chapter 25
...................................................................................................................................................COMPARATIVE LOCAL
GOVERNANCE
...................................................................................................................................................gerry stoker
The study of comparative local governance is an area that cannot be accused of
following the path of mainstream political science. As a result, the study of local
governance is regarded by many as a rather disappointing backwater, outshone and
left behind by the more dynamic areas of investigation. On the other hand,
comparative local governance never made the mistake addressed throughout this
volume of overlooking the importance of institutions. Both old and new institu-
tionalism are alive and well in theWeld of study, although considerable scope for
further development exists. This chapter will argue that the main diYculties are
created by the challenge of comparative analysis and that lesser problems surround
the understanding of institutional factors and forces.
Institutions in the ‘‘old’’ sense of formal organizations that set the rules and
create the context for collective decision-making have been and remain central to
the comparative study of local governance. The chapter opens by examining the
literature in theWeld that oVers a more traditional institutional perspective. The
development of that literature can be divided into three phases. A group of studies
that looked to establish some of the basic diVerences between local government
systems across the world; a second phase where more emphasis was placed on
explaining the diVerences between local government systems; and a third phase
that has focused on shared trends in reform that has led to a focus on complex
systems of governance rather than formal institutions of government. Each of these