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The local state and uneven development
Book Reviews more threatening to the individual than the power of increasingly ineffective states; what should be done about the many obvious deficiencies of the market; did the state only increase in size and power because of ‘socialistic collectivism’ - what about the wide range of other forces such as organisation for warfare which led to increased powers of the state; and, finally, just what is the state anyway and can it be analysed in terms of the simplistic dichotomy that counterposes it to the ‘private’? It is the last question in particular which Vincent’s Theories of the State addresses, and which demonstrates just what a complicated set of questions this raises. In particular, he deals firstly with the absolutist theory of the state as found theoretically in Jean Bodin and Thomas Hobbes and in practice in Louis XIV, where the state was encaPsulated in the sovereign and the realm was his property. This is followed by a discussion of constitutional theory which includes much of the liberal tradition so favoured by Green, Hegel’s theory of the ethical state, Marx’s class theory of the state and, finally, various plurahst approaches to the state. Vincent concludes with some comments about the limitations of historical/sociological theories of the state, particularly because of their inability to help us answer the question as to whether we need a theory of the state anyway. Unfortunately though, Vincent’s own answer is by no means clear. Indeed, one cannot help thinking that whether or not one agrees with Green’s book Vincent wouldt have improved his argument greatly if he had confrDnted a body of literature which really challenged the necessity of the state. Vincent concludes by saying that it ‘is no use bewailing its [the state’s] existence or trying to roll it back’ (p. 225). But why, one might ask? Does not Vincent’s concentration on the political theory of the state lead to the ignoring of important questions about the justification of the size and activities of contemporary states. The last few pages of this book made me see why Green is so polemical even if ultimately I cannot agree with much of his thesis. JOHN URRY department of Sociology, University of Lancaster, U. K.
The &aw of the Land: Two Hundred Years of American Farmland Policy, J. Opie, 231 pp., 1987, University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, $25.95
This is a well-written survey of a number of important rural themes - land policy, agricultural programs, water politics and the evolving position of the small farmer in American society. Opie is fundamentally concerned with unde~tanding a key myth, that agricultural policy sought to nurture the interests of small private agrarian interests. On the contrary, he finds that federal policy has almost uniformly been guided by the needs and interests of corporate and statist interests even while the cult of the family farmer was being carefully cultivated (pardon the pun!). While John Opie has not brought forth much new source material, he has successfully woven together a number of disparate themes to provide us with a cogent picture of the settlement of the American West, the role water policy has played in the advance of agriculture, the crucial role which cadasaral policy and practice has played in land develop-
113
ment and the evolution of ag~cuituraf policies which have consistently sought to reduce the risk to private capital. He is also adept at explicating the various stages of U.S. Iand policy. The first such phase dealt with the privatisation of the huge public domain. The second era was largely concerned with the consolidation and classification of the existing public lands. And presently we are in the midst of a period of land stewardship policy. This is the most poorly defined part of the book if only because it is still unfolding and not fully realized. Indeed, Opie is at his weakest in dealing with contemporary efforts to preserve farmland, reduce soil and water degradation, and readjust agricultural policy along lines which are more consistent with rural development imperatives rather than with export production. This is really a minor problem for a book which promises much and delivers upon that promise. Bright, passionate and entirely convincing, The Law of the Land fills an important niche in the history of American land policy and agriculture. The University of Nebraska Press would be wise to bring this essay out in paperback; it could have a very large market and impact. MARK B. LAPPING Kansas State University U.S.A.
