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Local Councils, Conflict and ‘Rules of the Game’

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 January 2009

W. P. Grant
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Extract

The concept of ‘rules of the game’ which regulate behaviour in a variety of political situations is one which has only been fully elaborated in recent years. As yet, ‘there has been little research systematically investigating the character and consequences of rules of the game’, particularly in relation to the operation of local political systems.

Type
Notes
Information
British Journal of Political Science , Volume 1 , Issue 2 , April 1971 , pp. 253 - 255
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1971

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References

1 For an extensive discussion, see Wahlke, J., Eulau, H., Buchanan, W. and Ferguson, Le Roy C.The Legislative System: Explorations in Legislative Behaviour (New York: John Wiley, 1962), pp. 141–70.Google Scholar

2 Wahlke, et al. , The Legislative System, p. 142.Google Scholar

3 For reports of relevant work in Britain, see Maddick, H. and Pritchard, E. P., ‘The Conventions of Local Authorities in the West Midlands’, Public Administration, XXXVI (1958), 145–55 and XXXVII (1959), 135–45CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and also, Thornhill, W., ‘Agreements between Local Political Parties in Local Government Matters’, Political Studies, V (1957), 83–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

4 Wahlke, et al. , The Legislative System, p. 145.Google Scholar

5 Wahlke, et al. , The Legislative System, p. 168.Google Scholar

6 For an account of a prolonged mayoralty controversy, see Jones, G. W., Borough Politics: a Study of the Wolverhampton Town Council, 1888–1964 (London: Macmillan, 1969), pp. 325–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

7 For example, see the discussion of the so-called ‘Anti-Rose Laws’ of Essex County Council in Benham, H., Two Cheers For The Town Hall (London: Hutchinson, 1964), pp. 58–9.Google Scholar A more recent case is at Teignmouth, where the Urban District Council have extended their Standing Orders in an attempt to curb disorder at committee meetings which has led to their adjournment. A councillor who was not a party to the original disputes has threatened to withdraw from all committee work (Teignmouth Post and Gazette, 5 June 1970).

8 The councillor response rate was 100 per cent. I would like to thank Dr J. A. Brand of the Department of Politics, University of Strathclyde, for his assistance in the design and execution of the project.

9 Precise figures are not available for ‘Glenbrae’, but it would appear that the new burgh council there initially contained few councillors with extensive experience.

10 The situation in ‘Bruceside’ satisfied Gamson's definition of a ‘rancorous conflict’: Garnson, W. A., ‘Rancorous Conflict in Community Polities’, American Sociological Review xxxi (1966), 71–81, p. 71.Google Scholar