Abstract
As Aristotle reminds us, constitutional reform is inherently dangerous.1 It unsettles the polity, disturbs existing relationships and creates unanticipated consequences. Therefore it should not be undertaken lightly. It must have a profound rationale based on a recognition of serious defects in existing arrangements. This essay seeks to provide a philosophical framework for assessing the merits of reform based on decentralization, specifically in the British case. This framework enables us to examine the specific contributions which decentralization can make to improving public life as well as the preconditions which need to be in place for such improvement to actually take place.
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References
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David Denver et al., New Labour Triumphs: Britain at the Polls (Chatham, NJ: Chatham House Publishers, 1998), esp. chs 2 and 4.
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Thomas Schelling, Micromotives and Macrobehaviors (New York: W. W. Norton, 1978).
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© 2001 Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited
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Teles, S.M., Landy, M. (2001). Decentralization under New Labour: a Civic Liberal Perspective. In: White, S. (eds) New Labour. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230554573_8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230554573_8
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-0-333-91565-3
Online ISBN: 978-0-230-55457-3
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