Just as the structure of local government frequently reflects the
central government, so broadly there is a tendency for local politics to
be a microcosm of national politics. Thus multi-party politics pre-
dominate in Italian and French localities, two-party politics in US
communities, one-party politics in China, Cuba and in many parts of
the South. However, in competitive party systems, because party
differences often have a regional aspect, there is a tendency to greater
variation at local level. Thus some parties – such as the Labour Party
in parts of Wales and the Democrats in the US South in the days of
segregation – may have a virtual monopoly in some areas so that
effective politics takes place between factions within the local
majority party. In other areas what are minor parties nationally
may be important competitors with the established parties on a local
level – as with the Liberals in New York and South West England.
Furthermore some parties may have a purely local existence – as with
‘Independent’ groups on English councils. Thus one- or multi-party
systems can be found locally even where the national system is a two-
party one.
Local governments may develop distinctive constitutional con-
ventions of their own so that, in the British context, for example,
cabinets may be drawn from the parties roughly in proportion to
their numbers on the council in one authority, but all from the
majority group in another.
Although there is often a tendency to refer to a hypothetical past
when ‘politics’ was absent from local government, the historical
record does little to bear this out. For instance, in England before the
Reform Act of 1832 each borough nominated two Members of
Parliament in various ways – but usually linked in some degree to
municipal government. Consequently municipalities were strongly
partisan. For instance, the pre-reform council of Leicester actually
bankrupted itself as a result of the legal bills incurred in creating
enough freemen ‘of sound constitutional principles’ (i.e. Tory voters)
to swing the 1830 election the ‘right’ way. Where local councils are
not divided in a partisan way, this is often a sign of control of the area
by a strong conservative elite, as in many of the old rural English
counties and in some ‘tribal’ areas in former colonies.
Central control of local government may vary from the situa-
tion in the United States where the concept is hardly recognised,
to situations in some countries in the South where the concept of166 STATES