1st Edition

Localism and the Design of Political Systems

By Rick Harmes Copyright 2021
    206 Pages 5 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    206 Pages 5 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    This book examines localism as a political idea and policy approach and explains what localism is about, why it is growing in importance and how it relates to other themes in politics.

    Illustrated with case studies from the United Kingdom, mainland Europe and the Indian sub-continent, the book analyses localism in conceptual and theoretical terms and locates it within the overall landscape of political thought. Key themes covered in the book include place, space and scale; decentralization and devolution; multi-level governance; public value; democracy and empowerment; and political design. With the focus on the bottom-up, constructivist aspects of localism, the book argues that localism is most likely to work successfully in a political order where sovereignty is ‘distributed’ across various social spheres and levels of government. It offers a comprehensive view of localism by synthesizing its various strands and creating a distinctive framework for design and evaluation.

    This book will be of particular interest to scholars, students and practitioners of localism, particularly within local and regional government, public administration and policy, human and political geography, and urban studies.

    Chapter 8 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license. 

    1. Introducing Localism

    2. Analysing Localism

    3. Localism in Context

    4. Varieties of Localism

    5. Localism and Public Value

    6. Designing for Localism and Multi-Level Governance

    7. Local Outcomes

    8. Localism and Political Systems in the 21st Century

    Biography

    Rick Harmes is a former teacher and local government officer. He is currently Associate Research Fellow in Politics at the University of Exeter, UK.