The Locaf State and Uneven ~yelopment, S. Duncan and M. Goodwin, 297 pp., 1988, Polity Press, f27.50 hb, ES.95 pb The late 1970s and 1980s have seen a stream of research and writing on the crisis of locaf government and the nature of central-local relations. Despite this attention, the theorisation of the local state has been somewhat perfunctory, and issues of local government and the local state often wallow in an ocean of conflicting tides and currents of opinion. This book by Simon Duncan and Mark Goodwin goes a long way towards clarifying this whole area of study. Their aims are threefold: to present a coherent statement of the restructuring of British central-local relations in the 1980s; to explain how and why this restructuring has taken place; and to found an analysis of the local government crisis on the rock of the historical development of local state institutions. Their approach is a self-styled departure from the more traditional approaches to local government which, say the authors, have concentrated on the formal political machinery of institutions, their politicians and their officers. Rather they borrow from recent theoretical debates in geography, urban sociology, political science and social history in order to place the local state in its political economic context. In many ways, the stated aims are achieved with a thoughtful clarity which has escaped many other authors in this field. The first two chapters are particularly helpful as extended critiques of current theoretical offerings. The keystone to this book is the notion that the concept of the local state should be linked to the nature of uneven social development. Using some of the realist philosophies which are currently popular in these matters, they differentiate between spatial effects as causative (which they are not) and as contingent (which they are, and which is crucial to a practical explanation of local change). Then, in terms which draw heavily from the discussions by Smith and
114
Book Reviews
Harvey, they explain that the social processes of capitalism are inevitably uneven, and describe how the institutions of the local state play an important role in attempting to organise and control uneven development. To round off the theoretical critique they echo Miliband’s view that local states become both agents for national states, and obstacles to them. In the fluid world of economic restructuring and new right politics in the central state, the ‘crisis’ between agency and obstacle is starkly displayed in 1980s Britain. Duncan and Goodwin illustrate these concepts with a detailed account of the Thatcher government’s dealings with local government institutions between 1979 and 1985. They show how fiscal and legislative tactics have been used to destroy the autonomy of local governments by centralising controls over their functions. They also chart the opposition to these shifting central-local relations, concluding that: Centralization is by no means some smooth and inevitable process which is necessarily functional to British capitalism. If anything, the opposite seems nearer the mark. Indeed in political terms, local government has probably caused the Conservatives more problems than any other issue between 1579 and 1987 (p. 271). What I like about this book is its unrepentant attempt to bridge theoretical critique and specific processes in local state performance and status. What is frustrating is that the local governments which feature largest in the account are inevitably the city islands of socialism, where opposition to the centre has been rampant, where somewhat autonomous policy programmes have been developed, and which have borne the brunt of central government counter-response. This is inevitable, since local government agencies with jurisdiction over rural areas are hardly hot news and hardly rate as vital ingredients in the ‘crisis’. Nevertheless, important issues are raised for rural researchers. Is an interest in rural local government an element of spatial fetishism to be shunned in favour of aspatial approaches to the local state? If not are there any linkages between local state institutions and activities in rural localities? Granted, there can be no deterministic say, predominantly agricultural connection between, regions and particular types of local state action, but are there similarities in the complexities of those mechanisms which translate socio-spatial conditions into political outputs in these kinds of areas?
This book is a stimulating and very worthwhile addition to the literature on local government. It deserves to be widely read and could act as a significant springboard for a more thoughtful treatment of local state issues by rural researchers. PAUL CLOKE Department of Geography St David’s University College Lampeter, II. K.
in New Zealand, A. Bollard and R. Buckle (eds), 346 pp. 1987, Allen and Unwin-Port Nicholson Press, SN.Z.39.95 Economic Liberalisation
The economic policy pursued by the Labour government since assuming office in 1984 has left many New Zealanders confused, bewildered and unemployed. The spate
of neo-liberal reforms are significant not only in their departure from traditional Labour Party ideology but also by the speed in which they have been implemented. Wholesale economic restructuring is being cemented in at a pace that considerably preempts the degree of manoeuvreability open to future governments. This volume is intended to have wide appeal as well as containing detailed analyses directed primarily at economists. In practice, the majority of contributions, albeit competent in their description of changes in economic policy and the effects, realised or potential, of that change, will be difficult to comprehend for anyone without, at least, a working knowledge of economics and the terminology it uses in which to express itself. However, Blyth’s introduction on economic liberalisation from an economist’s perspective sets the scene perfectly. His very readable introduction outlines the aims of economic policy, the instruments that can be used to implement those aims, and the detail of specific policy measures put into effect between 1984 and 1987. It is not intended to be a critical appraisal of the Labour government’s economic policy, let alone an explanation of why events have unfolded in the way they have: Blyth, perhaps wisely, leaves this task to future economic historians. But within this descriptive chronicle he does identify the problem that may arrest the liberal revolution; government overspending and the use of fiscal deficits to maintain real incomes in the face of disadvantageous terms of trade. What are the implications of economic liberalisation with its emphasis on a free market economy and its condemnation of the inefficiency of the welfare state as a distribution mechanism? In political economy terms, the rich are able to look after themselves, the middle classes will exercise their judgement through the ballot box, whilst the relatively poor remain prisoners of a vicarious national conscience. The authors contributing to the volume agree that the raft of legislation has been effected too recently to evaluate long-term costs and benefits. In most areas there has, as yet, been little substantive research upon which to draw. Nevertheless, what they have to say is not without interest. Bollard, writing on the deregulation of industry, using a documentary narrative, admits that, in the absence of any detailed analysis, net economic benefits deriving from the policy have to be taken on faith. So far, industry’s response to more competition and changing cost structures appears to have reduced profitability whilst experiencing lower price increases, greater managerial efficiency and a reduction in costs. There has also been a change in corporate organisation, especially through merger, acquisition and divestment. Jennings and Cameron discuss the reform of State-owned enterprises. Government has judged their economic performance to be unsatisfactory and since 1986 they have had to operate as successful businesses. Despite the greater level of accountability under the new system, the authors reserve judgement on the prospects of long-term success. Protection from takeover reduces the pressure on managers and directors to ensure the best use of resources whilst there is a risk of future political interference in their operations coupled with a doubt that competent directors will be forthcoming to serve on the boards. Easton, in his chapter, sees difficulty in knowing just what liberalisation rrieans to labour markets being customer, not auction, markets. His scenario forsees serial employ-
