1Introducing localism
Localism: a political doctrine for our times?
Localism is about the micro aspects of social organization and politics. It is a fast-growing theme in social science, as well as within politics and government. Localismâs profile has been especially high in the United States (US) and the United Kingdom (UK), but its influence is now being felt in many other parts of the world as well. One of localismâs strengths is that it is not associated with any particular partisan position. For that reason, perhaps, it is now being widely embraced across the political spectrum.
Some argue that the contemporary ferment around localism represents something of a localist âturnâ (NLGN, 2012). Others say that there is nothing new about localism at all (Evans et al., 2013). While the term âlocalismâ may have been coined fairly recently, it has in fact been the dominant socio-political paradigm throughout most of history. It was only in the nineteenth century that there was any real shift of emphasis away from the local scale of organization. Before then, the âlocalâ was so ubiquitous that people simply took it for granted. It didnât need a label of its own.
Although the local dimension remains critical for a range of public functions, it is the ânationalâ and, much more recently, the âglobalâ scales of activity which have come to dominate our thinking in recent times. However, the surge in globalization since the 1990s and the concerns it has evoked in many quarters have also raised the profile of âthe localâ in the political imaginary (Massey and Jess, 1995). No doubt, it is for this reason that a new term â âlocalismâ â has been coined to describe it.
Questions and aims
The two core questions this book seeks to address are âWhat is localism about?â and âWhat does it involve?â These issues are examined in conceptual and analytical terms in the early part of the book.
As a subsidiary to this core enquiry, this book also addresses the question âHow useful and important a concept is localism?â Two specific aspects are of interest here: firstly, from an analytical point of view, how can one apply the term âlocalismâ convincingly to other political settings beyond Europe and North America? These issues are explored in several ways and in particular through one of the principal case studies presented in this book. Secondly, the book also examines whether, in the current state of world affairs, localism has any normative purchase. Assuming this is so, what would the basis of its normative purchase be? This issue is explored in some detail in Chapter 5 of this book, particularly from the perspective of public value (PV).
As a further extension to the bookâs main enquiries, we explore the question âHow can localism make a meaningful contribution to the task of institutional and system design?â This issue is addressed most directly in the later part of the book. It is also a theme which runs through several of the case studies. Some of these, for example the local self-governance reforms in India and Kerala and the cohesion policies of the European Union (EU), have been selected as exemplars of effective institutional and system design, inspired to a significant extent by place-based thinking.
In addressing the topic of localism, the book has two overriding aims. The first is to help establish localism as a coherent political doctrine in its own right. The main concern here is to ensure that localism sheds any residual associations it may still have with parochialism, or with âlow politicsâ (Bulpitt, 1983). The time has come for localism to âwalk tallâ and to begin to draw comparison with other âhigh-endâ political concepts such as globalism, human development and democracy.
The second aim is to point towards a more effective way of designing political systems: one which has public value principles at its heart. In this connection, it is worth noting that Stoker (2013: 174â181) argues for a political science that is oriented towards solutions rather than problems. This implies a shift towards design thinking and a focus on how change can be achieved in the political sphere. It involves a willingness to grapple with normative questions as well as with analytical ones.
Key themes and paradigms covered in this book
Most previous academic writing about localism addresses it from the point of view of current policy debates, rather than as a substantive political idea in its own right. By contrast, this book presents two extended explorations of the term âlocalismâ: one from a conceptual point of view and the other from the perspective of social and political theory. The aim of these explorations is to âraise the barâ as far as academic discussion of localism is concerned and to raise its profile as a political doctrine.
The book presents a variety of perspectives on localism, including the conceptual, theoretical and empirical. The intention is to allow a thorough understanding of localism to emerge, including an idea of how it relates to, and potentially enhances, other significant themes in politics. The book is designed to be comprehensive in its coverage and cumulative in its impact.
The first cluster of ideas to feature in this book is that which revolves around the notions of place, space, scale and territory. Many of these are core concerns of political geography and of urban and locality studies. Secondly, the book draws on a range of ideas concerning decentralization, devolution and subsidiarity. These terms relate particularly to the delivery of public policy and governmental functions on a territorial basis. A third major set of ideas addressed in the book is that relating to governance, and especially to multi-level governance (MLG). MLG plays a fundamental part in the analysis presented here. It underpins the argument at every point.
A fourth set of ideas to feature prominently in the book are those relating to public value. However, the analysis of PV presented here assumes a much more expansive understanding of that concept than is generally current in the literature (Moore, 1995; Benington and Moore, 2011). In this study, the rather managerial notion of PV is broadened to include major political themes such as environmental sustainability, human wellbeing, and democracy and accountability. It is also used to encompass âsystem-basedâ political qualities, such as territorial cohesion (TC) and intergovernmental mutuality. Public value is advanced as a core principle of political design, and it plays a fundamentally important role in the scheme of this book.
