Editor's Notes
| Date | 01 October 1965 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1002/j.1099-162X.1965.tb00649.x |
| Published date | 01 October 1965 |
LOCAL
JOURNAL
OF
ADMINISTRATION
OVERSEAS
Volume
IV·
Number 4 .
October
1965
ｾ､ｩｴｯｲＧｳ
Notes
l'We
JOURNAL
has on
many
occasions published articles dealing
with
the
relationship
of
local
government
to
national
development
in
specific countries
Or
areas.
In
our
first article in this issue,'
Dr.
Gorvine sets
out
what
is, in his
opinion,
the
contribution
which
any
developing
country
can
and
should
make
towards its
own
development.
He
maintains,
as others
have
done,
that
development
must
come
from
within
the country, no
matter
what
aids,
in
the
way
of
finance, personnel
or
equipment,
COme
from outside.
Many
phrases
have
been
coined to cover this; it
must
be a
'felt
need';
development
must
'come
from
below';
development
stems from
the
'revolution of rising expectations'.
To
put
it
quite
simply, a
man
will
not
\I'ork to
attain
something
he does not
want,
or
the
need
for which he
cannot
appreciate.
The
realisation
of
development
aims is
not
possible,
Dr.
Gorvine
says,
without
astrong systcrn
of
local
govenunent;
man
is essentially a
parochial
animal
to
Whom a school for his
children
or a
road
along
which
his
produce
can
reach
the
market
is
of
infinitely
more
value
than
a steel works or a hyro-electrie scheme.
Astrong local
government
can
see to
the
fulfilment
of
these desires, while
leaving
the
planning
at
state
level to the
central
government.
The
setting
up
of
asystem
of
local
government
is no easy task, especially
\\'hen, as in
many
developing countries,
there
is no
tradition
on
which
to
build.
Dr. Gorvine's thesis is
that
strong
central
government
must
come
first; a
?overnment
weak
at
the
centre
will resist
any
urge
to decentralise
or
dissipate
Its power.
It
must
rid
itself
of
the
'policeman-tax
collector' image,
which
has
often
been
its only
point
of
contact
with
its people,
and
set up a well-integrated
organisation
at
regional or district level to
deal
with
rising expectations. A
cadre
of
local
government
servants
must
be established who, Janus-like, will
lOok
to
the
centre
and
to
the
perimeter,
and
endeavour
to
gear
the progress
of
One
to
that
of
the
other.
Dr.
Gorvine regards the
interplay
of
national
and
local politics as
an
essential
part
of
development.
He
looks
upon
local
government
institutions as
the
training
ground for future
national
leaders,
and
upon
local politicians as
the
means
to
acquaint
the
mass
of
the
people
with
national
decisions
and
their
local implica-
tions.
"------------------------------------
1
Local
Gouemment
andNational
Development,
p.
225.
223
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