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The Dialectics of Community and Government

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Abstract

This chapter examines the tensions inherent in the incorporation of communities of practice into the business of government. It identifies “joined-up” partnerships of community groups with government agencies in the Latrobe Valley as a solidaristic form of governance with attendant benefits and risks. On the positive side, the narrative of community-led transformation replaces externally imposed negative “problem place” associations. On the negative side, the preference for governing through selected community organisations empowers technocratic experts, sidelines elected local government, and excludes dissenting worldviews in a way that could undermine the longer-term interests of local people. The chapter concludes by recommending how local actors might navigate this context in a way that supports democratic and ethical systems of social regulation.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    This exclusion has been made possible by the physical redefinition of the Valley to a larger area in which the three participating local governments are mere stakeholders (Weller, 2019).

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Acknowledgement

The research on which this chapter is based was supported by the Australian Research Council (Grant FT110100854).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of South Australia Business School, Adelaide, South Australia

    Sally Weller

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  1. Sally Weller
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Correspondence to Sally Weller .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Arts Academy, Federation University Australia, Ballarat, VIC, Australia

    Angela Campbell

  2. Centre for Urban and Regional Studies, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW, Australia

    Michelle Duffy

  3. Humanities and Social Sciences, Federation University Australia, Churchill, VIC, Australia

    Beth Edmondson

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Weller, S. (2020). The Dialectics of Community and Government. In: Campbell, A., Duffy, M., Edmondson, B. (eds) Located Research. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-32-9694-7_20

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-32-9694-7_20

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore

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