TY - JOUR
T1 - Civic borders and imagined communities
T2 - continuity and change in Scotland’s municipal boundaries, jurisdictions and structures - from nineteenth-century “General Police” to twenty first-century “Community Empowerment"
AU - Pugh, Michael
PY - 2016/4/25
Y1 - 2016/4/25
N2 - The roles and status of Scotland’s municipalities are perennially contested and contingent, but contributed disproportionately to national identity in the “stateless nation” of 1707–1999 (McCrone, 1992; McGarvey, 2014). This article considers Scottish municipal development over time, using Benedict Anderson’s “imagined community”, “simultaneity”, and the approach of historical institutionalism (1983: passim). It traces the emergence of modern municipal structures in the nineteenth-century under successive “General Police” Acts, informed by the ethos of local self-government. It next examines the role of community identity versus community of interest in municipal consolidations and boundary disputes, as the ideological winds shifted towards municipal socialism, progressivism and economies of scale. The analysis turns to twentieth-century local government reorganisations, as UK governments of different political hues grappled with questions of subsidiarity, efficiency and democratic representation. The post-devolution and Scottish Referendum context of debates around “community empowerment” legislation are considered finally, in an historical context.
AB - The roles and status of Scotland’s municipalities are perennially contested and contingent, but contributed disproportionately to national identity in the “stateless nation” of 1707–1999 (McCrone, 1992; McGarvey, 2014). This article considers Scottish municipal development over time, using Benedict Anderson’s “imagined community”, “simultaneity”, and the approach of historical institutionalism (1983: passim). It traces the emergence of modern municipal structures in the nineteenth-century under successive “General Police” Acts, informed by the ethos of local self-government. It next examines the role of community identity versus community of interest in municipal consolidations and boundary disputes, as the ideological winds shifted towards municipal socialism, progressivism and economies of scale. The analysis turns to twentieth-century local government reorganisations, as UK governments of different political hues grappled with questions of subsidiarity, efficiency and democratic representation. The post-devolution and Scottish Referendum context of debates around “community empowerment” legislation are considered finally, in an historical context.
KW - municipal boundaries
KW - municipal jurisdictions
KW - local civic nationalism
KW - simultaneity
KW - imagined communities
KW - invented tradition
U2 - 10.4000/etudesecossaises.1055
DO - 10.4000/etudesecossaises.1055
M3 - Article
SN - 1240-1439
VL - 18
SP - 29
EP - 49
JO - Etudes écossaises
JF - Etudes écossaises
ER -