Leadership, learning and local democracy

Abstract

Draws upon detailed empirical work undertaken with elected members and senior officers from a sample of 30 UK local authorities. Its focus is on the ways in which authorities have responded to rapid changes in the economic, social and political contexts and the profound challenges which these present to traditional modes of policy making and public management. Suggests that existing theoretical frameworks give insufficient attention to implications of changing local governance for the roles of elected members and that, in practice, most councillors feel ill‐equipped to respond to these changes. Local authorities need therefore to develop training and support for local politicians in fulfilling their rapidly changing and increasingly demanding roles. In particular they should look at ways of supporting elected members in working with external agencies so that they bring the “added value” of locally accountable political leadership to the work of partnerships involving public, private and voluntary sectors agencies. This will require them to embrace new forms of communication and methods of learning which are likely to be one of the key ingredients in attempts to revitalize local democracy.