The Politics of Divergent Policy

Abstract

The promise of local autonomy is in good part the promise of doing things differently — in a way that better represents a community, that better responds to opportunities and needs, that does it more flexibly and that better suits policy to place. But that promise seems to be endangered. Comparative political study supplies multiple reasons to expect little, if anything, from regional governments — and less as time passes. Smaller governments and polities might have all sorts of virtues, but their real political impact, their ability to go their own ways, might be small and steadily shrinking.