Bourgeois Theories of Local Government

Bibliographic Data

ID6345348
AuthorsWarren Magnusson (University of Victoria, corresponding author)
Year1986
Volume34
Issue1
Pages1-18
Publication date1986-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenuePolitical Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0032-3217 • E-ISSN: 1467-9248
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1111/j.1467-9248.1986.tb01869.x
OpenAlexW2012686161
LanguageEN
Citations received12

This paper offers an historical analysis of the principles of local government organization that have been accepted in Britain and the United States. The central thesis is that these principles express an ‘economist’ conception of politics and the state. Local governments have been variously conceived—as business corporations, consumers' cooperatives, and institutions of the state—but in each case they have been assigned a restricted, essentially instrumental purpose. This purpose is connected to economic welfare, which, it is supposed, requires centralization of government. Thus the prevalent economist conceptions of local government condemn the local polity to a tenuous existence

Bourgeoisie · Economic system · Economics · Government (linguistics · Local government · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Polity · Sociology · State (computer science · Economic Theory and Institutions · Law · Political Economy and Marxism · Public Administration

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