Addressing the legitimacy of the council-manager executive in local government

Howard, Joanna; Sweeting, David

Abstract

This article uses the concept of legitimacy to contribute to the debate about leadership change in local government. It focuses on the council-manager form of executive, used in Australia, Ireland, Finland, New Zealand, the US, and was an option for English local authorities in the Local Government Act 2000. After reviewing the central features, underlying values, and variations that the council-manager model displays cross-nationally, the article draws on research carried out in Stoke-on-Trent, England, a city which adopted a variant of the council-manager form. The analysis assesses the model operating there in terms of legitimacy, and argues that some of its shortcomings are addressed by the introduction of a form of decentralised, deliberative, neighbourhood governance.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Nov 1, 2007
• Journal: Local Government Studies
• Print ISSN: 0300-3930
• Electronic ISSN: 1743-9388
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis (Routledge)
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 33
• Issue: 5
• Pages: 633-656
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/03003930701627316
• Keywords: council-manager executive, local government
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/1023835
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03003930701627316
• Additional Information: Additional Information : Article joint-authored with Sweeting (left UWE 2007), and draws on a UK case study developed as part of a £200K international research project funded by the European Commission; Participation, Leadership and Urban Sustainability (PLUS), involving 9 European countries.