The fifth set of ideas featured within the book is that relating to democracy and empowerment. These are presented as a major theme within the broader paradigm of public value. The book argues that democracy and accountability for individual citizens are often substantively enhanced when they are aligned with collective-level democracy for localities and communities.
The final set of ideas which is relevant for this book is that concerning the design of political institutions and systems. As already stated, one of the bookâs main questions is to explore the contribution that localism can make to the task of political design.
Structure of the book
The exploratory approach outlined previously is reflected in the way in which the book is structured. In Chapter 2, the assumptions about localismâs place in the overall landscape of political ideas are set out. The chapter also outlines the key lines of analysis for studying localism policy and practice.
In Chapter 3, the concepts of place, space, scale and community are analysed with specific reference to governance and government. The account covers the development of the nation state, the international relations (IR) system and globalization. It also addresses the tensions created in the international sphere by questions of political community and sovereignty. The chapter illustrates this with a case study of the fraught political relationship between Catalonia and Spain, and the lack of response so far from the EU.
Chapter 4 considers various aspects of scalar governance, including the developing role of governments at the regional, local and neighbourhood levels. It also discusses some positive and negative aspects of the localist paradigm, as well as the emergence of a new, more emancipated localism. The chapter concludes with a case study of the shifting multi-level relationship between Cornwall, England and the UK.
Chapter 5 argues that the main purpose of governance and government is to produce âpublic valueâ. PV outcomes encompass a very wide spectrum of public goods. These can be achieved within localities, regions, sovereign states and multi-level political systems. As an example of this, the chapter concludes with a case study of territorial cohesion policy within the EU.
Chapter 6 considers the question of institutional design and its wider application to large-scale political systems. It also discusses previous and current attempts to design political jurisdictions on the basis of localist principles, and most particularly in India and its south-western state of Kerala.
The localism framework presented in Chapter 7 is the core of the bookâs academic contribution. The framework contains seven âinstitutional design indicatorsâ. These specify the public value outcomes that public policy should aim to achieve within localities. The chapter presents a case report to show how this approach was piloted some years ago in England.
Chapter 8 restates the main arguments in the book and directly addresses the bookâs overall theme of how the design of political systems could be transformed through a focus on place-based policy and localism reform.
The book will show that bottom-up governance is establishing a firm foothold in world affairs. This is mainly through the work of social movements and federations, assisted by the growth of mass media and the recent revolution in digital technologies. The latter are helping to emancipate local communities from the centuries-old constraints of scale and parochialism. This in turn indicates a step change in the capacity of communities to participate in, and to influence, national and global events. However, the state of the world is also increasingly characterized by concerns about ecosystem sustainability, inequalities in human development and a range of political pressures on rules-based, democratic orders, as well as the need for greater political cohesion within and across states.
The book will argue that all of these global transformations point to the need for an enhanced science of political design based on systems and applied on a broad scale, rather than just to individual institutions. The aim should be to align the micro, meso and macro levels appropriately with each other. With this in mind, it is important for design proposals to be underpinned by a broad set of political principles. These should be accompanied by a framework of indicators which specifies the public value outcomes to be achieved in local settings.
Organizing perspectives
It is important to underline that the aim of the book is to present localism as a major policy and design principle in its own right. Although written principally from a UK and European perspective, the study is keen to give due weight to evidence from the Global South as well as from the Global North, hence the inclusion of the case study of India and Kerala. In this part of the world, localist thinking is not necessarily thought of as âlocalismâ at all by those most directly involved.1
In terms of the insights they provide, the case studies presented in this book should be seen very much as on a par with the bookâs theoretical elements. Their function is neither to prove nor to disprove any proposition but to provide their own distinct perspective on localism and MLG. That said, each of the case studies is presented as an MLG âclusterâ in its own right, and the impact on governance at two or more scalar levels is consistently highlighted.
A further point to make about the book is that it seeks to present both analytical and normative perspectives on the topic of localism. Wherever possible, though, the book will seek to draw a clear distinction between these two main modes of argumentation. Generally speaking, the earlier chapters are predominantly analytical in their focus, whereas from Chapter 5 onwards the book has a stronger normative thrust.
Note
References
Benington J and M Moore (eds.) (2011): Public Value: Theory & Practice. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan
Bulpitt J (1983): Territory and Power in the United Kingdom: An Interpretation. Manchester: Manchester University Press
Evans M, D Marsh and G Stoker (2013): âUnderstanding Localismâ, in Policy Studies, Vol. 34(4), 401â407
Massey D and P Jess (eds.) (1995): A Place in the World: Places, Cultures and Globalisation. Oxford: Oxford University Press
Moore M (1995): Creating Public Value: Strategic Management in Government. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press
New Local Government Network (NLGN) (2012): The Localist Manifesto: The Report of the Commission on Next Localism. London...
