city regions political imaginaries responsibilisation |
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