Alternatives to Representative Government in Britain: Going Local
| DOI | 10.1177/095207678800300112 |
| Published date | 01 January 1988 |
| Author | Howard Elcock |
| Date | 01 January 1988 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
38
Alternatives
to
Representative
Government
in
Britain:
Going
Local
Professor
Howard
Elcock,
Newcastle
Polytechnic
I
The
Itnportance
and
Inadequacy
of
Representative
Government.
Representative
government
came
into
being
in
most
West
European
states
during
the
19th
century.
It
allows
the
people
to
make
periodic
choices
of
whom
they
wish
to
be
governed
by,
in
whose
interests
and
for
what
purposes.
It
also
provides
a
structure
for
holding
public
servants
to
account,
directly
to
elected
representatives
and
through
them
to
the
citizenry
as
a
whole.
If
as
a
system
of
popular
choice,
representative
government
is
imperfect,
it
has
become
still
more
so
as
a
mechanism
for
holding
officials
accountable.
One
reason
why
citizens
become
sceptical
of
and
even
alienated
from
representative
government
is
that
many
of
their
contacts
with
government
are
with
officials
rather
than
with
politicians -
especially
when
they
are
the
recipients
of
governmental
outputs.
Citizens
are
also
dubious -
with
some
cause -
about
their
representatives’
ability
to
ensure
that
officials
act
in
accordance
with
their
wishes.
Elected
politicians’
capacity
to
acquire
the
knowledge
necessary
effectively
to
scrutinise
and
control
the
work
of
the
local
or
national
Executive
is
limited.
One
reason
for
this
is
the
acceptance
in
the
19th
and
20th
centuries,
of
the
bureaucratic
model
as
the
basis
for
effective
and
honest
public
administration.
It
is
no
accident
that
bureaucracy
has
developed
alongside
representative
democracy
because
the
demand
it
poses
for
officials
to
be
accountable
to
politicians
has
almost
compelled
officials
to
create
pyramids
of
accountability.
Ministers,
committee
chairman
in
local
authorities
and
other
elected
representatives
will
tend
to
approach
the
Permanent
Secretary,
Chief
Officer
or
one
of
his
or
her
immediate
lieutentants
with
policies
to
be
implemented,
questions
to
be
answered
or
constituency
grievances
for
which
they
wish
to
seek
a
remedy.
The
senior
officials
will
pass
these
on
to
their
subordinates
as
instructions
to
be
carried
out.
Thus
on
the
one
hand,
the
politicians
in
formal
charge
of
the
organisation
will
be
unaware
of
most
of
what
goes
on
within
it
and
may
well
have
little
conception
of
the
work
done
or
the
difficulties
faced
by
field
or
desk
officers.
These
are,
of
course,
the
officials
with
whom
their
constituents
are
most
likely
to
come
into
contact
because
they
convey
outputs
to
them.
Instructions
or
criticism
from
politicians
are
likely
to
produce
criticism
or
close
supervision
of
field
staff
which
limits
their
discretion
and
reduces
their
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