‘Warrant Chiefs’ had to be invented to attempt to impose an
authoritarian (colonial) system on what was already an egalitarian
society vitally receptive to change (Wraith, in Mackintosh, 1966:
212–267).
The degree to which the structure of local government is
determined by central government also varies from one state to
another. In parts of the United States both the boundaries and
internal organisation of local government are almost entirely a
matter for local decision. In France all Communes are required to
have a mayor as chief executive who, whilst locally elected, also
functions as an official of the central government; at departmental
and regional level the chief executive is an appointed official of the
national Ministry of the Interior. Communal and departmental
boundaries, however, have remained relatively stable and local
commitment to them is quite high. In the UK, although there is
perhaps less interference in the internal organisation of authorities,
there has been a great deal of change by central government in the
overall structure, powers and boundaries of local authorities since the
Second World War.
There is also a striking variation in the internal organisation of
local authorities. The traditional UK arrangement centred around a
series of only loosely co-ordinated committees of elected members,
each of which supervised the work of one or more departments
headed by professional specialists. In contrast many US councils have
much stronger executives consisting either of professional city
managers or directly elected mayors. The French pattern in which the
chief executive is provided by the central government is also to be
found quite widely – especially in ex-colonial areas. In recent years
the British trend has been towards smaller and more tightly co-
ordinated committees and a style emphasising the development
of a strategic management team of professional officers. The Blair
government’s endorsement of experiments in the development of
executive mayors was an interesting move in what might be inter-
preted as a more participative direction. In most cases, however, local
authorities have moved toward small ‘cabinets’ of local councillors in
parallel with the professional management teams. The New Labour
administration has paid lip service to the idea of greater autonomy
for local authorities, but, in practice, this usually has to be paid for by
demonstrating capacity to meet Whitehall performance targets.
STATES 165