Making a reality of community governance. Structuring government-voluntary sector relationships at the local level

Date01 April 1999
AuthorKathleen Ross,Stephen P Osborne
Published date01 April 1999
DOI10.1177/095207679901400205
Subject MatterArticles
Making
a
reality
of
community
governance.
Structuring
government-voluntary
sector
relationships
at
the
local
level
Kathleen
Ross
Glasgow
Caledonian
University
Stephen
P
Osborne
Aston
University
Abstract
This
article
examines
the
emerging
rhetoric
of
'community
governance'
under
the
current
Labour
government
and
its
import
for
local
government
-
voluntary
sector
relationships.
It
explores
the
continuities
and
differences
of
this
with
that
of
the
previous
Conservative
government
and
evaluates
the
extent
to
which
this
is
a
genuinely
new
perspective
on
these
relationships.
It
concludes
by
offering
a
conceptual
framework
with
which
to
understand
these
relationships
and
highlights
the
political
and
managerial
challenges
which
must
be
faced
if
'community
governance'
is
to
become
more
than
simple
rhetoric.
Introduction
The
election
of
the
Labour
government
in
the
UK
in
1997
has
seen
the
creation
of
a
new
glossary
of
government
at
both
the
national
and
the
local
level.
Terms
such
as
joined
up
government,
modernization,
the
third
way,
social
inclusion
and
community
governance
have
become
the
commonplace
of
political
discourse
in
the
UK.
The
first
papers
evaluating
this
new
discourse
have
also
started
to
appear
(for
example,
Falconer
1999).
This
paper
explores
the
impact
of
this
emerging
discourse
for
local
government
relations
with
the
voluntary
and
community
sector.
Its
particular
focus
is
the
concept
of
community
governance
(Clarke
&
Stewart,
1998).
This
concept
has
rapidly
become
one
of
the
touchstones
of
the
Labour
government
agenda
for
the
modernization
of
local
government
(Cabinet
Office,
1999).
At
its
worst,
it
is
a
nebulous
'buzz
word',
which
can
mean
all
things
to
all
people.
Yet
it
has
the
potential
to
offer
a
genuine
new
vision
of
the
governance
of
local
communities.
It
has
its
roots
in
the
communitarian
movement
of
the
US,
which
Public
Policy
and
Administration
Volume
14
No.
2
Summer
1999
49

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