reasoned evaluation of the criteria

used to support the abolition propos-

a I

A useful introductory chapter out-

lines the evolution of metropolitan

government and the conditions under

which reform has arisen. Their argu-

ment here is important for the rest of

the hook in that they \how the de-

mand for change in governmental

structure\ typically involves three

forces ~ the environmental pressure5

which impose strain5 on the existing

institutional arrangements. the con-

flicts which arise from the latter and

the power and party political implica-

tion\ of any proposed change. From

the outset. the reforms which resulted

in the GLC and, later. the mctropoli-

tan counties. suffered 21 number of

deGgn faults, notably inappropriate

boundaries and division of re\ponsihi-

lities between the upper- and lower-

tier councils. In the case of the <;L<‘

its boundaries wcrc drawn too tightly.

while (more contentiously) the ;III-

thor\ argue that at le;t\t two of the

metropolitan counties 24 defined hard-

ly qualified as metropolitan areas \(‘!I-

.SII .s~ic.to, and that in others, such 215

the West Midlands. the bountl;lrie\

were. again. tightly drawn.

The importance of these design

flaw. ;IX the authors show. has been to

reduce the effectiveness of the upper-

tier authoritia in their strategic pla11-

ning role. Conflicts between the (iLC

and the boroughs over certain kc!

issues. such as housing and lantl-use

planning. debilitated the spatially rc-

distributive capacity of the upper-tier

authority. Yet. while the White Paper

implied that conflict within the federal

metropolitan areas w;i\ endemic. in

practice (as the authors rightly point

out). it has been more sporadic and

ha\ tended to involve particular COUII-

cils. and has usually stemmed from

ideological differenccb.

A\ contentious a abolition proved

to be, for the central government xince I979 controlling local cxpcnditure ha

been considerably more difficult.

Newton and Karran. in ;I highly-

I-eadahle acc011nt . analyse the nature

of the problem. firstly by putting the LJK in it\ compar;itivc context and.

secondly. bv rehearsing the right- and left-wing ar&nient4 explaining the fis-

258

cal problems of local government. The

left-wing arguments receive the more

favournble airing. justifiably pcrhnps

in that they offer a more substantive

theoretical explanation of the crisis.

The authors‘ venom is rcacrved parti-

cularly for Bacon and Eltis. for their

statistical inaccuracy in greatly over-

emphasizing the rise in local govern-

ment employment and in arguing that

the growth of local cpcnding has had a

parasitic effect.

The remaining part of the book is

devoted to the factors underlying the

growth of local \pending. the difficu-

tie\ posed ‘Ty, the queeze on income.

and the policies which have marked :I

rapidly changing set of centra-local

financid relation\. It is on the latter

that the authors arc too brief, an

important point for it is these policies

which have been so critical in altering

the fiscal status of local government.

Though lucid. the discussion of recent

changes i\ left ah a generali~ecl

account. lacking the statistical dc-

ciaiveness of the introductory chapter

()I-, cclually to the point. any case-

study material of the effects on and

reactions of particular authorities.

It is to this latter point that John

<iyford’\ book 171~~ I’olilic~.5 of’ l~oc~trl

Socirrlisn~ is in part dircctcd. The new

strateglt‘s of the radical Labour Coun-

cils. notably the vxiou\ attempts to

install workable decentrali/~ition and

the greater inclusion of disaffected

groups3 wonicn and ethnic minoritic\.

within the local political machinery.

art‘ well kno\vn. though the author

provides ;I valuable overview I Iowev- cr. the value of Gyfoi-d’\ book extends

considerably fui-thcr. for not only doe\

tie develop on the historical and

theoretic:ll antecedents of Ioc;iI social-

ism. but in a lucid account he show\

the dilemmas to which local socialism

can lead. Thus championing the C;IU\C

of decentralizing power to the grass-

roots has its evident dangers in hand-

ing real power to local groups with

non-socialist objectives. The ;m\wei

hcrc. to rely on local party activists to

educate people to what are their real

interests, and the comparison with

‘prcccptoral politics’ of Mao‘\ China

and Castro’s Cuba. is both a challenge

to the activist and ;I potentially fruitful

analogy for the political scientist.

In 4uch a turbulent local govern-

ment scene the question of what the

future is likely to hold is of importance

and interest. Both Flynn and his col-

leagues and Gyford devote a chapter

to the issue. In the case of the aboli-

tion of the upper-tier council\ part of

the future has already been mapped

out ~- the new joint aclministrative

arrangements and the direct ti-ansfcr

of functions to the boroughs and

district\. But. more critically. aboli-

tion. it is argued. will not qxll the cncl

of the problems and further rcoi-g;i-

niL:ition is likely. Eclu;illy, (iyford’s

(pcssiniistic’!) prediction that ‘going

Ioc;iI’ may prove to bc :I Pandoi-a’\

Box for the labour councils. promises

to keep local politics in the limelight.

The value of each of the\e book5 i\

that they detail one facet of the rapidly

changing picture. But this ih also ;I

source of weakntx: possibly at the

risk of being premature. what I\

needed is a detailed but broad Gew ot

the loc~tl government sccnc as ;I whole

since 1979.