The &aw of the Land: Two Hundred Years of American Farmland Policy, J. Opie, 231 pp., 1987, University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, $25.95
This is a well-written survey of a number of important rural themes - land policy, agricultural programs, water politics and the evolving position of the small farmer in American society. Opie is fundamentally concerned with unde~tanding a key myth, that agricultural policy sought to nurture the interests of small private agrarian interests. On the contrary, he finds that federal policy has almost uniformly been guided by the needs and interests of corporate and statist interests even while the cult of the family farmer was being carefully cultivated (pardon the pun!). While John Opie has not brought forth much new source material, he has successfully woven together a number of disparate themes to provide us with a cogent picture of the settlement of the American West, the role water policy has played in the advance of agriculture, the crucial role which cadasaral policy and practice has played in land develop-
113
ment and the evolution of ag~cuituraf policies which have consistently sought to reduce the risk to private capital. He is also adept at explicating the various stages of U.S. Iand policy. The first such phase dealt with the privatisation of the huge public domain. The second era was largely concerned with the consolidation and classification of the existing public lands. And presently we are in the midst of a period of land stewardship policy. This is the most poorly defined part of the book if only because it is still unfolding and not fully realized. Indeed, Opie is at his weakest in dealing with contemporary efforts to preserve farmland, reduce soil and water degradation, and readjust agricultural policy along lines which are more consistent with rural development imperatives rather than with export production. This is really a minor problem for a book which promises much and delivers upon that promise. Bright, passionate and entirely convincing, The Law of the Land fills an important niche in the history of American land policy and agriculture. The University of Nebraska Press would be wise to bring this essay out in paperback; it could have a very large market and impact. MARK B. LAPPING Kansas State University U.S.A.
The Locaf State and Uneven ~yelopment, S. Duncan and M. Goodwin, 297 pp., 1988, Polity Press, f27.50 hb, ES.95 pb The late 1970s and 1980s have seen a stream of research and writing on the crisis of locaf government and the nature of central-local relations. Despite this attention, the theorisation of the local state has been somewhat perfunctory, and issues of local government and the local state often wallow in an ocean of conflicting tides and currents of opinion. This book by Simon Duncan and Mark Goodwin goes a long way towards clarifying this whole area of study. Their aims are threefold: to present a coherent statement of the restructuring of British central-local relations in the 1980s; to explain how and why this restructuring has taken place; and to found an analysis of the local government crisis on the rock of the historical development of local state institutions. Their approach is a self-styled departure from the more traditional approaches to local government which, say the authors, have concentrated on the formal political machinery of institutions, their politicians and their officers. Rather they borrow from recent theoretical debates in geography, urban sociology, political science and social history in order to place the local state in its political economic context. In many ways, the stated aims are achieved with a thoughtful clarity which has escaped many other authors in this field. The first two chapters are particularly helpful as extended critiques of current theoretical offerings. The keystone to this book is the notion that the concept of the local state should be linked to the nature of uneven social development. Using some of the realist philosophies which are currently popular in these matters, they differentiate between spatial effects as causative (which they are not) and as contingent (which they are, and which is crucial to a practical explanation of local change). Then, in terms which draw heavily from the discussions by Smith and
114
Book Reviews
Harvey, they explain that the social processes of capitalism are inevitably uneven, and describe how the institutions of the local state play an important role in attempting to organise and control uneven development. To round off the theoretical critique they echo Miliband’s view that local states become both agents for national states, and obstacles to them. In the fluid world of economic restructuring and new right politics in the central state, the ‘crisis’ between agency and obstacle is starkly displayed in 1980s Britain. Duncan and Goodwin illustrate these concepts with a detailed account of the Thatcher government’s dealings with local government institutions between 1979 and 1985. They show how fiscal and legislative tactics have been used to destroy the autonomy of local governments by centralising controls over their functions. They also chart the opposition to these shifting central-local relations, concluding that: Centralization is by no means some smooth and inevitable process which is necessarily functional to British capitalism. If anything, the opposite seems nearer the mark. Indeed in political terms, local government has probably caused the Conservatives more problems than any other issue between 1579 and 1987 (p. 271). What I like about this book is its unrepentant attempt to bridge theoretical critique and specific processes in local state performance and status. What is frustrating is that the local governments which feature largest in the account are inevitably the city islands of socialism, where opposition to the centre has been rampant, where somewhat autonomous policy programmes have been developed, and which have borne the brunt of central government counter-response. This is inevitable, since local government agencies with jurisdiction over rural areas are hardly hot news and hardly rate as vital ingredients in the ‘crisis’. Nevertheless, important issues are raised for rural researchers. Is an interest in rural local government an element of spatial fetishism to be shunned in favour of aspatial approaches to the local state? If not are there any linkages between local state institutions and activities in rural localities? Granted, there can be no deterministic say, predominantly agricultural connection between, regions and particular types of local state action, but are there similarities in the complexities of those mechanisms which translate socio-spatial conditions into political outputs in these kinds of areas?
