Localism, dominance and local government

Abstract

This study is one of historical and contemporary social policy, focussing specifically on local government. Policy relating to local government is identified as part of a broader administrative and ideological genre, localism, and is elucidated by use of the notion of hegemony. Alternative perceptions in the existing discourse on localism and local government are elaborated, before turning to the history of the establishment of local government systems in various colonial settings. After a brief review of local government's roots in Britain, the examination turns in more detail to its application in former colonies New South Wales, in British Africa, and Papua New Guinea in the years immediately before their respective political independence. Major attention is then paid to local government's development in a contemporary colonial situation - the remote Aboriginal settlements of the Northern Territory of Australia. Questions about which interests the system of Aboriginal community government services are raised and discussed, in relation to the official state policy of fostering Aboriginal self-determination.

The study demonstrates that the major considerations informing the establishment of systems of local government in colonial settings have been: education of the citizenry for what is seen by the colonizing authority as a proper and responsible role in government; as a means of meeting increasing demands for services and a role in decision making, in dependent economic and political relationships; as a means of incorporating disparate groups and claims within a framework of government controlled from the centre but appearing otherwise; and as an administrative vehicle for the raising of revenue to support particular state and commercial infrastructure. The underlying theme in these considerations is one of dominance, rather than self-determination. The strong tendency to represent centralized control as local self -determination is identified as a manifestation of what appears to be a deeply rooted hegemonic propensity of local government and localist policy generally.