Dr R. Paddison Department of Geography University of Glasgow, UK

Public services prowlon CITIES AND SERVICES: THE

GEOGRAPHY OF COLLECTIVE

CONSUMPTION

by Steven Pinch

Rout/edge and Kegan Paul, London, 1985,2 13 pp, f 7.95 (paperback)

Thi\ book is essentially ;I sophisticated

text. dealing with the ways in which

~lvanced societies distribute various

aspects of public provision. The au- thor has three basic agendus: fir4t. he

provides an outline of the various

ways in which the social w’age i\

increased, via schools. hospitals. roads

and other services; second, he evalu- ate\ the impacts of \uch goods, with

respect to spatial accessibility. the

quality of services. managerial control and the costs of provision: and third,

CITIES August 1986

(Sock1 Theory and the Urhatz @WV-

tion, and Urban Political Atznlysis.

respectively), which were written with a specific denouement in mind, Pinch maintains his agnosticism to the end. This of course makes for a better text. but it still constitutes somewhat of a frustration.

In conclusion, Pinch has achieved exactly what he set out to do, and it is probably invidious to criticize him for not writing a different. more research- orientated volume; conversely, he probably is to be criticized for the disarray within the book’s citations - several are incomplete and some arc missing altogether. This apart, the book is crisp and fair, and well illus- trated. It is also to be lauded for pointing out just how sexist most acknowledgements are: ‘thanks to my wife for ‘. Throughout the book. Pinch is open to the feminist critique. from the Preface onwards. A small point perhaps to some people, but an indicative one.

he takes us through the many perspec- tives which address the significance of these topcis. The book is organized into six chapters: the first deals with the geography of collective consump- tion; the second focuses on jurisdic- tional partitioning and the ‘outputs’ approach: Chapter 3 examines exter- nalities, locational efficiency and con- flict; the fourth chapter switches to more theoretical concerns, dealing with neo-Weberian approaches; Chapter 5 considers neo-Marxist inter- pretations, and the book concludes with a synthesis entitled ‘Beyond loca- tional analysis and structuralism’.

The first half of the book takes us through a large amount of empirical research, focused on the organization and use of services. Anyone who requires an introduction to geo- graphical research on service accessi- bility, externality zones, and location- al conflict will find this a comprehen- sive review of the work done in Canada, the USA and the UK. To complement this, there is also an account of the political science litera- ture; the latter is of course much larger, and Pinch’s coverage is neces- sarily rather more selective. A further edition might for instance refer to Peterson’s City Limits and Crenson’s Neighborhood Politics with profit.

The second half of the book then addresses the ways in which this raw material has been evaluated. Pinch examines, in the first instance, those studies which have emphasized bureaucratic controls, paying some attention to the managerial debate, which then segues into the Marxist critique of Weberianism. Chapter 5 provides an overview of some of the key works by Castells, Cox, Harvey and O’Connor, and evaluates their ability to theorize the empirical mat- erial already introduced. The book ends with a lengthy chapter which deals with some of the key issues current within the literature: the local state, the New Right, feminism, spa- tial versus non-spatial approaches,

structure/agency, and so on. On one level at least, the book is

successful. in that it clearly lays out the issues that are under debate within this wide and important area of urban analysis. Any reader who wants to

gain a preliminary insight into the complexities of theoretical argument will be satisfied: an addendum pro- vides a good guide to more complex sources. On another level however, the book is a little frustrating, for three reasons. The first relates to the structure of organization. Pinch uses ;I

didactic approach. which places layers of explanation, one upon the other. While this makes the book easy to read, it is frustrating in the sense that the punch line is a long time in coming: at various times I made a marginal note that some argument was

incomplete, only to find that my doubts were answered in a subsequent section. Second. the theme of ‘collec- tive consumption’, despite an appear- ance in the title, is actually rather tangential to the book’s progression.

Agnosticism

A brief introduction in Chapter 1 is not followed up until the last chapter, and the complexities of Castells’ work are only hinted at. And third, the book leaves us wondering where this research area is heading. Unlike re- cent books by Saunders and Dunleavy

After the riots

SCARMAN AND AFTER: ESSAYS REFLECTING ON LORD SCARMAN’S REPORT, THE RIOTS, AND THEIR AFTERMATH

edited by John Benyon, with an epilogue by Lord Scarman

Pergamon, Oxford, UK, 1984

One year after the I981 Brixton ‘riots’, a conference was held at the University of Leicester (why Leices- ter?) to consider Lord Scarman’s re- port. There were 23 speakers and an audience of 260, drawn from a range of interest groups. This book attempts to draw together the many threads, and to provide a reasoned statement of the complex drama to which the term ‘riots’ was attached.

Riots are very un-British and. ex- pectedly, reactions were strong - but also very varied: they ranged from a

Andrew Kirby Institute of Behavioral Science

University of Colorado, Boulder, USA

demand for more law and order to :I

total restructuring of society. Howev- er, high principles rapidly gave way to elaborate (though not always well- founded) analyses of the multiplicity of issues involved.

Following two background chap- ters, the first part of the book contains five essays on ‘perceptions and distor- tions’ of the riots: what happened in the disorders and how they were reported. Unfortunately, it seems that there was more distortion than ba lanced reporting. Moreover, that pat- tern has continued as later ‘riots’ were reported. As a result, suggests Gra- ham Murdoch, ‘what was previously seen as an exceptional response [by the police] now appears as ii normal atld necessary part of policing the inner city the reporting of the lY8l riots may well have he!ped to make this ‘militarisation’ of policing acceptable to the majority of the population’.

CITIES August 1986