Next Steps for Local Democracy: Leadership, accountability and partnership brings together the thoughts of some of the country's leading academics on the future of councils and localism.
Editor Iain Roxburgh writes: 'Will the White Paper represent the shift in central government – and in particular
'Or will it be just a worthy CLG document full of exhortations to local authorities, most of which will already have much more expertise at citizen engagement than central government departments; and devoid of commitments by other government departments – for example Health and the Home Office?.'
Other contributors include Gerry Stoker, Professor of Governance at the University of Southampton, John Tizard, director of the Centre for Public Service Partnerships at the University of Birmingham, and Helen Sullivan