Decentralisation advocacy and inter-government coordination: A local government association perspective

Abstract

Local government engages in inter-government advocacy to increase functional and financial autonomy and to better respond to community needs. Adopted narratives frequently highlight the problems of centralisation and the perceived benefits of decentralisation, not least democratic proximity. This paper conceptualises local government advocacy within the context of the strategic-relational state and regionalised new state spaces, and distinguishes between advocacy as an assemblage of ambitions and practices and advocacy as a source of analytical insight. The relevance of normative perspectives in enabling critical reflection is further acknowledged. In consideration of local government association advocacy in devolved Scotland, a three-dimensional analytical perspective is embedded whereby Schumacher’s normative interpretation of decentralisation is used to analyse advocacy narratives; local government advocacy enables reflection upon inter-government relations and regionalisation; and evidence of strained inter-government relations prompts further consideration of normative interpretations. Conclusions highlight that local government must guard against scalar privileging in response to problematised relationships; that regionalisation perspectives must give considered attention to inter-government coordination and that community empowerment requires further elaboration.