This book is a stimulating and very worthwhile addition to the literature on local government. It deserves to be widely read and could act as a significant springboard for a more thoughtful treatment of local state issues by rural researchers. PAUL CLOKE Department of Geography St David’s University College Lampeter, II. K.
in New Zealand, A. Bollard and R. Buckle (eds), 346 pp. 1987, Allen and Unwin-Port Nicholson Press, SN.Z.39.95 Economic Liberalisation
The economic policy pursued by the Labour government since assuming office in 1984 has left many New Zealanders confused, bewildered and unemployed. The spate
of neo-liberal reforms are significant not only in their departure from traditional Labour Party ideology but also by the speed in which they have been implemented. Wholesale economic restructuring is being cemented in at a pace that considerably preempts the degree of manoeuvreability open to future governments. This volume is intended to have wide appeal as well as containing detailed analyses directed primarily at economists. In practice, the majority of contributions, albeit competent in their description of changes in economic policy and the effects, realised or potential, of that change, will be difficult to comprehend for anyone without, at least, a working knowledge of economics and the terminology it uses in which to express itself. However, Blyth’s introduction on economic liberalisation from an economist’s perspective sets the scene perfectly. His very readable introduction outlines the aims of economic policy, the instruments that can be used to implement those aims, and the detail of specific policy measures put into effect between 1984 and 1987. It is not intended to be a critical appraisal of the Labour government’s economic policy, let alone an explanation of why events have unfolded in the way they have: Blyth, perhaps wisely, leaves this task to future economic historians. But within this descriptive chronicle he does identify the problem that may arrest the liberal revolution; government overspending and the use of fiscal deficits to maintain real incomes in the face of disadvantageous terms of trade. What are the implications of economic liberalisation with its emphasis on a free market economy and its condemnation of the inefficiency of the welfare state as a distribution mechanism? In political economy terms, the rich are able to look after themselves, the middle classes will exercise their judgement through the ballot box, whilst the relatively poor remain prisoners of a vicarious national conscience. The authors contributing to the volume agree that the raft of legislation has been effected too recently to evaluate long-term costs and benefits. In most areas there has, as yet, been little substantive research upon which to draw. Nevertheless, what they have to say is not without interest. Bollard, writing on the deregulation of industry, using a documentary narrative, admits that, in the absence of any detailed analysis, net economic benefits deriving from the policy have to be taken on faith. So far, industry’s response to more competition and changing cost structures appears to have reduced profitability whilst experiencing lower price increases, greater managerial efficiency and a reduction in costs. There has also been a change in corporate organisation, especially through merger, acquisition and divestment. Jennings and Cameron discuss the reform of State-owned enterprises. Government has judged their economic performance to be unsatisfactory and since 1986 they have had to operate as successful businesses. Despite the greater level of accountability under the new system, the authors reserve judgement on the prospects of long-term success. Protection from takeover reduces the pressure on managers and directors to ensure the best use of resources whilst there is a risk of future political interference in their operations coupled with a doubt that competent directors will be forthcoming to serve on the boards. Easton, in his chapter, sees difficulty in knowing just what liberalisation rrieans to labour markets being customer, not auction, markets. His scenario forsees serial employ-