Local and Regional Government

Most nation-states operate on the principle of subsidiary - that is, policy actions should be taken as close to the people as possible.

The lowest tiers of government are local councils, regional governments, and in unitary states, as well as devolved assemblies.

In Britain, for example, there is asymetric devolution. Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, and London have devolved assemblies, with England still being centrally controlled from Westminister.

In England (which is what I can only speak for - London, NI, Wales, and Scotland have their own systems of local government), there are several types of local government:

• Metropolitan districts (referred to as City and/or Metropolitan Borough of X). These are towns and cities situated in the six urban counties. The metro counties themselves have no administrative powers, and are simply for postal purposes. e.g. City and Metropolitan Borough of Birmingham.
• Unitary districts (referred to as Unitary borough/City of X). These are towns and cities within rural counties. Like metro districts, the rural counties they are situated in are simply used for postal purposes. e.g. City of Nottingham.
• Shire counties. (referred to as County of X). These are rural counties. e.g. County of Warickshire.
  • Shire districts. These are the lower tier of shire counties. They are the subdivisions of the shire counties. e.g. District of Lichfield.

England specifically, is a hugely centralised state, what with its lack of regional assembly.

Local councils are said to have little power, and this is indeed true; there is no real constitutional provision for a level of government below that of regional assemblies (in Scotland, Wales, NI, London) or Parliament.

Should more power be devolved to regional assemblies/local councils?

Is local government a dead beast? Should local government and regional assemblies be more politically active in creating local laws and doctrines? Or should powers be transferred back to a central location?

And to add on, what is local/regional government like in other nations? Specifically speaking, government below that of State Government, or Central Government in de jure unitary states.

We in Scotland have 32 Councils (or Comhairle):

• Scottish Borders (Gaelic: Na Crìochan)
• East Lothian (Siorrachd Lodainn an Ear)
• Midlothian (Meadhan Lodainn)
• West Lothian (Lodainn an Iar)
• City of Edinburgh (Dùn Èideann)
• Falkirk (An Eaglais Bhreac)
• North Lanarkshire (Siorrachd Lannraig a Tuath)
• South Lanarkshire (Siorrachd Lannraig a Deas)
• Glasgow City (Glaschu)
• East Renfrewshire (Siorrachd Rinn Friù an Ear)
• Renfrewshire (Siorrachd Rinn Friù)
• North Ayrshire (Siorrachd Inbhir Àir a Tuath)
• South Ayrshire (Siorrachd Inbhir Àir a Deas)
• East Ayrshire (Siorrachd Inbhir Àir an Ear)
• Dumfries & Galloway (Dùn Phrìs is Gall-Ghaidhealaibh)
• Inverclyde (Inbhir Chluaidh)
• West Dunbartonshire (Siorrachd Dhùn Bhreatainn an Iar)
• East Dunbartonshire (Siorrachd Dhùn Bhreatainn an Ear)
• Stirling (Sruighlea)
• Argyll & Bute (Earra-Ghaidheal agus Bòd)
• Clackmannashire (Siorrachd Chlach Mhannainn)
• Fife (Fìobha)
• Perth & Kinross (Peairt agus Ceann Rois)
• Angus (Aonghas)
• Dundee City (Dùn Dè)
• Aberdeenshire (Siorrachd Obar Dheathain)
• Aberdeen City (Obar Dheathain)
• Moray (Moireibh)
• Highland (A' Ghàidhealtachd)
• Na H-Eileanan (English: Outer Hebrides)
• Orkney (Arcaibh)
• Shetland Islands (Sealtainn)

Each raises their own funds through the Council Tax and is responsible for running public services in their particular areas. Council members are elected every four years and the council is led by the "Leader of the Council". It works the same way as Parliament - each party or group appoints their own party leader and the leader whose party wins the vote becomes Leader of the Council. Each Council elects its own Convenor which in the four city councils (Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen) are called Lords Provost (roughly the same thing as a Mayor but with no powers).

Things like counties and civil parishes still exist but they aren't really for anything.

edited 22nd Mar '12 3:54:36 PM by TheBatPencil

Personally, I feel that Canadian politics would be extremely well served by a transfer of powers from the provincial level of government to the municipal.

I live in the U.S.A. and we have 50 states:

Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming

___________ And some associated territories ________

District of Columbia Puerto Rico Guam American Samoa U.S. Virgin Islands Northern Mariana Islands

States have all powers not expressly assigned to the federal government in the constitution.

However, Congress has the power to regulate commerce, and in 1942 a Supreme Court case involving a chicken farmer feeding wheat to his chickens resulted in Congress basically being able to use the commerce clause to do whatever the fuck it wants.

edited 22nd Mar '12 4:07:18 PM by inane242

States aren't really local governments.

@Abstract: To Americans they're usually considered "local". It's like we see things as either "local" or "federal".

Not if you're more involved in your state affairs.

The state's government system works like this:

• State: The highest level of government, which has sovereign power over the state. Has a National Guard for military and a court system; these things are only for the state, unlike appointed leader (Mayor) and a legislative body, which may be found in sub-state level.

• County: The default administrative district serving as a subdivision of the state. Provides the citizens governance and services to citizens, when there's no incorporated city to personally manage them.

• Municipality: The more localized entity, within a county. When the citizens want a more localized management, they can petition to create a city around themselves, which devolves the power from county to city. So I think municipality has more power than county.

• Special Districts: A group of government functions, possibly interstate, created to serve a special purpose, such as a school district in charge of education over a region. Can be separate from the county-municipality system, as far as I know.

Especially in big, populated states, I think people generally like it when localities have power to provide services.

Yeah, that's what I'm talking about. That's all "local" government.

Yeah, I have to say, I think of my city government as my "local" government, but in a lot of the more rural areas, state government is all you really have.

I beg to differ. In a big state in particular, state affairs decide actual politics, having influence on a large, universal scale. Local affairs tend to focus more on a personal level and governance rather than politics.

I'm clarifying this because there's a lot more going on than just the 50 states.

edited 22nd Mar '12 9:58:55 PM by abstractematics

Well devolving powers and transferring up powers both have their issues. Today we might gripe about transportation being at provincial level hurts cities, or that native affairs at the federal level makes it hard for provinces to deal with it but then tomorrow you switch it up and you get different problems.

I think the problem is and always is just a matter of having an intelligent bureaucracy.

I can testify to Texas currently having a huge influence over federal politics, due to things like being a Republican party stronghold as well as being positioned in a good place to be a major business hub. And considering the state's population, "state" and "local" governments on the city level are really different things.

Not that I think local governments have much control over anything these days. But, there is one thing I think locals have control over, and that's things like whether or not to build the DART rail. The thing goes through several counties (This is the Dallas/Ft. Worth area, and the train is expanding up into Denton and other places) and the county right next door didn't feel like dealing with the one cent tax or whatever we'd have to pay to get it. And now DART doesn't have to deal with them at all, while the people who live there have to drive into my county to use the train. I guess whoever decides to build things like this depends on how big they plan on making it. A state project is a decidedly different beast from something serving one or two cities.