Local Government in a Devolved Scotland
Since the arrival of devolution on the political agenda in the 1970s, there has been an expectation that its introduction would inevitably lead to a reconsideration of the structure and functions of local government (Gunn 1977; Page 1979). Indeed, both the SNP and the Liberals committed themselves in electoral manifestos to transferring functions from local government to a Scottish Parliament, dismantling the big regions, and shaping local authorities around the former district councils. Even after the recent reorganisation, that anticipation of further structural change remains.
Education, Local Government and the Scottish Parliament
Education will be one of the main areas of policy for the Scottish parliament. The paper discusses some of the implications of this for comprehensive secondary education and for citizenship, and assesses the role of local government in education in the context of the new parliament. It argues, on the one hand, that the principles of comprehensive education are no longer being fully met by the structure of secondary schools which Scotland has inherited from the 1960s, and so that radical renewal is required. On the other hand, it argues that fulfilling the comprehensive ideal requires now that attention be given to developing active citizenship through education. Local government is the best agency to lead these renovations, essentially because of its rootedness in local culture, but it itself will have to acquire new capacities of policy development and of redistribution if it is to able to fulfil that potential.
One hundred years later: Does Scotland exist?
Abstract Scotland's institutions differ from England's in numerous ways, but its government is, in spite of appearance, centralised under Westminster control. The origins of the Scottish Office and of local government and the failure to reform it are examined. The place of Scottish Studies in Geography is sketched, from the early concentration on physical aspects to the recent emergence of a school of human geography. Historical geography is firmly based on Scotland's archival heritage. Finally, trenchant questions are posed as to the future of a peripheral Scotland and its resource base.