Incrementalism and Rationalism in Local Government Reorganisation 1957-1996

This article seeks to apply rationalist and incrementalist models of the policy process to local government reorganisation from 1957 to 1996. The ambiguities and tensions in the models between description and prescription and between process and outcome are briefly explored, and the complexity of the models acknowledged, as a prelude to their application to the wide variety of approaches to the structural reorganisation of local government. While the quasi-incremental processes of the 1958 and 1992 Local Government Commissions are widely perceived to have failed, most of the recommendations of the more ostensibly rational Herbert, Wheatley and Redcliffe-Maud Royal Commissions have not endured, suggesting some inherent problems with both models. The frequency and extent of changes in local government structure scarcely confirm incrementalist expectations over outcomes, yet the failure of the more radical innovations to win long-term acceptance and legitimacy may be held to give some retrospective justification for gradualist caution. However, the cumulative failure of the reform process may ultimately reflect a misdiagnosis of the underlying problems of local government - essentially a rationalist critique. If a defective structure was not the main problem, reorganisation was not the solution.