Bulletin n. 1/2012 | ||
June 2012 | ||
Neil McGarvey |
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Expectations, Assumptions and Realities: Scottish Local Government Post-Devolution | ||
in British Journal of Politics & International Relations , Volume 14, Issue 1 , 2012 , 153–174 | ||
This article reviews developments in Scottish local government post-devolution. In doing so it outlines some expectations, assumptions and realities about local government in Scotland. Three assumptions are examined and rejected: 1999 was ‘Year Zero’ for Scottish local government; central–local relations are characterised by a cohesive centre versus a cohesive locality; central–local relations in Scotland are nothing more than a fuzzy microcosm of central–local relations in England. The article argues that Scotland increasingly offers a different ‘story’ of central–local government relations with pre-existing differences accentuating in the context of minority government, different processes of governance and attitudes to the welfare state. | ||