Introduction local government

Local government is а type of political institution whose authority or jurisdiction is confined to a territorial portion of the state. It is characterized by long historical develop­ment, constitutionally subordinate status, local participation, powers of taxation, and a wide range of responsibilities.

There is a long tradition, especially in Western Europe, of towns being permitted a measure of political autonomy. Some British cities for instance have an unbroken tradition of self-government dating back to the grant of CHARTERS by medieval monarchs. In many parts of the world, community involvement in village governments is even older. Nevertheless neither urban nor rural local government has ever been allowed unlimited discretion. Its constitutional status was and is subordinate.

Unlike states or provinces in a federal political system, local government units have no share in sovereignty. Local government is subordinate to the national or, in a federation, provincial government; it must operate within the legislative framework they prescribe. The sovereign higher levels of government may create or dissolve local government units and add to or subtract from their responsibilities. Despite this constitutionally subordinate status, local government generally enjoys wide discretion in democratic political systems and wields significant political influence. This is largely because local government provides for substantial local participation. The organs of local governments are invariably directly or indirectly elected by the local residents. This gives local government democratic legitimacy and political authority which appointed public bodies do not possess.

The authority of local government can be strengthened by the arrangements for LOCAL GOVERNMENT FINANCE. Most local govern­ment units raise at least part of their income locally; they also invariably receive some grants and loans from higher levels of govern­ment. Nevertheless even a degree of financial autonomy enhances discretion.

Local government is responsible for a range of public services. Depending on the law and traditions of particular countries, local govern­ment provides some or all of the following: roads, public housing, education, welfare, public transport, health, water, sewerage, electricity and other types of power, sports facilities, support for the arts, and a host of miscellaneous environmental, personal, and recreational services. Local government units are typically multi-purpose. A city govern­ment, say, may provide a whole range of these services. Nevertheless alongside the multi­purpose local government units in most countries exist varying numbers of special purpose bodies providing a single service or closely related group of services: for instance passenger transport authorities, water supply authorities, health authorities, harbour auth­orities, perhaps even school authorities, such as, for example, the Inner London Education Authority in Britain. Yet these too, if they are locally elected or appointed by the multi­purpose local government units, are properly considered part of the local government system, especially if they have local taxation powers. Where special purpose bodies are entirely appointed by higher levels of govern­ment however they are not strictly local governments.

Local Authorities provide the public with a very wide range of services, both statutory and optional. To do this, they employ an equally wide range of professional staff, together with technician support staff and many others with skills in such diverse areas as administration, finance, management services, computing, personnel, legal services, clerical work, and so on. In fact, the local authority is likely to be one of the biggest employers in any area. We’ll try to give the reader some idea of the context in which our system of local government operates, together with detailed information on some types of work that are particular to local authorities.